W Trailer - a preview of the new Oliver Stone movie about George W. Bush

Here's the trailer for "W", the new Oliver Stone biopic about George W. Bush.
Define "trailer": What we used to call a preview.

Pause at 1:28 to see who those vaguely familiar looking actors are.

I thought Stone did a great job with "JFK", and an even better job with "Nixon". (The Nixon one was very even-handed, which surprised me.)
Since I work in the freight, logisitics, and transportation industry, that qualifies me to pass judgement on movies.
Anyway, this one looks good. They've already gotten the casting right.

The U.S. National Debt Clock

Look to your immediate right, and you'll see a U.S. National Debt Clock added to the blogroll.
To determine your share of the United States National Debt, divide the total debt by 304 million - the estimated population of the nation at 8:04 p.m., Central Standard Time, July 28th 2008.

You'll come up with $31,300.00

I don't know if your part of the tab for the subprime mortgage bailout has been added yet.

You don't remember guaranteeing and approving those risky loans? I don't either.

Anyway, your share of that fiasco will only come to about $1,300.00. That's less than 5% of your total percentage of the national debt, but you've been able to rationalize similar percentages at Christmastime, haven't you? None of this goes toward the children, though. In fact, that's who we're going to leave holding the tab.

If you want to add a similar clock to your own blog, website, or better yet, an email to all the people you're not going to vote for in November, you can click here.

The National Deficit is harder to figure each year since jacking around with tax rates has an influence on people's spending and earning. Plus, who knows what goodies will disappear into the hands of the bailout recipients each year?

If you're still wondering why American dollars are worth less and less as compared to yen, pesos, euros, or that stuff that comes with the Monopoly game, look no further. There are only two ways we'll get out of this, and everyone overseas is assuming that we'll choose Option A: just start printing the stuff.

Option B is to quit voting for the people who got us into this mess.

Nahhhh. We've never done that before.

Fire up the presses.

Help Save Libby And Lola

Here's the story as I understand it:

In house A there is a de-clawed cat. In my opinion, if you own a de-clawed cat, it's your responsibility to keep the cat in the house.
In the back yard of house B are two large dogs. The dogs are kept in a fenced back yard, a back yard that also has an electircal barrier buried underneath the fence.

Cat A somehow gets outside and gets eaten by the dogs of B - dogs named Libby and Lola.

Here's what the B people are now up against:

Upon arriving at the mandatory criminal trial against them, Libby and Lola's people realized too late that they were in way over their heads. After having filed multiple different testimonies to both the court and insurance agencies, the neighbors, one of which recently became a licensed attorney in the State of Texas, changed their entire story that day on the stand and under oath, claiming that Libby and Lola crawled under the cedar fence that was hotwired at the base and without causing any damage to the fence, hotwire, and boulders along its edge, attacked the helpless "T" then ruthlessly dragged him back under the fence and over to their yard as the neighbors watched in horror. The city prosecutor, who was trying Libby and Lola's people, denied them their right to provide evidence at every single request and objected to their usage of nonlegal verbage requiring them to act as their own attorney and question one another on the stand as witnesses without any prior knowledge or experience. Shortly after the trial started, it was over and Libby and Lola were deemed "Dangerous Dogs" by the city of Fort Worth. Libby and Lola's people stood horrified as they were given the paperwork offering them only two horrendous options in order to retrieve Libby and Lola from their prison, euthanize them or permanantly cage them in their own back yard. Now they have 15 days from July 16th, 2008 to comply with a laundry list of orders including $100,000 insurance policies on each dog, a permanent concrete padded enclosure with a roof, flourescent collars and jackets stating "Dangerous Dog" and muzzle for each to wear if they ever need to be out of their cage, microchipping of both Libby and Lola, signed affidavits they won't ever be sold, etc. If these requirements are not complied with and approved in time, Libby and Lola will be euthanized by the city of Fort Worth at their people's expense!

