...but I hate the RIAA even more. This article is pretty good...and evidently she wrote it.

From Salon.com:

Put simply, the antitrust laws in this country are basically a joke, protecting us just enough to not have to re-name our park service the Phillip Morris National Park Service.

Now go read the rest.

Labels: Big business, Democrats, legislative bed-shitting, RIAA, shrill overweight lesbian entertainers with issues, Stupid twats

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Fuck the RIAA.

Why the hell not? A 16-year-old kid is about to!

Labels: Big business, funny shite, legislative bed-shitting, RIAA

Hillary Clinton was out jogging one morning along the parkway when she tripped, fell over the bridge railing and landed in the creek below.

Before the Secret Service guys could get to her, 3 kids who were fishing pulled her out of the water. She was so grateful she offered the kids whatever they wanted.

The first kid said, "I want to go to Disneyland."

Hillary said, "No problem, I'll take you there on my special Senator's airplane."

The second kid said, "I want a new pair of Nike Air Jordan's."

Hillary said, "I'll get them for you and even have Michael sign them!!"

The third kid said, "I want a motorized wheelchair with a built in TV and stereo headset!"

Hillary was a little perplexed by this and said, "But you don't look like you're handicapped."

The kid said, "I will be after my dad finds out I saved your ass from drowning."

h/t: My Grandma!

Labels: Democrats, funny shite, shrill overweight lesbian entertainers with issues, Stupid twats

Bomber's brother: We're happy Muhammad is the hero!

Now, if you really have a strong stomach, click on the link above and read the YNET article.
This is the enemy of Islamofascism. This is the way they think. This is what they believe. This is what Hanoi Jane, Spiccoli, Tim Robbins and the rest of the pacifist whack jobs don't understand.

Al Qaeda, Hezbolla, Hamas or Iraqi insurgents...no difference...these mother fuckers will walk into an ice cream store right next to Susan Sarandon and blow the shit out her, themselves and everyone else in the name of Allah. Does it have to actually happen to Susan Sarandon so Tim Robbins see's real evil and shuts the fuck up? Will he kiss them on the cheek?

What he'd do is blame US, because our policies caused this moron to kill his loudmouth wife.


Pacifists don't understand the laws of nature, somebody has to be in charge, and that means there will be fights (deaths) to be in charge. It has been that way since the beginning of recorded time, and I doubt if Spiccoli & Sheehan are going to be able to reverse thousands of years human nature with their "sunny" dispositions.

Labels: Charles Rangel, Democrats, legislative bed-shitting, terrorism, war

Labels: Big business, economy, executive thieves, finance

We've discussed articles by John Solomon (now of the Washington Post but previously of the AP) before - namely his pieces suggesting Senator Reid improperly accepted boxing tickets (an allegation from which he was cleared by the ethics committee) and that he didn't fully report his real estate ownership. This blogger had hoped that since Mr Solomon was hired by the WP he would start acting like a responsible journalist - unfortunately this hasn't happened.

Solomon had a front page article regarding the sale of John Edwards' home. The article implies that there was some sort of shady dealings but offers absolutely no evidence. In fact, if you read the story you'll be left wondering why the hell it was even news, let alone front page news.

Well, the WP omsbudsman felt the same way and decided to publicly chastise Mr Solomon:

"The story was interesting, but it was more of an item for the Reliable Source or In the Loop -- and not worth Page 1. It seemed like a "gotcha" without the gotcha.

The story also lacked needed financial context. It noted that Edwards bought the house for $3.8 million in 2002 and sold it last month for $5.2 million after it was on and off the market for 18 months.

But the story didn't pin down that the house, in the 3300 block of P Street, had at least $1 million in renovations, said several sources. The asking price originally was $6.5 million and had been lowered twice, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, the region's multiple listing service.

And the story didn't mention how home prices had risen from 2002 to 2006 -- for District single-family homes, the gain was 61 percent, said Fred Kendrick of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokers. Applying those numbers would put Edwards's house at about $6.1 million, not counting the renovation costs."

I'm sure this won't be the last time we're discussing this journalistic hack - especially w/ presidential primaries right around the corner...

As a few of you may be aware, Jeff Pruitt and I have an ongoing dialogue over the absence of an outcry from Democrats about the disgusting recent behavior of Didi Feinstein, the RIAA et al. Jeff has reasonably pointed out that the bill is currently in front of the Judiciary committee, and there is no reason for alarm just yet. However, I strongly disagree with this notion. I feel that a senior Democratic senator should be held accountable for whatever bile her pen produces, regardless the perceived "urgency" based on when the bill is (or is not) scheduled for review/debate/vote etc.

So first I decided to head on over to DailyKos. For those who are unfamiliar, DailyKos is basically a propaganda site for the most ridiculously left-leaning in our midst. Millions of wannabe socialist zombies flock to the website in droves each day to receive their marching orders, along with a fresh infusion of highly caustic (and usually only about half sane) mumbo-jumbo that although has its roots fixed in reality, usually is tempered by perspectives so anti-intellectual that any factual foundation they may espouse is clouded by a long shadow of doubt, cast by their extremely partisan reputation.

I went to the DKos Search box and typed in "Feinstein" +RIAA. I was hoping that maybe one of the die-hard wholesale liberals would have noticed Bill S.256, but alas, the results were as follows:

OK, so maybe DKos is too busy dissecting the important issues of the day:

Iowa Presidential Primary (already?)

John McCain and Chuck Hagel's Friendship

An OLD-ASS General that served under Reagan wants us to leave Iraq

One big glad-handing session about some peace rally where literally tens of people showed up

I think I've picked on DKos enough. I seriously didn't expect those communists to expose a chink in their armor by outing Didi as an authoritarian shill for big business.

So, off I went to The Huffington Post to try the same thing. Unsurprisingly, the results were identical. Nobody even though it was worth mentioning this little Nazi cabal and their anti-consumer, anti-First amendment legislation. These extremely partisan hacks at both of these major bastions of leftist haymaking failed to so much as mention Feinstein and Company.

