Quick Hitts

If you’re attacked in the UK and defend yourself with a gun you will spend more time in jail than your attacker.  As a result both criminals and decent people are arming themselves with the next best thing – knives.

Britain is even more of a nanny state than the US, so it’s not surprising that for the past couple of years doctors have been whining about knives being pointy and citizens getting all stabby with them. A couple of years ago they when they suggested making pointy knives illegal, but  no one took them seriously.  But now anti-stab knives have been invented.  (Click the photo for a better look.) They have a tiny, nearly useless  point on the end, under a blunt stubby section designed to snag on clothing if someone tries to stab a bad guy with it.

I’ve worked in a restaurant, and chiefs are serious about their knives.  They’ll spend hundreds of dollars for one or two knives, and take with them when they leave work so no one else can use them.  They keep them extremely sharp, and they are all pointy.

Considering how nanny the UK has become I’m guessing that in a couple of years pointy knives will be banned in professional kitchens, and then made illegal in the home as well.  You think English food sucks now?  Just wait.

Two days later and we’re still be bombarded by stories about Michael Jackson.  I grew up listening to the Jackson 5, loved Off the Wall and Thriller, but enough already. 

Jackson was raised a Jehovah’s Witness, and was still one when he did the Thriller video, which is why he prefaced it with the disclaimer: 

“Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the  occult.”

The sixteenth time I saw excerpts from the video it occurred to me that he’d still be alive today if instead of becoming a Jehovah’s Witness Zombie he had become a Jehovah’s Witness Vampire. 

This is another installment in our continuing series of  Things Atheists Didn’t Do.

A pedophile priest, not an atheist, claimed he was only giving his victim anatomy lessons.

Muslims in Pakistan stoned a Christian man to death.  His crime?  Drinking tea at a roadside stall that was designated for Muslims only.

When a Christian church that tortured a gay teen via an exorcism to rid him of his faggy demon was criticized for their stupidity, Dr Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission slammed the critics, accusing them of intolerance.

An Oregon couple let their 15 month child die of pneumonia, refusing medical treatment and praying for her instead.  If her parents had been atheists she would be alive right now.

A orthodox Jewish couple are suing their neighbors, claiming that an automatic hall light, which is triggered by people entering the hall, imprisons them in their apartment.  This, they claim, prevents them from leaving on the Sabbath.  If they were atheists instead of idiots they could leave whenever they want.

Eight people drowned a 22 year old mother of two trying to lift a curse from her.  She would have been much better off with atheist friends.

An Islamic woman starved one of her children to death, after torturing her, because she thought she was possessed.  Her other five children were seriously malnourished.  Too bad her mother wasn’t an atheist.

By Fr. Alphonse de Valk has declared that Atheism is a threat to civilization.  If he were an atheist he’d be smarter than that.  Not to be outdone, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor has declared that atheists are not fully human.

Opening a dialog between religions may not be a good idea.  Ernest McCullough, a Christan, got into an argument about religion with a Muslim, who ended the debate by shooting him in the leg.

In Maryland, a woman starved her son to death because he wouldn’t say Amen.  She’s expecting him to be resurrected.  That hasn’t happened so far.  Yet another child who would have been much better off with atheist parents.

In India at least 50 people went blind staring into the sun looking for an image of the Virgin Mary.  Atheists are never blinded by the light.

When woman with an atheist boyfriend asked Pat Robertson for advice about finding a middle ground with her atheist boyfriend, Pat told her to break up with him because he’s “serving the devil.”

In India a “Hindu Taliban” is attacking woman for drinking in bars and dressing inappropriately, including those wearing bathing suits at the beach and t-shirts with pictures of their deities on them.  There are no reports of atheists beating up women over religion.

In Afghanistan a Mullah who spoke out against suicide attacks was murdered by other members of his religion of peace.

In Russia two Jehovah’s Witnesses went on a murder spree killing 13 people to rid the world of sin.  (They should have just become vampires.)

In India two seven year old girls were married to frogs to prevent the disease outbreaks in the village.  Atheists don’t advocate girl-frog marriage.

A pretty sixteen year old girl was stabbed to death by her Muslim brother for listening to rock and roll and wearing makup.  He stabbed her 26 times.  He was preserving the family honor.

