A .250 average sucks unless it's baseball

Y’know, where I come from, only getting 1 thing right out of 4 is a 25% success rate. So screwing three outta tfour up is a 75% failure rate. That’s not exactly a stellar performance. Hitting .250 in baseball is acceptable, but not when you’re the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

In the past month or so, the Unites States Supreme Court has handed down four decisions that caught my attention, enough so that after letting them fester a bit, I need to puncture the boil and let the pus drain out.

First up is the ridiculous notion that terrorists are somehow on an equal par with American citizens. The Court, in a 5-4 ruling, decided that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay have a constitutional right to go to federal court to challenge their continued detention and that the guarantee of habeas corpus applies at the Navy base in Cuba, the court said, and the truncated alternative procedure that Congress set up was not an adequate substitute. A writ of habeas corpus is a judicial mandate to a prison official ordering that an inmate be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that person is imprisoned lawfully and whether or not he should be released from custody. A habeas corpus petition is a petition filed with a court by a person who objects to his own or another's detention or imprisonment.

In essence, this gives the Gitmo detainees access to the American courts just like they were American citizens instead of detained insurgents and hostile enemy combatants against the United States. Last I checked we weren’t traipsing the 380,000 German prisoners of war that were brought stateside to POW camps through our courts to let them have the same rights as Americans back in World War Two. Nor did we offer habeas corpus to the estimated 140,000 or so Chinese and North Korean POW’s from the Korean War. Anyone we took prisoner in Vietnam, well, they were turned over to “Marvin the ARVN” and probably got shot long before they could complain.

But giving access to American courts to non-American enemies of the state is just folly. I suppose we taxpayers can foot the bill for them to have free legal counsel too. Sheesh, these dudes were living in caves before we captured them; now they get three hots & a cot, a brand-new Koran, and a pretty fly new rug to kneel on for Allah-time. They’re getting free medical care. They’re living far better in captivity than they would be out in the Afghan mountains, so they oughtta just be happy for that alone, because if it was the Israeli Mossad holding them, they’d be in a world of hurt far worse than a nice tropical Club Gitmo vacationland. Last I checked, Gitmo was in another country, and I do believe they ruled once before that other countries are out of he jurisdiction of habeas corpus.

Here in the good ole’ US of A, the court ruled that the Constitution prohibits the death penalty for the rape of a child. The decision overturned laws in Louisiana and five other states that had recently extended their death penalty laws to cover child rape. Two men were on death row, both in Louisiana, for raping young girls.

Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority that death was a disproportionate penalty for even so “devastating” a crime when the death of the victim did not result. Excuse me? You’ve got a turd who’s raped a young girl and probably torn her innards to a pulp, psychologically scarred her possibly forever, and even if she does recover through serious counseling she’ll have trust and intimacy issues for a damned long time, and you’re telling me that the death penalty is too severe? What about the damage the victims have to live with? Go down to Blockbuster & rent “A Time to Kill”, sir.

And in a second death penalty decision, the court rejected a challenge to Kentucky’s method of execution by lethal injection, ruling that there was insufficient evidence that the state administered a common sequence of three drugs in a manner that posed an unconstitutional risk of pain and suffering.

The decision raised the question of whether a challenge based on more compelling evidence — the plaintiff’s lawyers could not demonstrate that a Kentucky execution had encountered a problem — might succeed where this case had failed. The answer is unclear. The court promptly allowed several lethal-injection executions to take place, ending an informal six-month moratorium on executions. Justice Stevens, while voting with the majority, used this case to call for abolition of the death penalty. Problem here is that it just postpones the whole debate over lethal injection and holds it over for another round of argument. It solves nothing and passes the buck. I call this another failure.

And besides, how easy are we supposed to make the death penalty anyways? We’re killing someone. The condemned is put to sleep and rendered unconscious before the second drug causes the death itself. The only real feeling is the prick of the needle, which when compared to the pain & suffering of the condemned’s victims, who could have been stabbed repeatedly, shot, bludgeoned, strangled, etc., is pretty much negligible. It’s a lot more humane than electrocution or hanging. The only thing that makes death quicker and painless, since it happens so fast the condemned can’t feel it, is beheading by a guillotine.

Overturning the District of Columbia’s handgun ban, the court ruled that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to own a gun for private use — not only in connection with service in a militia. The 5-to-4 decision left unanswered questions, but also much room for continued gun regulation, short of an absolute ban.

In finding the District’s law against handgun ownership unconstitutional, the high court determined that Americans have the right to own guns for self-defense and hunting. It was the first time in nearly 70 years that the court had taken up broad questions about the 2nd Amendment's protections of the right to bear arms.

The case started as District of Columbia vs. Dick Heller, beginning as a group of plaintiffs suing over D.C.'s local gun ordinances, including one barring the registration of handguns by private individuals. Heller was a security guard at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington who could have a handgun at work but not at home, and his lawyers argued the 2nd Amendment creates an individual right of handgun ownership.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's ruling that had dismissed Heller's suit, finding that the 2nd Amendment did protect an individual's right to bear arms. The Supreme Court took the case and heard oral arguments in March.

