Elected Tormentor Adventures
Source: PIG News Wire [03/12/10]
Korrecting "Oh Canada" - UPDATE
If you scroll down, you’ll see last week’s story about Canada’s reigning conservative government’s knee-jerk foray into Korrectness. Eager to shoot themselves in the foot, by making the Canadian national anthem ‘gender neutral’, they paused at the brink, to ask for feedback from rank and file Canadians.
It didn’t take long for Canadians to give the Nanny State nitwits a piece of their mind:
Don't mess with a century-old tradition even if it is sexist, Canadians told the Conservative government this week, forcing Ottawa to scrap plans to make the country's national anthem gender-neutral.
The government tucked the idea into a major policy speech on Tuesday and by Friday the public outcry was so strong Prime Minister Stephen Harper backtracked. "We offered to hear from Canadians on this issue and they have already spoken loud and clear," said Dimitri Soudas, Harper's spokesman. "They overwhelmingly do not want to open the issue. The government will not proceed any further to change our national anthem."
For nearly 100 years, the anthem has included the line, "True patriot love in all thy sons' command."
Harper wanted to start a public discussion on whether to change the wording in a way that would not exclude the nation's daughters. He took the initiative on the advice of a female senator, according to National Post columnist Don Martin. (Reuters)
Rational adults in Canada? It’s ‘go figure’ time in the top secret PIG Bunker.
Tennessee Taxes Complimentary Breakfasts
Tennessee’s Tax Nazis are poised to goose-step over those complimentary breakfasts offered by many of the state’s hotels. Why? Because then can. Besides, imposing a new tax is always easier than doing something rational like CUTTING SPENDING.
The state wants to tax the lodging businesses for the food they offer as part of free breakfasts that are included in their room rate.
The budget-strapped state hopes to get an estimated $10 million for its coffers from the sweet rolls, coffee and such that hotel patrons enjoy at no charge from the Smoky Mountains to Graceland.
The proposal is pending in committees in the General Assembly. The tax would be the prevailing sales tax rate in the county involved - up to 9 3/4 percent. (AP)
Is there anything lower, more loathsome, or more deserving of being forcibly evicted from the human gene pool, than a tax and squander piece of Elected Tormentor crap? I seriously doubt it. I’m on the same page as my lovely bride, on this one: Just shoot the bastards.
Slaughtering The Will of the People
The Congressional Clown Posse’s Marxist Demoncrats are poised to eviscerate the consent of the governed, with a tyrannical turd named ‘the Slaughter Rule’.
Neal Boortz served up these fetid facts about the impending death of our liberty:
House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.
Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.
Got that? Needless to say, if Republicans had tried something like that for, say, Social Security reform, the Democrats would have had cats. Now that would have been something to watch.
Passing a bill without voting on it? What’s next? Will Messiah Barry simply issue decrees, without ‘bothering’ Congress? Wow! This takes DEMONCRAT MARXIST tyranny off the scale. Hell, even Hugo ‘Skipper’ Chavez has his Legicrat toadies rubber stamp his dictatorial whims.
Korrecting "Oh Canada"
Source: Reuters [03/04/10]
With nothing better to do, Canada’s Elected Tormentors are taking a musical time out from the nation’s most pressing problems, issues, and/or challenges. Fiddling? They’re doing that, too, but this time out the shiny object which is distracting them, is the Canadian national anthem.
Someone - I’m guessing a womyn’s studies wench, or some terminally ‘whipped’ metrosexual alleged male - has their knickers in a knot over one verse of the song. Why? It’s not ‘inclusive’ enough.
When Canadian poet Robert Stanley Weir wrote the anthem’s lyrics, in 1908, the verse in question read: "True patriot love thou dost in us command." No harm, no foul? Agreed, but in 1914, some sexist tool changed the verse to read: "True patriot love in all thy sons' command." No harm, no foul? It is to a rational adult, a designation which excludes Canada’s Conservative government.
‘...Ottawa now wants to start a public discussion on whether Canada should adopt a gender-neutral version of the song. As part of a policy speech unveiled on Wednesday, the minority Conservative government said it would ask Parliament to look at the original lyrics to the anthem...’
‘...Industry Minister Tony Clement said the government had not taken any firm decisions yet. "I think the appropriate way to deal with this is through some sort of process where we have historical research and learned discussion," he told reporters...’ (Reuters)
Ironically, the opposition, Liberal, party isn’t in a lather over the song. They see this foolishness for what it is, a pathetic bit of political pandering to Canada’s chad-punching womyn. In other words, this ‘gender neutral’ circle of hell is wholly owned by the Conservative government.