The protests in Iran have been going on for a week a half.  They are not a flash in the pan, and despite being murdered and beaten the Iranian people are still protesting and refusing to accept the results of the faked election.

And what’s Obama’s reaction?  Half-hearted platitudes about freedom and people choosing their own destiny.  I just watched his press conference and when he was directly asked about supporting them he talked about the international community and standards of behavior and blah blah blah.

The last president who actually spoke out against tyranny was Ronald Reagan.  He will be remembered as the man who demanded “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!”  When the wall came down during the first Bush presidency, instead of cheers and congratulations the White House response was essentially “Meh.”

When this first started Obama’s reluctance to speak in favor of the protesters was understandable.  He didn’t know if this was going to last, he wanted to keep his options open with President Imanutjob  and he was afraid that offering support of any kind would be used by Iran’s leaders to argue that the US was behind the protests.  But the protests have been going on long enough without our support that no one will believe we have anything to do with it.  It’s time for Obama to grow a pair.

He needs to announce, loudly and clearly, that we support the protester’s demands for a fair election.  He should tell the world, “The United States will only deal with the fairly elected officials of Iran.  We will not engage with, nor will we recognize, the current administration, as it is quite clear they do not represent the Iranian people, who have a right to a fair election.  We will not have any dealings with Iran, diplomatically or otherwise, until they get one.  “  This would offer a great deal of hope and inspiration to the Iranians who are dying in the streets.

That sounds a little clumsy, but I’m sure his writers can do much better.  They need to come up with a line as memorable as “Mr. Gorbachev,Tear Down This Wall.”  The first line that comes to my mind is “Mr. Ahmadinejad,  go fuck yourself,” which is one of the many reasons I’m not a presidential speech writer.

My kids got me this for Father’s day.

The mug is emblazoned with the compete Bill of Rights, but when you fill it with hot coffee the parts negated by the Patriot Act fade out. There isn’t much left.

It’s not entirely realistic, because after it cools the missing rights come back, which will probably never happen in our lifetime. (To my knowledge L.M. Obama hasn’t even mentioned repealing the act.) But it’s a fun reminder for anyone who is still under the illusion we live in a free country.

“Nobody’s Business” is one of the few blogs I read regularly.  We’re on similar wavelengths – often covering the same stories.  I just checked it and found he did a bit on the rather obscure news story about Liz Becton the day after I did.  I bookmarked a story about non-pointy knives in Brittan, to blog about it, and see he’s just done a story on it.  I’m guessing our Reddit configurations are similarly tweaked.

His blog is one of the few in my blogroll, but one of his articles is so good I wanted to point it out specifically.  Europeans who stand up to the infestation of Muslim immigrants are often labeled as racists or xenophobes.  They’re concerned, and rightly so, that Europeans are not breeding at replacement rates and Muslims are breeding like hamsters, which poses a serious threat to all of Europe.  Although he’s not addressing the population issue, Roger presents a thought experiment that puts it in crystal clear perspective.  Check it out.

The FDA wants to classify Cheerios as a drug.  Really.

Cheerios claims they reduce cholesterol by 4%, and therefore help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.  This led the FDA to send them a letter that said, “Based on claims made on your product’s label we have determined (Cheerios) is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug because the product is intended for use in the prevention, mitigation and treatment of disease.”

It’s likely General Mills will just remove the claims.  If they don’t you may need a prescription to buy your next box.

Kessler

We haven’t seen this kind of nonsense since the nasty nerd David Kessler headed the FDA.  His rampages included confiscating 24,000 cartons of orange juice because they were made from concentrate but said “fresh” on the label.  I suspect that when David was a child a grocer’s kid beat him up and took his lunch money.

This move is championed by The Center for Science in the Public Interest, an uber-nanny group whose goals are to generate junk science and push for laws that will force everyone to eat what CSPI says is best for them.  They’re bitching about the study used to generate the Cheerios claim, which is more than a little ironic considering their shoddy studies are nearly as valid as creationist’s textbooks.   If the FDA wants to do something useful they should slap the CSPI with a heavy fine for using the word “science” in their name.

Don’t you feel safer knowing that the FDA is attacking General Mills for such modest claims?  It’s it great to know Big Brother wants to control everything in our lives, right down to the level of  breakfast cereal?