When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. I know that’s a tired old cliché, but it’s true. Banning guns does NOT deter gun crime. In fact, it makes it easier for criminals to engage in heinous crimes. How many criminals stop and go, “Damn, I better not shoot this guy in the back of the head; guns are illegal here…”?

Be real. Grow up. If you won’t smell the coffee, at least acknowledge that the beans have been ground & the water’s been boiled, sport. A criminal will do what criminals do, regardless of the laws. However, if a would-be rapist or purse-snatcher or home invader has a strong suspicion that they very well could get their rib cage ventilated by a 230-grain .45-caliber handgun round, they very well may think twice before messing with you.

I know that I sleep a lot more soundly knowing that I have a large-caliber handgun within arm’s reach and that I am well-versed in how to use it to defend me and mine.

The decision has caused a veritable panic amongst liberals and Democrats who view all of us gun owners as cavemen and criminals. Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago was apoplectic at the idea that someone might dare to challenge Chicago’s 26-year old ban on handgun ownership, despite Chicago Police Department statistics showing that from 2004 to November 2007 there were 43,685 firearms-related violent crimes in the city. Gee, Dick, how many of those crimes were because no one could defend themselves?

How many Virginia Tech students might have lived had there not been a campus gun ban? The shooter didn’t abide by the ban, but everyone else did. Maybe some quick-reacting student or teacher with a carry permit could have prevented some deaths.

Of course, no sooner did the Court decide that D.C.’s ban was unconstitutional than the City Council put forth some delusional ruling that when you’re not using your gun to defend yourself, it has to be kept unloaded and either disassembled, or secured with a trigger lock or kept in a gun safe. Are you frikkin’ kidding me? Hey, Mister Criminal, please wait a moment and don’t drill me with a round to the forehead while I take a minute to unlock my gun, reassemble the pieces, load it, and then defend myself….

The city continues to maintain that "most semiautomatic pistols" remain illegal under D.C.'s "machine gun" ban, which bizarrely covers not just automatic weapons but "any firearm which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily converted or restored to shoot...more than 12 shots without manual reloading," even if each trigger pull fires just one round. Sweet Jesus, people. Sure, my personal handgun only holds 7 rounds, but most semi-auto pistols, at least in the ever popular 9mm round, can hold 15 to 18 rounds, depending on the manufacturer.

Meanwhile, the procedure for legally owning whichever handguns are allowed sounds pretty much like jumping through flaming hoops:

•A District resident who seeks to register a handgun must obtain an application form from the police department's Firearms Registration Section and take it to a firearms dealer for assistance in completing it.
•The applicant must submit photos, proof of residency and proof of good vision (such as a driver's license or doctor's letter), and pass a written firearms test.
•If the applicant is successful on the test, s(he) must pay registration fees and submit to fingerprinting. The police will file one set of fingerprints and submit the other to the FBI for analysis and criminal background check.
•Police will notify the applicant whether all registration requirements are satisfied. At that point, the applicant returns to the Firearms Registration Section to complete the process and receive a departmental seal on the application.
•The applicant takes his or her completed application to a licensed firearm dealer to take delivery of the pistol. If the dealer is outside the District, the dealer transports the pistol to a licensed dealer in the District to complete the transaction.
•The applicant takes the pistol to the Firearms Registration Section for ballistics testing. When testing is complete, the applicant may retrieve the pistol and take it home.

Holy shit. What a fiasco. You get an application so cumbersome that you have to go to a gun dealer just to fill it out, pass a test, pay fees, get printed (the PD will be checking those prints against unsolved crimes and storing them against future crimes), go back to the bureaucrats to complete processing, go BACK to the dealer, or drag some poor dealer from Maryland or Virginia into DC to monkeydick around with a DC dealer, then go get the gun tested to see if it’s been used in a crime and to have the results databased for future crimes, and then you get to take it home. What a complete & utter Scandinavian Squirrel-Screw.

Know what I did? Walked into the shop, said I wanted to buy it, filled out a very simple form, gave the dude my license, he made a 5 minute phone call to check my bona fides, took my money and handed me my gun. Total process: 10 minutes.

At least the Supreme Court Jesters got this one right, so that law-abiding citizens can legally defend themselves and shoot for fun & recreation. However, at least three other decisions got botched, so that’s a 25% success rate. Not that stellar for the finest legal minds our country has to offer.

The best Army commercial I've seen in a LONG time

I love this ad. It's a great way to show potential recruits that there's a wealth of things you can do after the Army, and it appeals to me as a veteran to see all these people doing all these different things today, who proudly state what they did in the Army and what unit they were with. Once upon a time, I was Army strong, too.

Moo Goo Gai Pup? Not at the Olympics!

