Chalk it up to Ignorance

These chalk outlines are supposed to remind us how horrible we were to drop the two big ones. I am always amused by this sort of arrogant self righteous camera snorkeling. Just what are these people protesting, year after year, with this showboating visual invective? An event that was inevitable, to get there faces pasted into the news, that's what.




What these villiage idiots really want to draw a chalk line around are these boys. This is precisely what the result would have been, had we relented in our duty. The key to winning a war is killing them, not us.




Maybe between lattes and Nikons, they can squeeze their milky scribes between these poor souls.

Outlines of us, had we lost WWII.

It does not look like there is a lot of room for chalk, to me.

Pro Multiple Choice

Over at the WSJ opinion section, NARAL is reported to be launching an ad campaign against the Roberts nomination.

The ad focuses on a friend-of-the-court brief then-deputy Solicitor General Roberts filed in 1991 in the Supreme Court case Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic. It accuses Judge Roberts of siding with "violent fringe groups and a convicted clinic bomber," and urges viewers to call their Senators to oppose his confirmation. It concludes: "America can't afford a justice whose ideology leads him to excuse violence against other Americans."

Roberts did not support any violence.

Meanwhile...

Over at the Dawn Patrol, Planned Parenthood has cobbled together a wonderful little cartoon video 'A Superhero for Choice' which features suffocation and dismemberment of right to life people (Reported on Savage, no doubt stolen from bloggers.)


I don't have a stong position on abortion, but I do have a strong position on simultaneous hippocrisy from the left. Insolublog!

Impending Travel and Freedom

The Centcom site is reporting the near...

Completion of Kandahar to Tarin Kowt Road

None of us should forget how much we depend on our roads for commerce and the health of our economy. Hats off to the Army engineers for completing this task ahead of schedule.
Meanwhile...
Over in Venezuela, 300 US students, probably paying their tuition with your hard earned tax scratch, were snuggling up to Hugo Chavez.

More than 300 students from the United States shouted out their disapproval of President Bush, chanting "Get out Bush!"
The Venezuelan leader said "socialism is the only path," and told the students the collective goal is to "save a world threatened by the voracity of U.S. imperialism."

Afghanistan, free to move away from U.S. imperialism, on a road we built for them. You have got to love the left. Insolublog!

Warning: Shameless Blog Prostitution

Mmm. There's nothing like a steaming cup of hot Phat...



Tony,

You know your the only one who has seen the batcave. That being said,

Let's talk about your serious breach of compassionate conservatism, chronicled by PoP, in his heart rending comment over at Mike Fitch's site Radioactive Liberty.

Give the poor, nearly blind (can't even fill out the profile!) old man a shirt. If the head swelling has gone down, you have the opportunity to give him yours!

The first of many recipients of your lifetime of respect,
Insolublog

Sick of The Culture Argument

There are evil people in this world. That is a fact. No amount of analysis and application of understanding and sympathy will change this. It is not in the nature of true evil that
it be transformed.

Suicide bombers are religiously programmed automatons. They cannot be reasoned with by compassion, love and understanding. They are evil by design, often crafted during the tender years of youth. Once gestated, these meticulously pruned flora drift from their trunks on thin threads of loose relationships, cultivated rage and misdirected passion. They bob about, waiting for an infusion of political pollen to trigger their deadly blossom. We must rage against these machines.

Being told we need to analyze the problem within ourselves, makes me ill. We have problems like everybody else. That's life. All human beings have to live with it, or take action to change it. It is a false belief that someday all human beings will live in a social utopia. This impossible ideal completely negates the truth that human beings learn relevant life lessons by suffering through those lessons. Take away the suffering, takes away the learning. It's a simple, elegant analysis. Our total suffering is the sum of good and evil.

We need the suffering that teaches us good lessons and enhances our creativity and community. We need to remove the suffering that does not serve this purpose. When a subset of the human community decides that the formula for action is to terrorize and murder those they disagree with, instead of engaging in peacefully protest, That problem does not stem from us. It stems from them. Terror only serves the terrorists, for the brief time they live amongst us.

Our freedoms, our indulgences, our creative energy and the might of our civilization are a threat to those who govern their people with fear, misery and the suppression of free thought. These are the tools of these terror driven theocracies. Our creative energies may solicit these responses, they can never serve to soothe these beasts. Beating and suppressing the basic human rights of women, children and animals are part of the formula for governance in these nations. They rule by fear. When their people wail from their burdens, these same rulers blame America for the woes of their people, convincing them through propaganda that our decadent culture is the hungry monster consuming their lives and livelihoods, not the bestiality and greed of their own leadership. This is not unhealthy social tissue to be healed by compassion. It is a brutal aggressive carcinoma to be excised surgically by a policy of action and post-action triage.

Finally, freedom is not a self-renewing resource. It is a fragile crop, which requires careful tending and cultivation. If I have the choice of a fragile peace, fraught with suspicion and fear, or the destruction of these terror merchants, I choose the latter. I choose it unilaterally. Some of the worst decisions in history are made by poor compromise of committee, when conditions scream and beg for justice and honor, but actual decisions and actions become diluted and dispersed by misguided diplomacy.

Sleep Tight

I hope all the howler monkeys dancing in UK streets in 1996/97 are sleeping well with those sweeping private citizen gun bans.

I sure would be, after this British intelligence report, and this AP story, warning of massive numbers of trained Islamist militants, drinking tea, watching the BBC, just waiting for Jihad to set them free.

h.t. to LGF

Normal Prison Fare

Once again, in the article Records Detail Inmate Fights at Guantanamo, Ben Fox over at AP has made it a point to state the obvious, then try to make an issue out of it.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Detainees at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have clashed at least 16 times, including one man who claims he has been beaten by fellow prisoners because he practices a different form of Islam than the majority at the camp.

Just more of that wonderful religious tolerance CAIR is always touting. If this is true, how can the Guardian and AP claim this was religious violence, inspired by Bush and Blair, because of the political situation between Islam and the West?

None of the incidents resulted in life-threatening injuries to the detainees at the center for U.S. terror suspects, according to the documents, which were obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

I'm so glad the AP is spending all that lawsuit money in the interest of international subhuman rights.

In one incident, two detainees fought after one accused the other of lying to military interrogators about him. In another, detainees threw water and feces at each other repeatedly in a dispute after one sang during the evening Muslim prayer call.

If any openings occur in the Oregon primate exhibit, these guys should consider submitting a resume. I am positive they would draw a crowd.

In a third, a fight broke out between two men after one accused the other of insulting his family.

What did he say? Yo mama takes off her burqa?

Military censors have blacked out names and other identifying details of detainees, U.S. troops or other witnesses...

You don't Say! With people like Reuters, AP, BBC, and the NYT out there, what do these troops and witnesses have to fear?