I prefer to be called Dave, not David.  The first time someone calls me David I correct them with one word: “Dave.”  If they persist, it’s not a big deal.

Her Royal Highness Elizabeth Becton, the office manager for Rep. Jim McDermot, has a different approach.  She gets snotty, pissy, bitchy, and just when you’d think she’d be running out of steam, conspiratorial.

It started when another assistant requested a meeting with her congress weasel, using her full name.  In a followup e-mail the assistant opened with the highly inflammatory and horribly insulting salutation “Hi Liz,”

This led to a nineteen e-mail-long hissy fit from Ms. Becton (Ms? Mizzz? Miz, as in Les Miz?) who wouldn’t stop whining about it despite a half dozen apologies from the assistant.  Becton accused the writer of name calling, then demanded to know the identity of the evil villain who put her up to it.

This is your tax dollars at work, folks.

Do a few other nicknames for her, perhaps not quite a friendly as “Liz,” spring to mind?

Update:  Surprisingly, Liz didn’t take the publicizing of her tirade very well.  She’s sent out a mass e-mail to all schedulers, announcing she’s going to find and punish the evil criminal who did the dastardly deed:

If I ever find out who you are, I will gladly advertise that it was you who forwarded the emails to the low-rent wonkette site. I will further inform the Speaker’s Office, Standards on Official Conduct, and all the other appropriate offices of what you did. And if you got paid for it, my lowly, putrid, little wonkette reader, you have committed a crime and you will be punished for it when you are found. I have contacted Telecom and I have informed them of what has happened and since it’s a quiet day, they are checking all the forwarded emails from this list serve.
Read the whole thing here.

Once again I’ve been accused of not having an open mind.  Once again it was in a forum where I was pointing out that Alternative Medicine is not only a waste of time and money, but can be deadly.  The response was typical – I know better than you because it worked for me, doctors and drug companies want to keep you sick, and the ultimate and inevitable zinger – I have a closed mind.  Horrors!

She was right, but I didn’t consider it an insult.  I don’t have an open mind.  If someone makes a claim I expect them to prove it, and if they can’t, I’m not going to give it any credence.  Someone can make all the claims they want about magic water (holy or homeopathic), magic foot rubs, magic needle stabs or magic medicines, just don’t expect me to believe it without at least a couple of double blind studies that proves it’s effective.

Of course this only applies to things that can be proven.  I can’t prove that Andy Warhol was brilliant and Jackson Pollock’s childish scribbles are crap; I just think it’s obvious.  I can’t prove that Blade Runner was the best movie ever made, but I’m pretty sure it is.  Yet, if someone disagrees I’m not going to get upset or accuse them of having a closed mind.  Not just because it’s unprovable opinion, nor because it’s trivial, but also because I don’t consider it an insult, but rather, a compliment.

In my experience most people who brag about having an open mind allow everyone to pour crap into it.  I’d rather work on the opposite – having a mind like a steel trap.

While right-leaning opinions have always been available, the mass media has been predominately lefty for the past half century.  People on the right think it’s more lefty than it is, but that’s understandable – where you stand on the political wheel determines your perception of the other sides’ position.

But the ever efficient marketplace changed all that, and moved to fill the near vacuum of conservative viewpoints in the media.  It started when Reagan removed the fairness doctrine from talk radio.  The right moved in and took it over.  This incensed the left, who, for a long time, have pushed to reinstate the doctrine to silence the other side.  Much to their dismay L.M. Obama declared he has no intention of bringing it back.

Then came Fox news, which proceeded to suck away a huge percentage of the news watching public, people who were delighted that someone was finally catering to their political POV.

There’s a lot to dislike about Fox, of course, but not as much as the left would have you believe.   In my experience most of the lefties who continually bitch about it have never really watched it.  The rest of them watch it with the sole goal of discrediting it.  Which is fine, it beats working for a living, but you don’t see them focusing that kind of attention on the lefty media outlets, who are just as dishonest, biased, and hypocritical.  Of course, that would be a full time job.