Euthanized at their people's expense? What the hell? Isn't that kinda like the Totalitarian Government practice of sending someone to the firing squad, and then sending their parents an invoice for the bullets? Do we really want to live in that kind of world? ? ? ?

If you have a de-clawed cat, you have taken away the cat's ability to defend itself. (Typing that sentence almost sent me into a 2nd amendment rant, but I don't have time.) So keep your helpless cat inside.

If there are large dogs in a back yard, they eat things. Kids, cats, shoes, burglars, etc. That's why you need to keep your stuff out of Yard B if you don't want it eaten.

Save Libby and Lola. See links above.

A Modest Wager On Global Warming Climate Change

I try not to post too much on Global Warming Climate Change, since it eventually comes down to placing bets on what's going to happen with the weather. It's either going to get warmer or cooler. It's going to rain more or it's going to rain less.
I think that we cannot change the weather, but Reverend Pat Robertson and Al Gore disagree with me.
After a while it becomes tiresome.

But I found this series of charts on an Australian site. Interesting stuff. The links provided in the comment field could keep you busy all day, if you are so inclined.

The seven charts basically demonstrate the following:
(The italics are just me reminding you of other unfounded fears.)

1) The world isn't warming (and the sky isn't falling).
2) The lower atmosphere has actually been cooling (and airliners aren't going to drop out of the sky because of the Y2K problem).
3) The seas have been rising for about the last 150 years, but now they've stopped (and God isn't going to call down judgement on New Orleans because of a heavy concentration of Gays and Lesbians).
4) The amount of sea ice is heavier than usual (and no one has ever documented a case of razor blades hidden in Halloween apples).
5) We don't have any more cyclones or hurricanes than usual (remember the freakout in China over SARS? Chill. There's nothing to worry about).
6) It still rains (remember last week, when we were all afraid to eat tomatos? Turns out, we should've worried about jalapenos. Or something totally different. We don't know.)
7) There were once farms in Greenland, somewhere beneath all that ice. (and if you step on a crack, it won't break your mother's back).

We enjoy good food. We enjoy companionship. And we enjoy freaking out over things that aren't going to happen. Otherwise we feel guilty for "not doing enough about it".

For years and years, I've known that people enjoy supporting the home team, even when the odds are against them. So I make money betting against home teams with home team supporters. It's easy, and keeps me in lunch money. But now it's time to branch out.

A U.K. athlete/adventurerer/explorer named Lewis Pugh is going to try to kayak from Norway to the North Pole. His point is that there won't be enough ice to prevent him from getting there.

I'll bet $50 against your $10 that he doesn't make it. Email me (see user profile) or use the comment field. First person to do so gets to make the bet. All bets are off if he uses his support boat as an ice breaker.

Any takers?

Barack Obama's Prayer At The Western Wall In Jerusalem

There's been a mini-scandal about Barack Obama's prayer that he left at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Here's a link to the best summary of the retrieval and eventual sale of the prayer that I could find.

There's a tradition of writing prayers on small pieces of paper, and leaving them in the cracks of this wall (the only remaining structure from the temple that was destroyed by the Roman army around AD 70.) I think this is the one that's sometimes called The Wailing Wall, where devout Jews rock back and forth while mourning the loss of their temple. My father took me to Israel in the late 1970's, and going to The Wall is a powerful experience.

Alissa In Wonderland, please help us out with some commentary if possible. Use English, please.

The text of Obama's prayer is as follows: "Lord — Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will."

If I have any overlap at all with Senator Obama, it's on theological issues. But I think he was intending for this prayer to be found and published. It has all the marks of being edited, re-written, blanded, debated in committee, and taken to multiple writer's workshops.

Since I have such a deep spiritual kinship with the Senator, please allow me to reconstruct the more honest prayer he may have slipped into the wall before this one.

Dear God,

I can't believe I've made it this far.

Thank you for Michelle and the girls. Thank you for Iowa and South Carolina. Thank you for whatever didn't happen to Hillary at that airport in Bosnia. Thank you for giving her Mark Penn as a campaign manager.