It is not clear from the documents whether the detainees were disciplined, but officials at the Navy base have said that inmates who break rules can be segregated, placed in more restrictive settings or lose access to such comforts as chess boards provided by the military.

No problem. They can fashion new chess pieces out of their ample supply of feces.

In a case that prompted an investigation, one detainee told military authorities that he was beaten by inmates and had urine thrown at him because he is a Shiite Muslim and most of the approximately 500 other prisoners are Sunni.

Of course they used urine. Throwing Shiite at him would be like pooping on poop.
Hat tip to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

Another inmate claimed that he was beaten and threatened by other inmates because "high-ranking" detainees believed he was a spy. Military authorities found no evidence of any assaults involving the detainee and concluded there was no evidence to back his claims, the documents show.

The 'high-ranking' detainees must be the scum behind the scum; Those who have the most egregious social orientation (and feces).

The U.S. government began shipping suspected terrorists to Guantanamo in early 2002 and the camp has held some 700 prisoners from 45 countries since it opened. The government announced this week that it planned to transfer some 110 Afghans at the prison back to their home country.

It's a prison folks! We have evil, incarcerated barbarians, working out a pecking order. Where is the story here? The only reason I can figure, for the mere existence of this article, is to garner anti-US sentiment. period.

What would Wonka call it?

When I was a child, I went to a summer wedding reception. Most kids hate these things. With nerves not dulled by years, worries and the attenuation of age, kids always tend to absorb anything, in the situation, which engages their senses.

The scene was permeated with nostalgic wedding music, blended with the stumbling murmur of adult conversation and muted laughter. There was a steady background chorus of beer tab pops and the wind chime twinkle of ice, spinning in clear amber and dark milky drinks. Red straws marked the landscape in places where the sharp fumes of scotch, bourbon and brandy were blooming out. This was a tiered landscape of slate wall tops, wire framed chairs, and the smoky, bubbly surface of patio table glass.

With summer leather skin, glistening in the tropical reek of Coppertone marinade, the adults would approach with arms outstretched. They pinched your cheeks with bony fingers that had twisted lemon and lime wedges and juggled powdered wedding pastries. They would bend down and kiss you with bright waxy lipstick, venting dragon's breath laced with garlic, stale cigarettes and the ubiquitous cocktail.

In this purgatory of childhood boredom, I encountered a dessert, I have never been able to name.

It looked like brownies at first. And, please, no jokes about those special brownies we have all heard of. These did not belong to a category frowned on by the Federal government. In fact, this dessert only resembled brownies from a distance.

This wonder started life as hard baked sponge. This must have been dessicated in a slow heat, purging all moisture, leaving a dark tan mummified crisp. The rigid template, which would be humble and unremarkable by itself, was then draped in a cascade of warm chocolate. The fluid permeated the entire crisp bubbled lattice. The confection was then entombed by a chocolate caramel cloak. This was cooled to a chewy membrane, which to the casual eye, only
hinted the nature of the texture beneath.

In this deceptive attire, the hard sponge was transformed. When you bit into it, it would yield like honeycomb swollen with honey. The nerves of your mouth would instantly retreat in the bittersweet liquor of rich chocolate, sugar, butterfat and flavors. The astringent aroma would rush up your sinuses, begging tears to form. Once enticed, your mouth would race back from the pucker and bath itself in the flavor and texture of the dessert. Everywhere your tongue probed the morsel, it would collapse, releasing the pores filled with chocolate glory.

This was the kind of experience to widen a child's eyes. It stifled all the distracting intrusions of the adults. The next time you see a child at a wedding party, transfixed on a dessert, licking fingers in silence, ask them if they liked it. And please, give their mother the recipe.

A Burning Question

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is urging us to eliminate nuclear weapons in the interests of human survival.

Hmm. I wonder what we could do with excess nukes, which would improve the human condition?

(That is, besides scrapping the word 'scrapping' from the article title, or sending them to the moon.)

See the Netscape/CNN news story posted byMatt Drudge,
Scrapping nukes vital for human survival.

Right House Press Briefing

This is a totally fabricated Insolublog dialogue, fielding Monday's questions from the white house press corps on the Bolton Nomination and recess appointment. Our guest press secretary, sitting in for the mild Scott McClellan, is the honorable Donald Rumsfeld. We enter the briefing already in progress...


..Setting aside the question of the merits, or demerits of Ambassador Bolton, --just that aside-- , the reality now is he goes up there without Senate confirmation. Does the President regret this in a sense, and does he feel that Bolton's efficiency up there, his effectiveness is going to be damaged by not having confirmation?


You really don't want to set aside the question of merits do you? I can see you are itching to badger this candidate with irrelevant minutiae, aren't you son?

Are you suggesting that leaving this post unmanned, for months of Senate bickering, is more efficient than a recess appointment? The President doesn't share this view. Neither do I.




How do you square that position with the opposition from folks like George Voinovich?




With all due respect to yourself, Voinovich is a invertebrate. Let me keep going on the first row, and then I'll come back to you, Carl. Terry, you had something.






A lot of people say that he was very sharp with subordinates and that he was tough and too hard on them. Does he intend to moderate his behavior in this new job?







Before you swoop down on this man's character, let's get a few things straight. Both the president and I like Johns style; I wouldn't ask him to change a thing. I believe that John's alpha dog treatment of the herd up there at the UN, will properly coral them back to sensible foreign policy. Actually, let me elaborate a bit. The UN is not a herd of sheep. It's a herd of cats. We need an appointee who is not afraid to endure a little biting and scratching.


In fact, Don, what a lot of people accuse Bolton of is being a hard-charging guy, abrasive, abusive. I mean, some of his critics have used all of these words. Even Kofi Annan, Secretary General, saying essentially, hey, take it easy up here; it's good to push, but you've got to work with other ambassadors. Is in fact -- is that, in fact, exactly what the President is looking for?



I know you are eager to latch on to John's character in a derogatory way. What part of 'Both the president and I like John's style', didn't penetrate your lexicon? He's a border collie; Smart, resourceful and loyal. That's what the president wants.





And the President is a pretty plain-spoken guy, as well, so why don't we be -- why don't you be a little bit more blunt here. (Laughter.) Does, in fact --







[long pause]. More blunt? Are you suffering from short term memory loss as well as halitosis, son?









Yes. But the rap here is the President has chosen somebody who is quite undiplomatic for a diplomatic post. Is that what he wants?





That's the whole problem with these guys! They are all diplomats. They don't think; They drink. The president wants a thinker in that position.



Mr. Secretary, some of the Democrats are saying this is abuse of power, and if you'd given over some of the information that you had, he would have gotten a vote. How do you respond to that?



This is Washington. Stinging accusations and reprisals are nothing new here. Nobody in the public believes that he would have gotten a vote, without a protracted battle. Which Democrats are you talking about? Ted Kennedy? Hiding behind his mother's political skirt after drowning a young woman; that's what I call abuse of power.