Brit Parking Nazis Are All Wet
Source: Daily Express [03/03/10]
From our ‘adding insult to injury’ news desk, I bring you this dose of jaw-dropping insanity.
The scene of this Parking Nazi adventure is a flood-prone part of York (J.O.E.), near the riverbank of the River Ouse. The critical elements are a river which overflowed its banks, some parked cars which got trapped in the flood, and a goose-stepping Parking Nazi. If you see where this one is headed, don’t spoil it for the merely mortal.
[T]hree cars were parked close to the notorious flood-prone riverbank in York city centre when torrential rain caused the River Ouse to overflow. Dirty water seeping through doors and windows ruined the interiors of the cars which were unreachable and in danger of being washed away.
But first thing on Monday, once the floodwater had subsided, an eagle-eyed parking inspector wasted no time in issuing tickets because the vehicles had been left on double yellow lines. (Daily Express)
When the press-fed blowback reached critical mass, the local council's spokeswench deployed an asinine ‘nothing to see here’ ploy, by claiming that the Parking Nazis were ‘unaware’ that some cars had been flooded. Owners of the ticketed cars must prove their cars were drenched by the flood waters, then hope that someone with functional synapses administers their appeal.
Brit Fat Nazis Strike Again
Source: Daily Mail [03/03/10]
Boldly going where nobody wants them to go, the Brit Food Standards Agency is painting a Fat Nazi bull’s-eye on an iconic Brit nosh. Poisoned by the rancid fumes they’re breathing, these heads up the butt asshats are determined to tinker with perfection. How? You’re going to be thrilled.
In 80, randomly selected, fish and chips shops around J.O.E., the FSA goose-steppers have decreed that the shops make the size of their chips (french fries, more or less) bigger. Why? The FSA thinks thicker chips will absorb less fat. If their scheme works in these 80 shops, it will be imposed on every fish and chips wrangler in J.O.E.
As expected fish and chips wrangler capitalists aren’t thrilled spitless:
Douglas Roxburgh, president of the National Federation of Fish Fryers, said the move was 'ill thought out'.
He said: 'They should be concentrating on fast food outlets who make the thin French fries, not the traditional independent chip shop.
We will be opposing this as much as we can until they make it a level playing field and start asking McDonalds, KFC and Burger King to change their chip sizes too. At the moment it seems like a case of picking on the little guys because they can't touch the big guys - which is totally unfair.'
Mr Roxburgh also warned a ban on fries could lead to financial problems for many small businesses. He added: 'We cut our chips with chipper blades, which are set in certain sized blocks. Why should small chip shops have to splash out on buying blocks with different measurements just because the councils say they have to? If the shops do pay out for new blocks their businesses may suffer if customers do not like the fatter chips anyway.' (Daily Mail)
Unfazed by the concerns of these fish and chips wrangling capitalists, the FSA storm troopers are already scheming to enlarge this fish and chips shop bull’s-eye. How? They’re poised to alter the temperature of the cooking oil and shrink the portion sizes. If that doesn’t drive a stake through the heart of the fish and chips business, nothing will.
Amazing, Amusing, & Annoying Nanny State Adventures
Source: PIG News Wire [20/26/10]
Arizona Legicrat fires a states’ right warning shot over Uncle Sam’s head.
Frank Antenori is an Elephant Clan member of Arizona’s House of Representatives. He’s also a man with a plan to put states’ rights on the front burner, in Arizona, and in Washington D. C.
In proposing that Arizona become the national epicenter of incandescent-lightbulb manufacturing, the Tucson Republican hopes to provoke a fight with Washington, D.C., over states' rights and interstate trade.
He's picked what he believes is an inoffensive field of battle: A glass bulb with a tungsten filament.
It's a new twist on a national trend that involves a Montana gun law that 23 other states, including Arizona, are mimicking this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The premise is that by providing that guns manufactured in a given state are not sent over state boundaries, the federal government has no right to impose regulations, such as gun registration.
Knowing the firestorm that gun regulation can inspire, the freshman lawmaker decided to dial down the emotion and use lightbulbs as his weapon of choice in a states'-rights push.
"It's kind of like the Montana gun bill, but not as angry," Antenori said of House Bill 2337. "You can't get too (angry) with lightbulbs. You don't shoot people with lightbulbs."