Please keep Osama bin Laden hidden away until after the election, and please don't let him be found in Iraq. Please preserve John McCain's charismatic speaking style. Thank you for Bob Barr.

Lord, I know you work in mysterious ways, but couldn't I have found you through someone besides Reverend Jeremiah Wright? And please, please help me stop having that dream where Jesse Jackson is running after me with pruning shears. I need my sleep.

Amen

The Cost Is Going Up. Therefore We're Going To Use More???

When the cost of something goes up, all other things being equal, the demand for that thing goes down.
With the cost of gas going up and up, I bet you're driving around a lot less than you were 5 years ago, right?
Do you still keep your home's thermostat on 68 degrees, the way we did back in the 1970's? Or does 75 degrees make more sense, now that we have much higher energy costs?

Here's another scenario. Assume you want to take piano lessons and there are 4 possibilities in your area:
*Lessons from the best teacher in town for $50 per hour
*Lessons from a competent, experienced teacher for $40 per hour
*Lessons from an ok teacher for $30 per hour
*Lessons on piano from an untried teacher for $20 per hour

In this scenario, in a free market, you might give the rookie teacher a try for $20 per hour.
But what if the government put out a decree which stated that all piano teachers, regardless of skill level, regardless of current demand, must be paid $40 per hour? Would you still give the rookie a try, or would you go for the competent, experienced teacher?

In this scenario, is the government really helping the untried teacher by raising the floor on piano lessons? Or are they guaranteeing full employment for the most skilled and experienced piano teachers at the expense of the others? (Look up the origins of the Davis Bacon employment acts when you get a chance. These were our first minimum wage laws, and were designed to guarantee full employment for whites at the expense of blacks. They’ve worked well.)

This is exactly what is happening at the lower end of the wage pool with today's minimum wage increase. There will be another mandated increase a year from now.

A few months from now, start looking for bewildered print and online editorials about increased unemployment among teenagers and low-skilled minorities. The funniest ones will have no sense of irony, and will end with calls for our government to do something about the problem.

Burgers With Bob Barr

There was another Libertarian Meetup called "Burgers with Bob" last night. This one was held in a private residence in Carrolton, a suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Around 30 people attended, and we all got to meet Libertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr.

Acts 9:21 - All those who heard him were astonished and asked "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on his name?"


I was skeptical going in. Unlike many Baptists, I'm a bit jaundiced when it comes to deathbed conversions. During his stint in Congress, Barr was a culture warrior, and helped craft the Defense of Marriage Act, fought against medical marijuana use, etc., etc., etc. When he was defeated due to redistricting, a few Libertarians saw it as a triumph. Others predicted that we'd miss his small government mindset.


I couldn't believe it when Barr actually won the Libertarian nomination (hit his name on the Post Labels below).


Barr has since apologized for straying from the One True Path. You can read most of his positions on the issues here. With Obama flopping around on the issues like a catfish on the riverbank, Barr seems relatively stable. I got to talk to him off and on for about two hours, and it was time well spent.

Acts 9:26 - When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.


Barr answered every question brilliantly. If he hasn't really had a Damascus Road experience, he's learned to fake it pretty well. I guess I'm on board with him. My little family of three people owes somewhere around $100,000.00 of the national debt, and I can't see giving the credit cards back to the people that went on the 60-year spending binge.

So I'm putting the "Join Bob" widget in the blogroll. I've written him a check. But I haven't put the bumpersticker on my beloved pickup yet.

That kind of commitment takes a little more time.

Caption This

I need a caption for this picture.

Congratulations to Anonymous, the winner of last week's caption challenge. An anonymous donation of a random amount has been anonymously donated to an anonymous charity, but not in his or her name.

Thanks to Gar for this picture.

Do You Feel Motivated Yet?

On more than one occasion, my friend DG has challenged me to "write something nice about Al Gore".
I've tried and tried. The outline of a nice, nice, nice Al Gore post is waiting in my head. It's centered around the 1993 Gore/Perot NAFTA debates, which you can see in this YouTube clip around the .40 mark. Brilliant.