Since the Chinese government will only allow Olympic guests and athletes to eat in certain specified restaurants, officially designated Olympic hotels and restaurants in Beijing have been asked to remove dog meat from their menus during August and September when the Olympics and Paralympics are being held. Beijing tourism officials like city tourism bureau Vice Director Xiong Yumei are telling other outlets to discourage consumers from ordering dishes made from dogs. Waiters and waitresses should ‘patiently’ suggest other options to diners who order dog, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Might I suggest the roast rack of snake, sir? Perhaps the stewed monkey brains?
A directive from the Beijing Food Safety Office was issued after concern that canine dishes might offend animal rights groups and Western visitors. Gee, ya’ think? I notice they ain’t mentioning cat, another supposed delicacy that makes us round-eyes cringe and cry in the corner.

Officials said restaurants which are expected to be popular among foreign visitors during the Games must stop serving dog meat 'to respect the dining customs of different countries'. Dog is eaten by the large Korean community in China's capital and is also popular in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. Dog, known in Chinese as "xiangrou," or "fragrant meat," is eaten by some Chinese for its purported health-giving qualities.

In addition, any canine material used in traditional medicated diets must be clearly labelled. However, it’ll still be okay to use ground up tiger penis and rhino horn to increase your virility. Dogs aren’t endangered; just cute. If a rhino made a cute housepet, we’d bitch about eating them.

The directive, however, made no mention of the many establishments where donkey meat is a popular dish on the menu.

During the 1988 Seoul Games, South Korea also temporarily banned dog meat after criticism from Westerners. And as soon as the Olympics were over, it went right back on the plate with a steamed ball of rice, the same as it will in China by November.

The best military recruiting commercial EVER.

Sure, yeah, I'm an Army veteran, and extremely proud of it. But if you're a regular reader you'll know that I spread the love around to veterans of all of my sister services, and that I do have a bit of a soft spot for the United States Marine Corps.

My oldest friend from high school, Chris Cunningham, is a former Marine. We used to hang out in the local Marine recruiting office when we were kids so often that once we came of enlistment age we were more or less told to shit or get off the pot.....Chris enlisted, along with our buddy Mike Dunham, and I joined the Army, on the heels of our other buddies Marshall Morris and Mike Ramsey. Every November 10th, I send Chris a birthday message of some sorts to commemorate the birthday of the USMC. Last year I even sent out a Marine Birthday blog to all the Devil Dogs in the Blogosphere.

This commercial is so stirring that I can't watch it without getting a chill, or watery eyes. It shows the famous Silent Drill Platoon performing portions of their sequential close-order rifle drills at various locations across the country in what comes out to represent a solid line across America from coast to coast. They start at sunrise by a New England lighthouse, go through Times Square, down Main Street USA in a small Midwest town, at the arch in St. Louis, through a farm field, across a vast open prairie in front of the Rocky Mountains, across the rim of the Grand Canyon, over the top of Hoover Dam, and ending up at the water’s edge at the end of the day in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. In the span of a few seconds, they represent our nation from sea to shining sea.

It’s a stirring sight, these ramrod straight warriors in their dress blue jackets and white pants, sequentially spinning polished M-1 Garand rifles with fixed bayonets in perfect time. If you’ve never seen the Silent Drill Platoon, you are truly missing out on perhaps the finest ceremonial/demonstration team the United States military has to offer.

The United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon is a 24-man rifle platoon that performs without any verbal commands. All you hear is the slap of their hands on the rifles. The routine concludes with a unique rifle inspection sequence demonstrating elaborate rifle spins and tosses.

These Marines are individually selected from the Schools of Infantry located in Camp Pendleton, CA and Camp Lejune, NC from interviews conducted by Barracks personnel. Once selected, Marines are assigned to Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. to serve a 2-year ceremonial tour. Beyond their ceremonial duties, the Marines collaterally train in the field as infantrymen. Throughout the year, these Marines hone their infantry skills at the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, VA and other bases.

Experienced members of the Silent Drill Platoon have the opportunity to audition to become Rifle Inspectors. They must go through inspection tryouts graded by the Rifle Inspectors of the previous year. Only two Marines per year are selected to become Rifle Inspectors. They, along with the Platoon Drill Master, are entrusted with keeping and passing on the unique knowledge and traditions of the Silent Drill Platoon.

Take a look at the commercial and see if it doesn’t give you chills.

Octopus Porn...I have absolutely heard of everything now.

This is just too bizarre for me to overlook. I....I just can't even comment on this. Where the hell do you even find octopus porn?

FROM FOX NEWS:
A Tasmanian computer technician who considered himself a beast has been given a suspended jail sentence after being caught possessing bestiality images.

Rodney Scott McLagan, 48, of South Arm, today was sentenced after pleading guilty to possessing 31,000 illegal images, most involving human female sex acts with dogs, ponies, snakes, tigers and an octopus.

Although 30 percent of the total images involved child pornography, Hobart Supreme Court Justice David Porter today said only 20 percent of those were actually viewed by McLagan.

