Yet another national socialist homeowners association trying to tell yet another veteran that he cannot fly the American flag in his own yard, after he risked his life defending it.

It’s bad enough they’re trying to prevent Fred Quigley from honoring his nation by flying the flag on his own property, but get this… They’ve got their panties in a twist because he DIDN’T ASK PERMISSION.

Not even shitting you!

[Joseph] Migliorini [who represents the homeowners association] said residents are allowed to place flagpoles on their homes, but need permission to install a flagpole in their yard.

And worse yet…  the ungrateful shitbags in his neighborhood are expressing concern.  Concern? About a man who served his nation and earned the right to fly the flag on his own goddamn property?  Yes, apparently, it’s more important for them to see the national socialist homeowners association rules blindly followed than respect the right of a military veteran to fly the flag of the nation he fought for and loves.

Many residents said they are concerned about the flagpole in Quigley’s yard because it does not adhere to their association’s rules.

This is why I will never own another home, and if I do lose my mind and decide to purchase one, I will never purchase one that is within reach of a homeowners association.

Spread this far and wide.  Support Mr. Quigley!

I came to this country in 1980 with my family. I was just a kid, but my parents’ first priority was to teach me English and learn English themselves, so they could find employment and become productive members of the American society. They came here legally – after a long journey from the USSR, through Austria and Italy, having filled out reams of paperwork and paid a lot of money to be allowed to come to this country.

Now, meet this cockbag.  He’s been in this country nearly as long as my parents and I have.  And for some reason, he hasn’t felt he needed to learn the language.  He was busy agitating against Americans’ insistence that immigrants come here legally, pay taxes and become productive members of society, instead of sneaking across the border, working for cash, putting a strain on our infrastructure and committing crimes.

Antolin Aguirre of the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition was testifying against Senate Bill 9 that would help crack down on illegal immigrants in Texas. Aguirre spoke through an interpreter even though he had been in the U.S. since 1988.

Two minutes into Antolin Aguirre’s testimony, Sen. Chris Harris, a Republican from Arlington, interrupted asking Aguirre’s interrupter, “Did I understand him correctly that he has been here since 1988?” Harris asked. “Why aren’t you speaking in English then?”

Through his interpreter, Aguirre said Spanish is his “first language and since it is his first time giving testimony he would rather do it in Spanish.”

“It is insulting to us,” Sen. Harris fired back. “It is very insulting. And if he knows English, he needs to be speaking in English.”

Bravo, Senator Harris!

This Antolin Aguirre guy has been in the United States for 23 years. He’s a business owner in Texas, so apparently he knew enough English to establish himself in this society, raise a family, open a business and even agitate on behalf of illegal aliens.  But he doesn’t feel it necessary to speak the language of this country in front of an elected body.  It’s not that he can’t. He won’t.

He came to this country, took advantage of the opportunities America afforded him, made a life for himself, but apparently felt he didn’t have to respect his elected representatives by speaking to them in the language overwhelmingly spoken in this country and used for official proceedings.

Speak English, dildo!

Ever since the first GOP debate, a number of conservatives have been having collective orgasms over Herman Cain.  On the surface, he seems like a great guy and an even better potential candidate.

He’s a businessman.
He knows how to create jobs.
He’s a true conservative who will cut government spending.
He talks tough on defense.
He’s all about the free market.
He’s a social conservative, pro-family, anti-abortion, blah… blah… blah…

Yeah, OK.

Time to take a closer look at Herman Cain.  As much as I’ve enjoyed him the couple of times I’ve heard him on the radio, his preachy, revivalist-type rhetoric has not sat well with me.  And while I’m sure conservatives are drooling all over themselves to support Mr. Cain and to show themselves as not racist (if you somehow missed it, Herman Cain is, in fact, black), I am wary of the collective climax they’re heaving over him.  Too similar to the panting adoration they exhibited for Sarah Palin as soon as she burst onto the political scene – without so much as a glance at her record and what she stands for.

So I’m here to inject a bit of reality into the conservatives’ wet dream that is Herman Cain.

Herman Cain loved him some TARP.  And bailouts are apparently good policy intended to solve a problem.  Apparently it’s OK to erode the free market in order to save some big banks and use taxpayer dollars to do it.