.. On Bolton's aggressive and abrasive managerial style, what does this send to --








This line of questioning stinks. Let's move on to someone without a surplus ear wax problem.





Well, following up on what you just said, you're basically saying that a handful of senators, Democrats, are holding you up. What do you think about Senator Ed Kennedy talking about how Bolton misled Congress by denying he had interviewed in the State Department CIA investigation of faulty pre-war intelligence on Iraq?


Boy... You guys get a little sniff of blood in the water, and you automatically think you have story to shake apart ...

If I could belabor it just a little bit, his --

No you may not. I'm a busy man. I have already elaborated, on all of the details, regarding Sen. Kennedy's varied and numerous emissions.




But do you expect him [Bolton] to -- he is very, very proud of his hard-charging style. Do you anticipate that he's going to continue to operate that way in the United Nations environment?





You people -- and I have to use that term with extreme looseness in this context -- continue to complain about Bolton's efficiency at the UN. What about your efficiency? If you condensed all your ridiculous little rhetorical, Jeopardy speeches into to a single question, I would be able to answer more questions instead of repeating myself.





Some Democrats are saying that this appointment will complicate the confirmation process for Judge Roberts. Did the President consider that? And does he have any strategy for trying to convince Democrats that they should abandon partisanship --








Yes, he has a strategy. He intends to end all these nocturnal filibusters by securing a decisive majority in the next round of Senate elections. That's it for questions. I have to go! As you file out, make sure you read more about the Bolton story over at Point Five.

Today on CNN

Take note that most people read the title, the first few paragraphs and often the last paragraph of a news clip.

Autopsy: Toddler hit twice by LAPD

Opening:

A toddler girl suffered two gunshot wounds from Los Angeles police -- one of them blowing out most of her brain -- during officers' standoff with her father last month, an autopsy report concluded.

Forget the obvious title invective. You actually have to read far into the middle of story above, to find out the father was using his beautiful little girl as a human shield. He emptied his 9mm through the wall, at the police, wounding an officer.

Man holding daughter shot in apparent road rage

Opening:

A man lifting his infant daughter out of his car was killed in an apparent case of road rage by a motorist "who obviously exploded" and shot him four times at close range in front of dozens of witnesses, authorities said.

The last sentence standing by itself:

Police said Bishop has a valid handgun license.

We all know what the moonbats will say.

Fourteen Marines, civilian killed in bombing

Opening:

A roadside bomb blast killed 14 Marines and a civilian interpreter Wednesday as they rode in a vehicle near Haditha, Iraq, U.S. military officials said.

The whole story dances around the issue of responsibility.
Where the hell is the bad guy in this story? The bomb was not the evil force here.

Today's CNN summary conclusions:

• Cops, using guns, to protect themselves, are evil. Here we cite an example.
• Licensed citizens, owning guns, are evil. Here we cite an example.
• Bombs, killing marines, are evil. We will reserve our judgment on who was responsible for another time.

One of these subjects is not like the others. We can see quite the interesting play on grammar by the Communist News Network.

The Finger Poke

The abuse of power and the cloak of secrecy from the White House continues. ... It's a devious maneuver that evades the constitutional requirement of Senate consent and only further darkens the cloud over Mr. Bolton's credibility at the U.N.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on appt. of John Bolton

It looks like the senator is wringing the booze out of his gusano again. What dark cloud over credibility? The only dark cloud has been a big shadow, cast by the MSM cloud seeding machine.
Recess appointments are Constitutional. Clinton used it. Thomas Jefferson used it ten times. Of course the rhetoric goes both ways.

If [Clinton] makes a recess appointment, then I have to say, it's a finger in the eye of the Senate. I think you'd find there would be an awful lot of repercussions from that.

Senator Orrin Hatch on appt. of Bill Lann Lee

Take note that Sen. Hatch did not make the outrageous claim that the mechanism was unconstitutional. He was upset that Clinton didn't raise the skirt of the Senate for a reach-around. Frankly, a finger in the eye is mild. If I were Hatch, I would have considered such a suggestive offer unsafe in the presence of Bill Clinton.

I'm glad Bush has waded out of the Gulf of Mexico long enough to let his testicles warm up. We have been in dire need of honest conservative work, for a change.

Loose Lips Link Clips

"She said, 'Do you suppose that the Bush administration has Usama bin Laden hidden away somewhere and will bring him out before the election?'" said Fox News analyst and Roll Call executive editor Mort Kondracke. "She was not smiling."







Apparently Helen didn't learn Madeline's hard lesson, about keeping your mouth shut, when there are hyenas milling about.





"We were just talking -- I was ranting -- and he wrote about it. That isn't right. We all say stuff we don't want printed," Thomas said.





Life can be sastisfying sometimes.

Heading for the NY Subway

You know, a picture is worth a thousand words. This reminds me of the movie Grey Lady down. A Boston Globe flunky called me to peddle a subscription ( same owners ) I told them I didn't have that much fish to wrap or puppies to train.


I think Salzberger needs to take the Helen Thomas pledge.

A Crick in the Brain

In the article "Crick's last stand" of the Economist (Jul 28), the late Francis Crick of DNA fame attempts to give insight to the neuromechanisms behind consciousness. Since he's dead, a Nobel prize winner and therefore untouchable, I feel the irresistible urge to put a pin in the remnant ego balloon that is still floating around in science circles.

Mechanistic explanations of consciousness are hard to come by because consciousness is so poorly understood. Indeed, it is one of the few unexplained phenomena that are genuinely mysterious rather than merely problematical.

It's very difficult to study a state of mind so few possess.

But Crick, together with his long-time collaborator Christof Koch, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, focused on a part of the mystery that seems tractable. This is the integrated nature of conscious sensation.

I like the derivative nature of conscious sensation. For example, the sudden negative impulse from conscious state to room temperature, during the instant an American sniper writes a lead prescription for a terrorist.

As the two researchers put it in their paper, which was published this week in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, "When holding a rose, you smell its fragrance and see its red petals while feeling its textured stem with your fingers."

The stem of a rose might result in the fragrance of Bactine and the texture of a fresh band-aide.

The part of the brain that caught the two researchers' interest is the claustrum, a thin sheet of grey matter that lies concealed beneath part of the cortex (the outer covering of the brain that carries out the computations involved in seeing, hearing and language).

I thought the outer covering of the brain was responsible for carrying the cannabinol enhanced rant, from a moonbat's brain to the nerves of its salivary glands.

The key to the researchers' claim is that most, if not all, regions of the cortex have two-way connections to the claustrum, as do the structures involved in emotion. It is plausible that the smell, the colour and the texture of the rose, all processed in different parts of the cortex, could be bound together into one cohesive, conscious experience by the claustrum. The authors liken it to a conductor who synchronizes and co-ordinates various parts into a united whole.

