MrSpkr's random thoughts . . .

Wow. So much has happened ...

2011-11-09T06:21:00.001-06:00

since we last talked. The most important was the death of my father on January 28, 2011. I also shut down the solo practice (mostly), and am working with a great small firm in Nirth Dallas.

On the home front, Amy is no longer teaching- she is working on her Nursing degree through online courses with the University of Texas at Arlington. Liz is about To graduate from college with a degree in computer software engineering. Joseph is playing the tuba in middle school band, and seems to really enjoy it. He's also playing basketball again this year. Katie has hearing aids and her speech is slowly improving. Finally Phillip, our oldest, is a sophomore (!); he just made the JV basketball team yesterday!

In other words, life has gone on. I have slowly adapted to new technology -- I'm on Facebook, and even have an iPhone-- I'm using it to make this entry.

Anyway, I hope to keep this blog up better than I have previously. I'll be updating the woefully out of date sidebar links, and figuring out just where this blog is going. Stay tuned!

Ever have a relative that continually embarassed you . . .

2009-04-01T16:01:00.006-05:00

if not, you now have a President who can do the same thing.

First, he showers Gordon Brown, the partially blind Prime Minister of Great Britain, a set of DVDs that will not even work on European DVD players (setting aside the fact that, given his vision impairment, Mr. Brown does not watch movies).

Now, apparently, he has decided to really, really try to make a good impression. So, what gift did Obama present to Queen Elizabeth II? A book signed by one of the founders? A side table created from the wood of an early American whaling ship? Perhaps a uniquely styled paperweight crafted from metal salvaged from the U.S.S. Tuscaloosa, a heavy cruiser that participated in many of the key engagements in the Atlantic Ocean, was an escort for the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, and escorted Prime Minister Winston Churchill's ship on its way to North Africa for the Casablanca conference. You know, a gift that anyone with some sense of history, proportion, respect, and three minutes spare time could have thought up.

Instead, Obama gave Her Majesty a gift one can purchase at any Wal-Mart for a couple of hundred dollars an iPod.

Most American children received a more thoughtful and valuable gift from their aunts or uncles last Christmas.

Special relationship? Not for the Obamatron.

What a putz.

But I thought the Anointed One was a gifted speaker . . .

2009-02-12T09:54:00.001-06:00

Barack Obama Prescreens Reporters at Press-Conference - WSJ.com: "About half-way through President Obama's press conference Monday night, he had an unscripted question of his own. 'All, Chuck Todd,' the President said, referring to NBC's White House correspondent. 'Where's Chuck?' He had the same strange question about Fox News's Major Garrett: 'Where's Major?'
The problem wasn't the lighting in the East Room. The President was running down a list of reporters preselected to ask questions. The White House had decided in advance who would be allowed to question the President and who was left out."

Funnily enough, my wife and I discussed this Monday night during his speech. This was after, of course, my lovely, patient wife, for the first time in her life, yelled at the television during a political speech.

This President is an empty suit. It is terrifying to think of the damage he can do to this country, either through volitional actions or through ignorance of any need to undertake particular actions.

In his first three weeks of office, he has (a) indicated a willingness to close down the Guatanamo Bay Detention Facility, forcing us to either try the detainees in criminal courts (which is unprecedented in our history and would require the detainees receive all the constitutional protections of any criminal defendant) or let them go to attack us again; (b) signed off on the largest transfer of wealth in world history; and (c) signed off on legislation that socializes a portion of the healthcare industry.

God help us all.

Hilarious interview on Letterman . . .

2009-02-12T09:25:00.002-06:00

Wow. Joacquin Phoenix isn't really there

And his party represents environmentalists?

2009-01-29T19:52:00.003-06:00

Not much to say here. This is a picture of the Capital Mall last week after the conclusion of the Obama coronation.

And this is the party that tells us we are trashing the planet.

Sigh.

Well, this is a bleak take on things . . .

2009-01-21T17:08:00.001-06:00

Dick Morris has a new column, The Obama presidency: Here comes socialism. In it, he predicts a wide variety of sweeping, negative changes that Obama will quickly enact in order to permanently change America and build a long term Democratic electoral majority.

Sigh. Any more good news out there?

Mathilda’s Anthropology Blog.

2009-01-17T14:07:00.000-06:00

Mathilda is a quiet housewife, mother of two intelligent children, and wife of a British museum employee.

Oh, and she operates a fantastic blog dedicated to the scientific discussion of human anthropology. I stumbled across this blog today through a link at Jihad Watch, and was so impressed, I felt taken back twenty years to my heady college days. For a brief moment, a nearly regretted my choice to pursue law rather than graduate studies in history and archeology.

But only for a brief moment.

In any event, Mathilde's blog is a great example of how the internet can foster international research and sharing of knowledge on even the most obscure subject. I highly recommend her work.

It's about time . . .

2008-11-20T13:05:00.001-06:00

I'm a lawyer. I see situations in which litigation could be filed nearly every day.

But, as I counsel clients, just because litigation could be filed doesn't mean it should be filed. This guy is a prime example of someone who should not have filed litigation.

This plaintiff, Jarek Molski, and his attorney engaged in a campaign of legalized extortion. His premise is similar to that used by asbestos plaintiffs: sue everyone and see if they would rather settle than pay attorney's fees to defend themselves in court. Instead of threatening defendants with broken kneecaps or arson, he threatened to drain their pocketbooks and savings. Few restaurants fought back, as it was easier and cheaper to pay Mr. Molski $4,000.00 or so than to spend tens of thousands of dollars defending the specious litigation. One restaurant that did fight back spent over $60,000.00 before being vindicated.

Mr. Molski has been at this for over two years, and apparently netted over $1 million dollars in income from his litigious activities.

How bad is it? Well, in a recent Ninth Circuit decision, the Court of Appeals found that:

Molski and his lawyer Thomas Frankovich (”Frankovich”) were purportedly in the business of tracking down public accommodations with ADA violations and extorting settlements out of them. On cross examination, Molski acknowledged that: he did not complain to any of Cable’s employees about his access problems; he had filed 374 similar ADA lawsuits as of October 8, 2004; Frankovich had filed 232 of the 374 lawsuits; even more lawsuits had been filed since that date; Molski and Frankovich averaged $4,000 for each case that settled; Molski did not pay any fees to Frankovich; Molski maintained no employment besides prosecuting ADA cases, despite his possession of a law degree; Molski’s projected annual income from settlements was $800,000; Molski executed blank verification forms for Frankovich to submit with responses to interrogatories; they had also filed lawsuits against two other restaurants owned by Cable’s; they had filed a lawsuit against a nearby restaurant; and [Molski's private investigator] Sarantchin obtained up to 95% of his income from Frankovich’s firm for performing investigations for ADA lawsuits.

Molski v. M.J. Cable, Inc. (cite unknown).

Unfortunately for him, a federal judge saw through his claims and barred him from filing any more ADA litigation in the Central District of California without permission from the Court. Ever. The decision was upheld on appeal by the Ninth Circuit. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, ending the litigation.

Molski's claims bordered on ludicrous. "Molski had claimed he injured himself at multiple businesses on the same day." A judge described Molski's alleged injuries as being "contrived":

For example, in Molski v. El 7 Mares Restaurant, Case No. C04-1882 (N.D. Cal. 2004), Molski claims that, on May 20, 2003, he and significant other, Brygida Molski, attended the El 7 Mares Restaurant for the purposes of dining out. Molski alleges that the restaurant lacked adequate handicapped parking, and that the food counter was too high. After the meal, Molski attempted to use the restroom, but because the toilet’s grab bars were improperly installed, he injured his shoulders in the process of transferring himself from his wheelchair to the toilet. Thereafter, he was unable to wash his hands because of the lavatory’s design.

Although this complaint appears credible standing alone, its validity is undermined when viewed alongside Molski’s other complaints. In Molski v. Casa De Fruta, L.P., Case No. C04-1981 (N.D. Cal. 2004), Molski alleges that he sustained nearly identical injuries on the exact same day, May 20, 2003. In Casa de Fruta, Molski alleges that he and significant other, Brygida Molski, patronized Casa de Fruta for the purpose of wine tasting. On arrival, Molski was again unable to locate van accessible parking. Once inside, Molski again found the counter to be too high. After wine tasting, Molski again decided to use the restroom, and again, injured his upper extremities while in the process of transferring himself to the toilet. Thereafter, he was once again unable to wash his hands due to the design of the lavatory.

This was, apparently, not the end of Molski’s day. In Molski v. Rapazzini Winery, Case No. C04-1881 (N.D. Cal. 2004), Molski once again alleges that he sustained nearly identical injuries on the exact same day, May 20, 2003. Molski, again accompanied by Brygida Molski, claims he visited the Rapazzini Winery for the purpose of wine tasting. Again, Molski complains that the parking lot lacked adequate handicapped van accessible parking. Upon entering the establishment, he discovered that the counter was too high. After tasting wine, he again needed to use the restroom. In the course of transferring himself from his wheelchair to the toilet, he injured himself yet again. Thereafter, he was again unable to wash his hands due to the lavatory’s design.

The Court is tempted to exclaim: “what a lousy day!” It would be highly unusual — to say the least — for anyone to sustain two injuries, let alone three, in a single day, each of which necessitated a separate federal lawsuit. But in Molski’s case, May 20, 2003, was simply business as usual. Molski filed 13 separate complaints for essentially identical injuries sustained between May 19, 2003 and May 23, 2003. The Court simply does not believe that Molski suffered 13 nearly identical injuries, generally to the same part of his body, in the course of performing the same activity, over a five-day period. This is to say nothing of the hundreds of other lawsuits Molski has filed over the last four years, many of which make nearly identical allegations. The record before this Court leads it to conclude that these suits were filed maliciously, in order to extort a cash settlement.

Molski v. Mandarin Touch Rest., 347 F. Supp. 2d 860.

The California Bar is also hearing an ethics complaint filed against Molski's lawyer, Thomas Frankovich. The complaint alleges that Frankovich filed claims against businesses, then tried to intimidate them into settling quickly (and without benefit of legal advice).

I'm glad this is happening. The ADA is an abysmal piece of legislation, with gaps big enough to drive a truck through it, doors open and horns-a-blaring. The fact that this idiot took the legislation this far shouldn't surprise us as much as the fact that our supposedly wise legislators enacted it to begin with.

I'm just surprised to hear of a California judge with the common sense to put a stop to this nonsense.

H/t Patterico's Pontifications for background information.

It's not a bug, it's a feature . . . .

2008-09-24T11:08:00.002-05:00

Apparently, Bette Midler has bought into the global warming hype. That's not particularly unusual for the entertainment elite. What is unusual is that Ms. Midler appears to have abandoned the hypocrisy that plagues her peers: she is willing to curtail her activities in order to do something she perceives as beneficial.

She's announced she will no longer be touring because she believes that the 14 trucks and other vehicle necessary for her tour are harmful to the environment.

This, of course, sets aside the obvious question: Why in the heck does Bette Midler need 14 trucks while on tour?

What a crappy year

2008-09-20T10:05:00.002-05:00

A few minutes ago, my father called to tell me that my Grandma died last night around midnight. She was 82.

Grandma had been pretty miserable since Grandpa died last January. She was frail; but had seemed to improve somewhat.

I can't really say anything more right now. The grief is too much.

Requiescat in pace, Willa Jo. Rest in peace.

My hands HURT . . .

2008-09-03T21:39:00.002-05:00

from clapping so loudly at the Sarah Palin speech. . . .

"Parents of children with disabilities . . . if this ticket is elected, I promise you that you will have a friend and an advocate in the White House."

Very nice. And about time.

Those with disabilities don't want special privileges, but whey don't want unnecessary obstacles, either.