Wake up people! Owning a part of the major banks in America is not a bad thing. We could make a profit while solving a problem.

Yea, it is a bad thing, if we the People are being FORCED by the government to invest in a venture in which we would normally not invest (and hence, the need for a bailout in the first place).

Earth to taxpayers! Owning stocks in banks is not nationalization of the
banking industry. It’s trying to solve a problem.

It IS nationalization if the government is using taxpayer dollars to bail out the banking industry. 

Herman Cain loved him some Mitt Romney, despite RomneyCare, and despite Romney’s “moderate” (that’s what they call Second Amendment cowards, who claim to support the right to keep Arms, and yet voice backing for onerous legislation such as the “assault” weapons ban, without actually knowing what an “assault weapon” is.

If Herman Cain is a “political outsider,” I’m a cocaine-sniffing marmoset.

A former chairman of Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and senior adviser to the 1996 presidential campaign of Republicans Bob Dole and Jack Kemp, Cain has regularly opened his wallet for political allies, and he even operates his own political action committee, called the Hermanator PAC.

Just because one hasn’t been elected to public office, doesn’t mean they’re not a big-government insider.  A restaurant lobby insider and his tenure at the Kansas City Fed make him less of an outsider and more of a big-government leech, despite his loud protestations to the contrary.  And since he does not support even a simple audit of the Fed – an entity that has a critical role to play in our fiscal policy, but absolutely no oversight – and doesn’t feel the Fed needs to be held accountable to the people, I’d say his status as an “outsider” is further suspect.

And finally gun control.  Herman Cain has stated loudly and proudly his belief that states and localities have the right to infringe on citizens’ right to keep and bear arms.

Don’t believe me?

Never mind that Herman Cain is completely ignorant on the topic of incorporation – you know – that process that applies portions of the Bill of Rights to the states.  That the Second Amendment protected the right to keep and bear arms from infringement not just by the federal government, but also state and local governments was never a question in my mind, but in McDonald v. Chicago, that principle has been upheld by the highest court in the land. 

What part of “shall not be infringed” is not clear to Herman Cain?

And by the way, on the subject of abortion…

I would never have one.  I doubt I could ever have one.  And I don’t believe this topic should be the purview of the federal government.  However, Herman Cain believes that a woman should be forced to act as an incubator for her rapist’s offspring, and to me, that’s as morally abhorrent as those women who would choose to end their pregnancies as a means of birth control.  Herman Cain apparently believes that a corrupt politician in DC (see such scum as Anthony Weiner, who can’t seem to keep Weiner Jr. off the Internet, “Diaper Dave” Vitter and others with about as much scruples as a cat in heat) should be allowed to force a 14 year old victim of rape or incest to carry her attacker’s seed to term. 

While I realize that is likely a small percentage of situations in which women get abortions, it is a viable one, and for Herman Cain to oppose the procedure in this case, and further terrorize the victim, is ethically repugnant.

In my humble opinion, Herman Cain has time and again proven himself to be nothing but a RINO and a traitor to the very freedoms he claims to want to protect and respect as President of the United States.

No thanks.

Apologies for being away. My computer is getting new innards installed, so I have precious few places I can blog.  Hopefully that will be remedied ASAP, when my buddy Manny returns my laptop with a brand new hard drive installed!

In any case, it has come to my attention that some tool who blogs by the name of Gunmart has used a friend’s name and image as part of his “porn” collection.  No, I’m not linking to him/her/it.  Do a Google search. 

Breda is a classy lady.  While we’ve never met in person, we have common friends, and we’ve become blog buddies over the past few years.  I can’t say enough good things about this woman. She’s bright, articulate, well-read and well mannered.  So she was understandably upset when some immature shitbag stole her image and then used it on his blog under the title “Breda Porn.”

While I’m sure this juvenile had a blast with the photo and got some desired traffic from it, Breda was unamused, and I’m sure her husband was as well.  She found it to be disrespectful and rude and politely requested for him to take the photo down. It was an image of her. It belonged to her.  Breda’s husband Mike also left a comment demanding that the photo of his wife be removed from the offensive blog post.  His comment was deleted (real class there, asshole).