But every time I get ready to give St. Albert his overdue dose of nice, something unpleasant intervenes.

Here's what did it to me this time:

Christopher Buckley, the son of the late William F., has started writing editorials for National Review. Here's an excerpt:

Remember those wonderful Soviet Five Year Plans? ....that wheat output in (the) Ukraine will quadruple over the next five years?

(Applause! Yay. Lenin! Yay. Stalin! Whoopee! You guys totally rock!....)

Buckley continues, saying that in the Soviet Union there was....

"no Congressional Budget Office pointing out, five years later, the "inconvenient truth" that the Ukraine had produced exactly enough wheat to make one six-pack of blinis. "

He then states that George H.W. Bush (Buckley's former boss) once pledged to balance the budget by the middle of the next decade. We all know how that worked out. Buckley then wonders if people down at the general store even comment on John McCain's goal of building 45 nuclear reactors by 2030 (when McCain will be 94 years old).

He finishes the editorial by stating that....

"sometimes goals are reached. Reeling from the Bay of Pigs disaster, President Kennedy changed the subject by announcing that the U.S. was going to put a man on the moon 'Before this decade is out.' " And what do you know, American astronauts were playing golf in the Sea of Tranquility by the end of the decade. So I'm with McCain. I personally plan to lose 40 pounds by 2030."

I read that editorial about a week and a half ago, keeping an eye out afterwards for politicians throwing out silly goals with arbitrary deadlines.

Nothing happened for a few days. And then, rising from the pack, St. Albert The Goracle of Music City Tennessee had to have a Kennedy moment and get into the National Courageous Goal Business.

Al Gore has challenged us to abandon all fossil fuels within ten years. Yep. 10 years. This is from Canada's National Post:

On Thursday, former U. S. vice-president Al Gore delivered a major address calling on his country to abandon all fossil fuels within 10 years. By 2018, U. S. electricity and fuel should come entirely from "renewable energy and truly clean, carbon-free sources," he said. Tickets to the event encouraged attendees to "please use public transit, bicycling or other climate-friendly means" to reach the lecture hall.
So how did Mr. Gore and his retinue arrive? In two Lincoln Town Cars and a full-sized SUV that sat idling with the air conditioners blasting while the Gore party was inside.
It was 34 C in Washington. Al Gore can't be expected to get into an overheated vehicle after he's worked up a sweat telling others how to save the planet.

If you're trying to make it through a long, long study hall at school, or if you're serving a long, long prison sentence, you can click here to read 9 months worth of me venting about similar stunts commited by The Goracle. I've really tried to get past this. I have failed.

What angers me about this stunt is that it's such a blatant money grab. Kleiner Perkins is going to pay Gore several Tennessee mansions' worth of plunder if he can get enough climate change/energy saving mandates in place. These government mandates, of course, will benefit Kleiner Perkins' alternative energy startup funds.

When Kennedy challenged us to get to the moon within ten years, Kennedy didn't already own large chunks of unreachable lunar real estate and he wasn't hoping to make a killing by selling crater-side condos to astronaut colonists. As best I can tell, Kennedy's family didn't have any investments in the aerospace industry.

Heck, what other Big Hairy Audacious Goals could we shoot for?

McDonald's challenges America to double its Big Mac consumption by the end of this decade ! ! !
Barack Obama courageously challenges the U.S. to elect an African American president by 2008 ! ! !
Betamax double dares you to bring back videocassettes, but in a different format ! ! !

I'm sure there are other ones out there.

Carnival Of The Libertarians #10

Chris at the Counting Cats In Zanzibar blog has recovered his health, and now has the 10th edition of Carnival Of The Libertarians posted.

Please check it out, and wish him good luck in his physical and financial recovery. (See Carnival for details.)

Kevin Colby is hosting the next one. Pick out your best post, go to the widget to your right, and send it to him.