I also love her unapologetic embrace of smalltown America. It's about damned time someone said that you don't have to be in a big city to know how to lead.

. . .

They just showed Piper holding her younger brother, Trig, and stroking his hair . . .

No, wait -- she just licked her hand and rubbed his hair. She's trying to straighten his hair. I love it!

. . .

Nice job using the Obamessiah's words against him. Love the different messages in Scranton and San Francisco part.

Got to get back to work right now (have to file a new case tomorrow), but I love what I am hearing.

Okay, he's got my support now . . .

2008-08-29T09:58:00.002-05:00

It's no secret to those around me that I dislike John McCain's politics. I've often viewed his "maverick" streak as disruptive, and, quite frankly, something that ill-served conservatives. My distaste has been such that I have publicly indicated that I would not consider voting for him should he win the nomination for the presidency.

All that changed this morning as Senator McCain selected a true rising star and young conservative as his running mate. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is a mother of five, a reformer, and, most importantly, is conservative.

How conservative? She just had her fifth child -- a boy named Trig. Trig is special -- he has Down's syndrome. Governor Palin decided to keep her child despite the results of prenatal testing that indicated Trig might indeed have the genetic abnormality.

I respect that decision. As many readers know, my youngest daughter, Katie, also has Down's syndrome. Amy and I did not know she suffered from this genetic abnormality until after her birth. We had decided to forgo prenatal testing because we knew we would keep our child under all circumstances.

I simply can't imagine the emotional turmoil Governor Palin must have endured during the time from she learned of the test results and her son's birth. It must have been incredibly stressful.

She stuck with her guns. I respect that.

In addition, she is a true energy advocate, calling for increased drilling at home, opening of ANWAR, and is a goodpublic speaker (from the clips I have heard online).

Finally, she has the potential of fulfilling something I have long (20+ years) predicted: the first woman president will be a Republican. Considering that McCain has said he will only serve one term, and that the economy should rebound in the next two years, she will stand as the heir apparent to the McCain presidency.

Heady thoughts, indeed.

Steve

Reason # 43,743 that I am glad I don't even work (let alone LIVE) in Dallas County . . .

2008-07-09T14:55:00.004-05:00

Dallas County meeting turns racial

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and
bizarre this afternoon.

. . .

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central
collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become
lost in the office.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud
"Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a
"white hole."

That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from
Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.

Sigh. The fact John Wiley Price is a county commissioner for one of the largest metropolitan counties in the country is, at the very least, disturbing.

And Judge Jones is a posterboard for why one should be required to be admitted to the bar as a condition of eligibility to be a justice of the peace.

Mayfield responded to Price's bizarre rant this afternoon:

So, what's your take on what happened on Monday?

We were discussing the central collections unit, which wasn't doing a very good job. Some justices of the peace have worked for years to get things back to them, but things keep getting lost. And after I heard that, I said that the central collections agency is a black hole where things are being sent and not returned. Not a black hole, but a black hole. And then Price, as Price is wont to do, got upset. My take was that it was tongue-in-cheek. But if he's serious, then he has some problems. Not that he doesn't already have problems, but more than I thought.
He said, "Why don't we call it a white hole?" And then I said, "Or a pink hole." And Judge Jones, I know he's serious. He said, "I think the commissioner owes us an apology for making a racial insensitive remark." And I said, "Are you nuts? Don't you know what a black hole is?" Anyone who had a problem with what I said needs to go see a psychiatrist. They have some mental problems"

Yesterday, he told us you're a racist, even if you don't know it.

[Laughs] He's the biggest racist there is. And obviously he doesn't know it.

Amen.

"Moses" Dead at 84

2008-04-06T13:08:00.002-05:00

When I was a kid, part of my annual Easter ritual involved watching two movies: The Wizard of Oz and The Ten Commandments. In the latter, Charlton Heston played the role of Moses, the stubborn, yet faithful leader of the Hebrew tribes who gave up his position of comfort and influence as a prince of Egypt in order to lead his people, Egyptian slaves, out of bondage and to the land God promised them. Charlton Heston played the role very well, and for many years was referred to by his fans as "Moses".
Other notable roles included that of Andrew Jackson in both The President's Lady and The Buccaneer, John the Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told, Colonel George Taylor in the various Planet of the Apes movies, and, of course, the title role in the epic Ben Hur.

The Associated Press obituary starts off well, lauding Heston for his film achievements:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Charlton Heston, the Oscar winner who portrayed Moses and other heroic figures on film in the '50s and '60s and later championed conservative values as head of the National Rifle Association, has died. He was 84.

The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said. He declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.

"Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life. He was known for his chiseled jaw, broad shoulders and resonating voice, and, of course, for the roles he played," Heston's family said in a statement.

Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease.

With his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice, Heston proved the ideal star during the period when Hollywood was filling movie screens with panoramas depicting the religious and historical past.

"I have a face that belongs in another century," he often remarked.

The obit even lauds Heston's earlyt political activism, notably, his participation in the civil rights movement of the 1950's (at a time when civil rights was a highly controversial issue which could have irreparably harmed his career):

The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s.

All is well and good thus far. The next sentence, however, reveals much of the inherent political bias found in the mainstream media today:

With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates.

Since when have conservativism and civil rights been incongruous? Keep in mind, a large majority of the Democrats who passed LBJ's enormously expensive Great Society proograms in the mid-1960s voted against Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the companion Voting Rights Act. This is in keeping with liberal political ideology: all people are equal, but some are more equal than others.

This ideology continues to haunt America today as indicated by the ongoing cries of racism when equal opportunity fails to result in equal outcome.

The article continues:

He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in "Miss Saigon" was "obscenely racist." He attacked CNN's telecasts from Baghdad as "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War.

At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album that purportedly encouraged cop killing.

And, of course, he was castigated by liberals in Hollywood and the media for these "outrageous" positions. Imagine, a Hollywood actor deigning to support police officers or denouncing media attacks on our military?

Heston, of course, took it all in stride:

Heston wrote in "In the Arena" that he was proud of what he did "though now I'll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time. On the other hand, I doubt I'll get a traffic ticket very soon."

Obviously, Mr. Heston was a man with his priorities in line. Would that we had more men of such standards and values in Hollywood today.

Rest in peace, Mr. Heston.

Goodness -- I would hope so!

2007-12-31T13:05:00.000-06:00

Dallas police, officials discourage random gunfire

Remember, kids, gun control is all about the ability to hit your target.

Another true american icon passes on . . .

2007-11-30T20:14:00.000-06:00

Slowly but surely, the icons of my youth fade away. John Wayne, Elvis Presley, Jimmy Stewart and now Evel Knievel.

Man, I can remember watching you on ABC's Wide World of Sports on sunny Saturday afternoons, then racing outside to see how far I could make my Schwinn jump after a running start down the sidewalk.

I never jumped quite as far as Evel, but for that split second I was in the air, I felt invincible. I wouldn't have done it had I not seen Evel do it first.

Here's a pretty good tribute video set to George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone":

RIP, Evel. Thanks for the warm memories.

Only a European would bring a knife to a gun fight . . .

2007-11-06T20:30:00.000-06:00

Wow. This site asks folks in the United Kingdom to make a pledge to stop carrying knives for self protection (because carrying a gun would be illegal).

Those wishing to make a pledge to be a defenseless lamb at the slaughter can design their own "spray painted" pledges for the wall. I actually like that technical aspect of the project -- it is a bit cool -- but as to the concept, ugh.

Of course, the site owners are trying to censor the wall, keeping out derogatory comments and, of course, any hint that the idea that a free people should avoid carrying a weapon for self-defense is, well, incredibly stupid.

Some folks have managed to dodge the ban. Take, for example, this pledge celebrating a man named John Moses Browning:

My "pledge" notes a slightly more obscure designer, Eugene Stoner. Stoner was the man who designed the M-16 and is considered one of the leading American gun designers of the 20th Century.

And no, I didn't kid about the pledge. While I will continue to carry a pocket knife (or three), I wouldn't dream of using one for self-defense.

That's what my .45 is for, after all.

Hat tip, Hillbilly White Trash.

This may be too lofty a goal . . .

2007-10-15T15:20:00.000-05:00

perhaps she should just be happy not to leave a stain on the mattress.

Or somefink.

I mean, maybe she is sincere. But really: is Paris Hilton so vapid and bereft of common sense that she thinks a single trip to a poor African country will make people forget the fact she is lacks any sense of morality, appears intellectually vacant, and is more reviled than admired by Americans?

Steve

Mrs. Du Toit's side of things

2007-08-26T23:30:00.000-05:00

A long time ago (late 2003, to be exact), Kim du Toit wrote an excellent rant bemoaning the cultural decline of the Western male as a role model in society and, more importantly, the family. The rant was crude, vulgar, and absolutely accurate in it's assessment of the decline of the Western male. Read it here, then come back. I'll be waiting.

. . .

Ahh, you're back. Not too offended, I see.

That's good.

Now, go see what Kim's wife, the inimitable Mrs. du Toit, has to say about Kim's essay.

What a great couple. Salut!

A song that always give me pause . . .

2007-07-07T23:58:00.000-05:00

Arrogance + Ignorance = Bad Experience

2007-07-05T22:53:00.000-05:00

So a wealthy Dallas woman comes upon a great money making scheme: she's going to buy up all the iPhones at a local AT&T store and sell them on eBay.

Not bad -- its worked before for things like the xBox and Playstation and Wii, right?

Of course, she can't be arsed to actually wait in line with the hoi polloi, so she drives her Range Rover to the store, arriving about fifteen minutes before the store opened.

With $16,000.00 in hand, she confidently strides to the front of the line and offers to buy the leader's position from him.

After some negotiation, he agrees to sell her the position for $800.00.

No problems, right? I mean, she IS going to make the money back reselling the phones on eBay.

As the store opened, she confidently strode inside, almost giddy that her plan had come to fruition.

Watch what happens next.

Heh.

At least it was a hybrid . . .

2007-07-05T12:19:00.000-05:00

Al Gore's son busted for drugs in hybrid car

Reason number 538 that I am glad I never ran for office. The demands of political service can not only rob you of your own soul, but also the souls of those closest to you.

That didn't take too long . . .

2007-07-03T10:56:00.000-05:00

Dallas' new mayor, Tom Leppert, has bowed to the pressure from illegal immigration activists and agreed to fund a new City of Dallas Office of Immigration:

[Illegal Immigration activists] wanted an office of immigrant affairs, dedicated to assimilating immigrants, legal and illegal, into the city of Dallas.

Unless the office is intended to assimilate illegal immigrants into their temporary home at a government run layover on the way to being deported, this office is pointless. Legal immigrants do not have a particularly hard time assimilating into their communities -- they WANT to be there and they WANT to assimilate. They emigrated from their countries of origin in order to become Americans.

Illegal immigrants, on the other hand, have not come here to be a part of the American dream so much as to get whatever they can take from it.

And no, that's not racist -- that's reality I have gathered from living in border states for decades.

Yes, many Hispanic illegals are otherwise hard working, honest, etc., etc. So what? I am not interested in what they can take from America; I am much more interested in what they can offer America.

What a novel concept.

The grab line for this story:

The proposed office could focus on connecting the foreign-born to social service agencies in the city, [Dallas attorney Claudia Herrmann] said, and on teaching immigrants about basic services, such as how 911 works for emergencies and how to use the Dallas Public Library.

"One of the major things that this office would have to work on is to let the immigrants know about all the resources to learn to speak and write English and about educating their children and about knowing the laws so that they can obey the laws," she said.

Claudia I have no disagreement with that concept.

I simply think they should have obeyed the laws in the first place and refrained from coming here illegally.

Why is that so much to ask?

Well, this makes sense, Pilgrim . . .