But he hopes perhaps you can sue if the federal government insists that a phase-out of incandescent-bulb sales applies to Arizona. (Fox Nation)
Give ‘em hell, Frank. The Free State of PIG has your back.
Something Fishy In Gore’s Backyard
In bygone years, Volunteer State Legicrats imposed an asinine edict, which bans barbershops from having fish tanks containing REAL fish. If they want that kind of decor, hair wranglers must put FAKE fish in them. As asinine as that sounds, it gets worse.
Now, with the economy humming, and all their issues ‘resolved’, state Legicrats found this fish ban lurking at the bottom of the legislative issues barrel. Spearheaded by Demoncrat state Rep. Ty Cobb, a bill revoking the fish ban is making its way through the state legislature, but there are, here and there, some dissenting voices:
Under current law, “no animals, birds or fish” are permitted in barbershops, except in the case of animals to help people with disabilities.
Christopher Garrett, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, said the department reminded legislators that an amendment that broadly allowed fish might inadvertently reverse a separate ban on fish pedicures — the practice where small fish nibble off dead skin — which has been outlawed by a number of states.
Cobb’s bill specifies that fish would be allowed in barbershops only for “decorative purposes.” Garrett said his department will enforce whatever legislation becomes law. (The Tennessean)
This fishy fiasco is all the proof you need, that, unless they are closely supervised, by one or more rational adults, Elected Tormentors are an on-going threat to our life, liberty, pursuit of happiness and our sanity.
Local Council Circle Jerk
Taking Elected Tormentor insanity to dizzying heights, Brit local councils, are perpetrating a Parking Ticket Nazi circle jerk. It starts, when a local council issues tickets against their own vehicles. The fun continues, when the local council refuses to pay the tickets. Eventually, after going through up to 14 stages of bureaucratic bull crap, a local council will take itself to a Parking Appeals tribunal:
One farce saw Islington Council in North London issue a ticket, then take itself to an appeal hearing - where it asked for costs against itself. The costs process involves another four steps.
Stunned adjudicator Gerald Styles said he could not make an order for costs because the council could not "act wholly unreasonably or vexatiously against itself".
Parking law expert Barrie Segal, who unearthed the crazy cases, said: "This is a complete waste of taxpayers' money and illustrates everything that is wrong with unaccountable parking enforcement in the UK. If they ever make a sequel to the film Dumb and Dumber, I'd suggest the producers look no further than Islington Parking Department for the starring roles. Councils are so blinkered in their efforts to raise revenue from parking fines they even chase themselves for the money. The whole thing is ludicrous." (The Sun)
Only the Nanny State would piss away thousands of taxpayer-funded man-hours and thousands of pounds with this asinine circle jerk. Hell, even a mutt gets tired of chasing its own tail, eventually.
Elected Tormentor News Nuggets
Source: PIG News Wire [02/19/10]
New Braunfels Say’s Three’s Enough
In one Mexas town, three is enough and four is one too many. If you’re thinking brewskies, get over it. This limit applies to the maximum number of people, who aren’t related by blood, that are allowed to live in a given, single-family, home.
I know what you’re thinking and I, too, pinned a ‘colonista’ label on this one. That might still be the case, but the article in the Herald-Zeitung specifically cites the noise generated by cohabiting, college age, party animals.
The New Braunfels Planning Commission will hold a workshop Tuesday to discuss placing further restrictions on the number of people not related by blood who are allowed to live in single-family homes.
What has been referred to in other cities as a “living in sin” law stems from complaints from residents that their unruly, generally college-age neighbors are causing a public nuisance in local neighborhoods.
To address those concerns, the commission has considered only allowing three unrelated people to live in a single-family home. “As an individual, you have certain private property rights, and one of those is the right to the quiet enjoyment of your home,” said City Manager Mike Morrison.
The current cap on unrelated roommates in New Braunfels is five people.
Residents have asked the planning commission to lower that threshold because of noise, but more because of the increased parking and street traffic caused by unrelated roommates compared to an individual family. (Herald-Zeitung)
If you expect me to invoke a property-owner’s inherent rights, give yourself a cookie. Bad neighbors are a pain that we’ve all endured, at one time or another. It’s a real pisser, but I still insist that it’s none of the Nanny State’s business, unless someone crosses the line into ‘disorderly conduct’. That makes it a standard issue matter for the local police, not planning commission cretins.