And By Their Bumperstickers, Ye Shall Know Them

I went to the Tarrant County Libertarian meetup in Grapevine yesterday.
First things first....
The meetup was held at Tolbert's Restaurant. I didn't realize going in that this place was the brainchild of Texas Chili-Cookoff legend Frank X. Tolbert. They had the best chili I've ever eaten. End of story.

They also have some great live entertainment scheduled during the next few weeks, including 3 Fools on Stools, A Hard Nights Day (Beatles Tribute) and plenty of others. I'll be returning to Tolbert's.

The other thing that always impresses me about the Libertarian meetups is that the people who attend are readers, not watchers or listeners. One gets the impression that the attendees generally develop their political opinions from books and newspapers, not Larry King, Lou Dobbs, or Rush Limbaugh. I love talking to these folks.

John Spivey, the Tarrant County Chairman, had some good info for us on the TCCC/Trinity River Vision boondoggle. I'm afraid that if I start diving into that mess it'll take over my life. The $$$'s that John was throwing around were terrifying. As wise investments go, this one is starting to make Alaska's Bridge To Nowhere look like Microsoft in the 80's.

Wednesday night, I'm probably going to go to a Meet And Greet in Dallas for Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr. I want to test the validity of his Damascus Road Experience, and in the unlikely event he's read any of the mad ravings on this site, it might be awkward.

Bumperstickers from Libertarian Girl and Buddy Stone.

Barack Obama Shoots A 3-Pointer In Kuwait

Here's a YouTube video of Barack Obama at a meet and greet for the troops in Kuwait.
The sound quality isn't good, but fast forward to the 2:50 mark and you'll get to see our potential Commander In Chief sink a three-pointer under intense pressure.

Doctors Against Sharp Pieces Of Metal That Don't Have A Blunt Round Nose

First they came for our rifles.
Then they came for our pistols.
Then they came for our kids' playground equipment.
And diving boards at public swimming pools.

Then they came for our sharp pieces of metal that don't have "a blunt round nose".

HT to Alissa In Wonderland, via Nick M.

Fill In The Blank

The Libertarian Party Of Colorado blog recently linked to a Rocky Mountain News story about Colorado's rising unemployment rate.
But the news hasn't been bad for all sectors of the economy.....

"Although employment growth has been positive, it has been too modest to absorb the state's expanding labor force," Donald J. Mares, executive director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, said in a statement.
The state labor department said the largest contributor to job growth has been the ____________ sector, which showed a gain of 10,200 jobs and accounted for roughly one-third of net job gains since last June.

If you're a regular reader of this site, you probably don't need to hit the links to fill in that blank.

Don't allow yourself to think about how much unemployment that the ____________ sector creates while preserving its own growth rate.

The mind recoils.

Photo from Cactus st8 on Flikr

Brent Rinehart's Comic Book - I need a copy

Where to begin, where to begin....

According to the Associated Press:

OKLAHOMA CITY — Some Oklahoma County voters can expect to receive comic books in the mail soon, but the subject matter will have a serious tone.
The 16-page publication prepared by Commissioner Brent Rinehart's re-election campaign lampoons gays and criticizes Rinehart's political opponents.
It also features an angel who supports the embattled commissioner and Satan, who supports his critics."It's more or less a story of my experiences of the last four years of being the county commissioner of District 2," Rinehart told The Oklahoman, which obtained the comic on Wednesday.Toga-wearing gays, political figures, trench coat-clad henchmen, concerned residents and Rinehart make up the rest of the comic's characters.
In one sequence, Satan says: "If I can get the kids to believe homosexuality is normal!"
The angel replies: "Hey Satan, not with Brent around you won't!"

Someone has posted the entire comic book here. Do yourself a favor, hit the link. Please. You'll walk around happy and laughing for the rest of the day. I plan on getting to work bright and early this morning, so I can print a limited edition of this thing to mail anonymously to unsuspecting friends and family. I really can't tell you how much I love being alive in a time and place that produces stuff like this. Can you imagine being a resident of The Great State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma County, District #2, and finding a hybrid like this in your mailbox from your freakin' county roads commissioner?