2007-06-19T22:05:00.000-05:00

The Classic Leading Man Test:

Your Score: John Wayne

You scored 42% Tough, 9% Roguish, 23% Friendly, and 23% Charming!

You, my friend, are a man's man, the original true grit, one tough talking, swaggering son of a bitch. You're not a bad guy, on the contrary, you're the ultimate good guy, but you're one tough character, rough and tumble, ready for anything. You call the shots and go your own way, and if some screwy dame is willing to accept your terms, that's just fine by you. Otherwise, you'll just hit the open trail and stay true to yourself. You stand up for what you believe and can handle any situation, usually by rushing into the thick of the action. You're not polished and you're not overly warm, but you're a straight shooter and a real stand up guy. Co-stars include Lauren Bacall and Maureen O'Hara, tough broads who can take care of themselves.

Ahh, to be THE DUKE! Now THAT would be SOMETHING.

And you thought YOUR job was bad . . .

2007-06-19T21:54:00.000-05:00

Check out the ten worst jobs in science.

My favorite? Forensic entomologist (you couldn't pay me enough to be a HazMat Diver).

Anti-antiwar protestors at West Point . . .

2007-05-28T00:07:00.000-05:00

Good stuff. Show up to anti-war protests, and mock the participants. I love it!

The money line:

Woods, a retired Army Special Forces soldier, was one of about three dozen protesters gathered on the main strip here yesterday, flags in hand.

. . .

"Daddy," his daughter asked as the crowd of banner-holding anti-war demonstraters drew closer, "what are they going to do?"

"Make asses out of themselves," Woods answered.

Woods proves prescient.

Global Warming alerts . . .

2007-05-23T17:15:00.000-05:00

for the Memorial Day weekend. Snow advisories in Colorado (expecting up to eight inches of snow).

In South Africa, a number of record low temperatures (and records for low "maximum "temperatures) have been broken in the past few days.

Just thought you would like to know.

The Immigration Abomination

2007-05-22T00:08:00.000-05:00

N.Z. Bear has posted a copy of the Immigration Reform Bill that is currently before Congress. Furthermore, he has posted it in a format that allows bloggers access to an effective index and allows bloggers to post comments to each section. Read the bill, analyze it, and make your comments.

Than, call your Senator or Congresscritter. We must stop this bill.

Of all the liberal reactions to Falwell's death . . .

2007-05-15T23:19:00.000-05:00

I find it ironic that Larry Flynt's is classiest:

The Reverend Jerry Falwell and I were arch enemies for fifteen years. We became involved in a lawsuit concerning First Amendment rights and Hustler magazine. Without question, this was my most important battle – the l988 Hustler Magazine, Inc., v. Jerry Falwell case, where after millions of dollars and much deliberation, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in my favor.

My mother always told me that no matter how much you dislike a person, when you meet them face to face you will find characteristics about them that you like. Jerry Falwell was a perfect example of that. I hated everything he stood for, but after meeting him in person, years after the trial, Jerry Falwell and I became good friends. He would visit me in

California and we would debate together on college campuses. I always appreciated his sincerity even though I knew what he was selling and he knew what I was selling.

The most important result of our relationship was the landmark decision from the Supreme Court that made parody protected speech, and the fact that much of what we see on television and hear on the radio today is a direct result of my having won that now famous case which Falwell played such an important role in.

True enough.

Rest in peace, Reverend Falwell; rest in peace.

Prayer request . . .

2007-05-08T21:52:00.000-05:00

No new links here. Just wanted to let everyone know I am between jobs right now (it's overall a good thing, but still a stressful decision). Pray for me and my family, please.

More to come later.

Thanks!

In other news, temperatures in Hell falling rapidly, and a flock of pigs takes flight over the Mississippi . . .

2007-05-03T10:05:00.000-05:00

A recent BBC story actually celebrates America's existence . . . and reports that a motion before the Oxford Union stating "this House regrets the Founding of America" was overwhelmingly rejected.

The Oxford Union traditionally has hosted debates on the more important issues of our time, and has attracted speakers such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, the Dalai Lama, and Mother Theresa.

The defenders of the proposition were to be two Islamist radicals and a communist. Unfortunately, the Communist backed out, stating that he had no desire to be seen in support of a losing proposition.

How ironic.

One of the Islamists, Jamal Harwood, is a member of a group whose avowed goal is the overthrow of the United States government and the replacement of all Western governments with a Shariah regime. The other Islamist, David Pidcock, is the leader of the Islamic Party of Britain. This group's policy manifesto can be found here (warning: .pdf file). Essentially, they appear to be a run of the mill Marxist organization that has adopted Islam in an effort to stand out from other Marxist organizations.

Those against the motion include National Review's Jonah Goldberg, who put things in context when he said that the Motion "sounded like a bad joke."

Go read the whole thing; then read Jonah's article about his experience.

Where the nutbags get their legal forms

2007-04-24T12:46:00.000-05:00

Wow. These Republic of Texas morons have a website?

The Republic of Texas group refuses to acknowledge the existence of the State of Texas or the authority of any governmental leaders, state or federal, over them. They are sort of like the guys who claim that they don't have to pay federal taxes because the federal income tax laws are illegal. They also convene fake courts to issue fake judgments, which they then reduce to liens. The [bogus] liens are filed against property held by those who oppose, insult, or otherwise irrritate the Republic of Texas gang.

Frightening, yet amusing. Here are some excerpts from his ramblings:

I, me, the Secured Party, is not an expert in the Law however I do know right from wrong.

But not, apparently, reality from fantasy.

On May the twenty-second 2001, this Court ordered the Admiral of the navy to immediately dispatch sufficient numbers of navy personnel to the county of Dallas, Texas state and republic for protection of this Court while this Court convenes and restores the law, due process, trial by jury by law and a republican form of government as guaranteed us, we the people by the Constitutions to the people of the county of Dallas, Texas state and republic. On twenty-sixth day of June in the year two thousand and one this Court found the Admiral of the navy guilty as follows:

This Court found the Admiral in contempt of this One Supreme Court of the people of the county of Dallas, Texas for his refusal.

In other words, he's mad because the United States Navy didn't send in the Marines at his request!

Not that the Marines had anything better to do.

But wait -- it gets better:

This Court again issues this second Order for the Admiral to appear immediately before this Court and show cause why the Admiral has refused to carry out the order of this Court and the duties of his Commission and his pledge by oath to serve and protect the people and the Courts of the people of the several united States.

This order is to be hand carried to the nearest naval facility and given to the officer on duty to be immediately transmitted by that officer to the person in the office of Admiral of the Navy.

Failure of the Admiral to act immediately will cause this Court to petition the Nations of the world to come to the aid of the people of Texas, the county of Dallas and this Court.

(emphasis added) ROFL! So, if the United States Navy won't help him, HE'LL GO TO THE UNITED NATIONS!
I hope the Navy didn't hurt themselves laughing at this guy. Keep in mind, the guy that sent this "order" is totally serious.
Next, he takes on Governor Rick Perry and the Texas legislature. Now, while I am a Republican, I'm not particularly fond of Governor Perry. I wouldn't have minded seeing a different governor. But I am not sure that this is the way to go about replacing him:

To: The Governor for the State of Texas Rick Perry and The Texas House and Senate:
Therefore you are placed on notice that we the people have reopen our Court of record. We have appoint lawful law enforcement officers for the protection of our Courts of record and the peoples life, liberty and property and any more violation of the peoples rights by any person under the color of any law will be arrested and tried by the peoples county Court of record and a just and fair sentence will be placed on that person if found guilty.

Nyah, nyah! My pretend court is back in session, and I am gonna do something about you guys, just see if I don't. And you'd better not try to stop me, or else:

Any interference by any UNITED STATE, STATE, COUNTY OR CITY agent will be evidence of sedition.

And I'll give them a fair trial, followed by a first class hanging!
But why is the author so upset? Here's a clue:

A man known to as Ralph Kenneth Evans and Ralph, evans has been given the duly and the privilege to preset to each of you this notice for the lawless and abuse he has suffered at the hands of your armed commercial thugs impersonation law enforcement officers whom he believes to be Satanic minions by their acts and deeds in view of the past lawless abuse and torture he has suffered which has been regular and on going even as resonate as the week of August 5th-11th 2001.

Okay, so that's a little vague. Let's get more specific:

On are about the fifth day of August 2001, I was taken by commercial agents of the Corporation of Rowlett, Texas placed in the commercial prison in the corporation of Rowlett and my twenty dollar gold coins was taken from me and are still taken. On Monday the sixth of August I was taken by a commercial agent of the corporation of Rowlett to the commercial prison of the corporation of DALLAS COUNTY and held by the commercial agents of the sheriffs department for the corporation of DALLAS COUNTY. I was abused, tortured and terrorized by the commercial agents of the sheriffs department day and night till Saturday August the eleventh then released and was told by one of the commercial agents that they were turning me loose because they had, had enough fun with me. I had suffered torture by mental abuse from Monday-Friday by the sheriffs commercial agents in an attempt to force me to give them my name and my birthright and to contract myself into bondage to them. When they release me and returned part of my belonging to me I ask them to also return the gold coins to me but to this day I have not had the coins returned. I was told that the corporation of Garlands commercial agents had a writ of body attached issued against RALPH KENNETH EVANS (which the Courts have ruled violates the laws of Texas and the Federal Constitution) whom they claimed I am, but being only my copyright private property removed from commerce. (I have lived in fear that I will be kidnapped again if seen by any of the commercial agents operating in the county of Dallas, Texas one of the several united States of America because of the unlawful Garland writ of body attachment). While I was being tortured by these commercial agents I ask for a pen and paper so I may write a petition for writ of habeas corpus, I was laughed at and ask where I thought I was at the Holiday Inn. The same was true when I ask to be taken before a lawful judicial tribunal for the county of Dallas for a due process hearing.

"Umm, they took me and they teased me and they made fun of me and then they . . . um . . . let me see . . . they took my twenty gold coins! That's it! That's the ticket!"
So what does he want as compensation for this heinous offense?

The bill for said taking is now due and payable by each party as follows, THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF ROWLETT TEXAS five million United States dollars of silver specie (5,000,000.00). THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF GARLAND TEXAS five million United States dollars of silver specie (5,000,000.00). THE CORPORATION OF THE DALLAS COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT twenty million United States dollars of silver specie (20,000,000.00). THE CORPORATION OF THE DALLAS COUNTY TEXAS thirty million United States dollars of silver specie (30,000,000.00). . . . THE CORPORATION THE STATE OF TEXAS sixty million United States dollars of silver specie (60,000,000.00). . . THE CORPORATION THE STATE OF TEXAS sixty million United States dollars of silver specie (60,000,000.00).
4. Total amount of this Bill of Exchange due and payable within thirty (30) days 120,000,000.00

(emphasis mine). Oh . . . is that all?
No. There's more. Since the United States has been so mean to him (as well as authorities in the Dallas County, Texas area), he's going to quit their "so-called nation" and be a Nation Unto Himself:

Ralph Kenneth Evans further declares, under the penalty of perjury, under the laws of the united States of America, that Ralph Kenneth Evans is not a United States citizen nor a citizen of the united States. Ralph Kenneth Evans was born in Picken County, Jasper, Georgia is a Citizen of the Government of God, Philippians 3:20, and a Citizen of the Sovereign Republican State wherein I reside, and further declares that all foreign commercial financial instruments, including the foreign counterfeit 'dollars', Federal Reserve Notes, put upon the American people by fraud and theft; used by Ralph Kenneth Evans are and have been used 'Without Recourse" since they are bad checks: and passed non-assumpsit of any contractual offers, and with all rights reserved without prejudice.

Keep in mind, this guy actually believes this crap.