I liken it to Colonel Sander's, who synchronizes and co-ordinates various parts of a hasty meal into a united bout of constipation.

Thus far, this is mere anatomical speculation fuelled by the fact that very little is known about what the claustrum actually does.

Now there is where I see potential.

Crick hoped that his final paper would inspire researchers to begin to develop molecular techniques to disable the claustrum in animals to observe the aftermath. Time will tell whether Crick's spectacular contribution to understanding genetics will be replicated in the sphere of consciousness.

So, I ask anyone wishing to comment, what does this 'claustrum' actually do?

Jimmy the Meek

Today:

Carter: Guantanamo Detentions Disgraceful

I've got a headline for you Jimmy C:

Insolublog: 444 day 1979 Iranian Hostage Detentions Disgraceful


(And BTW, Thanks for destroying the CIA by installing John Deutsch.)

I hope the meek don't inhabit the earth.

Ted's Brain now safe from Liver

Read Buckley F. William's post Ode to Ted Kennedy's Liver.

I was concerned that the senior senator's brain might actually be in peril. To my great relief, I discovered that the senator has already moved his brain to more comfortable quarters.



There it is. Safe and sound. Whew!

Just give Disease a Chance

Today's news.

• Outbreak of human 'swine flu' in China worsens
• U.S. warns Iran against violating nuclear deal

Isn't there some way we can convince China to arrange an exchange of cultures with Iran?
They should be encouraged, in the interest of amity, to appoint some their new microscopic ambassadors to the embassy in Tehran.

Let's get Kofi on the horn.

Side note:

Woman sues Denny's over toilet burns

Having to accept an express digestion package from a Denny's patron; I should think the toilet was the victim here.

Please Helen Don't

... let us stop you from ending it all if Dick Cheney is elected president, as is reported on Drudge. To be honest I didn't realize she was still alive. I thought the Washington Press corps did a wonderful taxidermy job on her, so they could preserve her seat.

Helen was is the first of the liberal press squad to completely insult and defame the office of the Presidency. What a great legacy she will leave when she pulls that trigger. I'm sure Dr. Phat Tony, Wyatt or CUG would provide a little physician assisted suicide by instructing her on how to disable the safety. After Terry Shiavo, we can all agree that putting Helen out of our misery would be the best thing for society.

We will miss you Helen. Don't let the pearly gates hit you in that dusty spacebag a$$, when they drop you down the elevator shaft to hell.

This Week on the UNternet

(A Precision Guided Humor Assignment)

Two weeks after assuming command of the internet, the UNternet declares that the US is not doing enough to curb its use of bandwidth. (Secretly, they set up an internal cadre to sell router vouchers to France, Germany and Russia).

Monday, The UNternet commerce commission has passed its 117th resolution denouncing Nigerian spammers. The spammers were strongly cautioned that serious steps would soon be taken.

Monday, The UNternet commerce commission approved a 5Billion euro IMF loan to Nigeria to upgrade the country with modern computer equipment and a new telecommunications infrastructure.

Tuesday, Microsoft has lobbied, and won, a permanent seat on the UNternet Security Council.

Yesterday, the UNternet convened to deal with a raging computer virus called 'Genocide' released by Al Qaeda on the internet. Today, they resolved to re-define the name of the virus as 'Tribal Combatant' and table the problem as a local issue.

Today, the UNternet commission on human rights has resolved that every blog post must obtain approval by the UNternet communications committee, to ensure it meets the minimum guidelines for anti-Semitic content.

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!

The Big Pig

Sean Murphy writes in the Globe today about how the Big Dig leaks will be years in the fixing.

Finally, the criminal hack ranch, known as the Mass. Turnpike Authority released their written confession regarding the matter.

Leaks in the Big Dig's Interstate 93 tunnel roof will persist for years to come, despite current efforts to patch them with a grout sealant, according to an independent report released last night by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

The grouting program will seal an estimated 3,600 leaks in the tunnels this year, but more than 42 percent of those seals are expected to reopen, requiring a second round of grouting, the report said.

As a result, Turnpike Authority managers estimate they will face 1,543 leaks next year, 661 in 2007, 284 in 2008, 121 in 2009, and 77 in 2010, the report says. No estimate is made beyond 2010.

We need a new PBS home improvement show called "Ask Matt Amorello".

US Taxpayer:

Matt. I'm very dissatisfied with this 14 billion dollar bathroom. This morning I heard a loud bang next to the shower valve. Now there's water spewing out between some of the tiles. What's your advice?

Matt:

Go down to the home depot and find some high quality grout sealant. Squeeze in between any tiles where water is coming through. You may need to repeat this process as time goes on.

US Taxpayer:

Ok. Now the water seems to be gushing into my basement, through the floor.

Matt:

Buy a water pump. While the pump is clearing out the water, Get in there with a few cans of 'Great Stuff' and fill in as much of the space as you can. Then remove the pump.

US Taxpayer:

Ok. Now all the drywall is not so dry anymore.

Matt:

Who needs drywall? Use glass instead. Maybe we can put a few ornamental fish right in the wall.

US Taxpayer:

But Matt! All of my electrical circuits are shorting out!

Matt:
Look. Massachusetts is a high-tech state. Everybody is going wireless around here. Look to the future.

Sean goes on.

The cost of sealing those leaks is expected to drop from $7.3 million this year to $3.1 million in 2006, $1.3 million in 2007, $574,000 in 2008, $246,500 in 2009, and to $156,000 in 2010, based on a per-leak repair cost of $2,029.
The estimate was contained in a report posted on the Turnpike Authority website at about 7 p.m. yesterday.

So the US taxpayer could buy a kick-a$$ computer, for over 5000 school kids, for every leak in the brand spanking new Big Drip tunnel?

Mariellen Burns, the authority's director of communications, did not return calls last night, and in her e-mail notifying reporters of the report, she did not address the future cost of leak repair and maintenance.

We pay a premium for irony in the Gay State. I'm sure top dollar was offered for this director of communications, who can't communicate directly.

"The bottom line of the report is that managing water is a part of any underground construction project," she wrote.

Wow, you have to deal with water, when a tunnel runs under water. Maybe you guys should have planned on keeping the water out, instead of managing it. Everybody knows management is the first to go in any round of layoffs.

Turnpike officials, including Chairman Matthew J. Amorello and project director Michael P. Lewis, could not be reached for comment last night.

I'm sure he could be reached for a big mound of shrimp, free cocktails and a big, sloppy kiss on his posterior.

In November, when the Globe reported that the I-93 tunnels had hundreds of leaks, Jack K. Lemley, an outside consultant hired to investigate the problem, said of future repairs: ''You're talking years here, even a decade."

It was hard to capture Jack's head shaking and raucous laughter in print.

