Shock and Aw-shut Up!

It seems Mitt Romney can't say anything without pissing someone off - which would be hilarious on any given day - but he's overseas, talking to "our friends" and allies, and making gaffe after gaffe. This should have been a photo op - slam dunk. He's making Sarah Palin look pretty good right now.  Mitt the Twit.

First, he was asked about how England was doing in their job pulling off the Olympics - he answered truthfully, as anyone reading a newspaper would have noted that the UK security firm there had dropped the ball. But it came off as extremely insulting.

Then, he went to Israel to meet his old chum Ben Netanyahu. He didn't piss off the Israelis, but he sure pissed off the Palestinians. He said Jerusalem needs to be the capital, and then said the reason there's no peace is because the Palestinian "cultural differences" -- which would imply, well, they're violent and inferior. I don't understand why they're so offended* (*sarcasm).

Then he pulled his John McCain moment of "bomb bomb bomb Iran" and said that Israel can take the gloves off to take out a nuclear Iran. I may be paraphrasing a tad... but not much.

By the time he got to Poland, the scorched earth policy was already charcoal.

He might be a great business leader, but any claims to be a great politician or foreign policy wonk are now only tied with the current occupier of the White House.

I agree

I'll just leave this here...

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that,"the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.” 

~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

Let the Games Begin!

Gov'ment Funded Junk Food

Report Shows Most Taxpayer Money Subsidizes Junk Food: $18.2 billion in subsidies for junk food additives like High Fructose Corn Syrup!

From 1995 to 2011, $18.2 billion went to subsidies for junk food additives compared to $637 million for apples, according to CALPIRG.


A consumer report released Wednesday revealed the majority of federal taxpayer-funded farm subsidies are being funneled toward crops used to make junk food and food additives, such as high fructose corn syrup.


Ron Cornelson, of Cornelson Farms, makes the trek from Fresno County to the Santa Monica Farmers Market every Wednesday to sell the fruits from his 10-acre farm.


"I’ve never seen a subsidy. I’ve tried and, as far I know, it all goes to the big guys and other commodities," Cornelson said.


Nearly all California farmers – 91 percent, according to CALPIRG field director Anne Ohliger

Read the full article here


Forget Gov'ment cheese - it's the Gov'ment corn that'll kill you.

Sales Are Up

Following the trend of sales and background checks up 60 percent in Arizona after Congressperson Gabrielle Giffords was shot, and in Virginia after the Virginia Tech University shootings in 2007 - sales and background checks in Colorado are up... way up.

Fighting fire with return fire.

Anecdotally, there are lines in front of Colorado gun shops, and firearm safety courses are booked solid for weeks.

Why? Maybe folks are tired of being victims?

The Internet cafe patron who shot and injured two men as they tried to rob the business will likely not face any criminal charges.

"Based on what I have seen and what I know at this time, I don't anticipate filing any charges," said Bill Gladson of the State Attorney's Office for 5th Judicial Circuit.

Gladson said he has reviewed the security surveillance video from the cafe. While he still awaits final reports from the Marion County Sheriff's Office, he said the shooting appeared justified.

Samuel Williams, 71, who fired the shots, has a concealed weapons permit, according to the Sheriff's Office. Under Florida law, a person is allowed to use deadly force if he or she fears death or serious injury to themselves or others. As long as the person isn't committing a crime and is in a place where he or she has a right to be, they are considered to be acting within the law.

Williams, who lives in Ocala, could not be reached for comment on Monday. But at least one of his 30 fellow patrons at the cafe wants to thank him.

Take it Down

"I now believe that, contrary to its original intention, Coach Paterno's statue has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing in our university and beyond. I believe that, were it to remain, the statue will be a recurring wound to the multitude of individuals across the nation and beyond who have been the victims of child abuse."
~Penn State University President Rodney Erickson


And, a larger shocker - the NCAA will actually, finally, be doing something about it. 

Batman Terror

I'm not going to comment, yet, about the shootings at the movie theater in Aurora Colorado.
Not until I have the facts, and as respect to the dead.

There is already a knee-jerk reaction against the 2nd Amendment going on in the news media. I'm not going to engage that. I will cut and paste the radio chatter from the Aurora police scanner though...

And once they bring forth the "gunman" or the "perpetrator" they should never name him/them or show his/her face. It seems the crazies really like the publicity.

