This ... Would Not End Well.

My response to this would make "Taken" look like a buddy flick...

Two men suspected in Georgia kidnapping reportedly make $10G ransom demand

Two men being sought by police in the abduction of a 14-year-old Georgia girl during a home invasion have reportedly made a $10,000 ransom demand.

Clayton County police say the two men -- who have yet to be identified -- took 14-year-old Ayvani Hope Perez from her home near Atlanta early Tuesday morning.

"Give them what they want" - I'm starting to think that people that say this aren't merely stupid, they're borderline evil. "Reward thuggery!" - that's what you're saying here. "Shoot them in the motherf**king face" is a *far* better response. I wonder how many times these goblins had people just "give them what they want" up until this point. They came across someone that didn't have enough, so they took their young daughter.

I hope the cops shoot these bastards on sight, I really do. Shit, I hope they import the LAPD, the NYPD, and Officer Harless from Canton OH fresh off a 'roid bender to go apprehend these sonsabitches. Failing a quick end from a one-sided gunfight, I hope they resist arrest. Repeatedly. And this is the sanitized version. Pour encouragez les autres, of course.

 Now, there's a hint in the video that this may not be entirely all there is to the story. There's a subtle change in the police statement from it being a random act to them not being able to confirm that it was random. Barring any change, though, it still drives home that there's a pressing need to have a plan in place for a home invasion just like you have a plan in place for a fire or a medical emergency. Know what you need to do before it happens and you're that much more likely to do it right if G-d forbid it ever does happen.

And for the love of all that's good and wholesome, when they come through the door, be sure to use enough caliber...

That is all.

Another dispatch from...

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

So THIS Is Why DHS Got A Hundred Gabillion Rounds...

Several folks sent this one in. It merits a:

Warning:

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

---

Gold miners in remote Alaska town want answers after task force storms in

Some miners in Alaska want the feds to start digging for answers.

A task force including members of 10 state and federal law enforcement agencies descended on a gold mine in the tiny town of Chicken (pop. 17) last month, in what locals described as a raid.

“Imagine coming up to your diggings, only to see agents swarming over it like ants, wearing full body armor, with jackets that say "POLICE" emblazoned on them, and all packing side arms,” gold miner C.R. Hammond told the Alaska Dispatch. “How would you have felt? You would be wondering, ‘My God, what have I done now?”

Yep. Body armor and sidearms so they could investigate Clean Water Act violations. The EPA is claiming that their "law enforcement" agents are required to carry firearms; however there's no reason given why the EPA *HAS* a "law enforcement" division in the first place. If they found a business or residence in violation of the Clean Water Act, one would think the role of the EPA would be to file a report and press charges - and then let the police handle it.

No, in today's day and age - when the Department of Education has short-barreled shotguns - every Federal agency has their own "law enforcement" division that has to have pistols, rifles, shotguns, and machine guns. According to the article, some 10 agents - from 10 agencies - descended on this booming metropolis of 17 people - to look for violations of the Clean Water Act. TEN ARMED AGENTS in a town of 17 people. For the Clean Water Act. What an egregious waste of resources. Why on earth this couldn't have been done by one dude with a clipboard is beyond me.

Well, that's not true. One agent with a clipboard is only one person employed by the State. One paycheck, one health care plan, one drone voting to keep whoever will promise the best raises and perks. One person representing one agency with one budget. Ten people from ten different agencies means an order of magnitude more tax dollars needed - and more voters voting to keep the gravy train rolling.

Plus, hey, you get to wear body armor and carry a Glock and terrorize the subsistence living of people in small towns! SCORE!

That is all.

Just For The Record...

Dear "Pimsleur Approach"...

I haven't the faintest idea if your technique for teaching someone to speak a foreign language is good, bad, or indifferent. What I do know is that the way your company sends a constant stream of spam e-mail to every single account on the planet tells me everything I need to know about you and then some. Your complete and utter disregard for anything even remotely resembling e-mail etiquette, combined with the creeptastic pictures you ad-spam everywhere, mean that your company falls to the very bottom of the list of "companies I will do business with", somewhere in the vicinity of "idiot landscapers who park their trucks in the road around a corner on a hill" and "companies that exist only in James Bond movies for the sole purpose of world domination".