"Your interests lie in the bestiality material," Justice Porter said in sentencing today.

McLagan's lawyer David Barclay told the court that his client had little or no interest in child pornography, and no relevant prior convictions.

Those images were downloaded in bulk along with the bestiality material, Barclay said.

McLagan, a single man with no children, pleaded guilty on July 4 to possessing bestiality products and child exploitation material.

Police found the images on computers and discs discovered during a search of McLagan's home, near Hobart, on January 6 last year.

A psychiatric report tendered to the court showed McLagan suffers from an avoidant personality disorder, leaving him ill-equipped to achieve normal intimacy.

The disorder often leaves its sufferers with chronic social anxiety and loneliness, without the opportunity for normal sexual relationships, and fantasy is often indulged, the court was told.

Justice Porter said: "It also emerges from the report that you are particularly self-conscious about your teeth".

"One of the consequences of all of this in your case is that you equate yourself with a beast, reflecting the level of your self-esteem.

"It is that which motivated your accessing the material you did."

McLagan was convicted and sentenced to a four-month suspended jail term and fined $1500.

He will also be placed on a community protection offender register for four years.


Wow....a two for one deal. Download elephant porn and we'll throw in some naked kids for free...

I have no kids, and I'm a bit self-concious about my teeth sometimes, since I have a few crooked ones, but holy mother of pearl....not even in my most deviant state of mind, and I admit that can be quite deviant (*grin*) have I ever even contemplated octopus porn. I think I just threw up a little.

Okay, maybe I just threw up a LOT

No matter how kinky you may think you are, there will always, and I mean always, be someone out there who will outkink you and be into something so lewd, lurid, and lascivious that it'll make you look like Mother Theresa.


Wanna look at some octopus porn with me, kid?

Finally coming home...

America will finally be able to welcome the remains of two missing heroes home.

Back on Memorial Day, I made mention of Alex Jimenez and Byron Fouty, two soldiers who’d been MIA for over a year. Today it was announced that their remains had been found and were coming home for burial.

Jimenez, 25, and Fouty, 19, were kidnapped along with a third member of the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division during an ambush in May 2007. The body of the third seized soldier, PFC Joseph Anzack Jr. of Torrance, Calif., was found in the Euphrates River a year later.

The three soldiers, based at Fort Drum, N.Y, disappeared May 12, 2007, after insurgents ambushed their combat team 20 miles outside Baghdad. An Iraqi soldier and four other Americans from the same unit were killed in the attack.

The soldiers were from Company D, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, Second Brigade, 10th Mountain Division — nicknamed the "Polar Bears."

Welcome home, brothers. Rest in honored peace.

BEER REVIEW: Duck Rabbit Milk Stout

Stout is a dark beer made with roasted malts or roast barley. A lot of people consider them almost too bitter to enjoy, and others can’t handle the chewy heaviness of a good stout. I don’t mind a good stout in moderation. I can’t have too many of them or have it too often, but occasionally it’s a wonderful treat. In my many moons as a consumer of adult beverages, I have tried more than just a couple of stouts.

I’ve tried Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, Sam Adams Cream Stout, Beamish Stout, Sea Dog Stout, Saranac Oatmeal Stout, Saranac Mocha Stout, Black Cat Stout from the Portsmouth Brewery, and of course the ubiquitous Guinness. Now I can add another one to the mix: Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout.

By their own label’s description, “The Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout is a traditional full-bodied stout brewed with lactose (milk sugar). The subtle sweetness imparted by the lactose balances the sharpness of the highly roasted grains which give this delicious beer its black color.” They ain’t lying, friends.

Milk stouts, sometimes called cream stouts, are as old as stout itself, and generally carry a slightly lower alcohol content than their brethrens of the stout kingdom. Milk stouts contain lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Because lactose is unfermentable by the yeast used in beer brewing, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, it adds sweetness, body, and calories to the finished beer.

Duck Rabbit is a small craft brewery in Farmville, North Carolina. Admittedly, I’d never heard of it before Monday, but I do love a good craft brew and am generally willing to try new things and to suport small brewers when I can. I bought the Duck Rabbit at Total Wine & More over in West Ashley, who had it available in 6-packs and also by the individual bottle. I opted for the individual, just to make sure I wasn’t stuck with something that tasted like butt. I only do stouts occasionally….

It poured out like a smooth bit of Heaven into my frosted pint glass. I must have poured it expertly; that, or there was a minimal head to the beer. Unlike Guinness, which heads up so much anytime I have it that you have to wait 10 minutes just to enjoy your beer. Dark as night, it looked almost foreboding, yet enticing at the same time.

You could smell the roasted malts, and there was no denying that it looked and smelled like a stout. The taste was creamy and lacked that characteristic ash-tray bitterness usually associated with stouts. It was just bitter enough, without being overpowering and just chewy enough to be full-bodied and satisfying without being a heavy meal unto itself. It went down FAST. Before I knew it, the glass was gone, and I was a bit sad that I didn’t have more.