The president of the company where I work, known on this site as Marvel Variants, is a comic book collector.

Mr. Variants, if these things show up on Ebay, guess what you're getting for Christmas this year? You'll be one of the few collectors to own a Volume #1, Issue #1 from the Stan Lee of the Oklahoma County, District #2 Roads Department. (Oklahoma readers - please email me if you can get your hands on an autographed copy, good condition, in a plastic sleeve. Mailing label and postmark are ok, since they help guarantee authenticity. I'll pay more than market value.)

A few things worthy of comment:

-The AP article says that it took Rinehart two months to write this epic.

- Notice that the phrase "Liberal Good Ol' Boys" is used several times. I didn't know they existed. I know lots of liberals, and lots of Good Ol' Boys, but they aren't the same people.

- Rinehart is involved in some kind of campaign finance lawsuit. His job is to keep the roads in good repair, and to build new ones. Therefore, the comic book is about gays, Satan, liberals, the cross at the county fairgrounds, and pedifiles (sic).

- I'll admit to throwing up some goofy spelling, grammar, and sentence structure on this site. I usually post things in a hurry. However, I'm not trying to defend myself in a lawsuit. I'm not printing my drivel and mailing it to every voter in my home county. Couldn't Rinehart find a talented seventh-grader to spellcheck that thing?

- If you don't get a kick out of the drawings of toga-clad, pan-flute playing, limp-wristed gay protesters, then there's obviously no room for joy and happiness in your life. I've known several gays and lesbians from Oklahoma, and none of them dressed like refugees from a pastoral poem.

Here's more from the AP article: "I do not know who the good ol' boys at the courthouse are," said County Assessor Leonard Sullivan, a Republican who has had public disagreements with Rinehart."I've really encouraged him on more than one occasion to get professional help. He really needs it," said Sullivan, who is not depicted in the comic.

If Brent Rinehart were to receive professional help, he'd be like Faulkner without alcohol or Hunter S. Thompson without drugs. Would Van Gogh have done any interesting paintings if he had gotten professional help? I hope Rinehart declines any treatment so the world can have more of his work. God made plenty of talented writers, gifted artists, and people who can spell.

But he only made one Brent Rinehart.

Here's the Re-Elect Rinehart website. HT to the incomparable Radley Balko of Reason magazine for bringing this to a wider audience.

Update from July 24th. I've gotten about a jillion hits from this thing, so maybe someone can help me.... This would be the ideal collectors item. Is there anyone at the courthouse who could get one autographed by Drew Edmondson, Jim Roth, Sheriff Whetsel (with the pencil-thin moustache), Jim Dickinson, Brian Maughn, and J.D. Johnston? For historians, would this not be worth its weight in gold?

Here's a YouTube of Rinehart on CNN:

Happy Cost Of Government Day !

I hope everyone had a pleasant "Cost Of Government Day" yesterday.

(For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, Cost Of Government Day is an American holiday that slides further and further back on the calendar each year. It's the day that reflects how long Americans have to work each year to pay for our federal, state, and local government. Read more by clicking here.)

The chart above shows how COGD has slid from June to July during the last nine years.

To celebrate all this increased government spending, I did the following:

* I hit the snooze button on the alarm clock 5 times before getting out of bed. I know that I should work to pay for things I purchase, but I'm going to pass this work on to my child. Deficit spending should be counterbalanced by deficit work, don't you think?

* I went to Starbucks and took up a collection for orphans in Burma, to be paid when the orphans retire at age 65. If it appears that the orphans will live past 65 and the funds are running low, I can always push back the retirement age.

* I took part of the orphan money and bought a double espresso. I paid $25 for it, which some of you might think is too much. That's none of your business. Starbucks was a major contributor to my Burmese orphan fundraiser, and this is how I give back to the community. Plus, I have to protect American jobs by paying too much. To do less would be unpatriotic.