In short, as the expression goes, I wouldn't piss on your company if it were on fire. Before I used your product to learn a new language, I would convert to Hinduism, wait until I died, and then hoped to be reincarnated as someone native to the country whose language I wanted to speak. Your incessant, unwanted, and intrusive advertising assault has utterly ensured that the only way you would ever get me to use your product would necessitate men with arms the size of tree trunks holding guns to the heads of my loved ones.

In closing, please die in a fire.

That is all.

Let's Go Over This One More Time...

Apparently, folks need a refresher course. You see, it's raining. It rains on a pretty regular basis here in New England, not as much as, say, Seattle or London, but still pretty regularly. Even so, people simply lose their damn minds when any precipitation falls from the sky - and this is never more evident than when they climb behind the wheel of an automobile. With that in mind, here's some friendly tips from your humble host for MA drivers...

• I know I've said it before, but tailgating me at a distance of approximately 8 microns isn't going to get me to go any faster when there are two cars in front of me. I'm not going to start pushing. All you're going to accomplish by drafting off my truck is to make sure I obey the speed limit the entire trip, stop for every crosswalk, and let everyone I can in front of me.
• On the complete opposite side, if you can't achieve more than 25 MPH in a 40 MPH zone, perhaps you ought to re-evaluate your particular skill set when it comes to operating a two ton motor vehicle. If you cannot keep up with the flow of traffic, perhaps it's time to sell the GM Land Yacht and invest in the senior bus.
• Note to garbage trucks: The road we're on is easily two lanes wide on both sides. Stopping in the dead center so that you can pick up the gargbage is a dick move, I don't care who you are. We're still going to go around you, we just have to cross the center line to do so now. You're the lucky guy - the guy driving the truck, not slinging the rubbish - if you piss off enough people who complain, guess what?
• Directionals. Use them. Slamming on your brakes for no apparent reason is not a good way to endear yourself to the remainder of the motoring public. Are you turning? Do you have vehicular Tourettes? Who knows? Stay tuned as we spin the Wheel 'O' Random Driving!
• Note to HVAC box van: Parking your large, cubular box van around a corner around a hill? BRILLIANT! Everyone has to slam on their brakes and come to a dead stop right by your van, because they can't see around you. They'll be sure to note the company name so they know who to curse as they have to slow to crawl to get around your inconsiderately parked truck. Dumbass.
• And, lastly, pedestrians. Folks, if you're trying to cross the road less than 15 feet from a crosswalk, I will aim my towing mirror squarely at your noggin. Step off that curb in the crosswalk and I will stop every damn time. If you are too lazy to walk the extra 10 steps down the sidewalk to the crosswalk, though, I ain't stopping. This is 100X worse if you have kids with you - great lesson you're setting there.

I think that about covers it for today...

That is all.

Things That Torque Jay Off...

That little square in the bottom right corner of the screen in Windows 7. Why is that even there? It serves no purpose other than to screw up what you're working on - it's not an effective browser minimizer, it just momentarily brings up your main screen. Perhaps it does serve some purpose, but I sure as hell haven't found it yet. You can click on it to navigate to the desktop, but you can do that on the taskbar itself as well.

I'm trying to think of the thought process that went into making a small area of the taskbar essentially useless. Not only that, but if there's a way to get rid of it I haven't found it (although to be fair, I haven't really looked). It doesn't do anything that can't be accomplished just as easily by other means, and I honestly think they included it just to piss people off.

You know, standard Windows MO...



That is all.

Almost Forgot...

Today is Lenin's birthday, conveniently celebrated as Earth Day.

I very nearly forgot. Will have to drive the Earthf**ker home in 4WD with the air conditioning on. If I get real lucky, I'll find a Prius somewhere along the route I can pull up along side and rev the 345 HP hemi a few dozen times. Once I get home, I'm installing 100W incandescent lightbulbs in every fixture, then I'm refreshing my air conditioner condenser with 100% freon.