Now, on the other hand, if you Google "Feinstein" +RIAA you will be treated to a plethora of articles about Didi's shenanigans over the last couple of years with her new best buddy, the Recording Industry! You all know the RIAA, they are the ones who are suing college students and stay-at-home moms for downloading poor-quality music from P2P networks for at-home listening. Mrs. Feinstein seems to think it's the Federal Government's job to continually re-write laws to fuel the greed of these RIAA pigs by generating entire industries specifically to conform to these new and unnecessary laws.

Isn't it amazing what campaign contributions will buy you?

Labels: Big business, First Amendment, governmental regulation, RIAA, Stupid twats

I have noticed a curiously high volume of search engine referrals to the site lately, so I undertook the arduous task of logging each individual search to learn exactly what was driving people here. The results, although interesting to me, were somewhat less than notable. However, I have taken the time to pin up a few of the top searches just for fun, and this may even help people find what they are looking for a little more easily.

A very highly searched term that drives people here is "Meghan Mongillo." This is particularly amusing, because I have never mentioned her name in any post on this site. Hell, I don't even know who she is. Mike Harvey, however, of Fairplay Beach Volleyball did mention her in a comment on this post back in March of '06. Turns out that Google ranks that post #6 out of 762 for relevant Meghan Mongillo content. I would have never guessed.

The next term I wanted to mention is actually more of a group of related searches that yield the same J4TR result. "Coran Capshaw," "Dionysian Productions" and "Phish tour 2007" all seem to send a shitload of people to this post also from March, 2006.

Also high on the hit-list has been my name.

Hilariously, though, the two top-referring searches have been Google image searches. Unfortunately, I do not get the benefit of being able to see what exactly people are searching for to find the images, but I at least get to find out what the image is. The first one is a cartoonish map of the middle east, and the other is a comic. I haven't the faintest idea why. I guess it doesn't much matter, but I get the impression from the normally-minimal duration of these visits, these must not be exactly what people are looking for. Regardless, here they are. Of course, there was the little "impertinent dufus" scenario, but I think that was just a simple anomaly.

Labels: ....Just for the Record

Labels: Axl, cool toys, krazy kidz

Good to know that our political hopes are pinned on the "leaders" elected to the Iraqi Parliament. They rarely put together a quorum despite each member receiving a hefty $10k/month salary and 20 paid security guards.

Part of the problem is security, but Iraqi officials also said they feared that members were losing confidence in the institution and in the country’s fragile democracy. As chaos has deepened, Parliament’s relevance has gradually receded.

Deals on important legislation, most recently the oil law, now take place largely out of public view, with Parliament — when it meets — rubber-stamping the final decisions. As a result, officials said, vital legislation involving the budget, provincial elections and amendments to the Constitution remain trapped in a legislative process that processes nearly nothing. American officials long hoped that Parliament could help foster dialogue between Iraq’s increasingly fractured ethnic and religious groups, but that has not happened, either.

And when they do manage to meet, it's a complete circus:

The biggest argument was when a Sunni cleric MP harshly criticized what he called a policy to target only certain parts of Baghdad (apparently referring to Haifa street and Latifiyah), and said the troops were killing civilians. The MP told Maliki that “We’ve lost trust in you as a head of the state….” An uproar began with many shouting from their seats. The cleric continued his verbal attack and the speaker tried to silence him by telling him he exceeded his time limit. He wouldn’t stop. The speaker then shut off the cleric’s microphone.
Maliki returned fire saying, “You in particular will regain your trust in this government when we send your file to a court of law. You talk about Latifiyah when you know, and everybody knows, that terrorists are right now holding 150 innocent citizens hostages in that city”.
This direct threat was met by applause from the members of the UIA.

The speaker (al-Mashhadani) didn’t like this response from Maliki and turned to the lawmakers and said “You applaud this? The Prime Minister is openly accusing one of your colleagues of being a terrorist and you applaud! This is unacceptable!”
The session descended into chaos with members in white and black turbans shouting at each other. The speaker lost his patience and screamed back “Enough of this sectarian speech making! You will set the streets on fire! How are we going to succeed if we’re divided like this?”

This is the part that doesn't get enough attention. These guys don't seem capable of making this work. We can send in as many troops as we want but the POLITICAL problem will remain until Maliki can figure out a solution - I wouldn't hold your breath...

This is a new one. Rather interesting, really.

Great Britain's Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald:

"London is not a battlefield. Those innocents who were murdered on July 7
2005 were not victims of war. And the men who killed them were not, as in their
vanity they claimed on their ludicrous videos, 'soldiers'. They were deluded,
narcissistic inadequates. They were criminals. They were fantasists. We need to
be very clear about this. On the streets of London, there is no such thing as a
'war on terror', just as there can be no such thing as a 'war on drugs'."

Labels: Ken Macdonald, terrorism, those crazy brits, war

Last I checked, Democrats were self-professed and self-appointed guardians of free speech. Truthfully, I'm glad somebody wants to protect that right.



So why is Didi Feinstein (D-CA) trying to put the screws down on internet radio broadcasting?


Of course, you won't hear any Democrat bloggers stepping up to take a swing at this Nazi bitch and her insane agenda...even though it contradicts what they supposedly stand for. They are all too busy whining about how we treat prisoners at Gitmo and how the President is trampling our civil liberties by monitoring international phone calls. Meanwhile, Feinstein and her cabal of whack-job know-it-alls are running roughshod over the last bastion of free speech we have left...the internet.

Democrats in general will approach this with the same blind-loyalist mindset as the Bush drones. You've seen them. The ones who just don't notice as Dubya blunders his way across the World stage, play down his butchering of the English language and generally ignore the fact that El Presbo projects the image of a chaw-sloshing toothless dimwit on behalf of the rest of us. Yeah, that's the way Democrats treat Feinstein et al. Just as the Christian right can forgive W's abundant faults because he loves Jesus, Diane Feinstein is given carte blanche with the teathering of our liberties simply because she's hip to socialism. It's unbridled partisanship in action.




Oooh, I have an idea:

Fuck Diane Feinstein, and fuck the RIAA. The whole lot of them can blow me.