If you live in the Carolinas and like a good beer, go out and find this at the soonest possible juncture. For more information, check out www.duckrabbitbrewery.com

A lesson in Immigration Reform for McCain and Obama

I know that I’ve covered this stuff before but…

I’m pretty much done with people expecting me to speak Spanish because of people who come here and refuse to speak English.

I’m pretty much done with American colleges giving in-state tuition benefits to illegals and the children of illegals.

I’m pretty much done with illegals getting licenses at state DMV’s, just so the states can score a few extra bucks in revenues. Then again, I guess an illegal with a license will ostensibly have insurance too, which is preferable to being t-boned at the corner of Ashley Phosphate and Stall by an unlicensed and uninsured illegal.

I’m pretty much done supporting illegals with my tax money who aren’t paying taxes, working under the table for spurious employers, sucking off the welfare teat, sucking of the Medicaid teat, and draining Social Security dry.

Look, I’m cool with legal immigration. I’m the product of legal immigration. I helped my own mother study for her citizenship test. I can understand why people want to come here. Just ask us first, okay? Don’t sneak in like some sort of invader. Be thankful we haven’t set up minefields yet. Be thankful that we aren’t using you as live target acquisition training for our sniper programs. Be thankful that the INS just deports you instead of shooting you on sight as insurgent invaders. Come into our country legally and legitimately, tell us who you are and where you are, pay taxes, and learn the language.


I know full-well what it’s like to be in another country where you don’t speak the language. I lived in Germany for two years. I got by as best I could while making an honest effort to learn the language. Of course, I was there as a temporary guest of the German government and the locals made very courteous allowances for the lanuage barrier. It really helped that most of the locals spoke excellent English. I realize that very few of us Yanqui gringoes habla Espanol. Mierda Resistente , ese.

Had I been planning on staying there in Germany as a local beyond my tour of duty, they’d have been fully within the right to expect me to spreche Deutsche and learn better German instead of expecting them to cater to my lack of fluency. So by the same token, if you’re gonna live here, make an honest effort to learn English and fit in instead of expecting all of us to just cater to you.

Of course, the Hispanic community creates that Catch-22 situation where it’s easy to skate by, having so many Spanish-language radio stations, newspapers, and TV stations that it becomes easy to slip between the cracks and maintain the underground existence.

I’m not saying you have to abandon your heritage and ancestry. Hell, look at me; I own a kilt. But face it. This is an English speaking country. That’s how we roll.

And for you immigrants from the Muslim countries, this is also a predominantly Christian country where women can do pretty much whatever they want. We don’t do Sharia Law, we don’t wear burkas, and we don’t kill our women over perceived slights to our honor.

And please, save the story about how the white Anglo-European invaders stole half of Mexico to make California, Arizona, and Texas, and then stole the rest of America from the native tribes. That story is a couple hundred years old now and frankly, I can’t change what people did generations before my people showed up here. This country was already well established before my people got off the boat from Poland in 1914, got off the plane from the UK in 1945, or drove here from Canada in 1960. While it's shameful what was done to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, I can't change it.

Oh, crap. Wait. Why am I even doing this blog post in English? I forgot that you probably can’t read it, and if you can, it’s hard to catch a Wi-Fi hotspot while swimming the Rio Grande with a suitcase over your head. Fear not; some liberal tree hugger will be waiting on the other side to cater to you, and if not, just hit the translate button on Google, I guess.

There's no "honor" in an honor killing

Chaudry Rashid, not exactly Father of the Year


A Pakistani man accused of killing his daughter because she wanted out of an arranged marriage told a judge Tuesday that he had done nothing wrong. Chaudhry Rashid, 54 has been charged with killing his daughter in yet another Muslim “honor killing”.

Twenty-five-year-old Sandeela Kanwal was not happy with the marriage her father had arranged for her. So after the ceremony was performed in Pakistan three months ago, she went to Georgia and her husband went to Chicago. The young woman's husband was living in Chicago, police said, but Kanwal remained at her father's home and worked at a metro Atlanta Wal-Mart for a brief time.

Early Sunday, after a heated argument with her father, police in Clayton County near Atlanta said, the Pakistani immigrant allegedly took a bungee cord, wrapped it around his daughter's neck and killed her.

"The victim was not interested in neither marrying, nor remaining married to her husband," the police report said, citing information authorities received from Rashid's wife. "This was causing a great deal of friction between the victim and her father," so much so that the two had not spoken in two months, the report said. The two argued over the marriage and Rashid is alleged to have strangled his daughter to maintain family honor, feeling his daughter had disgraced his family.

The problem of "honor killings" and other domestic violence after failed arranged marriages is spreading as some culturally rigid Pakistani and Indian immigrants settle in different parts of the country, said Najma Adam, a sociology professor at Governors State University in suburban Chicago who co-wrote a 2007 study on the issue. When the marriage breaks down, both families are dishonored, especially the bride's, she said.