Okay, silliness aside - oh, wait, no it's not. We're still being bombarded by the "Global Warming" silliness, even though pretty much every single "scientific" paper that has come out with "conclusive" evidence that Global Warming is real and ZOMG TEH POLAR BEARS has been proven to have about as much "scientific" research as the anti-gun groups' Google search. And yeah, speaking of Google, they see fit to celebrate "Earth Day" but not Easter.

What irks me most, I think, is that most of the right-leaning folks I know - the ones who, like me, have a healthy skepticism towards the whole "global warming" movement - are pretty much on the side of being conservation minded and such. We try to recycle as much as possible - although in our case, often we "recycle" by re-using rather than separating our trash. Glass jars? Handy brass sorters! Soda cans? BB gun or airsoft targets. Cardboard/paper? Kindling/firestarting. You know, like we've been doing for generations. We just haven't called it a fancy name is all.

Besides, Republicans are pro-environment: Strip-mining prevents forest fires!

That is all.

Speaking of Boats that Have Planes Land on Them...

China's got 'em now.

China lands first jet on its aircraft carrier

BEIJING – China has successfully landed a fighter jet on its first aircraft carrier, which entered service two months ago, the country's official news agency confirmed Sunday.

The Liaoning aircraft carrier underscores China's ambitions to be a leading Asian naval power, but it is not expected to carry a full complement of planes or be ready for combat for some time.

This was the same aircraft carrier, mind you, that the Chinese purchased from the Soviet Union back in the Clinton days - and we were told it was going to be a floating casino. Why would the Chinese need an aircraft carrier, skeptics scoffed; they'll never match us in naval power. Those of us who were concerned about the Chinese acquiring Soviet military hardware were ridiculed as right wing extremists looking for a new boogeyman in the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold war.

Well, here we are some 14 years later and our capabilities are degrading - and the subject of Presidential ridicule during debates - while the Chinese are projecting international naval power for the first time in recorded history.  Wonder how much exported computer technology from the 1990s wound up in that carrier? Wonder how much they've been able to reverse engineer since 1998?

May you live in interesting times, indeed...

That is all.

Random Bits, Thoughts, and Other...

First off, allow me to channel the spirit of Acidman: Whoever came up with the nitwit idea of "roll over to play" fucking internet ads needs to be dragged off and shot.

Especially when there's 2-3 seconds of nothing at the start of the ad, so that you go to a different tab and then wonder WTF is making all that noise? And whoever came up with the brilliant idea of letting any yahoo with a used car emporium use really loud (and bad) pseudo-rock music as their background? Also dragged off and shot.

---

And while I'm complaining about car stuff online, Nissan, your website SUCKS. Seriously. I attempted to use your carbuilder feature for about 10 minutes last night, and gave up when it consistently failed to load. This is on a standard Windows-based PC that's not unduly old nor underpowered, coming over a reasonably fast cable model connection. Whoever your web person is, give them a kick in the shins for me and tell them to smarten up.

---

For those in a praying mood, Kevin's niece is battling leukemia. I really hate cancer, especially when it strikes little kids. They've set up a web page to chronicle her battle and to help defray her medical costs, so if you've got a spare shekel, consider helping Maddy out.

---

In happy news, Lissa is a new mommy! YAY BABIES!!!

---

RULE FOUR, PEOPLE. Stories like these drive me apeshit. It frightens me that there are people so monumentously stupid that they'll just grab a gun and blast away at anything they see moving. This is especially enraging to me as that little girl is the same age as my daughter. I cannot imagine how anyone with two functioning brain cells to rub together could confuse a 9 year old child with a skunk...

---

I think that about wraps up the good news/bad news portion of the day...

That is all.

Sidetracked...

Got a dispatch from the BLNN about this story:

State Department: 'Hold down the fort,' other common phrases could be offensive

and while I wanted to comment on it (the State Department has a "Chief Diversity Officer"??? Seriously???), before I got a chance, I saw this story:

Labor Dept. Waives 60-Day Notice To Help Obama Win

Politics: An administration that doesn't want layoff notices required by law going out days before the November election is telling defense contractors they don't have to send them for the cuts required by sequestration.