The latest round of whining is just pathetic.  Any thinking person, even those who are “pro-life,” agrees that the murder of Dr. Tiller was evil.  Yet the left is now declaring that the right wing media, all of it, is indirectly (or even directly) responsible.  The dumbest diatribe I’ve seen so far (and the competition for that title is huge) comes from Paul Krugman’s latest column in the New York Times.

Using the Chomsky method of strongly implying things without actually saying them, he first acquits Bill O’Reily of being guilty of directly inciting murder, then blames the right wing media for the recent violent actions by right wing extremists.

He says: “And at this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.”

Let’s count the plethora of violent incidents that proves this point, shall we?

One: Someone murders an abortion doctor.

Two: A crazy old fart goes nuts in a holocaust museum.

Three:  There is no three.  Or four or five or six.  Hardly a plethora, is it?

Note the weasel words: “seems to have been virtually erased.”  Old Noam must be so proud.

But this paragraph really points out his extreme dishonesty:

“Glenn Beck. Here we have a network where, like it or not, millions of Americans get their news — and it gives daily airtime to a commentator who, among other things, warned viewers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be building concentration camps as part of the Obama administration’s “totalitarian” agenda (although he eventually conceded that nothing of the kind was happening).”

Glen Beck reported the rumor, sparked by a viral video, specifically saying it was a rumor and that he’d look into it.  He didn’t just “eventually concede;” his reporters did a rather through report about the video making the claim. They tracked down the real buildings in the video, visited them, and proved it was bogus.  They thoroughly debunked the claim. That’s just a bit more extensive than “eventually conceding.”

He continues: “The R.N.C. says that “the Democratic Party is dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals.”

We are now major stockholders in GM and most major banks.  Banks who want to pay back TARP money are being told they can’t.  How dare the RNC get it right?  (Technically, they’re off a bit.  Government ownership on this level isn’t socialist, it’s communist.  You might think Krugman, having won a Nobel prize for economics, would know the difference.  You would be wrong.  What does that tell us about the validity of the Nobel prize?)

The lefty mass media is getting increasingly pissed at any media that leans to the right, and is using these incidents to lump all conservatives – the slightly conservative, the moderately conservative, and the very conservative – in with the tin-foil-hat wing-nut crowd.  We can expect more and more of this desperation as they continue to lose their influence and market share.

But we should be delighted that Krugman and his ilk are going off like this.  While it will induce bobble headed nodding among some lefties, those with functioning brain cells may finally begin to see their spokesweasels are every bit as clueless and dishonest as many commentators on the right – maybe even more so.

Blood Witness is finished! I just released the final episode.

Man, this was an intensive project. Each episode took about five hours of work: An hour to record, 3-4 hours to edit, 15 minutes of post processing, 20-30 minutes of mixing, and another half hour to tag the MP3 files, upload them, update the XML for the RSS feed and update the website.

And there was at least 25 hours of work before I started recording – setting up the web and getting the graphics for it just right, doing a sample episode for a critique before it passed the muster of Podiobooks.com, selecting the into/outro music and getting permission to use it and setting up an audio template that made it easy to create both versions without much re-mixing.

Of course, that’s not counting the time it took to write the novel in the first place, but I did that twenty years ago, so at least that part was done.

The responses have been fantastic. The listeners fell into three camps – ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses, horror fans, and people who gave it a try because they liked my other stuff – mostly the Quick Hitts podcast. With the exception of a single poorly written attack in the comments of the Quick Hitts blog I didn’t get a single negative response. (Which, frankly, was a little disappointing. I was hoping it would piss off a few more people.)

It’s available in two versions – the Podiobooks.com version, and the “live” version. The only difference between the two is the closing comments. The live version has about five minutes of closing comments at the end of the episode. The podiobooks version doesn’t.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, what are you waiting for? It’s free, it fun, and it’s a damn good book. (I don’t believe in false humility.) It’s full of action, adventure, blood, gore, humor, horror, plot twists, and naughty language. It’s available on podiobooks, iTunes, or via an RSS feed. You can even listen to it directly from the web site, if you like.

Check it out at Blood Witness.

It was late and I was tired. I wanted to play some poker. But playing when you’re tired can be very expensive, so I opted for the cheapest games I could find.  I registered for two $1 Sit and Go’s, figuring I’d get $2.50 worth of entertainment out of them.  I put Pandora on my Jam Bands station and cranked the Klipsch speakers.