Deflating Hot Air Buffoonery
Bolstered by the climate alarmists headlong retreat from their most egregiously exaggerated predictions, some Utah Legicrats are giving Global Warming hot air a vote of no confidence. The resolution isn’t binding. It is, however, a useful signpost on the road which leads, hopefully, to a climate science which adheres to sound scientific principles and is firmly rooted in that pernicious, politically inexpedient, pestilence, objective reality.
A J.O.E. fishwrap, the Guardian, files these snarky snippets about the non-binding resolution:
The measure, which passed by 56-17, has no legal force, though it was predictably claimed by climate change sceptics as a great victory in the wake of the controversy caused by a mistake over Himalayan glaciers in the UN's landmark report on global warming.
But it does offer a view of state politicians' concerns in Utah which is a major oil and coal producing state.
The original version of the bill dismissed climate science as a "well organised and ongoing effort to manipulate and incorporate "tricks" related to global temperature data in order to produce a global warming outcome". It accused those seeking action on climate change of riding a "gravy train" and their efforts would "ultimately lock billions of human beings into long-term poverty".
In the heat of the debate, the representative Mike Noel said environmentalists were part of a vast conspiracy to destroy the American way of life and control world population through forced sterilisation and abortion. By the time the final version of the bill came to a vote, cooler heats apparently prevailed. The bill dropped the word "conspiracy", and described climate science as "questionable" rather than "flawed". (Guardian)
In addition to its ‘liar, liar, pants on fire’ prose, the Utah House of Representatives, asks the EPA to get the FACTS about Global Warming/Climate Change, before Uncle Sam drives a stake through the still beating heart of the American economy. In other words, Utah’s Elephant Clan dominated House is saying: "The science is fatally flawed, so, before you impose Draconian regulations to control greenhouse gases, spend some quality time in objective reality, learning the truth, they whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
It Seemed Like A Good Idea
Source: BBC [02/10/10]
The law of unintended consequences is electrifying unwary individuals Down Under, thanks to Kevin Rudd - Australia’s lefty Prime Minister. Eager to earn his Greeniac merit badge, Kevin jolted Aussies by promoting a new national energy-saving plan which features - TA DA - highly conductive foil insulation. If you see where we’re headed, don’t spoil it for the merely mortal, unintended consequences Sparky:
Improperly installed foil insulation can conduct electricity from mains cables, effectively making the entire roof cavity live.
The national insulation programme was a key plank of the Rudd government's environmental strategy, and offered rebates to householders who wanted to conserve energy. But the metallic foil used in older houses has already killed four electricians who were installing it, the most recent incident coming last week when a 25-year-old contractor was electrocuted in the roof of a home in far north Queensland. It is believed the metallic foil came into contact with electricity cables, thus making the roof cavity live.
The environment minister Peter Garrett has suspended the programme and called for a safety inspection of tens of thousands of homes. The government has also conducted an interim audit on 400 homes and found that up to a dozen may be dangerous. (BBC)
The good news is that your new insulation will save your money. The bad news is that, your new, government approved insulation makes your house as dangerous as Florid-DUH’s wonky electric chair, Old Sparky.
Black Helicopter Club’s Globally Warmed Alarmism
Source: Fox [02/08/10]
Global Warming alarmism is alive, well, and SOP in the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Eager to terrify rational adults into compliance, they steal a page from the Hot Air Buffoon’s playbook and pull heart stopping statistics out of their butts. For example, assorted IPCC asshats and publications - AR4, "Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report" - thunder that "global warming could quickly cut rain-fed north African crop production by up to 50%".
It’s scary stuff, if they can prove it, but, according to one of the IPCC’s key players, they haven’t got a shred of proof to support this claim.
The statement in question comes not only from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climate change impacts -- called Assessment Report 4, or AR4 -- and is also repeated in its "Synthesis Report."
This report is the IPCC's most politically sensitive publication, distilling its most important science into a form accessible to politicians and policy makers. Its lead authors include IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri himself, who has quoted it in speeches as has U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.
This weekend Professor Chris Field, the new lead author of the IPCC's climate impacts team, told The Sunday Times that he could find nothing in the report to support the claim. The revelation follows the IPCC's retraction of a claim that the Himalayan glaciers might all melt by 2035, dubbed 'Glaciergate' by commentators.
Speaking at the 2008 global climate talks in Poznan, Poland, Pachauri said: "In some countries of Africa, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by 50% by 2020." In a speech last July, Ban said: "Yields from rain-fed agriculture could fall by half in some African countries over the next 10 years."