Labels: Democrats, First Amendment, governmental regulation, RIAA, Stupid twats

Labels: Big business, Ford, Fort Wayne Media, Journal Gazette, U.A.W.

Labels: shrill overweight lesbian entertainers with issues

Well, there is much to say about this, but I'll keep it brief(ish). An acquaintance of mine died yesterday when he tangled with a Brinks truck south of Antwerp, OH.

Rick Schoof was a good friend of my little brothers, and a casual acquaintance of mine. I can't say that I was ever particularly close to him, although I guess we had our moments. We shared a few ex-girlfriends and a few beers over the years, but no serious bonding or quarrelling.

I don't bring this up to get the obligatory and cordial "sorry for your loss" comments appended to this post. Truthfully, this isn't my loss. I fear that my life likely wouldn't have changed much had I not been informed of his passing by other concerned friends. Heck, I saw Rick at Martins Tavern shooting pool a couple of weeks ago and failed to even offer a "hello," not for a lack of desire to do so, but rather because he was involved in a billiards tournament that I didn't wish to interrupt. I guess I probably should have.

No, this is not my loss. This is, however, a substantial loss for his wife and 2-year-old (I think) daughter (regardless, she's very young). I haven't the faintest idea if Rick had ever even thought of making the slightest preparations for such an untimely departure, but my gut says maybe. Either way, his little girl will have to grow up without knowing the truly decent man that was her father, and for that, I am sad.

Most of my exposure to Rick was from the perspective of a big brother who was sometimes intrigued, but often annoyed by his little brother's friends. Rick was a really goofy kid, and as much as he fought to overcome it, he still became a goofy adult. I can honestly say, and any of his close friends can and will attest, that Rick was loyal, honest, hard-working, well-intentioned and dignified. The World is not better off for his leaving.

Throughout our younger years, Rick was a vocal opponent of the party-it-up-24-7 lifestyle that many of us enjoyed. He often berated and ridiculed us for being underage booze-hounds, defiant miscreants etc. While the rest of us were busy treating our bodies like chemical and tactile playgrounds, Rick sat idly by on the sidelines, driving the drunkest among us home to ensure safe passage, and often providing the sober voice of reason over the din of the stupefied crowd. Who knows, maybe he saved a few lives by doing so...it's hard to tell.

Regardless, I owe the lad at least this humble reflection for having entertained me over the years. Rest in peace, comrade. You will be missed.

CHECK OUT THIS POST FROM THE OFFICIAL ALLEN COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Story and headline by Kevin Knuth
LOTTERY FOR SALE-GOVERNOR ALREADY WORKING ON A DEAL


A few days ago I wrote about Mitch Daniels plan to sell the lottery. I expressed my hunch that the purpose of the "Cherry Master Crackdown" was to drive up the value of the lottery for bidders. (You cannot expect a company to invest in "legal' gambling if you allow "illegal" gambling). One responder accused me of being a bit of a conspiracy theorist.
According to this post on Taking Down Words, looks like I was right!
Here are a few highlights from the RFQ (i.e. how they're marketing the sale of our very valuable asset to investors):
"This tightly regulated market provides the Hoosier Lottery with only limited competition, which in turn ensures strong, steady, and stable cash flows."
Tightly regulated? Only if you crackdown on the Cherry Masters.
I also like this response on TDW:
"Couldn't agree with you more.
No announcement of the Exec order. No talking in the open.
This is what is meant by running the state like a business. The boss speaks and people are just supposed to follow orders without question.
Good thing he's staying in shape (if you follow the commercials). There's going to be a lot of people ready to chase him out of the state."
Posted at 07:25 AM Permalink Comments (0) TrackBack (0)

Now usually I enjoy sparring with Kevin, as he proves a worthy adversary on occasion. In this case it's kind of hard to argue with his headline, it's an outright lie. It's not an opinion, it's not a point of view, it's not even a slant. It's just plain old fashioned lying. Now I realize he's preaching to the choir, as most of his readers are already under the influence of the liberal idealogy so he's not likely to convert anyone from the blog. Where blatant lying like this poses more of problem is in newspapers and soundbytes. Just like with any kind of advertising, as you see and hear the same thing over and over it slowly becomes accepted and unchallenged. I know politics is a dirty business and everybody "shades" issues, but a flat out lie, with no nuance, no ambiguity should inspire a certain level of mistrust by even the most ardent Demos (used that abbreviation for JGood) shouldn't it? How about the old guard democrat money guys? Do they pay attention to this? Do they condone bald-face lying?

I don't mind innuendo, or the obligatory insinuation, but if your party chair will lie in BOLD PRINT on your partys' official blog, over and over as the partys' official spokesperson, one has to assume the Democratic Party approves.

I don't know about the rest of you, but in my experience when someone lies to me, I wonder what else their lying to me about.

Oh yeah, and as far as the cherry master conspiracy theory goes, I don't think cherry masters compete in any way with lottery ticket sales. Two completely different animals.

Bartleby discusses Fort Wayne's questionable "Clean Air Act:"

I take it that everyone this side of absolutist anarchism would probably
agree that the applicability of some laws should not depend on the location of
the offense. If murder, rape, and robbery are to be proscribed by law,
presumably the proscription applies in my kitchen just as it does in the center
of Main Street. Similarly, I take it that everyone this side of absolute
totalitarianism would agree that the law must recognize and account for some
private vs public distinctions: the fact that the Board of Health has something
to say about how cleaning supplies may be stored in a school cafeteria shouldn't
mean that its minions can breeze into my kitchen for a snap inspection. Is there
some generally agreed-to principle to which we can refer and appeal in
evaluating proposals between these two extremes? I don't think there is one that
is generally agreed to and consistently applied; I do think that our failure to
think these matters out systematically has put us where we are today: a
situation in which raw power and the loudest voices substitute for that missing
principle, and in which folks like 5th District Councilman Tim Pape furrow their
brows and set about "weighing" competing sets of alleged "rights." That's a
little troubling to me, purely from process considerations. Do we have any
reason to think that our city councils are populated by accomplished moral
philosophers? Next month, will Mr. Pape begin to balance my "right" to speak
freely against his "right" not to have to hear things that he finds uncongenial?
Which way will his pointer incline?