I intentionally played like a complete donkey. Raised on connectors in early position, called things I shouldn’t have, just splashed chips all over the place. At one point I had a V$IP of 58 and PFR of 38 on one table.  (For those of you unfamiliar with those numbers, it means I was playing and raising about three times more often than I should.)

I busted out fifth on one table, after getting second in chips for a while. I was a big chip leader at the other one (the one with the V$IP of 58).  I had nearly half the chips at the table, so I went out for a smoke. When I came back I was on the bubble.

Popped the bubble, lost my chip lead, then got it back from someone who was getting tilty. (I can’t blame him; I would have been ticked to lose money against someone playing as lousy as I was.) The remaining player took most of Mr. Tilt’s stack. I completed the kill, and both of us were left with pretty even stacks.

What followed was one of the longest, and best, heads up battles I’ve had in a quite a while. (The other player was also slumming in from higher stakes games.)  I finally won.

That was the most fun I’ve had playing poker in a long time, and I made two bucks in the process. I’ll go back to playing more seriously tomorrow, but I think I’ll do that a bit more often.  Sometimes you’ve just got to donk out and enjoy yourself.

Several people sent me this article by Michael Moore.  Once again he proves that he’s not just a genus, he’s a Super Genius, on a par with Wile E. Coyote.

He starts out expressing nearly orgasmic joy at the failure of GM.  He pretends he’s not really all that happy, but we can practically hear his groans of pleasure between the lines.

Here’s his Super Genius plan:

Just as President Roosevelt did after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the President must tell the nation that we are at war and we must immediately convert our auto factories to factories that build mass transit vehicles and alternative energy devices.

Right, because we all want to ride busses and trains with people we’d otherwise cross the street to avoid.  Because mass transit will work out so well in a country as spread out as the US.  And because somehow, we’ll manage to change “environmentalists” minds and get them to stop their opposing every large scale wind or solar farm because it might spoil their view or annoy a gerbil.

Don’t put another $30 billion into the coffers of GM to build cars. Instead, use that money to keep the current workforce — and most of those who have been laid off — employed so that they can build the new modes of 21st century transportation. Let them start the conversion work now.

These are union workers.  They’re used to being paid much more than they’re worth and doing as little work as possible.  I’ve done contract work for several union shops and could fill a small book with stories of outrageous behavior I’ve witnessed by union workers.  Behavior that would get me, as a contractor, fired before lunch.

Nowhere in his tirade does he mention that the unions were one very big factor in GM going bankrupt.  My guess is this thought has never even occurred to him.

Announce that we will have bullet trains criss-crossing this country in the next five years. Japan is celebrating the 45th anniversary of its first bullet train this year.

The United States has 300 million people spread out over is 3,790,000 square miles.  Japan packs 125 million people into 145,840 square miles.  The entire country could fit nicely within the borders of a couple of our states.  Mass transit can work well when the population is as dense as it is in Japan, but not across a country as spread out as we are.  Perhaps one of his fans can buy him a globe.

I have to admit I like the idea of super fast bullet trains that would let me get to anywhere in the country in a matter of hours.  I took a train from Albany to Atlanta and it was a 22 hour trip each way.  If I could do that in, say, six or seven hours, and do it cheaply, I’d go to Atlanta a lot more often.  But in order for that to work they’d have to travel non-stop – lots of stops along the way would ruin their efficiency.  So as long as they all start or stop in Albany or Saratoga, and go non-stop to the cities I want to visit, great, I’ll use them.

Initiate a program to put light rail mass transit lines in all our large and medium-sized cities. Build those trains in the GM factories. And hire local people everywhere to install and run this system.

This can work in large cities, but not in smaller or medium sized cities.  Which is, of course, why he wants to get rid of cars entirely – he’ll force people to use mass transit, no matter how inconvenient and impractical it may be.

For people in rural areas not served by the train lines, have the GM plants produce energy efficient clean buses.

Depending on the time of day, people in a city may only have to wait twenty minutes to an hour to get a bus.  People in the country can just wait hours and hours to get where they want to go, perhaps pulling out their banjos and brushing up on the theme from Deliverance while they’re waiting. And it doesn’t matter how efficient a bus is – if there are only a few people on it having them drive their own cars would use much less energy.  Only a Super Genius would think this is a great plan.