So what set this guy off? According to an opinion released about five months prior to those letters (March 27, 2001), Mr. Evans was upset that he couldn't build a deck in his backyard without a permit:
From State Farms Lloyds v. Evans, Civil Action No. 3:99-CV-1516-M, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (no linkable free view available):

There are two separate insurance policies at issue in this case. Defendant Ralph Evans and Defendant Rebecca Harrell Evans were insured by Plaintiff State Farm Lloyds under a Texas Homeowners Policy, Form B ("Homeowners Policy"). Ralph Evans was insured by Plaintiff State Farm Fire & Casualty Company under a Texas Dwelling Policy, Form 3 ("Dwelling Policy"). Ralph Evans made one claim under the Homeowners Policy, by which he sought to have State Farm pay for the "theft" and "vandalism" of a deck at Defendants' premises in Rowlett, Texas ("claim one"). n1 Ralph Evans also made three claims under the Dwelling Policy, by which he sought to recover from State Farm for alleged damage to his premises in Garland, Texas. Specifically, Ralph Evans claimed that (1) the property in Garland, Texas was a total loss "by malicious, fraudulent, corrupt, and willful acts in violation of the laws of Texas" ("claim two") . . .
State Farm asserts that Defendants built the deck without first obtaining a permit, in violation of a City of Dallas ordinance.

Oops. Cities tend to get picky about such things. But wait . . . it gets better:

State Farm has established that (1) Defendants were ordered by Judge Tyson, of the 44th Judicial District Court in Dallas County, Texas ("the Judge"), to "desist and refrain" from constructing a deck, and to tear down any existing portion of the deck and (2) the Homeowners Policy does not cover "loss caused by the destruction of property by order of [a] governmental authority" or "loss caused by or resulting from the enforcement of any ordinance or law regulating the construction, repair or demolition of a building or structure."
. . .
Claim two is based on the following undisputed facts, as set out in State Farm's summary judgment papers: (1) After the order described above was issued, Defendants filed a document which acted as a type of lien against the Judge, causing a cloud on title to the Judge's home; (2) the Judge then brought a lawsuit against Defendants, seeking, among other things, to have the lien removed; (3) the court hearing the Judge's suit ruled for her and awarded her monetary damages and other relief; and (4) the Judge, as judgment creditor, abstracted her judgment in Dallas County, Texas and thereby created a judgment lien on Mr. Evans' property in Garland, Texas, with the result being, according to Mr. Evans, a total loss in the value of the property. State Farm is entitled to summary judgment on claim two because it has established that (1) the Dwelling Policy insures against only physical loss to the property, and (2) Ralph Evans did not assert any physical injury to the Garland, Texas property. Purely economic loss, of the type claimed by Mr. Evans as a result of the Judge's abstracting her judgment, is not a claim of physical loss . . .

Oops. Now I understand why he spent a night or two in jail . . .

What a maroon.

Why Entertainers should stick to entertaining . . .

2007-04-23T07:09:00.000-05:00

. . . and leave governing to the adults.

Crow (4/19, Springfield, Tenn.): I have spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming.

So, you're going to block out the sun? I think that's already been done by The Simpsons.

Although my ideas are in the earliest stages of development, they are, in my mind, worth investigating.

In your addled mind, the fact the sun rises and sets on a daily basis is worth investigating.

One of my favorites is in the area of forest conservation which we heavily rely on for oxygen. I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required.

Insert your own comment here. Just when I thought brain dead liberals (sorry for the redundancy) and their willing allies in the entertainment industry couldn't get any loonier, Ms. Crow comes along to prove me wrong.

Perhaps we should create a whole new bureaucracy -- The Federal Bureau of Personal Excrement Sanitation, or somesuch -- that could issue vouchers for toilet paper. If you require extra vouchers, you'd have to submit your request, verified by government doctors, indicating the necessity of extra toilet paper. Perhaps you could mail in samples?. Wouldn't that be ironic . . . a government agency that is well and truly full of crap?

But wait -- there's more:

Crow (4/19): I also like the idea of not using paper napkins, which happen to be made from virgin wood and represent the height of wastefulness.

Good for you. . . but somehow I suspect you don't want to let it rest at that. You'd rather impose your idiotic opinion on the rest of us, wouldn't you?

I have designed a clothing line that has what's called a "dining sleeve." The sleeve is detachable and can be replaced with another "dining sleeve," after usage. The design will offer the "diner" the convenience of wiping his mouth on his sleeve rather than throwing out yet another barely used paper product.

Why do I have the feeling it won't stop with food?

I think this idea could also translate quite well to those suffering with an annoying head cold.

This is what passes for "progressive thought" these days. 'Wipe your face and nose with your sleeve, but don't expect to have sufficient toilet paper to wipe your arse.'

Sigh. Where do we get these idiots?.

Religion of Peace

2007-04-17T12:35:00.000-05:00

In Campbelltown District Court, the woman, who spoke through an Arabic interpreter, admitted to reading the Bible when she came to Australia and spent time with Christian people.

The woman told the court Al Shawany and other people were against her associating with Christians.

"They told me that these people (Christians) are very infidel people," the woman said.

"He (Al Shawany) came once and I was sitting with those people that I was speaking with them, the Christian ones, and he said: Well those people that you're sitting with, if you go with them you will be converted'," she said.

Swell folks, these Muslims. Just . . . swell.

Yet another icon of my youth passes on . . .

2007-04-08T22:18:00.000-05:00

Award-winning cartoonist Johnny Hart dies.

I grew up reading B.C. and The Wizard of Id. Now, the genius behind the strips is gone.

Rest in peace, Mr. Hart.

God works in mysterious ways

2007-04-01T15:13:00.000-05:00

Back in the summer of 2000, I wax living in Texas, and had just left a job teaching Geography and Speech to ninth graders in a Dallas suburb. I was six hours short of completing my law degree, but I wanted to get back into the game.

I took a job at Jenkens & Gilchrist, then one of the top law firms in the country, working as a paralegal in its Construction section. Over the next year and a half, I completed my last six hours through night school at Southern Methodist University (though my degree is from OU), studied for, took and passed the Texas bar, all while working full time as a Jenkens paralegal. Jenkens then hired me as an attorney in its Dallas office.

About a year later, the partner I had started out with decided to leave and form his own office. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse, so I left Jenkens to work with him. About two years later, the bankruptcy of his largest client resulted in his having to lay me off.

I was 38 years old, had a wife and four kids, and was unemployed. I wondered why I had been stupid enough to leave a prestigious firm like Jenkens, where I could have set myself up for life.

Now I can see why God's plan worked the way it did.

Founded 56 years ago and once the largest law firm in Dallas, Jenkens is closing its doors for good this weekend. What drove it to extinction was a combination of issues, including misjudgments tied to rapid growth and an aggressive drive to bring in business.

But above all, a risky tax shelter practice out of its Chicago office brought about the firm's end. The tax scheme, which Jenkens long defended but wound up admitting was fraudulent, left a cloud that would not disperse, according to interviews with nearly three dozen people inside and outside the firm.

Harry Joe, a longtime partner who left for another practice in mid-March, put it bluntly: "Looking back with 20/20 hindsight, I believe it led to the downfall of the firm."

I remember when Jenkens visited my law school back in 1996. They accepted interviews from about 25 folks in the top ten percent of our 2L class, including me. At the end of the day, Jenkens produced three preprinted invitations to those students whom jenkens had already decided would be invited to visit the firm. The interview process was little more than a charade, and an incredible waste of everyone's time.

Still, a job at Jenkens and Gilchrist was a prized position. I was very pleased to get on as a paralegal, and ecstatic to be hired as an attorney. I only left after prayerful consideration of the promise of a bigger share of profits and responsibility with my friend and mentor.

When that job collapsed, I wondered why my prayers had led me so astray.

Now, I am reminded that God sees things much more clearly than I can ever hope to. It is another lesson in my walk of faith.

My best wishes to my former colleagues at Jenkens.

And it only took them half an hour to call the cops

2007-03-30T21:45:00.000-05:00

College chicks are weird. Really, really weird:

Police have been unable to locate a woman who entered the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house without permission on Thursday and began to masturbate on a couch.

. . .

Fraternity members asked the woman to leave the house, but she refused and continued masturbating for about half an hour, Nye said.

. . .

She walked out of the front door wearing only a thigh-length black coat after a fraternity member called the police, Nye said. When police arrived minutes later, the woman had already left.

Wow. How . . . bizarre.

A savvy political move . . .

2007-03-26T12:49:00.000-05:00

that could set Obama apart from other black Presidential candidates such as Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton.

What could that be? Simply this: the demand for an investigation of possible civil rights violations by a Democrat prosecutor who brought what appear to be baseless charges against white college students from wealthy families.

In other words, Obama is flipping the civil rights paradigm on its head. Until now, prominent civil rights investigations almost always involved investigations of whites accused of violating a minority citizen's civil rights (such as Rodney King, the shooting of Sean Bell, etc., etc.). Now, Obama seeks to have a white prosecutor who apparently made unfounded accusations against a group of privileged white college students, then covered up evidence which would tend to vindicate the accused, held responsible violating those students' civil rights. By doing this, Obama is trying to take the center away from his Democrat rivals and attempting to secure an important demographic: the Southern white male.

If it plays well (and there is no reason to suspect it won't), it could significantly hurt Hillary's campaign by forcing her to compete for these voters (whose values are often at odds with those of her leftist base).

This is getting more interesting by the minute.

Another Darwin Award nominee

2007-03-22T16:18:00.000-05:00

Let's see . . . Convenience store is closed -- check.
Use trash bin to climb up to roof -- check.
Rip open rooftop grill vent -- check.
Lower myself through the grill vent and into the store -- oops.

A worker at the Express Mart in the 7400 block of Harry Hines Boulevard entered the store about 9:30 a.m. and found a pair of legs hanging through the vent hood above the grill, said Dallas police Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther.

The man apparently got stuck and suffocated, she said.

Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to the scene and had to use special cutting tools to remove and pull the body back out from the roof, she said.

The real question is, will this idiot's family sue the store owner for wrongful death? I mean, the owner should have known that someone would try to break in through the roof and taken steps to make it safer, right?

Sigh.

Here is the video. I hope nobody else in the area needed a fireman this morning . . . this clown seems to have tied up quite a few of them.

2007-03-06T09:30:00.000-06:00

WKRP - Thanksgiving Turkey Drop

One of the funniest moments in television history . . .

I love stories like this . . .

2007-02-16T08:14:00.000-06:00

Fourteen year old Mason Sevier has Down's Syndrome, just like my Katie. He loves basketball, just like my Katie. He plays basketball for his school team, too . . .

Mason Sevier sank the basketball neatly into the net Thursday, making the first basket of the game for the Cain Middle School Mustangs.

Watching from the front row, his father's face flushed, and his eyes watered.

"Everybody in there stood up and clapped and called his name," Cliff Sevier said.

It was a moment he and his wife, Teresa, didn't think they'd see.

"He's got Down syndrome," explained Mr. Sevier, a Rockwall City Council member.

When Mason was born, doctors suggested putting him in an institution.

Instead, his parents decided to raise him at home and send him to Rockwall schools, where he has been mainstreamed since kindergarten. His team's opponents were students he had known all through elementary school. Last year, he headed to Cain while his classmates moved on to Williams Middle School.

Go read the whole thing, and make sure you watch the video, too. This is what school athletics is supposed to be all about.

I wonder if he was Muslim . . .

2007-02-13T15:18:00.000-06:00

and if that was the reason for his actions.

The Salt Lake City killer was an 18 year old refugee from Bosnia, a predominately Muslim land. His name was Sulejman Talovic.