A slew of comments followed in support of Breda, asking this jerk to remove her photo.  He finally obliged, but still left a link to it in the title of the post.  The comments continued – most asking him to remove this post – with one “anonymous” posting an ardent defense of this immature dimwit.

So allow me to deconstruct:

The title of his might be inappropriate and offensive. But nobody has a right to not be offended.

True, but this is not about the right to be not offended.  This is mostly about decency and property.

I agree that if he used copyrighted images then those should be removed. (it appears that he now just links to the post with the image )

The images are OF Breda, and they belong TO Breda and Mike.  Breda is not a public persona per se. She’s a blogger. A popular one. That doesn’t make her image a public image. She has every right to protest the use of her likeness without her permission in something she finds offensive. It’s HER image after all

But everyone ganging up and sending threatening emails to him and his advertisers, and calling for the whole removal of the post is a bit too far.

Oh? Why? A pathetic little jackass has the right to steal someone’s image and reproduce it with an offensive title because he has freedom of speech, but readers don’t have the right to voice their displeasure with this act, demand action and petition advertisers?  It’s called a free market, bud.  And it works both ways.

Part of what makes this country great ( or at least used to ) was that you could speak your mind. No matter how offensive or repulsive it is to anyone else. And know that some posse was not going to come to your house “with wire cutters”. ( yes I know it was meant as a joke )

Another part of what makes this country great is the fact that we have the freedom to act, but we must face the consequences of our actions, including the disdain and consternation of our audience. 

I do agree with him on one point. “My blog is not run by mob rule…”

No.  It’s his. But the image is not and was not.  His insistence on keeping Breda’s image associated with porn is not a matter of his free speech on his blog. It’s now a matter of decency.  The owner of this image asked him politely to remove it. And he’s ignoring the request simply because he’s stubbornly maintaining his right to do whatever he wants on his blog. He has that right.  Too bad he doesn’t have the decency and humility to go along with it.

Playing devils avocate (sic) here…

What if a anti gun blogger had stumbled across a blog post using the title “Gun Porn” and “politely” asked it be removed or changed. Citing some reason that it might be misleading to people and make guns more attractive and interesting. Or no reason at all other than it offended that person.

It’s not a matter of offense.  It’s a matter of property.  Breda’s property. Her image that was used without permission.  Duh.

Would you remove or rename that post? Or tell them to kick rocks and its my blog and Ill do and say what I want? We still have free speech here do we not? 

This is not a free speech issue. Congress did not limit the freedom of speech of the blogger.  He stole an image that did not belong to him, and he proceeded to use it in a way that was not approved by the owner of said image. Plain and simple.

And further down…

Is it ok to teach people that stomping on someones rights is OK in some situations but when someone else over here does it then its wrong?

No one has the right to violate the right of others. By stealing that image and reproducing it without permission, he violated Breda’s right. 

But attempting to force someone to remove a post altogether or change their words is exactly the same as if DHS was doing it. 

Disingenuous comparison. There’s no enforcement and no force.  Requests are made by numerous people, and if they’re dissatisfied, they do something about it, whether it be removing Gunmart from their list of links or contacting the advertisers.  One is voluntary, the other is force.

My point is free speech is free speech. No matter who it is. No matter where it is. Once we start down the slope of putting it into categories we get what is being done to 2A rights.

The cool thing about rights is that inherently their exercise doesn’t violate others’ rights.  Ergo, if this guy’s “right” to free speech violates the property right of another, it is not a right.  He has no right to steal an image or use it as he pleases without the owner of that image.  That’s like saying it’s OK for someone to use a stolen microphone to give a speech.

In other words, Gunmart – quit being an asshole. Have some class. Take the damn thing off.

I interrupt my regularly scheduled vacation activities in Vegas to inform you that I’m still here, and so is Rob.  And so are the thousands of people enjoying their time here in Vegas. There’s been no earthquake, no apocalypse, no graves being shaken open and no carcasses flying to heaven.

You know… just in case anyone was wondering.

We haven’t ruptured… or raptured.  Although if “rapture” is to be described as a state of unbearable ecstasy, last night’s dinner at Spago could probably qualify.