Now go read the rest.

All of this local rights-stripping, property rights stomping by St. Crawford & The Angels of Clean Air has me kinda blue, and when I'm blue I turn to one of my favorite sources of humor to cheer me up.....The most preposterous of pundits, the purveyor of piles of pure poppycock, the palpable pussy of P.M. opinion, THE OLBERDEUCHE'.

Click on the Title above and watch his latest video conspiracy theory. (H/T to Hot Air) The fictitious television drama 24 is in fact a program length commercial for the Republican party.

It's hysterical, this latest Olbe-rant is just what the left needs playing in the background as they produce more nutroot nocturnal emmissions on one another while clutching an 8 x 10 glossy of their new Messiah Barack Obama with their spooge-laden hands dreaming of 2008.

Now that makes me laugh! I feel better already.

The intoxicating aura of power and adulation drives initially honest people to become virtually amoral as they wade hip deep into the political arena. Most start out with the best of intentions only to become numb as they pivot with their finger in the air, like a poll taking weather vane.

For instance, John Edwards. I believe him to be a genuinely nice guy, and a decent guy by todays standards. There's the rub, todays standards. I don't believe for one minute he actually thinks the best solution for Iraq is to leave immediately. He thinks the best way to become President is to SAY we should leave Iraq immediately. He see's his own intellectual dishonesty as necessary for the greater good. In other words, he feels it's worth it to be dishonest about this "one" issue because once he's President he can do so much good.

It's an amoral values system that drives people like Kevin Knuth as well. While not rotten in his heart, he uses a similar tack when bashing his opponents with some really nasty tactics (the shine affair) and some more subtle ones like using the words "sale" and "selling off"
in every single sentence he ever wrote about the toll road lease. It's just parroted innuendo over and over again planting suspicion or doubt. It's the same premise as hearing all day long that the economy is in the shitter, over and over again, people start repeating it, taking it for fact and believing it. (all the while making more money) They have been convinced their fucked.

Much like Edwards, Knuth believes he will acheive a greater good for society if his side wins elections and that "justifies" some really abhorrent behavior.

It's pretty obvious the issues are irrelevant to these guys, the issues are just the ammunition, the target is the election but most people don't seem to really notice. It's all about getting elected and staying elected.

As many of you will remember, I posted a rant a couple of weeks ago deriding the religious zealots of the U.S. for pressuring the National Park Service to offer only inconclusive statements about the origins and age of the Grand Canyon. It has been discovered by Skeptic Magazine (who also bit "hook line and sinker" on this bag of shit) that this was actually a piece of propaganda, crafted and deployed by a group of radical leftist environmentalist scumbags.

These douchebags' hatred for President Bush (valid or not) drove them to make false accusations that resulted in me (and others) getting pissed off at the wrong people.

Here's the skinny: I am rather environment-friendly. I am not by any means an environmentalist, but I am environmentally conscious. I love the outdoors and nature. I don't even hunt (for mammals) because I would rather watch a deer than eat it. I'll shoot up birds (pheasants and turkeys only) any chance I get, because they are yummy and not particularly noble or interesting to observe in nature. Call it a flawed ethos if you will, but I don't care, it's just the way I am.

Now, as many of you regular J4TR readers are aware, I have a problem with pushy idiots. They are the people who have to resort to lying and fact-inventing to make their point, because their arguments are based on intellectually or morally dishonest premises. In this instance, the group PEER that wrote the initial piece had me. They had me emotionally and intellectually hooked. PEER had two major things going for them: I hate religious fundamentalist idiots (yes, just the ones that are stupid about it), and I really hate the government being courted by those same idiots. I was literally stoned on that article.

These people who concocted this "scenario of their dreams" on paper so that they could advance their agenda against George W. Bush (who actually was no more than an innocent by-stander on this one) have now flushed their credibility down the proverbial shitter. However, even after being suckered by this ruse, I am actually happy.

Why? Because my fear of a government-sponsored religion has been pushed back a little. That knee-jerk "holy shit here it comes" reaction was premature in this instance, and that's just great by me. I flinched. But you know what is great about flinching? Sometimes, the fist that you are flinching to avoid doesn't end up hitting you. It's rare, but it happens. Color me relieved...for now. There may not be any more fists heading for my face, but trust me, the fists are still flying. I am also relieved that places like Skeptic Magazine are prepared to do the thorough due diligence it takes to verify or debunk some of these claims. Perhaps next time, I will be equally motivated to fact-check my source material.

Who the fuck am I trying to kid?

Anyway, enough of my metaphors. Just go read the Skeptic article...it's good.

Go ahead, click on the image...you know you want to. You'll be cool. Everybody will like you. Oh, but if you're using that extra-stupid browser feature where it fits images to the screen, you'll need to expand the picture.



see the original at Flicker

I wanna try...

In light of recent posts and comments, and this being Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I thought it seemed an appropriate time to offer my take on some of the rhetoric flying back and forth.

While it's no doubt admirable that Nate feels so strongly about equality, (as most of us rational thinking people do) it's not exactly fair to automatically label those with whom you don't completely agree as "racists" or "fuckwads".

The important thing to remember here is, JR expressed her personal preference for her family, based on some very common sense facts. The facts she points out are irrefutable, mixed race couples will have a few more hurdles in life (in any culture) than those of the same race. No one is saying that's right, it's just a simple fact in any culture.

What Nate may not be able to see or be unwilling to accept, is JR's decision may not be one of racism, but one of parental concern, as most parents want their children to have the least amount of pain in their life as possible. It's a protection reflex reaction. I know Nate finds JR's thoughts on this abhorrent, but not all people process their decisions and beliefs on such a lofty intellectual plane or plateau.

I think what JR was trying to get across was , will she support and love her children no matter whom they fall in love with? Certainly. Would she prefer her children fall in love with someone that would not make their life more painful? Certainly. My point is, don't make more of this than it probably is, by taking the Al Sharpton approach to everything doesn't really make things better.