Subsequently, "family members, parents, are the ones who end up either taking their life or further abusing them," Adam said.

In arranged marriages, "even if [the husband] is beating her and very abusive toward her, because of the very strong patriarchal underpinnings, she is the one who has committed the crime by leaving him or by wanting out of this relationship," Adam said.

This kind of crap happens all the time in Muslim countries, where women are treated worse than house pets. This is also the kind of crap you can expect if you start letting Islamic laws take hold in your country. Hey, Britain, take notice. You too, Canada. Your tolerance of Muslim customs that run counter to English & Canadian common law just so you can look all sympathetic and liberal and open-arms to the “poor downtrodden masses” is allowing honor killings to take place in your countries. This is your immediate future if you don’t do something about it.

On the plus side, I somehow think that that the good old boys of the Clayton County, Georgia judiciary system are gonna be a lot les inclined to give this guy any sort of break or to embrace Sharia Law with open arms. It’s a horrible shame that an unhappy young lady was brutally murdered by her own father, and hopefully this will be a HUGE wakeup call for Americans to keep vigilant against this sort of bullshit. There’s no honor in honor killings.

Again, as I have said numerous times in the past: Religion of peace, my ass.

Dude, I think we hit something...

MINNEAPOLIS — Northwest Airlines says it's investigating after the nose cone on one of its planes was damaged during flight.

The plane had been scheduled to fly to Minneapolis from Tampa, but that flight was delayed after the plane was damaged sometime during a flight between Detroit and Tampa.

Retired Northwest pilot Richard Duxbury says the plane was likely hit by something, possibly a bird. He says bird strikes can be a significant safety issue.

Well, no shit, Richard. Something hit the plane; that much is relatively obvious. That big-ass dent just kinda glares right at you. Unless a drunk pilot bumped into the gantry when he was parking it & no one fessed up, then something hit it. And since no one in the cockpit seemingly saw it, the where were they looking and what were they doing instead of looking out the windows? I guess that no bones, feathers, blood stains, or guts were found? Maybe they hit a falling piece of that mysterious blue ice that falls from the sky that no one can seem to figure out, even though everyone knows it’s frozen toilet leakage from faulty airplane tanks?

Hey look! This is a REAL birdstrike!!!

The airline hasn't confirmed that a bird hit the plane. In a statement, Northwest says none of the passengers or crew members were hurt in the incident.

Of course. That’s the first thing they wanna say, so to avid any lawsuits or liabilities. Quick, cover your asses!!!!

Does this mean now that we’ll have to start paying a birdstrike insurance surcharge in addition to the fuel surcharge and the luggage surcharge and the seat-choice surcharge. Northwest probably broke the plane on urpose to scam passengers into paying a new surcharge……

Northwest Airlines....paying close attention!


An F/A-18 Hornet after a bird strike


An Isreali helicopter after a bird strike.

A true tearjerker commercial...

One of the BEST commercials I have EVER seen...

If the Islamics in England have their way...

If the current acquiescence to Islam by the British government continues, then pretty soon the Queen will have to adopt a radical new look to keep from being draped in a burka....

Want a civil war in England? Add Sharia and stir...

And so England continues on its downward spiral towards riots in the streets, and a possible civil war. I say civil war because more and more half-wits in the British government keep acquiescing to Islam, pushing for the allowance of Sharia Law and pushing other aspects of Islam in England, and the British people are only going to take so much of this nonsense before they raise up against it.

Two prime examples from the past week:

Two schoolboys were given detention last week after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson.

Parents were outraged that the two boys were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped. They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise, which included wearing Muslim headgear, was a breach of their human rights.

One parent, Sharon Luinen, said: "This isn't right; it's taking things too far. I understand that they have to learn about other religions. I can live with that but it is taking it a step too far to be punished because they wouldn't join in Muslim prayer. Making them pray to Allah, who isn't who they worship, is wrong and what got me is that they were told they were being disrespectful.”

Another parent, Karen Williams, said: "I am absolutely furious my daughter was made to take part in it and I don't find it acceptable. I haven't got a problem with them teaching my child other religions and a small amount of information doesn't do any harm. But not only did they have to pray, the teacher had gone into the class and made them watch a short film and then said 'we are now going out to pray to Allah'. Not only was it forced upon them, my daughter was told off for not doing it right. They'd never done it before and they were supposed to do it in another language."

One grandparent summed it up perfectly: “… if Muslims were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war."

No shit, Gramps. If you tried to get the Muslim kids to do something Christian or, Allah forbid, Jewish (gasp!!!),then there’d be absolute bloody Jihad and an Intifada called out upon all of the United Kingdom for a slap in the face of Islam. Piccadilly Circus would run red with innocent blood.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, the most senior judge in England last week gave his blessing to the use of Sharia law to resolve disputes among Muslims.