Time will tell. To this point, there is no indication that his religion played any role in the killings. Certainly, there is no indication that he was shouting religious slogans, or that he was dressed in any type of religious garb.

Still, one wonders. It will be interesting to see whether he left behind any clue as to his motivation.

Aggregate U.S. IQ rises by one point . . .

2007-02-08T17:16:00.000-06:00

as Anna Nicole Smith passes into the great hereafter.

Guilty!

2007-02-01T14:54:00.000-06:00

After about four hours of deliberation, jurors found Robert Drew Stephenson guilty of aggravated kidnappping, aggravated assault and retaliation this morning.

The sentencing phase began this afternoon. Here's hoping for a life sentence.

UPDATE

The jury took 30 minutes to recommend a life sentence.

Justice has been done.

"It was all an accident -- honest!"

2007-01-31T16:27:00.000-06:00

Stephenson, 44, took took the stand in his own defense, telling jurors that he accidentally burned the woman while trying to warm her up with a propane lantern.

Stephenson said that he and the woman were having sex inside the trashed-out home of his deceased grandmother when the incident happened. He said the house had no utilities and that he and the woman were freezing.

He told jurors he picked up a propane lantern - the home’s only light and heat source - and moved the flames up and down his own arms to warm them. He said the woman, who was mostly nude, asked him to warm her too. He said he was attempting to do so when liquid from the broken lantern dripped down her back.

Then why didn't you take her to the hospital, nimrod?

He said that when he saw the seriousness of her burns the next morning, he panicked.

"I got excited," he said. "I said, 'Oh my Gosh. Now I’m going to go to prison for the rest of my life.'"

Well, here's hoping your premonition was accurate, Mr. Stephenson. Here's hoping you are locked up for life.

The torturer goes to trial

2007-01-30T15:50:00.000-06:00

I first reported on this story last March.

Now, Robert "Drew" Stephenson is on trial for charges that could send him to prison for life.

Why'd he do it? Depends on who you ask. The victim says Stephenson was in a rage because her call to police landed him in jail on an assault charge. He also accused her of cheating on him.

Stephenson, however, blames it on drugs and "rough sex".

Yeah, right. He was on a three week drug and rough sex binge.

As I said last March -- hanging's too good for some folks.

More to come as the trial continues.

UPDATE: The midday news aired this segment. This local Fox news report is a bit more graphic, but misstates the date of the event as March 2005, not 2006.

Note to GOP: Nobody likes a whiner

2007-01-25T09:51:00.000-06:00

Apparently, house Republicans are upset that the Democrats are using their House majority to -- surprise -- pass legislation they favor and shut out the minority.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi publicly and repeatedly pledged before November's election that if Democrats won a House majority and she became speaker they would treat Republicans with respect and comity and would foster bipartisanship.

Instead, three weeks into a session in which the strong-willed Pelosi has rammed through important legislation and major rule changes, increasingly exasperated and angry Republicans are asking when the new Democratic speaker and her leadership team will keep their pledge to create a less-partisan, more-open atmosphere.

Listen up, GOP: this is how you act when you are in the majority. You pass bills supporting issues on which you were elected. If you claim to be the party of fiscal restraint, then you pass bills exercising that restraint. You shut out members of the opposition and legislate. If the country doesn't like the legislation you generate, they'll let you know at the ballot box.

That's the way the Founders designed the system.

And its the way many conservatives (myself included) wish the GOP would have governed over the past twelve years. Had they done so, I suspect they would still be in the majority.

What can the Republicans do about the situation? Not much, so long as the Democrats remain unified. All the Republicans can do is take on the role of the loyal opposition, standing up for conservative principles and values where they can, and forging alliances with conservative Democrats when possible.

Oh -- and the Republicans can stop the whining. Nobody likes (or respects, for that matter) a whiner.

How freaking stupid . . .

2007-01-24T13:33:00.000-06:00

My wife and oldest daughter are big fans of the show Gray's Anatomy. Basically, its a soap opera set in an Oregon hospital and revolves around the lives of four or five young internists in the surgical ward.

Apparently, last fall, one of the cast members called another cast member a "faggot". The recipient of this particular epithet, as fate would have it, is homosexual. The actor who uttered the epithet, Isaiah Washington, later apologized.

Apparently, the apology is not good enough. Now, ABC executives apparently have decided to force Washington to undergo a "psychological assessment" in order "to examine why he would say such hateful words." If he doesn't, ABC has apparently threatened to cut him from the show, effective immediately.

Wow. I am amazed that ABC would threaten to fire a costar of a very popular show over one remark that he later apologized for making. Political correctness is running amok.

Just one guy's opinion.

Will a few more of these bring McCain back to reality?

2007-01-16T07:36:00.000-06:00

In a straw poll of Arizona GOP precinct committemen, McCain only got half the votes of Duncan Hunter, a 13 term congressman (also from Arizona).

Yes, it was a straw poll -- but McCain should have done much better in his own back yard.

One can hope this bodes well for Republican chances in 2008.

Yet another reason I like Dr. Dobson

2007-01-14T20:57:00.000-06:00

"Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances."

Me neither, Dr. Dobson, and for many of the same reasons: McCain's squishiness on the War on Terror; his ambivalence on the issue of gay marriage; his sponsorship of the unconstitutional McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill; his desire to extend legal adjudicatory rights to prisoners of war in Guatanamo; his opposition to strong border security; his willingness to legalize millions of illegal immigrants; etc., etc.

As I have said before, if the decision is between John McCain and Hillary Clinton, I'll cast a vote for a Democrat for President for the first time in my life.

Why?

Simple. John McCain is NOT a conservative. He is part of the old guard of Republican politics, a pseudo-Rockefeller Republican. If he becomes President, he will be able to appoint moderates to the courts and to positions of power within the administration to implement moderate policies. He will be able to drive a stake through the heart of what remains of the Reagan revolution. More importantly, he will have the ability to place his allies and supporters in positions of power in the Republican party in all fifty states. In short, a McCain paresidency will have the effect of shutting conservatives out of political power for decades.

Hillary would be a disaster as president -- no question about that. I suspect her economic policies and foreign policy would costs American jobs and lives. I do not think, however, that she could destroy the country. After all, Jimmy Carter didn't, and it's hard to see how Hillary Clinton could be any more of a disaster than Carter.

And, one must always remember that one great thing Jimmy Carter gave the American people -- the Ronald Reagan Presidency. If Hillary wins in 2008, I suspect a strongly conservative candidate would do well in 2012.

Didn't we go to war over something similar back in the 1840s?

2007-01-05T16:52:00.000-06:00

A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat.
. . .
The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico.

Why were they forced to retreat? Aren't National Guard units armed? I would hope that our National Guard could hold its own in a firefight against drug runners and border coyotes.

And yet the rumors from D.C. are that funding for the wall will be cut by the new Democratic congress.

Sigh.

I think Schumer may be engaging in wishful thinking . . .

2006-11-29T12:34:00.000-06:00

He recently told the New Yourk Daily News that: "We're in better shape than [Republicans] are, because they don't realize that Reaganomics is dead, that the Reagan philosophy is dead," he said. "We realize that New Deal democracy, which is still our paradigm, which is sort of appeal to each group ... that doesn't work any more."
Schumer had said a bit earlier, "The old Reagan theory which dominated -- which is, 'Government is bad, it's out of touch, chop off its hands as soon as it moves.' -- is over."

I don't think that is true at all. The fact is, Congressional Republicans have not practiced Reaganism for the past several years; instead, they have engaged in the same pork barrel spending and corrupt practices for which they use to castigate the Democrats.

I still believe that a strongly conservative candidate, with a cheerful, positive message of hope can be wildly successful. Time, of course, will tell.

Wow.

2006-11-06T09:21:00.000-06:00

A local felony prosecutor (and 20 year veteran as elected District Attorney) committed suicide Sunday while law enforcement officials (and a camera crew froM NBC's Dateline program) were breaking down his door to arrest him for soliciting sex over the internet from a minor.

How does this happen? How does a public official either (a) hide his predeliction for so long or (b) suddenly develop (at age 56) a taste for young boys?

I simply do not understand.

Allen springs his "October Surprise"

2006-10-26T20:13:00.000-05:00

I don't know whether this is accurate, but it is damned creepy. So far (8:15 pm CST 10-26-06), I cannot find anything about it on Allen's website.

I doubt Drudge would make a mistake on something like this, however.

ALLEN'S REVENGE: EXPOSES UNDERAGE SEX SCENES IN OPPONENT'S NOVELS
Thu Oct 26 2006 20:05:37 ET

Sen. George Allen, R-VA, unleashed a press release late Thursday that exposed his rival's fiction writing, which includes graphic underage sex scenes.

The press release, as provided by the Allen Campaign:

WEBB’S WEIRD WORLD

The Author’s Disturbing Writings Show a Continued Pattern of Demeaning Women

· Some of Webb’s writings are very disturbing for a candidate hoping to represent the families of Virginians in the U.S. Senate.

· Many excellent books about the United States military and wartime service accomplish their purposes, and even win awards, without systematically demeaning women, and without dehumanizing women, men and even children.

· Webb’s novels disturbingly and consistently – indeed, almost uniformly – portray women as servile, subordinate, inept, incompetent, promiscuous, perverted, or some combination of these. In novel after novel, Webb assigns his female characters base, negative characteristics. In thousands of pages of fiction penned by Webb, there are few if any strong, admirable women or positive female role models.

Why does Jim Webb refuse to portray women in a respectful, positive light, whether in his non-fiction concerning their role in the military, or in his provocative novels? How can women trust him to represent their views in the Senate when chauvinistic attitudes and sexually exploitive references run throughout his fiction and non-fiction writings?

· Most Virginians and Americans would find passages such as those below shocking, especially coming from the pen of someone who seeks the privilege of serving in the United States Senate, one of the highest offices in the land:

– Lost Soldiers: “A shirtless man walked toward them along a mud pathway. His muscles were young and hard, but his face was devastated with wrinkles. His eyes were so red that they appeared to be burned by fire. A naked boy ran happily toward him from a little plot of dirt. The man grabbed his young son in his arms, turned him upside down, and put the boy’s penis in his mouth.”

Bantam Books, NY, 1st Edition, 2001, (hard cover), page 333.
Quote is from para. 10,.Chap. 34.

– Something to Die For: "Fogarty . . . watch[ed] a naked young stripper do the splits over a banana. She stood back up, her face smiling proudly and her round breasts glistening from a spotlight in the dim bar, and left the banana on the bar, cut in four equal sections by the muscles of her vagina."

William Morrow and Company, Inc., NY 1991, 1st Ed. (hardcover), p. 36.
Avon Books, New York, 1992 (Mass-Market paperback edition), p. 35
Quote is from para. 29, Chap. 2 “The South China Sea,”, Section 2

– A Country Such as This: "[He] could see Jawbone and Ashley Asthmatic [two guards at a Vietnamese prison camp] napping together in the grass. They faced inward, their arms entwined. It looked like they were masturbating each other. It didn't surprise him. … It was common to see men holding hands, embracing, playing with each other. Some of them [the guards] had wanted him. He could tell in those evanescent moments between his bao cao bow, the obligatory deference when a guard entered his cell, and the first word or blow that followed it… Quick, grinding voices, turgid with repressed passion. An exploratory reaching of the hand near his groin…”

Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY, 1983 (hardcover); page 396.
Bluejacket Books, 2001 (Trade paperback edition), page 396
Page numbers are the same in the Naval Institute Press (paperback) edition, 1983.
Quote is from fifth para, Part 5 “A Country Such As This,” Chap. 24, Section 1

– A Sense of Honor: “Nurse Goodbody, dark and voluptuous (Lenahan had forgotten her actual name, it was something long and Italian), was a bedtime friend to many of the doctors in Bethesda. She had hinted to Lenahan that she simply could not contain herself. Doctors tending to patients, she explained, aroused her. Morphine Mary (again Lenahan could not remember her exact name) was a thin, nervous drill sergeant type, a disciplinarian who did not allow her patients even to complain. Lenahan was convinced that Morphine Mary did not even sleep with her husband. She wasn’t bad looking, he mused again, staring at her thin frame. If she’d just get laid every now and then she’d mellow out and stop being such a damn witch.” (p. 164) (Lenahan brings Goodbody home with him and has sex, pp. 188-190)

Prentice-Hall, New York, 1981 (hardcover)
Bantam, New York, 1982 (Mass-Market paperback edition), p. 164
Trade paperback edition, Bluejacket Books, 1995, p. 164
Quote is from fourth para in Part 3, “Chapter 4:1600”

– Something to Die For: "[Fogarty] has been thinking of the firm, springy skin and the sweet smells of a young Filipina woman named Maria in whose bed he had spent three nights almost twenty years ago. . . . She was a deliciously bad young woman. . . . On the second night, he had brought her a box of Godiva chocolates . . . . he had awakened to find her in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet with her knees underneath her chin, eating chocolates and counting her rosary beads as she prayed."