For the time being, have some factories build hybrid or all-electric cars (and batteries). It will take a few years for people to get used to the new ways to transport ourselves, so if we’re going to have automobiles, let’s have kinder, gentler ones. We can be building these next month (do not believe anyone who tells you it will take years to retool the factories — that simply isn’t true).

Ahem, Mikey, we are building them.  And some people are buying them.  And as the technology gets better and cheaper more people will buy them.  Of course, that still doesn’t address the issue of where the electricity will come from.

And if  a factory could be retooled quickly, wouldn’t the people who have run those factores have figured out how to do it by now?

But note that this is only a temporary solution, until he can force everyone to share public transportation with people they don’t like.  People like, for instance, Mr. Moore.  (How would you like to sit next to him on a long bus ride?)

Transform some of the empty GM factories to facilities that build windmills, solar panels and other means of alternate forms of energy. We need tens of millions of solar panels right now. And there is an eager and skilled workforce who can build them.

Windmills, yeah, they could do that.  Solar panels, not so much.  It’s an entirely different technology.  And again, what good is all this alternative energy when every installation of it, with the possible exception of solar panels on your roof, is vehemently opposed by “ecologists?”

Provide tax incentives for those who travel by hybrid car or bus or train. Also, credits for those who convert their home to alternative energy.

Already done for hybrids and home conversions.  Pay attention, Mikey.  Learn to use the internet.

To help pay for this, impose a two-dollar tax on every gallon of gasoline. This will get people to switch to more energy saving cars or to use the new rail lines and rail cars the former autoworkers have built for them.

Because we just don’t pay enough to Big Brother.  We really need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars more in taxes every year.  And of course we can trust BB to spend the money wisely, because they always have, haven’t they?

Free clue, Sparky:  We love our cars, and are not going to give them up.  I can get in my car at any time of the day or night, without waiting in the wind or the rain or the snow, and go whenever I want, by the shortest possible route, without having to transfer once or twice or three times to another vehicle, then come back whenever I want.  If I’m out buying stuff I can put it in the car and not have to carry it with me for the entire return trip.  I can smoke a cigar and listen to whatever music or podcast I’m in the mood for, or ride in complete silence if I like.  I’m not going to give that up, and neither is anyone else.  Ever.

Here’s my suggestion – let Michael run General Motors.  Let him deal with the unions he loves so much and the realities of the marketplace.  Let him try to use his skills as a propaganda machine to run a real business.  It should be easy for a Super Genius like him.

In an effort to make New York an even crappier place to live, State Troopers are infesting the landscape everywhere, helping to fund the bankrupt and corrupt state by handing out tickets for the most minor of offenses.  Earlier this week I was given a ticket for driving without a seat belt.  I was driving from one parking lot to another at about 20 MPH.   The next day they got my daughter for a burned out license plate light.  The day after that I returned to shopping center where they wanged me and there were even more blue bullies all over the parking lot.  I did have my belt on, and started to cut behind the center – and they were back there too!

And just to ram it up our butts a little further, for years NY has added surcharge to every ticket.  It’s usually 50% of the already ridiculously priced fine, but in the case of parking tickets the screwcharge surcharge can exceed the fine.

And the weasels in Albany just can’t understand why a million people a year move out of this state, and hardly anyone moves in.

I doubt any State Troopers are reading this, but just in case, I’d like to ask you a question.  When you decided to become a cop was it to help people, or to help finance the state by harassing its citizens for what can only be described as endless acts of petty theft?  Do you go to bed proud of being a professional armed shakedown artist, or are you embarrassed by what you do for a living?

When Maryland raised their already high top tax rates the Governor said they’d be “willing and able to pay their fair share.”  Able? Probably.  Willing?  Not so much.

The year before before the tax hike about 3,000 residents had incomes of a million dollars or more.  A year later, that number had dropped by 1/3, to 2,000. They expected the new tax to raise an extra hundred million – instead they’re collecting a hundred million less from their millionaires.

Very few rich people got wealthy by being stupid, or by refusing to protect their assets.  While some of the drop was probably due to the economy, and no one knows exactly how many millionaires actually moved, it should be obvious that soaking the rich is a pretty stupid way to finance your pet government projects.