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/01/13/video-barney-frank-throws-a-fit-on-the-house-floor/


I don't care if your gay or straight, republican or democrat, you gotta admit this professional politician is a fucking twit.

More commonly referred to as a chart, you'll note the red line goes up after the Jobs and Growth Act (tax cut) was signed by GWB to the highest level of revenues ever collected.
Hmmmmm......

Lowest unemployment rate in decades, GDP ranges from steady to great, deficit down a third, inflation isnt a real worry....

What would the Democratic Party suggest?
QUICK! RAISE TAXES !

The new year has been an interesting one thus far around the Kaduk household. I know that at some point last fall, I was blogging a touch about this money pit in my back yard, the kids call it a "pool," I call it a "financial abyss with a diving board." I started to feel that way about it on the first day we began moving into our new home last summer. I went out to fire up the pool pump, figuring I had at least a month of decent swimming weather left, and discovered (after replacing the motor starting capacitor) that the jet lines had not been winterized properly, and had evidently been shattered by water freezing within them during the winter of '05-'06. So my first two days in my new house was spent with a Bosch demolition hammer, a 6 pound sledge, a spud bar, a wheelbarrow and a shovel, busting up sections of sidewalk and digging out some absolutely splintered 1.5" schedule 40 PVC from around my pool, and replacing said PVC with some neat, semi-flexible utility pipe. All in all, that fix only cost me about $30, but then I haven't yet replaced all that concrete I knocked out either. I guess I should also note that the city sent me a special letter two days later, informing me that I was 12,000 units over the average monthly consumption for the home ("units" loosely equates to gallons, if that gives you any idea how much water we pumped into the ground). So I guess it cost $30 plus $120 for water.

Fast-forward to October.

Winterizing a pool is not fun work. Ok, it's not even amusing. By the time one finishes, one can expect to be wet, cold, stinky and exhausted (especially if the pool is of the in-ground variety, like mine). The debris must be cleared from the pool, the water must be drained down well below the jet outlets, the jet lines must be forcefully emptied of all contents (high pressure air from the filter head works Ok), the outlets capped, the filter drained, the pump dumped full of antifreeze, the skimmer drain needs antifreeze poured in it (and subsequently that antifreeze needs to be sucked from the drain to the pump), I could go into even more nauseating detail here, but there's no point. It's just a lot of damn work.

It usually takes a couple of days to do all of this work, and culminates in a very large mesh leaf cover being put over the top of the pool, and staked into the earth nearby. Normally, this cover catches the colorful leaves of the autumn trees as they drift to the ground (the falling leaves are very attracted to the pool for some reason). The leaves pile up on the mesh cover until it sags into the water, and acts as a giant tea bag, dipping the now soaking, rotting leaves into the clean-ish water turning said water a murky shade of blackish brown....like a cross between coffee and tea.

The bitch of it is, I didn't get the leaf cover installed in a timely (enough) fashion this year. That wretched whore Mother Nature decided to blow a nasty cold spell through the area that brought high winds, cold rain, and general misery with it. Here's the shitter: The cold front came through the day that I planned on installing the leaf cover. Now, I'm an idiot, but I'm not likely to find myself standing in an icy-cold downpour doing grunt chores for no pay...not a friggin' chance. The net result of this shitty weather and my general apathy was not pleasant. Remember how I said that the falling leaves are attracted to the pool? Yeah, the cold-snap broke all of those little leaves loose from their respective tree homes. It was almost as if each tree grabbed a copy of their favorite magazine, rolled into a full squat and literally shat into my pool. Great stuff. Now I get to extract all of those fine, wet, mostly decomposed leaf carcasses from the bottom of the pool in the spring. But, on the bright side, I now don't have to install or remove that cover. What would be the point? Keeping the rotting leaves in the pool? There certainly aren't any leaves left to fall...

Fast-forward to December.

Since the "powers that be" have decided that we don't get any fucking snow this year, we have to settle for rain. Unfortunately, unlike snow, rain translates directly by a 1:1 ratio between inches of rainfall and inches of accumulation...in my pool. Snow is forgiving. It takes like 8 inches of that shit to accumulate an inch of standing water in the pool. So, since we've gotten somewhere in the neighborhood of 2' (yes, FEET) of rain since I plugged up the pump intakes and drained the filter, as you might well imagine, my pool filled up to the top...all the way to the rubrail on the coping (you're not supposed to keep it that full in the summer, much less the winter). I came to the realization that even though nobody who pays for city water should bitch about a free pool fill-up, the middle of the winter was the wrong time to have one occur.

Fast-forward to yesterday.

The water finally reached the edge of the coping, which means the skimmer box was full past the top. This also means that in the event of a hard freeze, shit was gonna get destroyed. The pressure from a hard freeze would definitely be enough to shatter concrete, break the skimmer box to pieces and leave me with the worlds largest flower pot (or maybe sandbox) in my backyard, but a pool would no longer be an option without tearing the current pool out of the ground and replacing it with a new one.

So, I got my hands on a porta-pump (see picture). It's not submersible, so I was gonna need some pipe for intake and output. Boffo! I still have some of that semi-flexible utility pipe remaining, but I think it got moved out to a salvage yard with some other misc. shite from my garage back in the fall. But no sweat, the owner of the yard is always there on Saturday. Yeah, he wasn't there. Rather, nobody was there...except me...in the rain...in some lightweight mesh running shoes, and a fairly new pair of pants, and a sweatshirt....staring at a padlocked gate.

So I said fook it, and started running along the north side of the salvage yard, 8' galvanized steel sheet-piling fence to my left, and wide-open, muddy, overturned farm field to my right. As I jogged the 1/2 mile back to where the fence ended, I lost my right shoe to the soft earth a couple of times, and splattered marble-sized clods of mud up the back of my pants and shirt. But alas, I did reach the end of the fence and made the quick left turn into the salvage yard. Of course, with the transition from grassy/muddy path to the salvage yard property, came an abrupt change in terrain. It went from moderately grassy mud, to just plain mud...and I sunk again. Of course, I could see my utility pipe from the second I made that turn, so the end was in sight. Well, except for the fact I had to run through the half-mile bog again to get back to my car.