William Morrow and Company, Inc., NY 1991, 1st Ed. (hardcover), p. 32.
Avon Books New York, 1992 (Mass-Market paperback edition), p. 30
Quote is from third para in Chapter 2 “South China Sea,”, Part 2

– Something to Die For: "We're on our way to becoming the world's recreational center, a nation [USA] not to be taken seriously. Where are we still the undisputed leader? Music. Movies. Fast food. Drugs. . . . the billboards fifty years from now as you come over the bridge and stop at the tollbooths outside Manhattan: A smiling beautiful naked woman, and the sign saying AMERICAN ASS IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCT."

William Morrow and Company, Inc., NY 1991, 1st Ed. (hardcover), p. 199.
Avon Books New York, 1992 (Mass-Market paperback edition), p. 237
Quote is from para. 38, Chap. 13, Part 1, (five paras before Part 2).

– Fields of Fire: Snake (the protagonist) sees his mother on the bed: "She looked as if she were carefully attempting to re-create a picture from some long-forgotten men's magazine . . . . She was naked underneath the robe . . . . and the robe fell loosely away, revealing her. Snake shrugged resignedly."

Prentice-Hall, New York, 1978 (Hardcover, 1st edition), p. 8
Bantam Books "mass market [paperback] edition" published in Sept. 2001. p. 9.
Quote is from paragraphs 18-23, Part 1 “The Best We Have”, Section 1
(NOTE: Part 1 is after the Prologue)

– Fields of Fire: "He saw the invitation with every bouncing breast and curved hip. . . . He was thirteen. . . . She was fifteen . . . . In a few moments she drew him to her and he murmured in his quiet voice, 'I am still small.' 'You are large enough,' she answered. And he found he was."

Prentice-Hall, New York, 1978 (Hardcover, 1st edition), pp. 211-212
Bantam Books "mass market [paperback] ed." published in Sept. 2001, pp. 280-81.
Quote is from paragraphs 8-20, Part 2 “The End of the Pipeline,” Chapter 24

– A Sense of Honor: “… that is, if you knew who your sister was, Brustein, and if she’d been born with anything between her legs except an asshole, I’d be happy to bring some class to your low-rent name by knocking the bitch up.” (p. 223)

Prentice-Hall, New York, 1981 (hardcover)
Bantam, New York, 1982 (Mass-Market paperback edition), p. 223
Trade paperback edition, Bluejacket Books, 1995, p. 223
Quote is from 17th para in Part 4, “Chapter 7:1930”

– A Sense of Honor: “You wouldn’t have believed it, Swede. She just dropped her britches and lifted up her skirt and pissed like a man. Didn’t lose a drop, either. Not a drop.” (p. 183)

Prentice-Hall, New York, 1981 (hardcover)
Bantam, New York, 1982 (Mass-Market paperback edition), p. 183
Trade paperback edition, Bluejacket Books, 1995, p. 183
Quote is from 23rd para in Part 3, “Chapter 8: 2300”

My latest project

2006-10-20T14:19:00.000-05:00

We represent the Plaintiff.

The story is a little deeper than the paper lets on. This will get interesting if it doesn't settle rather quickly.

Why liberals want to reinstate the "Fairness Doctrine"

2006-10-13T10:38:00.000-05:00

Air America Radio Files for Chapter 11.

More posts soon. Life has been OH SO BUSY!

What.The.Hell?!

2006-09-07T00:34:00.000-05:00

Sam Kinison used to joke about it. Looks like these two losers took it a step further.

Link to terrorism?

2006-08-29T23:07:00.000-05:00

Omeed Aziz Popal runs down 14 people in San Francisco.

I wonder if he was on a one-man jihad like Mohammad Taheri-azar's drive through a portion of UNC's compus last March.

Is that racist, or common sense? Whichever it is. it is disconcerting.

Why punctuation is important

2006-08-09T01:19:00.000-05:00

A misplaced comma costs a Canadian company millions.

A grammatical blunder may force Rogers Communications Inc. to pay an extra $2.13-million to use utility poles in the Maritimes after the placement of a comma in a contract permitted the deal's cancellation.

. . .

Rogers thought it had a five-year deal with Aliant Inc. to string Rogers' cable lines across thousands of utility poles in the Maritimes for an annual fee of $9.60 per pole. But early last year, Rogers was informed that the contract was being cancelled and the rates were going up. Impossible, Rogers thought, since its contract was iron-clad until the spring of 2007 and could potentially be renewed for another five years.

Armed with the rules of grammar and punctuation, Aliant disagreed. The construction of a single sentence in the 14-page contract allowed the entire deal to be scrapped with only one-year's notice, the company argued.

Language buffs take note — Page 7 of the contract states: The agreement "shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party."

Rogers' intent in 2002 was to lock into a long-term deal of at least five years. But when regulators with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) parsed the wording, they reached another conclusion.

The validity of the contract and the millions of dollars at stake all came down to one point — the second comma in the sentence.

Had it not been there, the right to cancel wouldn't have applied to the first five years of the contract and Rogers would be protected from the higher rates it now faces.

"Based on the rules of punctuation," the comma in question "allows for the termination of the [contract] at any time, without cause, upon one-year's written notice," the regulator said.

Ouch. For some time, I have believed that schools were not placing enough emphasis on grammar and writing skills. This case is a stark reminder the importance of such skills.

But I thought only evil Republicans engagaed in ballot tampering

2006-08-08T21:40:00.000-05:00

Apparently, Cynthia McKinney thinks some Democrats (like the one who is beating the pants off her in today's run-off elecetion) do it too.

Cynthia, try not to let the door hit you (or your thugs) on the way out.

Depression . . .

2006-08-01T13:11:00.000-05:00

is a dark and ugly thing. Self-doubt, anxiety, and apathy spring from it. It is a black hole waiting to suck the unwary into it's grasp.

Sigh. In short, going through it is not a lot of fun.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

2006-07-25T15:56:00.000-05:00

A senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrilla group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of two Israeli soldiers.

In other words, they were used to Westerners cowering in fear rather than muscularly responding.

Here's hoping Israel finishes the job against Hezbollah.

Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager

2006-07-19T07:57:00.000-05:00

Heh.
""

Funerals are always such a drag

2006-07-17T15:53:00.000-05:00

I just got back from Tulsa, my old stomping grounds. On Saturday, we buried my uncle, Robert Todd. It was a surreal experience.

Robert was my aunt's third husband, and the only one who was worth a spit. He accepted her children as his own, and, indeed, decided to forego having natural children to focus on raising hers.

He was also a good lawyer, rising from nothing to become the leading bankruptcy attorney in Oklahoma in little more than a decade. He loved boats, family, and was always a great host at family parties. He died of cancer after a very short illness.

I didn't know Robert as well as I would have liked, but I know that he was a good husband for my aunt (who otherwise had terrible taste in men) and a good father for my cousins. He will be missed.

Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and Iran: Critical Mass in the Middle East

2006-07-13T22:50:00.000-05:00

Wretchard has posted an interesting argument which suggests that Iranian ground troops are actively helping Hezbollah with the missile attacks against Israel.

Israel, in the mean time, seems to have adopted half of an effective strategy: if a country allows terrorists to operate within their borders and attack a neighbor, the host country should pay a high price. An Israeli general has indicated that the goal is to set Lebanon back 20 years by attacking various infrastructure targets.

IMHO, that should tactic is incomplete. Political leaders who actively support terrorists (I'm thinking specifically of Iranian president Ahmadenijad) should pay a high personal price, too. I would be neither surprised nor upset to learn of Israeli air strikes against both the Iranian nuclear plants and the Iranian political leadership.

The mob called it 'sending a message.' It is effective -- and forces the politicians to accept some personal responsibility for supporting terrorists.

I hope mine is as eloquent.

2006-07-11T00:48:00.000-05:00

Best. Obituary. Ever.
Frederic Arthur (Fred) Clark, who had tired of reading obituaries noting other's courageous battles with this or that disease, wanted it known that he lost his battle as a result of an automobile accident on June 18, 2006. True to Fred's personal style, his final hours were spent joking with medical personnel while he whimpered, cussed, begged for narcotics and bargained with God to look over his wife and kids. He loved his family. His heart beat faster when his wife of 37 years Alice Rennie Clark entered the room and saddened a little when she left. His legacy was the good works performed by his sons, Frederic Arthur Clark III and Andrew Douglas Clark MD, PhD., along with Andy's wife, Sara Morgan Clark. Fred's back straightened and chest puffed out when he heard the Star Spangled Banner and his eyes teared when he heard Amazing Grace. He wouldn't abide self important tight *censored*. Always an interested observer of politics, particularly what the process does to its participants, he was amused by politician's outrage when we lie to them and amazed at what the voters would tolerate. His final wishes were "throw the bums out and don't elect lawyers" (though it seems to make little difference). During his life he excelled at mediocrity. He loved to hear and tell jokes, especially short ones due to his limited attention span. He had a life long love affair with bacon, butter, cigars and bourbon. You always knew what Fred was thinking much to the dismay of his friend and family. His sons said of Fred, "he was often wrong, but never in doubt". When his family was asked what they remembered about Fred, they fondly recalled how Fred never peed in the shower - on purpose. He died at MCV Hospital and sadly was deprived of his final wish which was to be run over by a beer truck on the way to the liquor store to buy booze for a double date to include his wife, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter to crash an ACLU cocktail party. In lieu of flowers, Fred asks that you make a sizable purchase at your local ABC store or Virginia winery (please, nothing French - the *censored*) and get rip roaring drunk at home with someone you love or hope to make love to. Word of caution though, don't go out in public to drink because of the alcohol related laws our elected officials have passed due to their inexplicable terror at the sight of a MADD lobbyist and overwhelming compulsion to meddle in our lives. No funeral or service is planned. However, a party will be held to celebrate Fred's life. It will be held in Midlothian, Va. Email fredsmemory@yahoo.com for more information. Fred's ashes will be fired from his favorite cannon at a private party on the Great Wicomico River where he had a home for 25 years. Additionally, all of Fred's friend (sic) will be asked to gather in a phone booth, to be designated in the future, to have a drink and wonder, "Fred who?"
I'll raise a glass to your memory, Fred. You're the kind of guy I aspire to someday become. Prost!
Hat tip, Ace of Spades.

Islamic Extremists Conduct 'Test Run' Against AIrpot Security; Police, TSA Argue amongst selves

2006-07-10T09:22:00.000-05:00

So, a guy with hollowed out tennis shoes, a clock with a 9 volt battery taped to it, and a copy of the Koran attempts to board an airplane . . . and is allowed after a few questions from local police.