* Since I work in the transportation industry, I have a vested interest in keeping the cost of fuel as low as possible. I purchased several farms worth of wheat, and converted the wheat to ethanol. Not only is this bad for the environment (which gives me an opportunity to set up more programs to protect the environment), but when I convert food to fuel it also helps create more orphans in places like Burma ! More orphans = more fundraisers !

* My employees are, without exception, a bunch of badasses. So I've set up a program where I have my employees stationed in 135 other companies, just to keep things stable. Helps me keep an eye on things. This costs a lot, but I'm not the one paying for it.

*Shortly before lunchtime on COGD, I used Eminent Domain legislation to tear down a Burmese orphanage and put a Wal-Mart in its place. We'll see a huge increase in tax revenue from this move. This will allow us to spend more than ever.

* Then I took a congressperson to lunch and worked on getting subsidized. We discussed how much I would contribute to his campaign. We discussed how he could keep foreign competitors out of my industry. We chatted about creating some burdensome regulations that would prevent newcomers from starting their own businesses that could someday compete with mine. It was time well spent.

We didn't talk at all about what kind of work I do, since it doesn't really matter. What matters is that I pay him. Then he subsidizes me with an even greater amount of money. Your money.

Thank you for this gift. I want you to know that I'm not spending it wisely.

But I'm protecting American jobs.

* After lunch I checked on some of the schools that I support. The kids there don't read and can't write, despite being promoted every year. (I have to teach my own classes at work on HOW TO READ A TAPE MEASURE !) Then I followed up with my congressman to ensure that school voucher programs don't make any headway. I'm a passionate believer in all of America's children receiving the same level of education, even if that level is "none".

* I fired a kid for sending an important package via the U.S. Postal Service instead of FedEx or UPS. What an idiot.

* I wrote a check to pay for the private security service at the gated community where I live. Then I wrote another check to a lobbying group called "Moms Against Guns".

* There wasn't much going on after that, so I went to see the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. I like to get drunk and eat too much while watching athletes try to carry leather bags of air across arbitrary lines on the ground. I like it when vendors pay for me to have this experience. I'm delighted that they can deduct this expense from their taxes, so people like you will have to pay even more taxes for the benefit of people like me. I love for cities to build huge sports arenas at your expense so people like me can enjoy these spectacular events.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

* I had a wonderful Cost Of Government Day, and hope you did too. Let's try to celebrate in August next year, ok? Vote for Democrats, whose stated goal is to increase the size of government. Vote for Republicans, who claim to favor smaller government, but spend more than Democrats.
Work harder, not smarter.

Caption This

I need a caption for this picture.

Congratulations to Gar of HeyGar's Random Ramblings, winner of last week's caption challenge.

A two dollar donation has been made in his name to The Whited Sepulchre Outreach Ministry And Social Club For Bloggers Who Can't Get Digg Icons To Appear On Their Posts.

Thanks to SpartanTailGate for the picture

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends, Right Wing Edition

Here are some of the best posts from the people who are so far to the right that they make me look like a Marxist humanities professor.


Blackfive has a link to the story you'll never hear about elsewhere - an AP photographer filmed the Taliban's execution/murder of two women. Not for the faint of heart, and don't watch the video if you're faint of anything.

Blackfive is the best military blog I've found so far. Most of the authors are current or retired military officers.

After the 5-4 Supreme Court decision upholding 2nd Amendment rights, The New York Times ran an editorial that was just begging to be ripped apart. Fighting For Liberty beat me to it. He took a different approach than I would've, but it's a good Fisking.

GrEaT sAtAn'S gIrLfRiEnD has a post on Nazanin Afshin-Jam, 2003's Miss Canada. Afshin-Jam is now an outspoken advocate for Women's Rights in the Middle East in general and Iran in particular. (And anytime I link to GSG-friend, I have to explain that the U.S. is known as the Great Satan, therefore Israel is Little Satan. It takes a while to learn and understand GSGirlfriend-speak.)