So 10 minutes later I was home. I assembled the pump, stretched out an extension cord and fired the contraption up.

7 hours later, water level in the pool was low enough to pull off the jet plugs to check for leakage in the pipes, and thankfully, I think a plume of dust came out when I did. **Whew,** no water, in the pipes is quite a relief. So, I disassembled my pump and packed it all back into the garage, feeling pretty good that despite a little (lot) of adversity, I got the job done (well enough).

Of course, I woke up this morning to find it fucking raining again...

Hello, Nate here. I know I have not been very good about posting often, a new job actually has me doing some work instead of pontificating as much as I would like. I did, however, feel the need to mention this. Now make no mistake, the actual post itself did nothing more than assemble a few random, seemingly unconnected (except maybe by general topic) snippets - for reasons unknown. There was nothing inherently racist, bigoted or even malevolent about the body of the post, so I think Dan is off the hook here, as he really didn't do anything more than poke a little good-natured fun at the phenomenon that even black men laugh about: their ugly white girlfriends, and furthermore, poked a little fun at his own background too, so I don't think his intentions were cause a racially-polarized shit-storm, rather to simply have a little fun. Cool.

But then, the commentors took over. Tim Zank had a quick flash-back to less stressful times (remarkably, nothing inflammatory), Bob G made a few of his usual inside~looking~in observations (and some pretty even-handed ones, at that), although he did pull some factually vacant BS out of his ass by offering the statement "Interracial couples rarely work..." Based on what, Bob? The fact that in your observations in the SE part of town, all of the subjects of your curious voyeurism are trashy people - black and white? I mean, truthfully, marriages between trashy people don't work, regardless the color of their skin, so that might have been a distinction you should have made...since it adds a little credibility to the statement.

Then world fell silent, as if preparing for the arrival of a tornado, and Lucy/Jessica Rabbit/Toni Derry spoke up, and let the bigotry fly (which may have been Dan's point the whole time, to dump just enough fuel on the fire that something - or someone, was going to explode. Well, Lucy/Jessica Rabbit/ Toni Derry didn't exactly explode, it was more like an implosion. Here was her comment:

"As a single gal…I would not consider it. One, not for me personally, and two not for the message it would send my kids.

Another side of the issue, I have had long talks with my kids about this too. I have already had an instance with my now 15 yr old daughter who wanted to “go out” with a person of color. Of course, “going out” in high school - at that age - does not entail dates…but nevertheless I came unglued. Two points I have always considered - if the relationship advances and the couple marries and has children, the children suffer the consequences for their entire life trying to figure out who they are. And then there is always the extended family tree…."

I don't even know where to start with this vile hatespeak. I guess the beginning will do. Hey, Toni, what "message" exactly would it send to your kids that could possibly be worse than the reprehensible "we don't serve your kind around here" mentality that you display now?

And seriously, "person of color???" I think my 80-year-old grandpa still calls people "colored." I'm gonna guess that you cross the street to avoid eye contact with "those shady negroes," don't you? And come the fuck on, children "suffer the consequences???" Suffer the consequences of what? We ALL suffer consequences every day because we're all humans. But you see, twits like you make the consequences extend beyond life just being difficult enough, you have to make it about what color we are born. I think it's repugnant. When I have kids (ok, if I have kids), I hope they get lucky enough to find a companion with whom they fall deeply in love, and I hope that love endures to their grave. Color be damned, and racist, bigot fuckwads be damned too.

I'm really tired of hearing these ridiculous Smoking Ban proponents and their absurdly framed arguments and all accompanying propaganda. Let's just get this out in the open, once and for all:

Non-smokers think that smokers are stupid. Period. This is especially true of non-smokers who have never smoked. To a degree, they are probably right -- smoking is stupid, but like many of life's little distractions, smoking is also a LEGAL choice, particularly for adults.

On the other hand, militant non-smokers like to make an exceptionally dramatic show out of exactly how disturbing and distressing smoke is to them. The whole dog-and-pony show is great: The nose plugging, the gagging, the flailing about as if they were being attacked by agitated giant hornets...it's all very very amusing to those of us that don't actually give a flying fuck (and there are lots of us).

Back in my (regrettable) cigarette smoking days, I actually had a woman ask me to put out my smoke at the DeKalb County Fair...outdoors. Why? Because the dumb twat and her gaggle of inbred offspring were walking right behind me, and my smoke was creating somewhat of a vapor-wake. Any person with a functional cerebellum would simply move from within my contrail, and then resume walking behind a less-distressing crowd. Ha! Not this lady. She decided to set a fine example for her kids and confront me, demanding that I extinguish my cigarette to appease her. Well, I didn't do that, exactly. Rather, I blew a large plume of smoke and spittle right in her pock-marked, fat face and proceeded to teach her kids a few new (really colorful) names for "mommy." I'm pretty sure that one of her kids was smiling at me...

Ok, that little story kinda drifted a bit from my actual point here, which is simply that non-smokers have historically felt imposed-upon by smokers. For example, smoking used to be perfectly acceptable on commercial airlines. Although irritating to the nicotine addicted, smoking has been rightfully banned from all domestic flights. However, the current debate is not over 100 humans sealed inside an inescapable tin can 15,000 feet above the earth. The current debate is about large, stationary, privately owned buildings. Buildings which patrons can freely enter and/or exit at their whim. If the environment is not one that suits your liking, it is absolutely 100% within your ability and rights to simply leave (providing your tab is paid). There are no lock-ins, and generally, the only contact a person has at a restaurant in Fort Wayne with the whole smoking/non-smoking issue, is when the hostess asks you if you would like to sit in "smoking or non."