Once the story comes out, the TSA and local police argue over who allowed the man on the plane.

Sigh. How many more will die before bureaucrats get serious?

Just looking for a better life II

2006-07-03T00:19:00.000-05:00

These two young men ran a young lady off the road, then kidnapped, raped, beat and stabbed her. They left her for dead in the middle of nowhere.

Both are here illegally. This crime would not have occurred had we simply enforced our existing immigration laws and secured our border.

but we shouldn't worry about that. They're just here looking for a better life, right?

Just looking for a better life, right?

2006-06-27T19:15:00.000-05:00

We are often told that illegal aliens are "just looking for a better life". We are told that seeking stricter border controls and harsher penalties for immigration violations is racist.

Tell that to Christopher Maier, Leafie Mason, Claudia Benton, Norman J. Sirnic, Karen Sirnic, Noemi Dominguez, Josephine Konvicka, George Morber Senior, Carolyn Frederick, Jesse Howell, Wendy VonHuben, and Michael White.

They all died at the hands of "undocumented worker" Angel Maturino Resendiz, a Mexican national and murderous thug who was was deported 17 times and sentenced to prison or jail seven times.

Tonight, thanks to the State of Texas (and despite the efforts of the Mexican diplomatic corps),. he'll be put down.

Didn't happen soon enough, IMHO.

The Nightmare of Cancelling AOL - BREAK.com

2006-06-22T11:07:00.000-05:00

Hilarious. And frustrating.

It's my dog, what's the problem?

2006-06-21T17:50:00.000-05:00

Sick. Very sick.

Powerful story

2006-06-21T14:08:00.000-05:00

The Rocky Mountain Times consistently delivers some very powerful news stories. This link is to a story about Major Steve Beck, the United States Marine officer in charge of casualty notification for the Marine Corps at Buckley Air Force Base.

Be sure to watch the entire slide show.

Brothers in arms, indeed.

Democrat activists respond to the recovery of the two missing soldiers' bodies

2006-06-20T12:41:00.000-05:00

What planet are these guys on?
Binka does his level best to respond rationally:

OK [CENSORED] do we have to rip the WH fence down to get you to listen. Bring them home NOW. I am so furious I could rip * apart with my teeth.

Warren Stupidity cuts right to the chase and demands immediate surrender in Iraq: How about we get out of there now. Before any more of our kids are killed for some damn lie.

VolcanoJen adds her own "reasoning" -- the other side is barbaric, so we need to retreat: They were likely beheaded by al-Muhajer...

This war is barbaric. Bring them home now!!

The aptly named AngryOldDem cuts to the chase and demands we "cut and run":

This has got to stop. Call it "cut-and-run" or whatever the [CENSORED] you want. THIS. HAS. GOT. TO. STOP.

WHERE is the public outrage over this?????

A somewhat wiser moonbat, Auntie Bush, thinks AngryOldDem's policy needs a better name:We should call/frame the issue "stop-the-killing"---Not "cut an run"
This sounds good...Ask, What would you rather do, "stay-the-course" or
"stop-the-killing?" The answer is simple!

And finally, the aptly named "Disturbed" offers some advice to the terrorists:

The better thing would have been to keep these soldiers for awhile and to have made a statement that they are being treated as POWs with Geneva Accords treatment. Maybe they couldn't keep them though with the massive hunt for them and $100K reward for info. Killing them was not only shameful and wrong but foolish.

Who the heck are these people? Self-described Democrat activists who don't grasp the concept that politics should end at the waters edge. Raving moonbats who are, whether they know it or not, largely responsible for the image many Americans have of the modern Democrat party as an untrustworthy organization who lacks the judgment and ability to handle issues of national security.

Unfortunately, this lack of leadership ability from the Democrats has allowed Republicans to govern without any reasonable political pressure from either the Republican base or the public in general. Republican politicians don't have to worry about adhering to the principles that got them elected because Republicans know the average voter has nowhere else to go. If you have to elect someone to guard the gate from barbarians, and the choices are between the drunk who currently stands guard and who, though a drunk, is willing to at least show up, and a schizophrenic weasel who not only will fail to show up, but actively supports tearing down the gate, for whom would you vote? The drunk isn't an ideal candidate; heck, he isn't even a good candidate. Problem is, the alternative is even worse.

Right and wrong

2006-06-19T13:45:00.000-05:00

A high school valedictorian's graduation speech was cut short because she wanted to thank Jesus Christ for her success. The school justified cutting her off on the grounds that it "violated the separation of church and state."

Her response is both accurate and naive. "People aren't stupid and they know we have freedom of speech and the district wasn't advocating my ideas," McComb said. "Those are my opinions."
That's an accurate statement. Nobody seriously believes that the school district was embracing the positions espoused in a student's graduation speech.

But it is naive, too. It seems to me that most liberals govern from teh positions of "I know better than you." This explains many liberal policies -- anti-smoking crusades, inane workplace regulations, mandatory universal health care, opposition to allowing people to privatize a portion of their social security payments, etc.

Perhaps some conservatives go too far in the opposite direction. It seems to me, however, that when faced with the choice of either regulating and controlling people's lives and granting them more autonomy to make their own decisions, one should generally grant the autonomy.

Irony, thy name is Amarillo

2006-06-17T15:56:00.000-05:00

If one of your hometown kids places in the top ten at the national spelling bee, and you decide to honor that special person with a "congratulations" sign, you ought to at least SPELL HER NAME CORRECTLY!

Just a thought.

Regulators gone wild

2006-06-15T10:53:00.000-05:00

Thanks to overzealous state regulators in the Texas Department of State Health Services, six foot high dives are becoming a thing of the past in Texas. Some pools are being forced to remove diving boards that have been in use for decades (and without causing any serious injuries in that time).

The new laws are in administrative codes setting new slope and depth requirements for public pools to have diving boards. Sounds reasonable, until you really look at the real world effects: almost no existing pools meet the requirements.

What the heck is happening to our society? We have become so risk averse (probably a reaction to overlitigiousness in the 1970's to 1990's) that we don't want to allow our kids to have any fun.

When I was a kid growing up in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, I spent many a summer day at the city swimming pool. Back then, it had a twelve foot high diving board (a terrifying height to a kid in second grade). I can remember my first jump off that board -- the thrill, the exhilaration, the hard smack of the water off my head and shoulders when I did my first head-first dive. It was one of those childhood moments one remembers for a lifetime.

The gurus in the Texas bureaucracy want to take that away. They say it's not safe. Someone could get hurt. They point to a Washington lawsuit in which a plaintiff successfully sued a pool manufacturer. The man was paralyzed after diving into a backyard swimming pool.

I sure hope nobody tells the Texas Department of State Health Services that people can drown in public swimming pools. I'd hate to see a new regulation banning the use of water in public pools.

Moonbats react to story that Karl Rove won't be indicted

2006-06-13T08:48:00.000-05:00

One can always count on the loons at the Democratic Underground for a few laughs. Today's laughs come from a thread containing reaction to the news that Karl Rove will not be indicted in the Valerie Plame leak case:

No Exit knows what the REAL deal is:

The fix is in.

rodeodance is overwhelmed:

oh my GAWD!! no no no!

Skittles is merely jealous:

that bastard gets away with everything doesn't he?

The Witch loses her childlike innocence:

There is no Santy Claus, is there, Mommy?

zanne asks the right question, but comes up with the wrong answer:

So will we stop being so damned naive now?
When the Libby indictment came down, I was very disappointed and said so. I was practically blown off the website by people who said I was spreading "gloom and doom". (By the way, I don't see these people posting this morning).
We have to STOP LOOKING FOR A HERO! Nobody is willing to step up to the plate, and nobody is going to ride in on a white horse. WE'RE THE HEROES. And until we recognize that, get up off our asses and get involved and rescue this country ourselves, it ain't gonna happen. It's just not that simple. And PLEASE don't bore me with statements like "Well, maybe there are other plans".....
We have to stop guessing about what our "leaders" have in mind in an ultra-secret plan to save our asses. WE have to be the leaders.

PCIntern is succinct:

Sissy doody crap...
@#$^%$#^%$.

That's all I have to say in the matter . . .

JudgeSmails invokes al Zarquawi's fate:

This is what it must feel like to get a 500 lb. bomb dropped on you. I was so hoping that Leopold was correct. Why, why, why!!! We need to get these bastards and soon.

rodeodance enters therapy:

I thought I was phychologically prepared for this, but I am not. What a
blow!

Demeter is one of my favorites: despair, anguish, desperate hope, and finally, understanding:

My Heart Is Broken, My Spirit Crushed, My Faith in America Destroyed
On the other hand, I am sure that there are numerous other criminal enterprises that Kkkarl has participated in, so we just have to keep digging. Perhaps Fitz is doing just that--he has the license to do so.

Or am I approaching the definition of insanity, here?

The answer, my dear Demeter, is "No."

One cannot approach insanity when one is already insane.

Were I Shaq, I'd have avoided the media, too

2006-06-12T08:26:00.000-05:00

Shaquille O'Neal has been fined $10,000 for failing to make himself available to the media following the Miami Heat's 99-85 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, the National Basketball Association announced.

The 34-year-old O'Neal had a career playoff low of five points in Sunday's Game Two of the NBA Finals at the American Airlines Center.

Shaq has played like crap throughout this series. He can't even buy a point at the free throw line. I don't know what is going on, but I'm loving it.

President Bush's victories receiving little attention

2006-06-07T09:06:00.000-05:00

In other news, the sun is hot and bright; rainfall, cold and wet.

Sigh.

This man is much more dangerous than many realize.

2006-05-30T08:35:00.000-05:00

Read the entire holocaust-denying, moral relativism embracing, nuclear-armament justifying interview. This man is a clear and present danger to the peace and stability of the world.

While I am a firm believer in Godwin's law, there are times when it is inappropriate. This is one of those times.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a cunning zealot with delusional visions of world conquest and global manipulation. He reminds me, more than any other politician of the past fifty years, of a nascent Adolf Hitler. The West will dismiss or ignore him at its peril.

Report of Gunshots on Capitol Hill

2006-05-26T12:24:00.000-05:00

This smells like a probe or test of security reaction time to me.

But then again, I worry too much.

UPDATE:

Like I said, I worry too much.

Calling for enforcement of existing laws= "fueling the problem"

2006-05-24T09:58:00.000-05:00

according to John McCain.

NYO - News Story 1: [McCain] cautioned against ghettoizing immigrants, which he noted has brought about disastrous results in France, and criticized elements in his own party as "nativist" before lambasting the punditry of Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs and Michael Savage for helping to "fuel the problem," according to two of the sources.

Umm, did I miss someting? I don't know of ANYONE in mainstream conservative circles that is calling for "ghettoizing immigrants". What most conservatives want are border controls and enforcement of existing immigration laws. McCain, however, wants to pander to illegal immigrants and sell out his party's base in the process.

Sigh. This is yet another reason that I will NEVER cast a vote for John McCain. I don't particularly care if that means Hillary gets elected -- I'd rather face a failed liberal Democrat presidency than see McCain destroy the conservative wing of the Republican Party.

And you thought Krystal Nacht was passe . . .

2006-05-19T09:55:00.000-05:00

Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.

Meanwhile, Bush, Chirac and Blair are all auditioning for the role of Chamberlain at Munich. Will any of them be foolish enough to announce they have achieved "peace in our time?"

Well, this pretty much undermines everything I learned as a child . . .

2006-05-19T09:23:00.000-05:00

about the police.

WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara
Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins
reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while
they were asking for directions
.
"In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a
concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said.

They were lost and asking a police officer for directions . . .

Read the whole thing.