As the heads of major defense contractors Lockheed Martin, EADS North America, Pratt & Whitney and Williams-Pyro testified recently before the House Armed Services Committee, they are bound by law to give employees 60 days' notice if their jobs are going to be terminated as a result of sequestration cuts scheduled for Jan. 2.

ARE. YOU. FUCKING. KIDDING. ME??????

Why is this news buried in the IBD? You DAMN well know that if George Bush had done something like this, every newspaper in the country would have been calling for his impeachment by noon the next day. I'd like to say I'm surprised by this, but nothing surprises me about this administration any more. Todd Akin makes a ridiculous statement and it's front page news for weeks (and deservedly so); President Obama directs the Department of Labor to GO CONTRARY TO FEDERAL LAW and delay pink slip notifications and the sound of crickets is deafening?

President Obama, you have done the heretofore impossible: You have made me wish for Mitt Romney to win in November.

That is all.

It's Not Just Massachusetts...

Warning:

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

---

North sent in this video about a program in Baltimore that should make you angry:



Look! More magic unicorns giving away cell phones! Yay unicorns! Now, MA is the only state I know of that gives away free cars, but at least we're not alone in providing free cell phones to anyone that walks up and asks for them. What scares me the most is not the blatant fraud, rampant abuse, or even the brazen gimme mentality. It's the simple fact that this story didn't surprise me in the least.

It's hard to fathom why such a program would exist, it really is. Cell phones - despite what the bleeding hearts might tell you - are not a basic human right. They're handy, certainly; having a portable method of communication is quite important if one is looking for a job and wants employers to be able to get in touch with them easily, etc. But setting up a program to just hand out a free phone to anyone that asks? Who on earth thought this was a good idea?

Especially galling is that they see nothing wrong with the complete and utter lack of accountability. This program was originally intended to provide landline service to folks so that they could reach 911 in emergencies - and now look at what it's become. Walk up to a van, give your name, walk away with a free cell phone. In Baltimore alone, the number of people getting free phones balloned from 6000 in 2008, to 231K in 2011 - and the cost went from $1 million to $24 million.

$24 million to hand out free cell phones to anyone who asks. No accountability. No oversight. Ballooning costs. All that's missing is someone screeching "It's for the children" and you would have the picture-perfect parody straight out of the Onion. It's hard to imagine a program - as executed - that could more perfectly illustrate the handout mentality and the magic unicorn thinking that permeates modern leftist thinking.

Free cell phones? Yay unicorns!

That is all.

Blood, Boiling.

Warning:

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

---

Yankeefried sends this story that's certain to send you running for more blood pressure medication:

Firing squad ends clerk’s EBT stand

Jackie Whiton, age 65, had worked as a cashier at the Big Apple convenience store in Peterborough, N.H., for years. But then a couple of weeks ago she committed a firing offense.

She refused to allow a welfare recipient to use his EBT card to buy a pack of smokes.

How dare a taxpayer say no to a member of the non-working class? This is verboten in Obama’s America.

Now, a couple of points:

1. The store had every right to fire the clerk. They received a complaint that she refused a legal sale, they have every right to terminate her employment. Because it is legal to buy cigarettes with an EBT card doesn't make it right, but her job is only to make legal sales.

2. While the store has every right to fire the clerk, I - meaning those of us in the media - have every right to broadcast far and wide about this injustice. This clerk should have gotten a bonus rather than a pink slip - she was outraged (as am I) that someone can use a card given to them as a form of welfare to purchase something as frivolous as cigarettes.

Oh, BTW? Should you feel the need to contact Big Apple convenience store management about this egregious miscarriage justice, there is a contact form that can be used, or you can contact them via phone, fax, or USPS:

C.N. Brown Company
P.O. Box 200,
South Paris, Maine 04281

Office: 207-743-9212
Fax: 207-743-8357

If you're going to write, call, or fax, please be courteous and proper - no F-bombs, please, nor threats. Explain to them why you disagree with their decision to terminate Mrs. Whiton, and that you will not be patronizing their stores unless and until they correct their error.

---

Now, with that said, can *anyone* tell me why it's legal for someone to buy cigarettes with an EBT card? For those unclear on what they are, here's some basic information.