So now we have established that this debate is not even about restaurants. It's about bowling alleys and bars...quite possibly the only two bastions of uninhibited tobacco intake that remain in modern society. Why? A bowling alley is an easy call. Most of them are large and open, with high ceilings and fabulous ventilation. There have only been a couple of occasions on which I have even noticed an unreasonable amount of smoke in bowling alleys, but those occasions were pretty bad, and nothing I would want to expose my kids to. I can almost bring myself to agree with setting some non-smoking hours for mornings and afternoons so kids can go bowl.

That leaves us with only bars...the Holy Grail of the militant non-smoking movement. Yet for some reason, the entire no-smoke crowd seems to forget that people simply are not required to patronize these places. Hell, nobody is, save the guy that owns the joint. People who go there are doing so under the power of freewill.

So what exactly is the issue here? Are these pro-ban folks honestly uberconcerned with the health of the community at large? Probably not. Do they tremble in fear for the safety of tavern employees? I hardly think so. No, it's actually rooted in vanity. Like I said earlier, non-smokers think smokers are stupid. Which by default, makes the non-smokers smart (just ask them). And what do people do when they think they are smarter than everybody else? They start rubbing the dumb peoples' noses in it...A lot. This is nothing more than a cock-measuring exercise for the pretentious non-smokers of the world. Not the average non-smokers, or the indifferent non-smokers, this is a parade for and by the gung-ho, Johnny-knows-best non-smokers of the world --just like the ones I mentioned before with the exaggerated fake coughing and the arm flailing...this is their day to shine. This is their chance to show their asses to every person who has ever told them to "go get bent" when they were incessantly bitching about the smoke that they were being "forced" to breathe...

For most of us "thinking types," this debate is one of property rights and governmental overreach. For the hardcore anti-smoke crowd, this is very, very personal.

Just click the comic to enlarge, and then maybe enlarge it again if you're still using that ridiculous default browser setting that fits images to your screen (it's gay, turn it off).


h/t: infidelguy.com

Tonight President Bush will unveil his grand plan to escalate the war in Iraq (didn't we try that before?). I can't begin to describe what a horrible, horrible idea this actually is. The American people, the Congress and top generals (before Bush fired them) don't support this idea. So the real question is - who does?

Well Fredrick Kagan and the rest of the American Enterprise Institute does. A NeoCon think tank that struck out so badly on the Iraq invasion that it's hard to believe anyone takes them seriously anymore. And to top it off most of them have never served in the military - but hey why shouldn't the President listen to them on Iraq? Take Bill Kristol:

"There’s been a certain amount of pop sociology in America that the Shia can’t get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There’s been almost no evidence of that at all Iraq’s always been very secular."

Nice call Nostradamus.

The reality is that the situation is beyond American repair. We should begin redeployment and we should do it immediately. The Democratic Party was elected to carry out the wishes of the majority of this country. They MUST do everything in their power to prevent this Johnson-esque escalation and end the needless deaths of American soldiers.

I'm sure the president will say that there weren't enough troops to begin with and that he was only listening to the generals at the time - of course that's a lie because Gen Shinseki told Congress how many troops were needed and he was fired. Also, Rumsfeld said he was going to fire the next person who tried to plan for the occupation stage.

Will more Iraqis die if we withdraw? Surely, but I'm an American and I don't see any reason to continue to put our soldiers in harms way to try and mitigate some civil war. The truly sad part is that this President doesn't really believe this will work. This is merely a political attempt to save face by making withdrawal some future president's problem.

Newsflash - your legacy is shot sir. No matter what you do from here out you will always be remembered as one of the worst Presidents in history. It's time to stop being a political coward and do the right thing. It's your mess and it should be yours to clean up. It's time we support the troops the right way - by bringing them home...


Update: Another gem from AEI's own Michael Ledeen. Evidently we haven't won the war because our soldiers are just sitting around enjoying their comfy quarters being lazy:

We’ve got lots of soldiers sitting on megabases all over Iraq. They should be out and about, some of them embedded, others just moving around, tracking the terrorists, hunting them down. I don’t know how many guys and gals are sitting in air-conditioned quarters and drinking designer coffee, but it’s a substantial number. Enough of that.

Is this how those on the right (especially those that have the President's ear) support the troops? How sad...

I was made aware today of an upcoming event at the presigious Three Floyds brewery in Munster, IN.

According to Nick Floyd, the event in question is DarkLord Day, an annual event held by Three Floyds to distribute the ultra-rare DarkLord Russian Imperial Stout, which sells for $15 per bottle only on specified dates and times (not distributed). To complement the offering of the scarce DarkLord, a massive festival is held with "Porta Johns, Picnic tables, BBQ, bands, [a] massive beer tasting [provided] by participants, plus a [3 Floyds] Brewery open-house and raffles, in addition to our Brewpub being open and really busy."

J4TR staffer(s) will be in attendance for the festival, held this year on Saturday, April 28th. Expect nauseatingly full coverage. We will stay in close contact with Mr. Floyd to bring you any further details prior to this event that may be of interest.

Three Floyds is the 2nd most highly rated U.S. microbrewery, according to Ratebeer.com.

Nobody called us to discuss Fort Wayne's new city slogan and logo! Here's what we came up with...

Parental Advisory: Contained herein are images of people pretending to enjoy themselves...immensely! If you are easily offended by simulated sex or the lampooning of public figures, kiss my ass and don't push play.



...now roll over.

Religious fanaticism seems must be running out of windmills with which to do battle, because now the Soldiers of God are starting to attack whatever falls outside of the realm of knowledge their (evidently) pea-sized brains are capable of grasping.

Hey, at least it's only in Canada...this could never happen in America, right?

Oh yeah, I forgot about those pesky Salem Witch Trials...oh, and before that, there was the wholesale slaughter of those uppity pagan natives that lived here before Christian folks....but it couldn't happen today, right? ***Ahem...Laura Malloy***

Anybody else getting sick of this shit yet?

2006's FundyWatch Encore

I was hoping for a re-kindling of Celebrity Deathmatch, but this will have to do.

Brought to you by the Daily Mail U.K.
By BARBARA JONES Last updated at 21:23pm on 6th January 2007

Following are some excerpts from the most ridiculously biased piece of journalistic camel shit I have read in some time. To Wit:

"The pictures of his execution by balaclava-clad figures - and the taunts that accompanied it - have provoked revulsion around the world. " My guess is more around the world were relieved than repulsed.