I’m reading that despite the lack of any type of apocalyptic event, some dildoes, who have given up their homes, their worldly possessions and their careers in preparation for ascending to heaven, are still claiming they’ll be rapturing.  Yep.  At 6pm tonight.  Never mind that it’s currently 6pm in Europe, and no one has disappeared. 

Obviously, there are just no true believers – no good people in Europe who will be going to heaven. Europe is evil.

Mike did tell me that the last time this charlatan of a preacher predicted world apocalypse, there were idiots who actually went out and euthanized their pets in preparation.  And yes, it’s true.  Luckily this dumbass was stopped, but how many more batshit crazy assholes out there are killing animals to perpetuate their insane beliefs?  There’s a place in hell for those who kill innocent animals for this bullshit. I have no doubt these assnuggets will be descending there post haste.

I’d be glad to help get them there. Really.

OK, back to food, fun and frolic.

Now.

Just got this in an email. Those of you who are in Texas – y’all need to get your asses in gear.  Just sayin’.

The Open Carry Bill, HB 2756, is currently pending in the House Calendar Committee. This bill needs a vote on the House floor by Thursday, May 12th.

Please contact your Representative today and urge them to push for a vote on this important legislation. Contact info for all Texas Legislators can be found at <a href=”http://www.capitol.state.tx.us

Please”>www.capitol.state.tx.us

Please also contact members of the House Calendar Committee and request their support for moving HB 2756 to the floor for a vote

Capisce?

There is no reason at all a law-abiding gun owner, who went through the trouble of getting a CHL should be denied to exercise this right openly.

So restore your rights, Texans!

Do it now.

No, I’m not pregnant.  Shut it.

I’d like to formally introduce Rob. He’ll be blogging here when the mood strikes him, and his first rant is right above.

He’s bright, he’s sarcastic, and he’s well informed. In other words, he’s just the kind of person I’d want as a blog co-author.

Oh, and even though he curses considerably less than I do, we do share a brain and we see eye-to-eye on most everything.

Enjoy.

We would sincerely invite you to go fuck yourselves.

We did not violate your sovereignty, you camel-humping assmonkeys. We pay you billions per year in military and development aid and you hid the world’s most onerous terrorist in your country for years.  So fuck you very much. We did what we had to do to get him, and since our money helps you exist somewhere above the Cro-Magnon age, we certainly have the right to go in there and take care of business.  We own your hairy asses!

No, it was not a joint operation. If it was, you swine wouldn’t be bitching about the killing of your perfidious idol.  You do not get to take credit for the heroic acts of SEAL team 6 and American intelligence. You’re nothing but whining pieces of dog crap who want to take credit for an operation with which you had nothing to do, now that you understand the whole world hates you, hates your treachery and rightfully thinks you’re worthless bits of waste on the toilet paper of life after a particularly foul night of cheap beer and corn.

Your people, your beliefs, your corrupt, terrorist-supporting leadership are an embarrassment to the human race, and I wouldn’t mind seeing your backwards country turned into a glass parking lot and opened up after the radiation cloud settles to show small children what happens to pathetic fundamentalist Islamic fucks who create an entire radical regime and protect murderous terrorist scum.

If I were the President of the United States, I’d tell you all to go to hell, remove every last shred of aid and watch you descend into neanderthal hell, as any backwards Islamic shithole is bound to do when left to its own devices.

Why?

Because you squalid monkeys are not worth it. Because you consider Bin Laden a martyr and a hero, instead of a cowardly terrorist fuck who murdered thousands of innocent people and hid behind his wife when push came to shove.  We give you aid. We help you during times of natural disasters, and you sabotage our efforts to destroy terrorists worldwide and hide a mass murderer among you – steps away from a national military academy!  Hell – you’re either blisteringly stupid or evil.  I choose evil.

And I choose to let evil die.

So here’s hoping to see every last one of you burn in hell.

Sincerely,
The United States

I interrupt my usual ranting for an update. My friend Mike’s new book is out!  I’ve been waiting a while for this one, mostly because I read the ideas for the original a loooooooooong time ago, and now it’s here!

So cool thing is, you can get your advance order in. Not only that, but Mike will sign it. 