2:27: "Bring as much crime scene tape as you can"
2:28: Aurora PD merging communications with Denver PD
2:35: Shooter wearing green camp pants
2:37: bomb squad is there, bringing in K-9 units. possible other bombs
2:40: 18 ambulances on scene

2:38 am CST a 'secondary device in an SUV parked outside a theater'.
2:55 am CST Talk of "two shooters in a coordinated attack" as well as an SUV possibly rigged with explosives in front of the mall.
3:00 am CST Confirmation of a second bomb in an SUV infront of the theater.
3:28 am CST 4 buses set to take witnesses away from the scene.
3:42 am CST "Older cop type car" seen fleeing the scene, by multiple witnesses.
3:44 am CST 30 victims confirmed transported to various hospitals, including 4 to childrens hospitals.
3:48 am CST Deputy holding a suspect at gunpoint at a jewelers store in the mall.
3:54 am CST Possibility suspect being held is malls janitor. No confirmation yet.
4:08 am CST Suspect being held confirmed janitor. Mall still needs to be cleared.
4:21 am CST 4 Juvenile witnesses possibly directly saw shooting.
4:27 am CST multiple bomb sniffing dogs on scene.
4:31 am CST Bombsquad on scene of secondary device in vehicle.
4:38 am CST Mass casualty unit is on scene.
4:45 am CST suspect apartment found. Possible bomb making materials found.
4:47 am CST 14 confirmed killed.
4:50 am CST 2 EOD technicians clearing suspect vehicle.
4:52 am CST White Audi stopped with bullet holes and a .40 handgun. Possible connections to theater.
4:57 am CST Mall cleared, except for Macy's.
5:04 am CST Mall Manager sought to shut off sprinkler system. Possibility of water destroying evidence.
5:08 am CST 14 confirmed dead, 50 injured. Possible suspect in custody.
5:15 am CST Danger of landscaping sprinklers destroying possible evidence in apartment.
5:24 am CST Youngest victim confirmed at 6 years old.
5:29 am CST Death toll raised to 15.
5:31 am CST Red Cross has arrived on scene.
5:36 am CST Man, 24, believed to be shooter being held by police. Stated he had explosives in his car/apartment.
5:40 am CST 15th fatality believed to be prank call.
5:46 am CST Witnesses claiming possible incidents in separate theaters. No confirmation.
5:49 am CST Mall officially cleared, janitor being held released.

Oh, just as a WTF one of the trailers that the audience saw before Batman? A Sean Penn movie called Gangster Squad...

Skip to the 2:00 mark, if you dare

What I see

New Memes

Seen any good memes lately?

(Psst.... I didn't make any of them)

Now that I'm dead...

Val Patterson of Salt Lake City, Utah, prepared his own obituary ahead of time. In it, he got a lot of things off his chest. As in, all the dirty secrets he had kept.

Now that I have gone to my reward, I have confessions and things I should now say. As it turns out, I AM the guy who stole the safe from the Motor View Drive Inn back in June, 1971. I could have left that unsaid, but I wanted to get it off my chest. Also, I really am NOT a PhD. What happened was that the day I went to pay off my college student loan at the U of U, the girl working there put my receipt into the wrong stack, and two weeks later, a PhD diploma came in the mail. I didn’t even graduate, I only had about 3 years of college credit. In fact, I never did even learn what the letters “PhD” even stood for. For all of the Electronic Engineers I have worked with, I’m sorry, but you have to admit my designs always worked very well, and were well engineered, and I always made you laugh at work. Now to that really mean Park Ranger; after all, it was me that rolled those rocks into your geyser and ruined it. I did notice a few years later that you did get Old Faithful working again. To Disneyland – you can now throw away that “Banned for Life” file you have on me, I’m not a problem anymore – and SeaWorld San Diego, too, if you read this.

I really hope this sort of thing catches on.

If you don't know by now...

It takes a village?

Over 20 people fainted during this speech in Roanoke, Va. Probably because they couldn't believe he was continuing the line of B.S. that Elizabeth Warren started a year ago.

I was just going to leave this here and let you come to your own conclusions - but without the TAXES to hand out to the cousins and cronies who built the roads and "crumbling infrastructure" where else would the government come up with the money? And if you look at the history of paved roads - those were PRIVATE enterprises, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike. And if we're going to look at the history of governments moving people and goods along - let's have that argument. How's the Post Office doing? How's Chicago's CTA doing right now?

Sure, I got help from mentors and great teachers - but I didn't see those folks sitting with me until 2 AM getting my work done. I hit those deadlines, Mr. Obama didn't. Fairly sure the CUSTOMERS make the business work.

Batman Rises

I'm looking very forward to the new Batman Rises picture....


What?

LOL

Competition