Barack Obama has created some controversy by speaking in front of a Seal Of The President Of The United States that has his "Yes We Can" slogan translated into Latin. The Grouchy Old Cripple has a more appropriate suggestion.....

The Heartless Libertarian proves here that his blog is poorly named.

Iowahawk has a message from the Al-Qaeda's director of quality control. Kinda like my message from the Jihadist Safety Consultant, but funnier.

Last Of The Few has a video which proves that some of our military guys have WAY too much time on their hands.

Pajamas Media is still the best Republican Blog aggregator.

Patterico's Pontifications did a link to The New Yorker cartoon cover of Barack and Michelle O. in Muslim garb. As of Monday, July 14th at 11 p.m., it had 131 comments, some of which are brilliant, some are dumb, and some are hilarious.

Red State explains why Bush is calling the Dem's bluff r.e. offshore oil drilling. Madame Pelosi comes if for the usual abuse.

Right Wing News features an interview. An interview that explains Global Warming. No, wait a minute, Global Cooling. Aw heck, let's just call it Climate Change and cover all the bases.

The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler is the first blog I ever read. An acquired taste. Not for the easily offended. He's got good stuff to say about the relationship between biofuels and rising fuel prices worldwide. Check out the cartoon in the comment field.
The Anti-Idiotarian has added another feature that I think is brilliant. Whenever two commenters are spatting back and forth at each other, he opens up something called The Imperial Colosseum - a place where they can go at each other until one party or the other gives up. This one is between Hoghead and Southern Libertarian.

Aurora at The Midnight Sun has a post about the brutality of Al-Qaeda.

The answer to The New Pundit's question is "Yes".

I already link to everything Wolf Howling does, via that little rolling post thingy in the bottom right corner. But this motivational poster deserves special attention.....

That's all I've got. Hope you enjoy the posts.

Prediction Update

A couple of months ago, I went out on a limb and made a few predictions.
It's time for an update. If you're so inclined, check out the link and come back. Or don't.

Prediction #5:
Bush is trying to open up more of our coastlines to oil rigs.
He is currently opposed by Ms Pelosi, whose supporters apparently have faith in the future development of Perpetual Motion machines.

Prediction #4:
Yesterday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram had the Cowboys ranked as the #1 team in the NFC.
They usually are.
Unfortunately for the Boys, the City of Arlington is shocked, (shocked !) to discover that they have somehow paid 60% more for land than anticipated. Eminent Domain lawsuits are still grinding on. Basically, this means that Jerry Jones will not have the football gods on his side this season. #4 still looks safe.

Prediction #3:
This one isn't possible to update. It'll either happen or it won't.

Prediction #2:
I'm not thrilled either way, but check this out. Obama and McCain are almost tied.

Prediction #1:
There are still no signs that Barack Obama has totally lost his mind.

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama on the cover of The New Yorker

Here's the drawing of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama now on the cover of The New Yorker magazine.


Let's see....we've got what looks like a picture of Osama Bin Laden over the fireplace, which has an American flag burning inside.

Michelle has an Angela Davis-size afro going, and there's a machine gun strapped to her back.

Barack is wearing a turban, robe and sandals.

They're standing in the Oval Office, doing their fist bump.


Here's The Huffington Post:


The illustration, by Barry Blitt, is called "The Politics of Fear" and, according to the NYer press release, "satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign." Uh-huh. What's that they say about repeating a rumor?
Presumably the New Yorker readership is sophisticated enough to get the joke, but still: this is going to upset a lot of people, probably for the same reason it's going to delight a lot of other people, namely those on the right: Because it's got all the scare tactics and misinformation that has so far been used to derail Barack Obama's campaign — all in one handy illustration.

Anyone who's tried to paint Obama as a Muslim, anyone who's tried to portray Michelle as angry or a secret revolutionary out to get Whitey, anyone who has questioned their patriotism— well, here's your image.