We are taking advance orders for signed copies of his upcoming novel, Rogue. There will not be an in-store autographing; the books will be shipped to us pre-signed. Sorry, no inscriptions or personalizations are possible. There will be a limited number of signed copies; to ensure availability, please order no later than Saturday, April 30th. Your credit card will not be charged until your order is ready to ship (the book is expected to arrive around September 6th).

Go. Get. Read. Now. Go.

While it’s too early to speculate about the success or failure of Gary Johnson’s presidential bid – after all, you never know – something explosive could happen – I will say that from what I heard so far, there’s no one else I would support for the GOP nomination next year.

Many of you will read this and go, “Who?”

That’s probably his biggest obstacle to getting the nomination. This society – as a whole – is too apathetic to vote for anyone that is not mainstream and who hasn’t been a part of the Good Ole Boys network, and too stupid to see that we need an actual fiscal conservative in the White House with a set of big, bad, brass balls that would put a stop to the politics-as-usual bullshit we’ve been seeing in Washington for the past several decades – not someone who they perceive is “electable.”

Let me tell you something, people.  Anyone is electable if the electorate has the integrity and the courage to choose them over the establishment.  And Gary Johnson has imminently broad appeal.

I can’t believe I’m even linking to an article from the Daily Kos, but it’s a straightforward account of why Gary Johnson could pose a huge threat to Zero, from someone who lived in New Mexico during Johnson’s tenure as governor.

As governor, Johnson was a strong fiscal conservative, and a social moderate. He had broad appeal, even amongst centrist Democrats, many of whom crossed party lines and voted for him.  He was laid back. He shunned the Governor’s mansion and the entourage which were a hallmark of Bill Richardson’s tenure as governor of New Mexico. In fact, on a Sunday,  more often than not you could find the Gov sitting at a table at Bagelmania in Downtown Santa Fe, reading the paper and having breakfast with his wife.  He took the time to say hello, and even asked about your kids.

That belies the toughness with which he ran the ship of state in New Mexico.  The legislature there only meets for a few weeks each year.  Johnson routinely used his veto powers to threaten the legislature into coming to terms with tough issues when the partisanship fractured the Round House.

National political analysts still mislabel Johnson as your Dr. Paul fringe candidate.  True, Johnson has been an advocate over the last year for the legalization of Marijuana, a controversial stance which even President Obama has shied away from, which definitely alienates him from many in the fundamentalist religious base of the national GOP. It does, however, open the door for him with many liberals who are dissatisfied with Mr. Obama, and many independent voters, and he approaches the issue from a tax-dollars bottom line, which might even find a few libertarian and fiscal conservative adherents.

That’s right. You hear that? STRONG FISCAL CONSERVATIVE.  He’s not fringe. He’s an executive. He knows how to run a strong fiscal ship, and he’s not afraid to take on the sacred cows of spending – entitlements.

To be sure, I don’t agree with Mr. Johnson on every single issue.  I think he still has much to learn about immigration policy and national security, but from what I’ve seen of him – and I’ve seen him speak several times now – he’s willing to listen and to adjust.  And that’s something that none of the other morons currently in the running are willing or able to do, because they’re so stuck to the GOP brand.

Personally, I’m sick and tired of the giant sucking sound coming from each of the current GOP lot “considering” a run. Stop forming an exploratory committee. Stop sitting on the fence about spending. You either want to be President, or you don’t.  You either want to cut spending, or you don’t.  Funding your pet religious and moral causes is no different than funding those of the Democrats.

I dare you.  Do some research on Gary Johnson, and find out why he could pose a serious threat to a second Zero term!

There’s been a lot of outrage on the Intertubez lately about a foul screed about Sarah Palin’s son Trig penned by a dickless wonder at Wonkette named Jack Stuef.  I’m not linking to Wonkette, to Stuef or to the outrage.

No need to repeat the indignity.  No need to reprint a merciless, twisted, sociopathic attack on a child who had the misfortune of being born with Down’s Syndrome.  I can only hope that if Stuef ever actually gets the opportunity to stick his puny excuse for a dick into a woman, that the leavings wind up in a dirty, slimy spot on the sheets.  The thought of that lard-laden shitsack reproducing scares even me.