• EBT is used in all states to issue food stamp benefits to recipients.
• Many states also issue cash benefits such as TANF using EBT.

(TANF is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). So there are two forms of EBT cards - a "food stamp" card that only allows the holder to buy food, and a "cash benefits" card that allows them to buy... anything. Unless unemployment benefits go to EBT cards, I can't see any other reason for an able-bodied young person to have such a card - although there may be something I'm overlooking at the moment. It's still a big stretch to authorize usage for cigarettes - especially considering how the .gov is always telling us how bad cigarettes are for us.

Then again, how silly am I, expecting consistency from our government...

That is all.

Simply Unacceptable.

I know this will come as a shock, but Comcast is out. Again. We've been having problems here at the house for coming up on a month now. They sent a technician out to the house, who diagnosed the problem as our router. Big shock. Given that the router was ~ 4 years old, I went out and bought a new router - seemed to make sense. Well, it was all of a day before we were back to having internet problems - and I've put our laptop in the office connected directly to the modem to absolutely rule out the router as the issue.

It's gotten progressively worse over the past month - twice in the past week I've called for service only to get the recording that they are experiencing "higher than normal call volume" and to call back unless the call was of an urgent nature. Um, hello? You provide f**king entertainment, nothing else - what "urgent" is there for me to call about? My cable is out? My internet? Neither of those are emergencies in any sense of the word.

What is interesting to note, though, is that while the phone and internet will go out on a regular basis, the cable *never* goes out. Ever. It's always there working just fine. Could it be perhaps that the cable has actual competition, and that's the one place they know they can lose customers? Comcast is the only high-speed internet service in my area, so if we want to leave Comcast, we go back to dial-up - or pay for satellite. Of course, when the service is down on what is getting to be a daily basis, perhaps dial-up would be faster...

The *instant* Verizon brings FiOS here I am flushing Comcast.

That is all.

GMAFB...

Les is at it again, trying to raise my blood pressure:

Warning:

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

---

Wisconsin shooting recalls Trayvon Martin death

The decision by authorities not to charge a homeowner who shot dead an unarmed black man in a small Wisconsin town three weeks ago has resulted in comparisons to the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida and drawn scrutiny to the state's new "castle doctrine" law, a derivative of the "stand your ground" laws.
Authorities ruled that Adam Kind, a homeowner from Slinger, Wisc. was justified in shooting Bo Morrison, 20, a black man. This is possibly the first such case under the expanded doctrine which was enacted late last year, prosecutors said.

Right. Because a strange man standing inside your house is exactly like a confrontation in public. Take away the part where the person killed had broken into the man's home and sure, there are parallels. Oh, and the part where he was legally intoxicated (although, to be fair, we haven't seen any information on Martin - that may very well turn out to be the same...).

The mother of the deceased claims that her son was "executed" - of course, that's better than admitting your failure in raising your child properly. His sister gives the inevitable "he was a good boy who fell in with the wrong crowd" and that he wouldn't hurt anyone. The problem is, when a drunk person is inside your home at 1 o'clock in the morning, you don't get to interview them. You don't have a magic Intent-o-meter that can distinguish between a confused drunk and a PCP-fueled psychopath.

It's unfortunate that Mr. Morrison lost his life so young; tragic in fact. It's just as unfortunate that Mr. Kind was in a place to have to make that decision - it's going to haunt him the rest of his life. With a wife and young child in the house behind him, and an unknown man under the influence of alcohol in his home? I can't blame nor fault him for chosing to defend all that he holds dear. The race issue is BS - he would have pulled the trigger had Morrison been white, yellow, red, or glowing orange.

They're trying to use the Martin shooting as a blanket condemnation of Stand Your Ground laws - and the danger is they may be successful...

That is all.

Another dispatch from...

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

No. No It Mustn't.

Les is trying to kill me. There's no other possible explanation for sending me stories like this one:

Warning:

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

---

Schumer: DOJ must probe Stand Your Ground laws

(CBS News) Senator Chuck Shumer is calling on the Justice Department to expand its probe of the Trayvon Martin shooting to include an examination of controversial Stand Your Ground laws associated with the case, he told CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

Schumer, in interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell, said he is sending a letter to the Justice Department "to ask them to expand their investigation into the general implication of these Stand Your Ground laws."