"And today we can reveal the final indignity suffered by Saddam Hussein as he went to the gallows: he was forbidden to take one last phone call from his daughter. "
Didn't get that last phone call? I don't think the kurds did either.

"Despite the promise of an inquiry by the Iraqi authorities, the enduring image of the execution is of a baying lynch mob and a dignified, even heroic, Saddam." WTF????

FROM STENY HOYER'S WEBSITE:


"Next week, the clock will start ticking on the 100 hours agenda," said Hoyer. "Democrats ran on this agenda and were elected on this agenda. We promised the American people swift passage of these bills and we fully intend to make good on that promise."
The 100 hours schedule will proceed as follows:
Tuesday, January 9 - Implement the 9/11 Commission Recommendations
Wednesday, January 10 - Increase the Minimum Wage
Thursday, January 11 - Expand Stem Cell Research
Friday, January 12 - Allow Negotiation for Lower Prescription Drug Costs
Wednesday, January 17 - Cut Interest Rates on Student Loans
Thursday, January 18 - End Subsidies for Big Oil and Invest in Renewable Energy

DOES ANYBODY HAVE THE SLIGHTEST IDEA HOW WE ARE GOING TO PAY FOR ANY OF THIS? I'M JUST CURIOUS WHAT EVERYBODY ELSE THINKS, BECAUSE I HAVE A SINKING FEELING I ALREADY KNOW WHO'S GONNA PAY.

I haven't had the time to figure out if I buy this or not, but it's some damned interesting writing either way.

From New York Magazine:

We have, in effect, turned the U.S. into a winner-take-all casino economy, substituting the gambling hall for the factory floor as our governing economic metaphor, an assembly of individual strangers whose fortunes depend overwhelmingly on random luck rather than collective hard work.

I know that (at least) superficially, I tend to agree with the observation.

UPDATE: I read it again, and I'm finding myself even more intrigued by the article. I'm still not sure if I am ready to throw myself into the column of "wholesale concurrence," but the article makes some really great points and analogies I hadn't before considered.

I'm sure Rahm was just thrilled today when he tried to bring his loyal followers up to speed on the new Democratic leadership at a news conference, only to be shouted down by everyones favorite Walter Matthau look alike Cindy Sheehan. Click the link above and watch the video, it's hilarious as Rahm just gives up and Stenny Hoyer looks on in utter amazement. Of course as soon as Rahm gave up, Cindy grabbed
the microphone and man did she wail.

Matt Rupert profusely thanks Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich for some "helpful" legislation.

It's hilarious....seriously.

Evidently Michigan lawmakers feel the same way about fathers' rights as Indiana lawmakers. This constant barrage of ridiculously female-friendly legislation needs to end. The laws are allowing virtually no leeway for courts to entertain ideas that even allude to the fact that mothers are not necessarily the best candidates for legal custody of children after divorces.

[Here is] an excellent video on Michigan Democrat Dudley Spade's pass on Michigan House Bill 5267. This bill would have allowed BOTH genders to have EQUAL parenting rights to their children. There were obviously other factors such as: 1) Both parents had to be considered fit 2)The Equal custody arrangement would not interfere with the child's school schedule. This bill would have allowed children to be loved, nurtured and guided by BOTH of his/her biological parents. The research is in abundance when it comes to supporting legislation such as this. In addition, the majority of all polls conducted on shared parenting have proven that Michigan voters are demanding such legislation.

This horse shit really needs to end. Hell, I'm not even involved in a custody dispute any more, but my blood pressure still heads north a few clicks when I hear stuff like this.

Perhaps there is someone out there in the reading audience who can enlighten me as to why the laws cater to women instead of equal parenting rights? Anyone? Also, how can it even be considered "fair" that a court can give a woman custody over the objections of the childrens' father, and then have the stones to make the father financially liable for the court's decision?

Looks like Giuliani has plans to go big. I for one, am not disappointed. Bring it on. A Republican without the religious zealotry sounds fine to me. If nothing else, it helps to diffuse the votes of homosexuals, minorities, New Yorkers and any disenfranchised Republicans. Go Rudy! You've got the support of this lowly blogger. Oh, BTW: lose the comb-over...it lacks any semblance of panache.

Mitch Harper makes a comparison.

Tomorrow, former President Ford will be eulogized by former Palestinian Pal President Carter at funeral services in Grand Rapids.

I'm layin' 5 to 1 Jimmy here can't get through the eulogy without at least one swipe at the current administration, and a shout out to his Palestinian Peeps!

What do you think?

Courtesy of Hot Air.......

Can you imagine the outcry if Fox had made this mistake?

This comes from my friend Deb in Denver!> Subject: Denver Snowstorm>>>> We ARE tough!>>> THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A MOMENT.>> Denver Post: This text is from a county emergency manager out in the>central part of Colorado after todays snowstorm.>> WEATHER BULLETIN>> Up here, in the Northern Plains, we just recovered from a Historic>event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- >with>a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that>broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of>motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of>communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.>> FYI:>> George Bush did not come.>> FEMA did nothing.>> No one howled for the government.>> No one blamed the government.>> No one even uttered an expletive on TV .>> Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.>> Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.>> Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.>> CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5>snowstorm. Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.>> No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.>> No one looted.>> Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.>> Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.>> No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No >Geraldo>Rivera.>> No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.>> Nope, we just melted the snow for water.>> Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.>> The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a>penny.>> Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments >delivered>it to the snowbound families.>> Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.>> We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman >lanterns.>> We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".>> We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of >a>mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes >for>'sittin at home' checks.>> Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this>early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.>> "In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about> 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems >evaporate.">> It does seem that way, at least to me.>> I hope this gets passed on.>> Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does not owe you a>living.

This is an e-mail a friend sent me, sorry for the format but the message is so common sense it should really flip out the local libs....you know how they abhore common sense.

New Year's has something to do with naked people, right? Heh.