Estimating the number of future leaks is a risky venture, said Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, the consultant hired to study the impact of the two kinds of defects that have plagued the project as it nears completion. Those flaws are the thousands of small roof leaks at the roof-wall joints of the tunnels and the 189 soft spots in the tunnel walls, including the one that breached and flooded the northbound roadway on Sept. 15.

Another consultant checks in. I'm glad that we are spending the taxpayer's money fixing the problem. This is like stuffing a burlap bag full of cheap hamburger, letting sit out in this July sun, then hire a consultant to identify the smell and ooze as the weeks roll by.

"As the work continues, the recurrence rate [of leaks] could change," the report posted last night said. ''Any increase in the recurrence rate will result in more grout locations and higher incurred costs by MTA until a steady state is reached."

A positive leak rate derivative means more grout and money. Folks, breathe it in while you can; we are in the presence of pure genius here.

The Deloitte report said no estimate of the cost of future leaks had been made by the Turnpike Authority or Big Dig managers until March. At that time, Kenneth M. Mead, the US Department of Transportation's inspector general, was threatening to hold up $81 million in federal funding for the project unless he was assured that Turnpike Authority officials were adequately addressing the leaks.

The Feds should have given MA the bums rush out the door a long time ago.

The Deloitte report also concluded that fixing and preventing leaks has cost $38 million. Nevertheless, the report said the total cost for the Big Dig should remain within the estimate of $14.625 billion because the leak costs are paid from contingency accounts.

'should remain within the estimate of' In Big Dig speak, that's a code phrase for 'will rocket past the sum of'.

This project is an embarrassing insult to America's fine engineering community. You can put all the lipstick and pearls you want on a pig. It's still the Big Pig. The stinking French can dig a tunnel under the English Channel better than we can dig a tunnel under the beautiful people.

Chinese Bubble Gum

George Melloan writes in the WSJ today about China's currency re-valuation.

He writes about the opinion of the economist John Rutledge, who is complaining about all the bad things which may happen as a result of China no longer pegging the Yuan against the US dollar. The Chinese will use a world currency basket instead. Mostly valued with, the dollar!

Insolublog could not disagree more. China's economy has been overheated for quite some time now. They have serious issues with their economy, their environment and their labor force. Just because things have been working well all this time, does not mean that a cliff is not fast approaching on the horizon.

Look at the Enron, Worldcom and Global Crossing pyramid schemes which were revealed for the delicate houses of cards they were, when Greenspan tweaked up the rates. They railed at the Maestro for that, but think about all that real retirement money passing through the hands of all those exuberant, card shuffling fools. It could have been a much bigger bubble, with a much bigger explosion, had the sharp, balancing needle of a tight money supply not deflated it.

UPDATE:

A lot of people seem to think that the Chinese will somehow be magically transformed by the free market, into a benevolent democracy. This is pure bull feces.

They have a totalitarian communist government, fully loaded with all of the accessories. They have the worst of communism coupled with the worst of capitalism. They have an elite political power class, fully educated, which would put Kerry, Kennedy and all the beautiful people into servant's quarters.

A true libertarian view would demand a level playing field. The currency fluid then seeks all the low spots proper. This is not the case with the Chinese government.

They have been, and still are, gobbling up US Treasury bonds to artificially moderate the trade imbalance. They have an enormous slave labor pool with no pesky health and safety rules. They are traveling down the pollution path often traveled by burgeoning world powers, before they get the proper religion about poisoning themselves. Remember Chernobyl? That's what happens to a people, that have no Constitutional steam valve, to hold their political apparatus in check.

How can the US truly compete? Well, we can't. The service sector is being short circuited. The Chinese are running off with our intellectual property, and laughing all the way to the bank. They marvel at our never ending thirst for their cheap crap. We cannot compete techically, because our educational system is being destroyed by political correctness. It's being compromised by a left wing group think attitude that spawns racist demagogues like Ward Churchill. The Chinese are only really interested in our technology. They consider our culture a heap of hedonistic garbage. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

They are eagerly engaged in the process of building a domestic base of totalitarian driven consumerism. Check your free speech at the border. Look at the energy consumption meter. China and India are nipping at our heels. They are driving up the prices of the global energy markets.

I'm waiting to see what we can and will do, when the Chinese want to pluck that Taiwan plum off the tree. They lust after the billions we have invested in computers, semiconductors and industrial process sciences. We only have two weapons. Nuclear war, or going bankrupt when they dump those bonds. Yeah, that'll show em.

Finally a Discovery

It's good to see, amongst all the 7th century Islamic barbarism, some 21st century technology back on its feet. With 3 engines that produce 37 million horsepower, a fuel pump that uses 100hp alone, this is no gay hydrogen hybrid vehicle. Go America.

Ancient Marital Aide

Now the BBC is in the act. I guess foaming at the mouth 24/7 about the evils of the west makes the old salivary glands dry out. So, best to give it a rest and move on to other topics. I am referring to "Ancient Phallus unearthed in Cave."

A sculpted and polished phallus found in a German cave is among the earliest representations of male sexuality ever uncovered, researchers say.

Come now (heh). No surprise that it was in a cave.

The 20cm-long, 3cm-wide stone object, which is dated to be about 28,000 years old, was buried in the famous Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm in the Swabian Jura.
The prehistoric "tool" was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone. Its life size suggests it may well have been used as a sex aid by its Ice Age makers, scientists report.

14 fragments.. ouch. I wonder if they found it with the pelvis of a 28,000 year old pervert.

"In addition to being a symbolic representation of male genitalia, it was also at times used for knapping flints," explained Professor Nicholas Conard, from the department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, at Tübingen University.

It's always nice to have an 'all-in-one' tool lying around. When your not knapping flints and sapping loan defaulters, you need to do something with your time right?

"It's highly polished; it's clearly recognisable," said Professor Conard.

Only in ancient Germany could you find a petrified phallus polisher adept enough to lay down that shine. No wonder they lost two world wars.

The Tübingen team working Hohle Fels already had 13 fractured parts of the phallus in storage, but it was only with the discovery of a 14th fragment last year that the team was able finally to put the "jigsaw" together.

I'm sure professor Conard was barely able to contain his excitement.

The different stone sections were all recovered from a well-dated ash layer in the cave complex associated with the activities of modern humans (not their pre-historic "cousins", the Neanderthals).

I guess the Neanderthals just did not have the right tool making skills.

The dig site is one of the most remarkable in central Europe. Hohle Fels stands more than 500m above sea level in the Ach River Valley and has produced thousands of Upper Palaeolithic items.

And a few lower Palaeolithic items as well.

"Female representations with highly accentuated sexual attributes are very well documented at many sites, but male representations are very, very rare," explained Professor Conard.

And the professor has explored every one of those sites. There's no way a stone schlong, exposed to the elements and the natives, is going to last as long as its counterpart. Simple second law of thermodynamics and first law of male ego here. What's the first thing that breaks off, or is broken off, a sculpture?

Oh. Well. Feel free to read the rest.