You opportunistic, blood-dancing, nanny-state bastard. I'd ask if there were no depths to which you could not sink, but I already know there are not. You're all too happy to jump on this case with both jackboots to try to roll back the advances in personal liberty - no better than the opportunistic race pimps secretly pleased because they finally, once again, have a rallying point around which to again seem relevant.

It's hard to tell which is worse, really - Schumer dipping his hands in Martin's blood in an attempt to repeal a law he disagrees with or Øbama's shameful display of "my son would look like Martin". Schumer's throwing around words like "vigilante" - even though Zimmerman has not even been charged with any crime yet, let alone convicted.

Apparently along with the Second Amendment, Chuck the Schmuck would like to see the Fifth Amendment repealed as well...

That is all.

Another dispatch from...

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

MUST... CONTROL... FIST... OF DEATH...

(with apologies to Scott Adams and Alice...)

Warning:

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

---

Suspension upheld for NY boy over violent drawing

NEW YORK - (AP) -- Acknowledging school violence nationwide, a federal appeals court on Thursday upheld the suspension of a 10-year-old boy for a crayon drawing expressing a desire to blow up his school and its teachers.

But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan was not unanimous in rejecting the First Amendment claims of his parents. Judge Rosemary Pooler said the drawing by the fifth grader at a Montgomery, N.Y., elementary school in Orange County was obviously the work of a class clown.

In the words of Moe Szylak, I'm chokin' on my own rage heah. Ten. Years. Old. And they're treating him like the Ghost of Columbine Past. And it gets even better:

The 2nd Circuit said the discipline was appropriate particularly because the boy had a history of drawings and writings embracing violence.

Let me say this slowly, for the dullards among us: HE. IS. A. GRADE SCHOOL. BOY. They do that. Guns, bombs, tanks, fighter planes; all of these things are the hallmark of young boys growing up. You will no sooner legislate that out of them than you will them locking themselves in the bathroom with the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated a few years down the road. Sorry, that's how it is.

The girl who was "petrified" just so happened to have a history of confrontation with this kid, and made it her lot in life to get him in trouble at every turn. Congratulations! You've just created a generation of tattletales, of simpering little Napoleons just itching to exercise the over-inflated reins of power you've handed them. Every kid with the slightest grudge, the tiniest animosity, the merest hint of a tiff even; they're going to have every person who ever wronged them in history in their sights.

Rather than one Big Brother, they're creating a nation of Little Brothers to follow us at every turn...

That is all.

Another dispatch from...

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

Just Give Them What They Want...

That's what we're told by those who would disarm us, right? Give the robber what they want, don't resist, comply with their demands, and they'll leave you alone, right?

Wrong. Reader Kevin sends in this horrifying, disgusting story:

Family of slain store clerk: 'We're all just in shock'

Judi Simpson-Beaver was enjoying her new role in life: grandmother. She had moved from Texas back to Merrillville, Ind., where the 48-year-old Simpson-Beaver had raised her two sons and was now helping raise her grandson Caleb. Both her sons were in the military: One had served in Iraq, the other was in Afghanistan.

On Sunday afternoon, Simpson-Beaver was working behind the counter at the Lucky Food Mart when a gunman wearing a white "Jason or hockey mask" burst in and demanded money. After grabbing two drawers of cash, the robber turned at the front door and shot her in the chest, police said. He then walked back and shot her in the head.

There's video at the link; grainy yet final. You see some punk in a purple hoodie with a $2 WalMart Halloween mask hold up the store, walk around, then for some unknown reason, walk back over and shoot the clerk. Not content at this, he moves around the counter and shoots her again. She gave him the money. She did what he demanded.

And he killed her anyways.

The one redeeming part about this is that it happened in Indiana, where, as far as I can tell, they still have and use the death penalty. They'll catch this bastard; they almost always do when there's video footage of the incident, multiple witnesses, and descriptions of the killer, his accomplices, and the getaway car. Someone will slip up, talk about the killing to boost their cred, and they'll wind up ratting each other out to cut a deal.