Although, judging by his photo, this fat fuck has about as much chance of getting laid as an ostrich egg by a chihuahua.

Perhaps if he actually left his mother’s basement, changed his shit-stained, ripped boxers, stopped eating frozen moonpies from mommy’s fridge and found better means of communication than abusing a disabled baby, he might actually have a chance of sticking his organ in something other than a pocket pussy, but I doubt that will ever happen.

In any case, this post isn’t about him.

Apparently, outrage has been so strong about Stuef’s attack on a defenseless child, that advertisers have begun pulling their dollars from Wonkette.

Papa John’s, Vanguard, and Huggies all announced today that they will be dropping their advertisements from Wonkette.

“Thank you for alerting us to this. We’ve taken step to make sure our advertising doesn’t appear on that site in the future,” tweeted Papa John’s Pizza’s corporate twitter account.

Wonkette shot back at Papa John’s, tweeting, “We beat up on Sarah Palin’s craven use of her son as a POLITICAL PROP. Child protective services should take Trig away.”

In another tweet, Wonkette called on consumers to boycott Papa John’s.

That’s the beauty of the free market. Advertisers can look at the content and decide for themselves if they want to be associated with the type of slime Wonkette’s Fucktarded, Feeble-minded, Fuckwit has vomited forth in an effort to be oh-so witty.  And while the troglodytes at Wonkette have pulled the offensive post, likely finally realizing that their readers don’t constitute enough buying power to make a dent in Papa John’s profit margin if they boycotted it, don’t have enough collective brains to actually invest in Vanguard (likely thinking the nanny state will take care of all their needs when they finally leave their parents’ house to venture out on their own and discover they have no marketable skills other than sitting on the couch and eating potato chips), and wouldn’t purchase diapers, because that would imply they actually fucked something of the opposite sex at some point in their lives, their so-called apology is anything but sincere.

A post on this page satirizing Sarah Palin using her baby as a political prop was very badly done and sounded like the author was mocking the child and not just Sarah Palin/Sarah Palin’s followers.

The writer, Jack Stuef, has apologized for it. And we have decided to remove the post as requested by some people who have nothing to do with Sarah Palin, but who do have an interest in the cause of special needs children. We apologize for the poor comedic judgment.

Yes, let’s make sure we make it clear that we wouldn’t remove an offensive piece of putrid vomit such as this just for the sake of the parents, because after all, they’re conservatives, and therefore deserve to have their kid beaten like a fucking pinata.

Let’s make sure that we mollify our vapid horde of frothing followers by clarifying that our removal of this offensive post was prompted by people who actually give a fuck about disabled kids (instead of ones who chose to actually give one a chance at life).

I doubt this will help Wonkette’s bleeding advertiser situation, because people who plop lots of cash down to promote their products know a FAIL when they see it. 

And that’s why the Drooling Ignorami of Libtardia hate the free market. It won’t allow them to make complete douchebags of themselves with impunity.

I never thought I was a rare breed – a woman who actually enjoys shooting and takes personal responsibility for my own safety by having a concealed carry permit and actually carrying a gun.  But apparently, according to this guy, I’m some kind of an anomaly.  While examining the allegedly paltry number of women who attend NRA conventions, this particular misogynistic tool somehow decided that:

1 – Shooting sports will never be popular with women until women start worrying more about their guns than about their lipstick.

2 – Women won’t take any rational steps to defend themselves with the most effective tools on the market, because they’re too worried about getting dirty, smelly and whether or not their pretty little gun and its accessories match their shoes.

3 – Women won’t find training with their firearm as important as looking sexy in their earplugs.

No, I’m not even kidding.  Apparently, this tool lost his penis (which also doubles as his brain) somewhere in the depths of his desk drawer, which is likely filled with paraphernalia meant to make him look more masculine… you know… deer urine spray, a Zippo lighter, a body building magazine, along with a dog-eared, sticky copy of Maxim, and a small comb for that cheesy mustache.

Gee, am I generalizing?

How’s it feel?

Don’t have much time today, so I’ll humbly submit this.

Please read. It’s important. 