Would you like to supersize that?

I'm so glad the AP has so much time on its hands. They were able to
pen this wonder in Indiana entitled "Woman convicted because of pet pigs' odor".

Debra Fields kept two 300-pound hogs -- Bacon and Molly -- as family pets.

Pets? I know whole families described thus.

The two pigs, according to evidence submitted during the trial, could generate as much as 35 pounds of solid waste and several gallons of liquid waste every day. Fields testified there is no odor because she did not smell it, and that the odor detected by a Hobart code enforcement officer was attributable to swine flatulence.

I wonder just how much swine flatulence it takes to eject 35 pounds of solid waste and several gallons of urine. Looks like an engineering problem Claudius of Rome would envy.

In his ruling, the judge said that testimony was "not credible."

I find that shocking.

He ordered Fields to pay a fine of $250 plus court courts for violating the nuisance ordinance. Longer suspended $200 of the fine on the condition that no other violations occur through the end of the year. Fields, who could have been fined up to $2,500, declined comment after the Thursday ruling.

I guess it's best to keep your mouth shut when all you get is a fifty dollar ticket for immersing your neighbors in the olfactory Nirvahna that is Bacon and Molly.

But here's the best part. The automatic Google advertising block.












Yes. That's a law firm comfortably tucked between detox and feminine hygene spray, as an epilogue to a story about intolerable pig odor.

There is a God.

Magnetic Personality

I have reached the blog threshold on this new consumer gripe. I am talking about those little white security strips that resonate your guilt between two magnetic figure eight coils at the Home Cheapo.

Yes those are the gates of St. Gabriel. Well. This modern wonder is now being combined with two other phenomena. The Self checkout and the untrained, guest worker. I wince every time I walk through this thing, with the firm knowledge that there is now a high probability that the electronic equivalent of Nathaniel Hawthorne will leap out and brand me with a scarlet letter.

Luckily, tonight I was wearing the Power Line T-shirt I got for my birthday. Unluckily, I didn't have a camera. I stop, glance back in the store. All the customers are glaring at me. None of the staff seem the least bit interested. That's it. They can’t be bothered to deactivate the tags. They can’t be bothered to tell self-checkout customers they have merchandise of this ilk. Maybe they are too overworked, so the Home Cheapo can use one person to field the merchandise of six automated kiosks. Sorry, but that's not my problem.

So, I casually back up into the field. The thing starts to wail continuously. One of girls waves her hand at me to usher me along. The alarm continues. She doesn't even raise her eyes to inspect the situation. I stand firm.

You’re Ok. Just go ahead.

Are you sure?

Yes. Go on!

I'm not certain. This machine seems firmly convinced that I am about to deprive this establishment of these illuminating pearls of the orient. (Chinese recessed lighting)

A gentleman buying conduit and adhesive laughs and walks past me. I continue to rant over the alarm.

How do you know that guy didn't just abscond with some precious wire nuts or something? After all, I have a moratorium on this alarm system.

The girl, flushed red, collects my bag from my hand and ushers it over the moby magnet on the counter, permanently de-clawing my source of amusement.

Sorry sir, but we are very busy here.

I know you are, but why annoy people with security that is not secure?

Do you want to speak with the manager?

No. I'm just going to blog it instead. She glared blankly.

Have a nice day.

Saddam Complains

Saddam is upset that he is being denied access to his lawyer. We are sorry, Saddam, but conjugal visits with young males is strictly forbidden for security reasons.

The Left checks in on Roberts

(A Precision Guided humor assignment)

Here is the latest roundup of important quotes from our fellow political bretheren, on the nomination of John Roberts for the SCOTUS.

Sen. Ted Kennedy

Err.. um... I'm just not comfortable with a man who has no skeletons to speak of. We want backbone on this court.

Sen Joe Biden

When I was at home in Vermont, in my dungarees, reading the Roberts memoranda, an apple fell on my head. It then occured to me, at that moment, ( squinting and gesturing to the C-SPAN camera ) the gravity of this choice for nominee.

PFAW

Why is the far right rejoicing about Souter's nomination?
Why is the far right rejoicing about O'Connor's nomination?
Why is the far right rejoicing about Robert's nomination?

Rep. Nancy Pelosi

The Republicans nominate Robert Bork. The Republicans nominate John Roberts.
I, for one, detect a very disturbing pattern here.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein:

Robert's is an original constructionist. How are we supposed to build a great future, for the children, without sweeping away all that old debris?

ACLU:

Robert's gaping lack of Ginsberg style credentials, raises serious concerns about his credibility.

Sen. Robert Byrd

Who farted in this committee room? Ahhm the onleh one allowed to soil mahself on the hallowed floahs of this heah oh-gust bodey.

Sen. Robert Byrd (Update) after realizing that there was at least one person in Washington who wasn't treating him like a preserved cadaver, fitted with a chattering embedded iPod, pre-loaded with DNC rhetoric.

I thank President Bush for reaching out to senators on both sides of the aisle as he worked to select a nominee for the court.

Sen. John Flippin' Kerry

We need a nominee who will be totally consistent with the facts and analysis.

Sen. Barbara Boxer

Who care's about Roberts! I want Karl Rove's head on a platter. Quit changing the subject.

Autorantic Virtual Moonbat

Speaking of Nomination: Unlike you and Clarence Thomas, I am not in love with capitalism! Bu$$$h wants Belfast for the oil. KWIM?. As a puppy, I am frantic!!!! Charlton Heston!!!? Kenneth Lay!? Well, I can't tell one robot for the BLOGOSPHERE from the other. (Condoleezza Rice either, figuratively speaking!!!!)

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!

Survival of the fittest

If you are a member of the poor or conservative class in Mass. You can enjoy the smelly wonders of Salisbury beach. I can almost smell the fried dough now.



If you are one of those elitist Champagne buttered lobster tail types, like Sen. Kerry (who served in Vietnam), the fun waters of Nantucket await. Here's a massive tiger tourist who was caught shopping for the beautiful (and delicious) people near Martha's Vineyard today. Where's that sailboard now Senator?

Ladybug Magnet

Globe columnist Robert Sullivan laments, in his article Bright Flight the exodus of talent from MA. He quotes the economist Richard Florida as attributing MA success to:

three Ts --technology, talent, and tolerance -- characterized by the presence of high-tech industry, a highly educated workforce, and a population diverse enough to include, among other things, a large number of immigrants and a sizeable gay community.

Sullivan rambles on, in Florida's words, about how 9/11 immigration reforms may be partly responsible. He then mentions that:

Massachusetts was the only state in the union to lose population last year--and if not for immigrants, it would have registered population losses during the 1990s and perhaps the 1980s as well.

The implication is, of course, that immigrants somehow provided some sort of rescue I.V. drip for the gaping wound, bleeding off all that real MA talent. How about sewing up the brain trust head wound instead?