I hope the rat bastard who pulled that trigger gets the needle.

That video, that grainy, jumpy, 40-second real-life horror movie won't have a happy ending. Even if the killer is caught and pays the ultimate price, it will be after several decades of living off the taxpayer's dime, in a prison cell with cable television and three meals a day. He'll get much better than he deserves, which in a just society would be a .45 ACP slug to the back of the skull and a pauper's grave. Meanwhile, someone's mother, someone's grandmother, someone's loved one won't ever get to see her kids again; all over the haul in a goddamned convenience store register.

When the ivory tower intellectuals sniff and proclaim that your wallet's not worth killing someone over, think of the last few seconds of that poor woman's life. She did what they told her to do. She gave the goblin what he asked for. And she paid for her compliance with her life. In the world of the gun-grabbers, her dying on a cheap tile floor is morally superior than a thug catching a hail of 9mm fire from an angry and defiant clerk. Fuck that shit. Kill these evil motherfuckers dead.

Carry your damn guns. Someone that would kill a store clerk over a $200 robbery wouldn't think twice about killing you for your wallet, your iPhone, or your jacket. When the gibbering morons say "give them what they want", make sure you do, in fact, do just that - someone threatening your life obviously wants a one-way ticket to dirtnapsville.

Send them to hell quickly.

That is all.

To Pester and Annoy...

This is a great one. It gets not one but two Robb Allen graphics...

First off, the warning one:

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

---

Preschooler's homemade lunch replaced with nuggets

A Hoke County preschooler was fed chicken nuggets for lunch because a state worker felt that her homemade lunch did not have enough nutritional value, according to a report by the Carolina Journal.

The West Hoke Elementary School student was in her More at Four classroom when a state agent who was inspecting lunch boxes decided that her packed lunch — which consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips — “did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines,” the Journal reports.

My first thought was that maybe the parent sent the kid in with a bag of Skittles or something - while I'm still not comfortable with the school arbitrarily deciding to change the kid's lunch, at least it would be changing to something more reasonable. But a turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, apple juice, and potato chips? That looks pretty damn balanced to me - meat, grains, fruit/vegetable, even dairy are present. And this wasn't good enough?

And I can't help but wonder what the chicken nuggets offered that the turkey in the turkey sandwich didn't. Protein? There's plenty of protein in turkey (and cheese, for that matter). Is there now a daily fried coating allotment that was missing? Unless there's something important missing from this story, it looks like nothing more than a naked power play from the school officials. It's yet another notch in the cradle-to-grave nanny state - you're not smart enough to pack your kid's lunch correctly. Even if you are.

All your lunch are belong to us.

That is all.

Another dispatch from...

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

The Slippery Slope Just Got More Slippery...

Skidmark sends this one in, with commentary along the lines of it being a MA issue. I don't quite see it that way - more later - but it still merits a:


Warning:

(image courtesy of Robb Allen)

---

Crime pays for police

Russell and Patricia Caswell are a hard-working couple who may soon have their American Dream taken from them by the unholy alliance of local and federal law enforcement officials seeking to cash in on the Caswell’s property. 

The Caswells face this dilemma even though they have broken no law and have spent their entire professional career working to combat crime with the very police force that now seeks to take their property though civil forfeiture. What is happening to Russ and Pat, however, is by no means an isolated instance and local law enforcement’s end-run around state laws designed to end the abuse of civil forfeiture should give anyone who owns Massachusetts property pause.

Basically, because of the way our insane asset forfeiture laws work, the government can come in and sieze the property simply because too many drug-related offenses have occurred there. In nearly 20 years of operation, some 30 incidents have been reported - many of them coming from the owners of the motel itself. Had the Caswells refused to rent rooms to folks based on their perception of drug use, you know for a fact that they would be widely derided as racists and bigots. Rent to folks who use illegal drugs on the premises, though, and they'll take your business.

It's not a MA problem, though:

The government doesn’t claim that the Caswells are guilty of any crime. The government only says that federal civil forfeiture laws give them the power to take the property.