My wife is on television . . .

2006-05-17T09:32:00.000-05:00

Pretty cool.

My wife teaches at a private school funded by the Dallas Salesmanship Club (a group of very successful area businessmen who donate time and resources to various charitable programs, including the school). The students at the academy typically score very well on state and national achievement tests. They also tend to do well in high school (the academy is only for grades K-6) and often go on to college.

It is a remarkable success rate for an inner city school.

Anyway, this is a screenshot from the report. Amy is helping one of her kids while the others work on their project by planting seeds. Amy is the tall one in the white dress and green top. 8^)

Not that I'm proud of her or anything . . .

Just when I think things can't get any worse over here . . .

2006-05-16T11:55:00.000-05:00

I am reminded how bad things are getting elsewhere.

Take Great Britain, for example. Apparently, if you are accused of rape in Great Britain, you can go free while awaiting trial (as long as you promise to stay home during the evening hours).

Sigh. This animal will only face two or three years of real prison time once convicted. What is wrong with this picture?

This picture sums up my feelings

2006-05-16T10:36:00.000-05:00

about President Bush's speech last night.

I can not continue to support a President or political party which is unwilling to secure our borders and actively work to stop illegal immigration and reduce the incentives for coming to the country illegally. Illegal immigrants already in the United States should face deportation, not a ticket to become a citizen (for a certain fee, of course).

Sigh. Most depressing. Bush is out of step with his party and the American people on this issue. His handling of immigration, more so than any other issue, may cost the Republicans the House of Representatives in November. And if the Republicans in the Congress can't face that fact, they deserve to lose it.

Of my two boys. . .

2006-05-08T09:59:00.000-05:00

I feel closest to my oldest son -- he looks most like me, acts and thinks most like me, and enjoys many of the same interests I had as a boy. Unfortunately, he also has my temper and deals with anger about as well as I do.

This weekend, he told me I was his idol.

Wow. Is that a burden or what? I want so desperately for him to be happy, but not spoiled; content, but not ambivalent; loved, but not smothered. Every day I worry that I am screwing up my role as a father (not only for him, but for my other kids, too). I am, quite frankly, a grumpy old man with a very short fuse. I am also an only child and feel completely inept at raising my kids. I thank God every day for my wife, who is one of the best moms and teachers I know.

I pray about these things a lot, but not nearly enough.

Weight Loss Challenge II

2006-05-06T13:01:00.000-05:00

Today was our first weigh-in. Sans clothing (there's an ugly visual), I'm at 223.5; she's at 160.0.

I'll be posting regular reports. The tricksy MrsSpkr waited until the morning after I cooked a rack of beef ribs (barbecue is a major weakness), then fixed biscuits with chocolate gravy for breakfast today (another major weakness). In short, she isn't fighting fair.

I'll retaliate with chocolate for Mother's Day.

One more thing -- the Prize. An all-expense paid weekend away for the winner (loser stays home with the kids). I'm thinking about DC; she's set for the beach.

Can the Rangers be any more irrelevant?

2006-05-06T12:43:00.000-05:00

The Texas Rangers, that is. Michelle Malkin reports on the Ranger's new uniform for the opening game of their series with the Yankees. Here's a picture:

Look closely at the uniform logo. "Los Rangers"? What the hell is management thinking? I mean, it's not as though Rangers' management are the sharpest tools in the shed anyway. They never can quite understand that having big hitters isn't enough if your pitching sucks. They've become baseball's version of the 1980's Miami Dolphins teams -- able to score high numbers every game and still lose.

Until recently, however, I haven't perceived them as being completely tone deaf in regards to the fans. Oh sure, there was that whole "let's pay Alex Rodriguez $220 million, then trade him within a year" business, but I thought that was just an extension of the "we love hitters, not pitchers" philosophy that has been around since Nolan Ryan retired.

But now, Ranger's management not only appear to step square into the middle of a hot political fray, but choose to do so in a manner that would put them at odds with a majority of Americans! What, if anything, are they thinking?

To paraphrase Will Rogers . . .

2006-05-06T12:27:00.000-05:00

the nice thing about our local newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, is that it doesn't try to burden readers with both sides of the story.

Fisking this article is pointless. We all know the issues. It would be nice if a "news story" would refrain from editorial comments and inflammatory headlines and simply report facts.

Like father . . .

2006-05-04T17:45:00.000-05:00

like son?

Lottery Number Sources Part III

2006-05-04T09:10:00.000-05:00

Kristin Campbell was having a great time at her best friend's wedding in Houston when she was struck in the arm by a bullet. The bullet was fired into the sky by an angry man over a mile from the wedding party. The round broke through a window and struck Ms. Campbell just as she was preparing to chase the bride's bouquet. Ms. Campbell was not seriously injured.

Wow.

What.the.$#&*^?

2006-05-03T19:38:00.000-05:00

I am a lawyer. I've been licensed for four years. Before that, I worked in law firms for five years. I did well in law school, and I passed the bar on my first try. I follow legal matters as a hobby. I would say that I am fairly well versed in the law.

But I still don't understand how some juries reach the conclusions they do.

Take, for example, the jury that was considering the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui. How does a jury UNANIMOUSLY find that the government has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt

That the actions of defendant, ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI, resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000 people?

while finding that the government has proved, beyond a reasonable doubt,

That the actions of the defendant, ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI, resulted in serious physical and emotional injuries, including maiming, disfigurement, and permanent disability, to numerous individuals who survived the offense?

and

That the Government has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the actions of defendant, ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI, were intended to cause, and in fact did cause tremendous disruption to the function of the City of New York and its economy as evinced by the following: . . .
The deaths of 343 members of the New York City Fire Department, including the majority of its upper management
. . .
The deaths of 37 Port Authority officers [and] The deaths of 38 Port Authority civilian employees
. . .
the deaths of 23 New York City police officers
. . .
The deaths of 3 New York state court officers
. . .
The death of 1 Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
. . .
The death of 1 Master Special Officer of the United States Secret Service
. . . [and]
The destruction of approximately 12 million square feet of office space.

and

That the actions of defendant, ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI, were intended to cause, and in fact did cause, tremendous disruption to the function of the Pentagon as evidenced by the following:
The destruction of the Naval Operations Center and the loss of the majority of its staff
. . .
The destruction of the Naval Intelligence Plot and the loss of the majority of its staff
. . .
The destruction of the Army Resource Management Center and the loss of its staff
. . .
[and] The destruction of 400,000 square feet and the damage of over 1 million square feet of office space.

How the heck can one rationalize these conflicting positions?

Oh yeah, that's right.

You can't.

Very frustrating.

Even more frustrating are the so-called "mitigating circumstances". Here, the jury heard, and at least some accepted, that some of the following constitute Mitigating Factors that should weigh against imposition of the death penalty:
(F) That ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI believes that his execution will be part of his Jihad and will provide him with the rewards attendant to a martyr's death.
So, if he next believes that the most evil punishment anyone could give him would be to force him to eat steak once a day for the rest of his life, we should immediately begin lining up herds of cattle to "punish" him?
(H) That ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI . . . [had] a hostile relationship with his mother.
And this makes him different from any number of other people how?
(I) That ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI's father had a violent temper and physically and emotionally abused his family.
Which of course explains why Moussaoui felt he was justified in murdering a large number of total strangers.
(J) That ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI's father abandoned Zacarias and his siblings, leaving Zacarias's mother to support and raise their children on her own.
Wait a second. I though Moussaoui's father "had a violent temper and physically and emotionally abused his family"? Wouldn't his abandoning his family be a good thing?
(K) That ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI was subject to racism as a youngster . . .
Of course, this is the reason Condoleeza Rice periodically cruises the back alleys of Washington, D.C., murdering transients to relieve the anxiety caused by the racism she was subjected to as a youngster, right?
(M) That ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI's two sisters and his father all suffered from psychotic illnesses.
If this is a factor, shouldn't we lock those folks up, too, as a preventative public health measure?

The Special Verdict Form continues in this vein for several pages. This is ridiculous. If the guy caused the deaths damages that the jury UNANIMOUSLY AGREED he caused, how can the jury fail to find him culpable for the 3,000 deaths related to 9-11?

My guess is that you had 1-3 juror holdouts who were simply unwilling to go along with the death penalty. If so, they should have disclosed their visceral opposition to imposing the death penalty during voir dire. They had no business being on this jury because they were incapable of being impartial jurors due to their bias. I find it incredible to believe that the jury failed to impose the death penalty if Moussaoui did the things the jury unanimously agreed he did. If not in this case, then when?

Earl Woods, R.I.P.

2006-05-03T16:25:00.000-05:00

The Big "C" finally caught up with Earl Woods, who died today at 74.

I mention this because Mr. Woods is one of my Dead Pool picks -- and the first one to die. I picked him primarily for two reasons -- (1) he had prostate cancer that didn't seem to be getting better, and (2) he was ill enough to miss a major tournament Tiger appeared in last fall.

I now have 81 Dead Pool points, and am in 9th place.

Steve

P.S. Is this all morbid? You bet, but it is my way of dealing with that which all must eventually face.

Another visit on immigration . . .

2006-05-03T16:08:00.000-05:00

Several major lobbying groups want the cheap labor that illegal immigration provides. Agricultural companies want cheap manual labor. So does the construction industry. Ditto the retail and fast food industries. Illegal immigration is nothing more than another governmental subsidy to these industries.

These industries provide millions to the election campaigns of these career politicians. Is it any wonder that many career politicians are unwilling to irritate these donors?

Were politicians serious about immigration, they would pass the House bill as an initial measure to protect the borders. To address the long-term situation, I favor allowing private citizens to bring qui tam actions against corporations and individuals who violate federal immigration laws. If we privatize the enforcement of immigration law, allowing private citizens to hold companies responsible (and removing some responsibility for enforcement from wishy-washy politicians), we might well make some significant headway in the fight to eliminate the incentives to illegal immigrants.

I've posted on this before. I still think it is worth discussing.

(Cross posted in comments at Right Wing News).

Somewhere, Alex P. Keaton is crying

2006-05-03T13:44:00.000-05:00

Louis Rukeyser, R.I.P.

Weight Loss Challenge I

2006-05-01T10:47:00.000-05:00

Amy and I have challenged each other to a weight loss contest. I'm not sure what the winner gets, but we have until August 1, 2006, to see who can lose the most weight. I'll be posting my diet, exercise, and other tidbits here from time to time (as well as my weight) as a sort of progress report.

Weigh in is this evening. My goal is to lose 40 pounds (dropping to the mid-190's). We'll see what happens.

Is that a wad of cash in your g-string or are you just happy to see me?

2006-05-01T10:32:00.000-05:00

Anna Nicole Smith, the young widow of her beloved husband, J. Howard Marshall II. Smith married Marshall in 1994. She was 26, he was 89. But they were in love, according to Smith (who openly wept in the Supreme Court chambers when her late husband's death was discussed during oral arguments last February).

The complicated legal proceedings can be described as follows: Boy meets girl. Boy marries girl. Boy dies, leaving an estate worth an estimated $1.6 billion. Boy's son sues girl in Texas to exclude girl from will. Boy's son wins, and girl gets nada.

Meanwhile, girl goes into bankruptcy in California. Bankruptcy judge awards girl $450 million, or the amount that stock in boy's company increased during boy and girl's 14 month marriage. Boy's son appeals, challenging jurisdiction. The circuit court rules the bankruptcy court had no jurisdiction and zeroes out girl. Girl appeals, cries, and gets the Supreme Court to overturn the Circuit Court decision. Boy's son and girl go back to the bankruptcy judge to try the remainder of the case.

And the lawyers all lived happily ever after.

The end.

Heh.

2006-04-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

I just wonder if I'll run into an ex . . .