Though Massachusetts is famously liberal in terms of national politics, there is a lingering perception of provincialism and racism here. And even overcoming this perception may not be enough, for tolerance is not necessarily the same as openness to new ideas.

You could have fooled me. He talks about 'squelchers'. He talks about how hard they are to count. He talks about how their affect is an open question. What a seething mass of speculative tripe. This implies, with the obligatory poo-poo of any real statistics, that there may be, or probably IS, an undercurrent of intolerance.

Gosh, I hope so. Hey Bob, Maybe it's because MA has high fees, taxes and a freedom choking state bureaucracy. Maybe it's the high real estate prices, and real estate taxes. Maybe it's the entrenched teacher's union lobby, which is a frequent 'squelcher' of basic progress and promoter of political correctness. Add to this, the fact that MA is actively promoting itself as the next San Francisco with tourist ads etc. Many in the engineering community see this as a poisonous atmosphere for raising families. Oops! There's that racist provincialism! Sorry. I guess you can't separate the talent from the common sense. Isolublog!

Yeah right, we need more of Robert Florida's deadbeat bohemian culture to fix the state's problems. Just make sure you put a fresh attractant, in that Ladybug Magnet, every time you change the profane tank.

Original Intent

I was listening to Scott Miller on RKO this morning argue that if orignal intent were used across the board in SCOTUS rulings, men would not vote for president, women would not vote and we would still own slaves.

This is a hopelessly pathetic argument, which cannot be defended. Original intent is not immune from the amendment process. This is the intended process for restricting rights or abolishing persecution. Original intent then applies to the text of the amendment as a base point for decisions. Activist judges routinely seek out obscurities in the language of the Constitution to support their personal view, arguing purely on the semantics and not the intent, often leaving out the context.

Million Mullet March

Dr. Phat Tony's recent History of the Mullet (Part 1) could not have been timed better to coincide with today's Onion article Nations Shirtless, Shoeless March on Washington for Equal Service rights.

Check out the Bud Hutchins character.

The Grand High Indra Nooyi

There is a subtlety regarding this latest White House toilet seat cover from Charmaine Yoest. Nooyi breezed along, spewing all her high and mighty international group hug, stand against the tide of American imperialism, line Kerry's war chest and call this country the 'middle finger of the world' oral sewage. But that didn't stop her little ego from accepting a White House invitation to dinner. Bush probably knows that her currency, within her own public circles, has been permanently devalued.

I know. It's just an exuse. But I had to say something.

Teddy's Fine Anniversary

A nice reminder from not so past events, since Michelle Malkin pointed out

The Death of Mary Jo Kopechne.

From July 7,2005 WSJ Opinion Journal.

"Well, just as an attorney, as a human being, I would have thought that if there were recommendations that were so blatantly and flagrantly over the line in terms of torture, that you might have recognized them. I mean, it certainly appears to me that water boarding, with all its descriptions about drowning someone to that kind of a point, would come awfully close to getting over the border, and that you'd be able to at least say today, "There were some that were recommended or suggested on that, but I certainly wouldn't have had a part of that, as a human being."

- Sen. Ted Kennedy during the Gonzales hearings.

This is too big a cross to bear

I scored as a character I totally despise.




I wan't a rematch, and a shower!

Operation Anaconda (Iraqi version ?)

UPDATE Nov 17, 2005:

This appears to be a snopes legend, check it out.

My friend Mark e-mailed these pictures of an anaconda or large python. He was told that it was near Jebel Ali. This could not be confirmed. Both he and I find it hard to believe the snake was from Iraq. If anyone knows, feel free to comment. We will assume for the sake of argument that it was.


The poor thing looks like he was in the middle of digesting an insurgent, before he decided to cross the line of fate. I have a tear in my eye, being a former fellow slithering reptile.



Yikes. I wouldn't wan't to be on the business end of this yawning maw.

Abuse of our Intelligence

A remark for those who would take exception to the Koran incident (and follow up fatwa incident) reported by a nice doggie today.

Were the guys reported in War of the Worlds trying to push some buttons? You bet. The Palestinians did the same thing in this World Net Daily report back in May, when they used the Bible as toilet paper. All over a false report by one of the other faces of terrorism, Isikoff of Newsweek. That's the beauty of free speech.

Here's what the Christians and Jews didn't do when that incident occurred:

• Riot in the streets, killing a dozen or so people.
• Saw the heads off of hostages, * masturbate in the blood, take videos of the incident and distribute them on the web.
• Rush out and burn all the churches of nearby Muslims.

*Those weren't books by the way; they were human beings; Just to remind our humane friends from the left what they are defending and not defending.

No, the other half of terrorism would rather call a false incident of Koran abuse at Gitmo government sanctioned torture. We should file a torture suit against the federal government the next time an NEA grant is used to display Crucifixes immersed urine or dung flung on a picture of the Virgin Mary.

Hypocrisy breast feeds on moral relativism.

Flash point Terror

Wandered over to Michell Malkin. Saw the great flash production by Winds of Change.
If anyone doubts the state of War, this visual synopsis will bring that big red freshness back into your cheeks. So will another shocking video of the shooting and survival, thank God, of ARMY PFC. Steven Tschinderer.

Spot Terrorists with ConservaSpecs

(A Precision Guided Humor Assignment)

Worried about being accused of being insensitive to race or ethnicity, in your quest to identify the perpetrators? New ConservaSpec(tm) profiling glasses bring the miracle of high speed terrorist targeting technology anywhere you happen to be.

Our highly skilled and trained team of red state conservative engineers have programmed the ConservaSpec series of ProfileView(tm) plug-in modules with all of the latest audiovisual profiling data available. All information is collated, analyzed and rated for threat assessment. The ConservaSpec then reports the results to the bearer.

ConservaSpec's bluetooth option allows the glasses to wirelessly interface with the appropriate government agency and our vast online database of scum-bags, through your PDA or laptop.

Our FascIslaMod(tm) ProfileView module examines all the relevant criteria. It identifies potential bombers, vitriolic clerics and watch list proscribes. Features include:

• Middle eastern male between 16 and 35
• Nervous sweaty appearance
• Large backpack, handbag or package
• Mumbling chants about virgins
• Dozens of others...

ConservaSpec has other ProfileView modules as well. Try our new UndocuMod(tm) for picking out temporary guest workers.

ConservaSpecs come in a wide range of colors, lens shades and feature 100% UV protection. License soothing popular voices for the integrated warning system, such as Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Pat Buchanan, Oliver North and others; Or program your own.

Rely on ConservaSpec for complete comfort and moral detachment. Security personnel and citizens, can concentrate on staying alive, in this war on terror. You will never have to worry about being accused of profiling again. Just raise your hand and say:

"Don't talk to me. Talk to the ConservaSpec."

Then give them our convenient number, 1-900-MOONBAT. We will answer any concerns they have, for a nominal fee.