Lord Chief Justice Nicholas Phillips said that Islamic legal principles could be employed to deal with family and marital arguments and to regulate finance. In his speech at an East London mosque, Lord Phillips signalled approval of Sharia principles as long as punishments - and divorce rulings - complied with the law of the land.

The Lord Chief Justice of The Islamic Kingdom of England

When appointed Lord Chief Justice, Phillips gave the impression he would steer an uncontroversial course. His first act in office was to declare, “I intend to keep out of politics”. Yeah, right.

But his remarks, which back the informal Sharia courts operated by numerous mosques, provoked a barrage of criticism. Lawyers warned that family and marital disputes settled by Sharia could disadvantage women or the vulnerable in supposedly voluntary Sharia deals. Conservatives said that legal equality must be respected and that rulings incompatible with English law should never be enforceable.

Lord Phillips said: 'Those who are in dispute are free to subject it to mediation or to agree that it shall be resolved by a chosen arbitrator. There is no reason why principles of sharia law or any other religious code should not be the basis for mediation or other forms of dispute resolution.'He further said that any sanctions must be 'drawn from the laws of England and Wales'. Severe physical punishment - he mentioned stoning, flogging or amputating hands - is 'out of the question' in Britain, he added.

The Arch-Imam of Canterbury. Looks like a real Imam to me, no?

Lord Phillips spoke five months after Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams suggested Islamic law could govern marital law, financial transactions and arbitration in disputes. I called the good Archbishop out on it then too, and I call the good Lord Chief Justice out on it today.

Are you bloody daft, m’lord? You expect the people of England to just give over their civil rights nder English Common Law to appease a bunch of bullies who don’t ascribe to the generally accepted rules of governance and religion in your nation? You can say all you want that the basic rights of English citizens won't be affected, but oce you let Sharia in, it will just fester and grow like a rash until Big Ben will only chime to tell Londoners when to kneel on their rugs.

Pretty soon, and rightly so, the people of England are going to backlash against the Islamics and the government that’s kissing their bearded arses. The Brits may seem all proper and reserved to us Yanks, but I foresee riots on a scale that will make football hooliganism seem like a spring stroll across Hyde Park. Perhaps its high time that the Royals speak up and say something about keeping England English, before they find the good Queen wearing a Royal Burka and being less a figurehead of state and more a third-class citizen not allowed outside without a leash.

Of course, we Americans are fast becoming a colony of Mexico because no one will stand up and say enough is enough, but that’s a blog for another day.

Soon, the Queen will only be allowed outside on Islamic holy days like Ramadan

AT&T Uber Alles?

Isn’t it funny how things come back around full-circle? Back in junior high and into my freshman year of high school, some 25 years ago or so, the Feral Gummint™ declared that AT&T had an unfair monopoly on nationwide telecommunications, and thusly began the divestiture & breakup of American Telephone & Telegraph into Regional Bell Operating Companies, or the Baby Bells. The break up of AT&T was initiated in 1974 by the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust suit. Under the terms of a settlement finalized on January 8, 1982, "Ma Bell" agreed to divest its local exchange service operating companies, in return for a chance to go into the computer business, AT&T Computer Systems. So, on January 1, 1984 the Baby Bells were born: Ameritech Corporation, Bell Atlantic Corporation, BellSouth Corporation, NYNEX Corporation, Pacific Telesis Group, Southwestern Bell Corporation, and U S WEST, Inc. (which became QWEST)

I remember the mellifluous voice of James Earl Jones telling me that “AT&T is now Bell Atlantic”. And several years later, ol’ Darth Vader was telling me that “Bell Atlantic is now Verizon…” Hmmm, so if I add 2+2, then doesn’t that kinda make Verizon the new AT&T? But wait…

Fast forward to the cell phone age. It’s late 2000 and I’d just moved to SC. There were all these choices… T-Mobile (Germany’s Deutsche Telekom), AllTel, Nextel, Verizon, Sprint, some upstart new company called Cingular, followed by SunCom and Boost Mobile. And of course, Sir Richard Branson had to add Virgin Mobile to the mix.
In 2005, SBC Communications purchased AT&T Corp., thus reuniting the venerable phone company with three of its spinoffs (SBC was composed of Southwestern Bell, Pacific Telesis, and Ameritech). The merged company became AT&T Inc. Additionally, on December 29, 2006, AT&T purchased BellSouth. Not long after that, it was announced here and there that Cingular was now to be known as AT&T.

Also in 2005, Sprint bought Nextel, becoming Sprint Nextel (how clever), and they also own Boost Mobile.

Not long ago, T-Mobile bought SunCom, and I found out last week that at the end of the year, AllTel will cease to exist and all of their customers will be swallowed up by Verizon.