Here’s a taste:

Government can’t balance a checkbook. They’re idiots. I know finance math. I do it for a living. And when I look at the numbers involved here, (and the interest!) it makes my head swim. Okay, for you non-accountants, when they start bandying numbers about on the news of 4 trillion such and such, and a hundred billion this and that, I know that your eyes glaze over. You think to yourself, “Oh, it is just the same old same old, bunch of politicians spending too much money, blah blah blah.”

NOOOOO!

Saying that this is the same old same old, is like saying that gophers digging up your lawn is the same level of disaster as Krakatoa. Over the last couple of years we’ve reached a whole new level of crazy. Our spending has gone insane. We’re spending more money, faster, than all of mankind, throughout all of recorded human history. Economists aren’t sure what’s going to happen, because this has never happened before. Ever. On Earth. We’ve strayed into strange new territory here and there are many possible outcomes if we don’t stray the hell back out. And don’t for a second think that any of those possible outcomes are remotely good. No. They range somewhere between the Great Depression and Mad Max.

[...]

You’ve probably been seeing 6.2% of your check taken for SS and 1.45%
for Medicare (not even going to get into FUTA and SUTA).  What most
folks don’t realize is that your employer matches that… So basically you
could get a 16% raise tomorrow if it wasn’t for that withholding.  “Oh,
but that’s saving for my retirement!”  Bull crap. I could take 16% of
my salary, use it to store canned food, and I’d come out ahead of what
I’m actually going to get from the government for my retirement. The
money that’s been paid in already is long gone, because expecting
congress to save money is like expecting crack whores to save crack. 

Go read. Seriously.

h/t: Theo Spark

A few days ago, I received an email from a reader named Scott, who proposed to write a guest article for this site.  I agreed. He appears smart and well-versed. 

At a time when budget deficits and debts are spiraling out of control, we need more than heated rhetoric from politicians. We need real cuts and real changes to help companies create jobs – NOT have government create jobs for us by depleting them from the private sector.  The effort to defund the deleterious efforts of the EPA to destroy America’s businesses and force changes upon Americans’ way of life via government force is critical. 

Nicki

The budget has been a major topic in the early months of 2011. As debates rage on throughout the United States in March and April, there’s a particular chunk of the budget that has caused conflict between businesses and the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA’s costly regulations have driven business owners and members of the GOP to the edge. In the early months of 2011 the EPA has seen a strong effort levied against its unnecessary and costly regulations.

The EPA has had an abominable reputation with industry since its inception decades ago, and for good reason. Business owners view the EPA as nothing but a bureaucracy that imposes unneeded and extremely expensive regulations on their companies. In the process, they see these regulations as a major hindrance to revenue and job growth. The EPA’s burdensome red tape and costly rules hurt industry profits, often forcing companies to hire personnel to deal specifically with said directives, instead of hiring actual employees to carry out the business.

As mentioned earlier, members of the GOP have teamed up with business leaders in a battle against the EPA. In response to an early 2011 proposal from President Obama that would have done little to curb the deleterious powers of the EPA, GOP representatives proposed more stringent legislation that would have cut approximately 30 percent from the EPA’s 2010 slate. The proposal would have removed funding from programs that have little environmental impact, such as the Clean Air Act. From a business standpoint, the Clean Air Act is nothing more than a way to impose costly regulations.

Additionally, some Republicans introduced the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, which passed in Congress by a vote of 255-172 last week. This legislation would put an end to the EPA’s “cap and trade” agenda, by preventing the agency from acting beyond the authority granted to it by Congress, essentially taking some of the decisionmaking ability away from the EPA. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) and Congressmen Fred Upton (R-MI), and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) see a number of benefits to the act. In a press release the three claim it would “Protect American Jobs and manufacturers from overreaching EPA regulations that hinder our ability to compete with China and other countries.”

 The GOP would simply prefer to diminish the EPA’s unnecessary and costly regulations, while still retaining useful initiatives, such as helping remedy asbestos-related mesothelioma cases and problems from water contamination. For example, the EPA could use more resources dedicated to the campaign to remove asbestos from areas all over the country. The EPA’s asbestos removal efforts have helped reduce health risks in the US, sometimes with life-saving results. For instance, mesothelioma life expectancy is normally short. Afflicted patients are not expected to survive more than a year after diagnosis. This is certainly a better cause for the EPA than its usual politically-oriented punitive campaign against America’s businesses.