That's federal, not state. This could just as easily have happened in Texas, Montana, or other parts of free America as it happened in Massachusetts. There's a pretty strong incentive for the state to take part in this, too - 80% of the revenue from the seized property is given back to the state. The feds get 20%, the state gets 80%, and a law-abiding business owner takes it in the shorts. Sure, some states might tell the feds to pound sand, but the fact remains that these laws are on the books regardless of location. And with the economy in the current state of torpor (or stupor), a state that might *never* consider this might start to change their minds for the tax dollar$...

Welcome to America, land of opportunity - for the lawyer.

That is all.

This Was NOT Me...

Driver Angry Over ‘Lemon’ Charged With Trashing Car Dealership

PORTSMOUTH, NH (CBS) — David Cross says he bought a lemon from a Portsmouth car dealership.

He got so angry when Portsmouth Used Car Superstore wouldn’t take it back, he used it to ram seven other cars on the lot.

Now, first off, we don't condone the destruction of private property over alleged misdealings with used car conglomerations. We UNDERSTAND it, we just don't condone it...

Actually, this brings to mind an episode from my youth... Mom's car needed an oil change and some recall work done on the brakes (she had a Chevy Lumina, one of the most wretched balls of suck and fail to grace the American highway system in the 1990s). The dealership was an hour away (it was a friend of my dad's), and she asked me to bring the car up for service on my day off. I think I was 19 at the time.

After sitting at the dealership for over six hours, I started getting quite upset. They won't give me a rental car - because I'm under 25 - so I am literally stranded at this dealership with nothing to do, nothing to eat for six hours, and absolutely no idea when or if they will ever finish with the car. Well, they made one mistake. They had a policy of leaving the keys in the ignitions of all their used cars. So, I went from car to car, starting them up, and then revving the engines to redline. It got attention pretty darn quick, and they finished up mom's car just to get me out of there.

Here's the kicker - they forgot to put the oil drain plug back in the car, and when I got back to the house it was bone-dry...

That is all.

A: Park, Out Of The.

Q: Where does Robb's latest post hit the ball?

Robb takes exception to the narcissistic, spoiled-brat nimrods currently "protesting" in New York - here's their website with an interesting list of sponsors here. Their inane and insane "demands" have been posted elsewhere - sufficient to say, what they want is completely and utterly unreasonable and unattainable - free everything under the sun, with no idea on who will pay for it or how it would be implemented. It's like a five year old's Christmas list, with two notable exceptions: The five year old can be excused for asking for a pony, a rocketship, and a gold-plated mansion on the grounds that, well, they're five; and we're the ones that are playing Santa Claus here...

Look, kiddies. My dad was a cop and my mom was a housewife (that's what they called SAHMs back in the Dark Ages). I grew up in a six room, 1100 sq. ft. house with one car and two TVs (one of which was black & white). I put myself through college and graduate school and am working on my own little version of the American dream, and it does not include paying for any of you to sit around smoking dope and figuring out how to get Radiohead to play at your brainless "protest". I'd be going to Boston to mock your group and document your idiocy for my own amusement and that of my blog readers, except that I have to work for a damn living. I don't have the luxury of infinite days off because I majored in Transcendental Eastern Philosophy and WalMart ain't hiring for Christmas yet..

Grow up. Get a real job. Work your ass off for a decade or two and then get back to me about how you are OWED jack shit. Nobody owes you nothin' bubba. Your momma shot you out the ol' birth canal and after that you were on your own except for the good graces of mom & dad, who, by the looks of things, will be paying for you and your shit for the next couple decades at least. It's admirable that you're passionate about this cause; however it would be nice if your "demands" were vaguely based in reality.

What you're asking for is a cradle-to-grave nanny state where no one is rewarded for working hard and getting ahead - you're asking for the Soviet Union of the Cold War Era that people died trying to escape and which fell by the wayside of history, because the cold hard fact is that machine guns and midnight executions are the only way to make your little fantasy world happen. And if you think that the NYPD with their tasers are "fascists", brother, you wouldn't last 10 seconds in the world you want to create.

While you're at it, get the hell off my damn lawn.

That is all.