ConservaSpec profiles terrorists, so you don't have to!

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!

Hollywouldn't Last a second in Cuba

First, go to freestarmedia.com and watch the internet video 'Sardinas vs. Cuban Communism'. After that, ponder these CNS logged travel brochure testimonials from the Hollywood left on the Cuban government.

Saul Landau (filmaker)

"[Castro] has brought a greater equality in terms of wealth distribution than I guess any country in the world today."

Jack Nicholson

"He [Castro] is a genius. We spoke about everything."

Naomi Campbell

"a source of inspiration to the world."

Blah. Blah. Blah... This list is shamefully long.

After this, don't forget Sean Penn's deep nose dive into Saddam Hussein's private parts.

How can anyone trust the left with the freedoms granted to us by self evident rational providence? There's a nice Independence day wrap-up by Heywood on Supply Side Politics to remind us what Independence is about.

Janus of Terror

Terrorism is a two part reaction. It is a violent, foaming,
exothermic epoxy. The resin is the violence of individuals with a political agenda. The activator is a news media or medium, willing to provide the resin with the coverage it needs to swell swiftly with its terror and solidify its message.

The main stream media transforms the thugs into global terrorists; A demon all too gleeful in its coverage of the bloody carnage. The media is not there to report the facts. They are there to sensationalize the drama for profit and ratings. They are there to nurture the hysteria with a gaudy parade of pundits, profits, propaganda and political correctness.

They flood the senses with a concinnity of cowardice, obtuse verbal attack on civilization and a blanket apology to the barbarians. Statements of
condemnation must be forced from their lips, spit with the deliberate
hollow ring of insincerity. Their gritted teeth always chase the condemnation with the ubiquitous apology or the self deprecating qualifier.

No war on terror can ever succeed without holding the politically
correct media, such as the BBC, with its despicable guidlines, to account. From the Telegraph:

The BBC's guidelines state that its credibility is undermined by the "careless use of words which carry emotional or value judgments".

These are the words of a suicide statement, not worth picking through.

Now the Brits stand shocked at their domesticly brewed terrorists. Youngsters suckled on a lifelong diet of self flaggelating diversity garbage. Youngsters told that their nation is poison, and their fifteen minutes of global fame awaits, followed by an orgy in the afterlife. Youngsters who have had the steel links of self sufficiency, self determination, pride and merit eroded from their social anchor, with the corrosives of failed social experiments and multicultural environs.

The social engineers have smashed the marble pillar of national pride to rubble and sand. The rubble and sand has been sifted into different piles labeled with their respective little cultural flags. The marble pillar is gone. No longer able to support the nation. I fear the United States of America is heading down the same ugly path.

Bureaucratic Slopthink

This may be generalizing, but I find the most common contemporary liberal mind-set is sloppy with the facts, loose with analysis, driven by emotion and corrupted by the aliasing of groupthink. They accuse others of the very thing they are guilty of to a fault; Thinking which is built upon junk science and hasty, shallow conclusions. Many contemporary liberals are not classical liberals. They are functional Marxists.

I blame the self-congratulatory back slapping attitudes of the public education pundits and college intellectuals. None of these people live in a universe of reality and consequences. They do not understand the concept of finite resources. They do not engage in true (not artificial) competition for those resources and the requisite demands for excellence and performance. They have spent their entire lives in a PC world of nebulous ethical apology and the dismissal of individual achievement. They play endless academic games erecting barriers to personal progress and opening sewer pipes for flattery and administrative graft.

The law of diminishing returns does not exist for them and their ilk. The public teat is a never ending cornucopia. The concepts of good and evil do not exist. Somehow, they have this pervasive vision of a fictitious miracle bureaucracy, which will be capable of regulating and controlling everybody's life and financial security, by making life fair through the re-distribution of wealth. There is this mystical omniscient bureaucratic collective, which will be magically impervious to the corruption and inefficiency that has plagued every such creature, since the dawn of civilization.

It's not possible. It never has been. It doesn't exist anywhere now. It is impossible to construct, by all the metaphysical laws of human biology.

Liberal Lament for the Bush Oil policy

How I lament the 'Bush' economy. Since my Woodward inspired conspiracy prediction that Bush would call his 'oil buddies' to lower prices just before the election was pure landfill, I'll flip the prediction 180 degrees. Bush called his 'oil buddies' to raise prices before the election to boost the profits for the buddy coalition. Wait a minute, that doesn't make sense. Never mind. Ok, ok, go with it anyway.

China artificially pegs the yuan against the dollar and pilfers intellectual property, carrying us along in their runaway economy. China, India and Russia run up world oil consumption to record levels. China exceeds Japan as the second biggest consumer in the world, and will probably exceed the US in the near future. By the way, they don't have to worry about those pesky environmental laws either. They have the worst of communism AND capitalism. Consumption in the marvelously diverse and peaceful Europe, if you ignore the burning anti-Semitism everywhere, is also up. So, oil prices largely surge on record consumption. Nope. I'm going to put my dark sunglasses on and blame Bush.

Now we add a loss of production in our Gulf due to four hurricanes, which we know God sent our way since he's pissed off at Bush. Normally mentioning God would be against my left wing agenda, but when it's against Bush, I'll use any club that comes within arms reach. Add onto this the political turmoil in Venezuela. Add onto this the fact we have not built a refinery in the US for over twenty years, bottlenecking gasoline production specifically. So, oil prices largely surge on short supply. Nope. I'm putting my fingers in my ears and saying La-La-La-La real loud.

Hmm.. Supply and Demand. I remember somebody mentioning something about that in Berkeley, between bong hits. Oh well, those were the days. Now we have a perfect storm for the sixty dollar a barrel oil prices, and the inflation we see today. Add onto this the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. Follow this by threats from the same terrorists to disrupt the world energy economy; That is, when they find some free time in between fabricating IEDs and masturbating in the blood of innocent people, while chanting to their God. This party really makes the oil futures speculators happy. High oil prices means inflation and a weak dollar.

Look at all this time we have wasted, not looking for alternative fuels, like mixing alcohol with granola and Birkenstocks. Everybody knows that the big oil companies have hushed up all of those brilliant energy physicists who have discovered cars that run on the oil from adolescent skin breakouts and get a bazillion gazillion miles per gallon. We should all be using electric cars, since electricity is practically free. Just put large coils of enameled wire next to the red carpet at the Grammy Awards and wait for the flux of all those magnetic Hollywood personalities to walk by.

But seriously, I know Bush is to blame. Just like I know it was the Sun's fault that I stubbed my toe this morning. Funny, the Sun rose in the sky right about the time my toe hit the leg on that coffee table, so you do the math. Life is so easy on the left. It's too bad we didn't elect Kerry. He had a plan. We still don't know what it was. He hasn't shared it with us, you know, for the good of the country.