In this week’s budget agreement, there was a 16 percent total cut to the EPA’s 2010 slate, far less than what was proposed by the GOP earlier this year. Hopefully, Republicans will continue to introduce measures to curb the power of the EPA and help relieve the burden the agency places on America’s businesses.

So now we learn that the budget “deal” reached in Washington Friday to avoid a government shutdown was simply a bureaucratic sleight of hand. The only winners were the government big spenders, who continue to spend at a staggering rate, while having no actual.. you know… resources to back that spending.

The historic $38 billion in budget cuts resulting from at-times hostile bargaining between Congress and the Obama White House were accomplished in large part by pruning money left over from previous years, using accounting sleight of hand and going after programs President Barack Obama had targeted anyway.

Such moves permitted Obama to save favorite programs – Pell grants for poor college students, health research and “Race to the Top” aid for public schools, among others – from Republican knives, according to new details of the legislation released Tuesday morning.

And big holes in foreign aid and Environmental Protection Agency accounts were patched in large part. Republicans also gave up politically treacherous cuts to the Agriculture Department’s food inspection program.

I am absolutely convinced that neither party has any actual interest in solving our fiscal problems. This was simply a battle to save face in front of the people.  Nothing of substance got cut, our deficit has skyrocketed by nearly 16 percent during the first half of the fiscal year.  That means we don’t have enough money to pay for the 2011 budget, which is currently $773 billion higher than in 2008.

While the politicians dithered about a couple of million for abortion funding here, and a few million from community health centers there, the IMF announced the United States lacks “credibility” on debt.

In an unusually stern rebuke to its largest shareholder, the IMF said the US was the only advanced economy to be increasing its underlying budget deficit in 2011, at a time when its economy was growing fast enough to reduce borrowing.

How many politicians in Washington have the testicular fortitude to cut what really needs to be cut?

To deal substantively with wasteful entitlement programs?

To eliminate unneeded bureaucracies that shouldn’t even exist within the federal government?

To take on the sacred cows of government spending?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

That victory declared by Boehner and crew this weekend was nothing. It was rhetoric as usual. 

I guess the message of November 2010 wasn’t clear enough.

So now the Koran-burning fucktard Terry Jones has begun playing the victim card. Apparently, after he burned the Koran last month, poor baby and his mentally deficient followers started getting death threats.

Worse yet, there’s apparently a bounty on his head to the tune of $2.4 million.

Boo fucking hoo.

Rev. Terry Jones told reporters he had no plans to burn any more Korans upon his arrival at LAX on Tuesday night, but that he may hold another mock trial for the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

“We’ve had about 400 death threats,” he said, adding that Hezbolla, the Shia Muslim militant group, had put out a “reward out on my head for $2.4 million.”

He knew fundamentalist Muslims are prone to fits of violence at any slight – perceived or otherwise.

He actively sought the attention of the media for his little bonfire.

What the hell did this idiot expect, exactly?

And now, he’s casually mentioning the reward and death threats as a hamhanded way to play the martyr after doing something he was warned (by the SECDEF and by General Petraeus) would incite rioting and cause the deaths of American troops.

Not that he cared.  He didn’t give a fuck that his actions would put American troops in harm’s way – even more than they are already. He didn’t care that fundies would go apeshit and target Americans even more than before thanks to his little stunt. He cared about the attention.

Now that he has it, he’s “casually” mentioning the death threats as an example of the depravity of the Muslims.

Nice.

Note to Terry Jones: shut the fuck up.

We all know you had the right to burn whatever you wanted. But just because you have the right to do something does not mean you should.

I said exactly the same thing at the plans to build a mosque near the 9-11 site in New York.  Just because you may be legally allowed to do it, doesn’t mean  you should. There are other considerations.

As I see it, Jones is no different from the people who want to build that mosque. He did something insulting and hideous to many Muslims around the world merely because he could.  And those actions have gotten US personnel killed.

Fuck you, Jones.

Fuck you very much.

Your attention whoring has directly led to attacks on my fellow service members, so as far as I’m concerned, the price on your head might be a bit too low.