Update: Right after I wrote this post I found this editorial in the local rag.  The always snotty, always lefty Times Union (Known to us locals as the Times Useless) has the balls to castigate a successful business man, who has created hundreds of jobs, for leaving the state to save $5 million a year in taxes.  They said he was getting out of paying is fair share of taxes (they consider $13,800 a day fair) and compared him to Leona Helmsley.

Mr. G’s reply, in yesterdays TU, isn’t on their site yet, but he explains himself (as if he owed anyone an explanation) here.

Pop Question: If you could save nearly fourteen thousand dollars a day by moving, would you?

NYS government is one of the most dysfunctional in the country so it’s unlikely they’ll ever grow a brain cell or get a clue.  Meanwhile, we can not only expect more of the evil wealthy (i.e. the ones who create jobs directly through creating businesses and indirectly by spending lots of money) to leave, but other wealthy folks to stay away.

I’m not wealthy, and probably never will be, but if it happens, I am outta here too.

What does this stain on a griddle look like to you?  It could be the famous praying hands painting.  Tilted sideways it could be the space shuttle.  Upside down, a jellyfish.  For the perverse, a butt plug.  But no, it’s the Virgin Mary.   Why?  Because it’s always either the Virgin Mary or Jesus.  If it looks like an oval with a base it’s got to be the Virgin Mary.  It’s never an egg on a stand or Golda Myer or Katherine Zeta Jones, it’s always the grand old VM.  If it looks anything like a male with a beard it’s always Jesus H. Christ, never  John Lennon or Karl Marx or one of the guys from ZZ Top.

And when one of these imagined images appears, it’s usually followed by faithful mouth-breathers showing up in droves to honor it.

Shortly after this story hit the wires, another one about JHC appearing on a cheese melt appeared.  What a friend we have in cheeses.

Believers, us non-believers really try to view you as good, decent folks who are wrong about one thing.  We try to avoid stereotyping you as mindless goobers.  We really do.  But when we see stories like this week after week after week, it’s not easy.  So knock it off, and grow up already.

Math Tests Through the Decades, Copied verbatim from Chicken Hammer:

• 1950s — A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit ?
• 1960s — A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?
• 1970s — A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?
• 1980s — A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
• 1990s — A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living?

  Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it’s ok. )

• 2009 — Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?

Although Ms Dumbass’s opinion is ignorant, all the controversy around this is a good example of the left getting way out of line with Custom Manufactured Outrage.  First they create the monster.  Then the faithful grab pitchforks to storm the castle, inspired by their own smug righteous indignation.

The whole thing was a setup from the professionally obnoxious Perez Hilton, a man too unimaginative to create an original alias.  It was intended to make her uncomfortable and create controversy.

This is not about a politician or policy maker, someone whose opinions actually affect our lives.  This is a bimbo who has nothing going for her but a nice body.  Who cares what she thinks about anything?  She’s not there to think or make us think, to enlighten us or challenge our point of view.  She’s there to be an object, to be gawked at for a moment and then forgotten.  (Does anyone remember last year’s Miss America?) And since it’s a role she chose for herself and worked hard to achieve, outrage about that is also a waste of breath.

I wouldn’t be surprised to discover the whole thing was orchestrated behind the scenes by Trump to get attention to a dying contest no one cares about. It’s like bringing Omerosa back on the Celebrity Apprentice for the sole purpose of stirring up the latrine pit.

Lefties get very annoyed when their opponents refer to Universal Health Care as Socialized Medicine.  This is because it is socialized medicine and the word “socialism” carries a well deserved stigma.

In such discussions I like to ask the question: “Do you really want your health care to have the safety of Amtrack, the budgeting skills of the pentagon, the speed and accuracy of the post office, the scientific acumen of the EPA, the honesty of congress and the compassion of the IRS?”  But processing that sentence requires a fair amount of brain power and socialists are not the sharpest crayons in the box, so here is a much simpler way to make the same point, starting with a classic photo most of us have seen before.

Do You Really Want This Government Providing and Controlling Your Health Care?

And finally, perhaps the most perfect metaphor for UHC:

Thanks to Failbog for most of these pictures.