So, AT&T became the Bells, some of which became Verizon, and some of the Bell which became SBC, but SBC bought AT&T who swallowed Cingular. This had the AT&T blanket now being a giant conglomerate again comprised of 4 of its original seven Baby Bells. This leaves the AT&T Megaplex, Sprint Nextel, Verizon, and T-Mobile. But don’t forget that Verizon is just another Baby Bell under a new name, so I look eventually for it to merge again with AT&T on the Mother Ship, creating an almost-monopoly. Soon it’ll be AT&T vs. Sprint Nextel for global dominion, with the Germans chasing to keep up, and Virgin Mobile just being a cute side project for the yuppie crowd, since they’re just a name only and not a network. Yeah, they’re symbiote parasites; in the UK they use T-Mobile’s network, and in the USA they use Sprint Nextel’s. TracFone is the same way. They use pretty much everybody’s networks.

Cricket Wireless, another new upstart, is like the cell phone equivalent to trying to watch hockey on TV. You might see a game now & then on NBC, but since the NHL carries most of its games on Versus, and so few systems carry Versus, you’re screwed. I’ve heard they’re coverage is so shoddy that you can’t even make it all the way across Charleston without dropping a call for lack of coverage.

It took 25 years, but AT&T pretty much beat the rap that the Feral Gummint™ and is rapidly gaining momentum. Y’know, after Germany was disarmed after World War One, it was less than 20 years before it regrouped into something even larger & more dangerous.

The annual post-Fourth of July roundup

Ah…so Friday was the Fourth of July. I worked a regular shift, up at 2:30 AM and home at about 2:00 in the afternoon. Crystal, my wife, had to work last night, from 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM this morning. Needless to say, we didn’t get to go to the Charleston waterfront for the fireworks display launched off the deck of the USS Yorktown at Patriot’s Point. Our town of Walterboro only bothers with fireworks for the opening night of the annual Colleton County Rice Festival in April.

Have no fear, though, because this is South Carolina, and if there’s one thing you can count on in semi-rural SC, it’s that your neighbors will keep you up half the night setting off their own displays, usually after spending the day partaking of adult libations. Much the same way that mushrooms crop up in your yard after a drenching rain, the first couple weeks after the summer solstice sees the blooming of that most ubiquitous of Carolina growths, the roadside fireworks stand. These seem to crop up on almost every intersection along the major thoroughfares, and in the outer boundaries of most Wal-Mart parking lots, in addition to the permanent year-round stands almost always co-located with an off-ramp to the I-95 to sell to the tourists from states that don’t allow fireworks. Here in Walterboro we have at least three full-year shops, and I saw a good half-dozen roadside stands crop up in the past two weeks.

You see, here in South Carolina, we encourage people to play with explosives in their yards. The Post & Courier, our local newspaper in Charleston, went so far as to print an article that told the readers what the best & worst fireworks to buy are. It’s good to know that in the caveat emptor world of home-grown explosives that the local newsies are on top of suggesting quality goods.

Ironically, despite the abundance (Or maybe because of it) of pyrotechnics available locally we don’t really hear about big fireworks accidents here in the Lowcountry. Conversely, it’s generally in the states where fireworks aren’t legal where we hear of the horrific tragedies, like the ones I reported last year at this same time:

http://mojosteve.blogspot.com/2007/07/post-july-4th-update.html

And, of course, there’s already stories out from Friday night’s debacles…

Police in Riverside, Ohio, said a man lost part of his leg when fireworks went off inside his parked sport-utility vehicle, blowing the windows out.

A 6-year-old girl in Bayville, N.Y., suffered second-degree burns when fireworks landed in her lap, police said. Investigators said it wasn't immediately clear who launched the fireworks but said the child wasn't at a public pyrotechnics display.

A 3-year-old boy in Leominster, Mass., suffered serious burns after his father shot off fireworks that went awry, authorities said. The 37-year-old man will probably be charged with illegal possession of fireworks, police said.

In Port Huron, Michigan a 51-year-old man was critically injured when he was struck in face by a mortar-type firework, the St. Clair County sheriff's department said. Officers said the man was placing the firework in a tube when it ignited.

A Fourth of July fireworks shell misfired in the northern Iowa town of Charles City, sending a fireball skidding down a street into a crowd of spectators and injuring 37 people. Most of the people treated after the Friday night accident in Charles City suffered minor injuries, a spokesman said. It appears there was a misfire involving 13 racks of firework tubes during the finale of the city-sponsored show said Saturday.

Charles City, Iowa, picture by Ryan Kronberg

And at Jones Beach, the popular state park near New York, a bunch of unexploded shells from Friday night’s displays started to wash up on the beach. Roughly 2,000 visitors were told to leave the beach immediately after the seaborne shells began turning up around midday Saturday. The beach was to remain closed until sunrise Sunday as authorities continued searching for any remaining fireworks. The shells apparently stemmed from Friday night's show, launched from an offshore barge, but the company that put on the show said that all of their shells had been accounted for.

And if you still doubt that fireworks will seriously Eff your day up, go do a google image search on firecrackers...there's a couple of rather grotesque pictures there...


Hey look! An x-ray of a fireworks accident!