Speaking this weekend, Field said: "I was not an author on the 'Synthesis Report,' but on reading it I cannot find support for the statement about African crop yield declines."
This sort of claim should be based on hard evidence, said Robert Watson, chief scientist at Defra, the U.K.'s department for environment food and rural affairs, who chaired the IPCC from 1997 to 2002.
"Any such projection should be based on peer-reviewed literature from computer modelling of how agricultural yields would respond to climate change. I can see no such data supporting the IPCC report," he said.
Can Professor Chris Field lead the IPCC out of Al Gore’s Zip Code of the Twilight Zone and into the unflinching ‘prove it’ realm called objective reality? I have my doubts, but it should be highly entertaining watching Professor Field give it the old college try.
Lies, Damn Lies, & Statistics
Source: Hot Air [02/08/10]
Full of himself, and IT, The One’s favorite prompter-puked whopper is that noxious canard that his two-fisted Porkulus Bill squandering of OUR money created or saved 2,000,000 jobs. When you parse his prose and read the fine print, you learn that most of these jobs were created and/or saved through block grants to states that were already drowning in red, budgetary ink.
The infusion of federal fund$ allowed spendthrift states to avoid - delay is more accurate - making those hard, something has to give, choices that involve long overdue cut backs in programs and/or people on the payroll. Since Porkulus is/was a one-time cash infusion, it only delayed the inevitable, as explained by this Hot Air posting by Ed Morrissey:
States declared that they saved positions in law enforcement and education with their Porkulus money that were never at risk in the first place rather than the untouched bureaucracies that should have first come under the knife.
In 2010, those supposedly “saved” jobs are back in trouble again, just as I predicted:
Federal stimulus money has helped avoid drastic cuts at public schools in most parts of the nation, at least so far. But with the federal money running out, many of the nation’s schools are approaching what officials are calling a “funding cliff.”
Congress included about $100 billion for education in the stimulus law last year to cushion the recession’s impact on schools and to help fuel an economic recovery. New studies show that many states will spend all or nearly all that is left between now and the end of this school term.
With state and local tax revenues still in decline, the end of the federal money will leave big holes in education budgets from Massachusetts and Florida to California and Washington, experts said.
“States are going to face a huge problem because they’ll have to find some way to replace these billions, either with cuts to their K-12 systems or by finding alternative revenues,” said Bruce Baker, an education professor at Rutgers University.
The Porkulus money was directed at education systems, but all that did was allow states to allocate their own resources to other entities. If the states want to save education jobs in the absence of another federal windfall, they will need to look at other programs to reduce or eliminate altogether. American families have had to tighten their belts in a similar manner, but states mainly avoided it in 2009.
In this case, the states got warned up front not to spend all of their money in the current fiscal year. Some states held a significant amount in reserve, but some did not, especially the states noted above. They blew it all in one year as a way to avoid the politically dangerous decisions to cut services in other areas, and now face the same level of funding crisis that they did last year.
The One sent this titanic Porkulus Bill turd rolling down the hill, then moved on to other, America-destroying, business. Now, that rancid butt bullet is destined to land in our laps, unless We The People rise up and kick the assholes out of Washington, and every Elected Tormentor infestation, from sea to shining sea.
Nanny State Nitwitdom
Source: PIG News Wire [02/05/10]
Pennsylvania Witch’s Brew of Adult Beverage Laws
If you live in the Keystone State, getting your regular brewskie infusion isn’t as easy, or straightforward, as it should be. Why? Because where you buy your ‘take it home to drink it’ brewskie depends upon how much of it your want to purchase.
For years, many consumers have complained about Pennsylvania's laws governing beer sales. Now the battle over where consumers can buy their beer is heating up.
In Pennsylvania, beer distributors can sell cases of beer but not six-packs. Restaurants -- in grocery stores or in bars -- that have state licenses can sell a customer a six-pack or two but not a case.
Wegmans, Weis Markets and a few other grocery stores at select locations sell beer. But state liquor regulations allow grocery stores to sell beer only if they have dining areas and separate entrances and cash registers.
Beer sales are soaring at the Wegmans store in Silver Spring Twp. -- the only midstate grocery store to sell beer. The store is doubling the space allotted for beer and is expanding its offerings from 400 to 600 brands. "We still have customers asking us for more, so we are satisfying their needs," said manager Bob Finn. (Patriot-News)
What, if anything, is being done to fix this Nanny State perpetrated mess? No enough. One grocery store chain, Sheetz, is trying to pressure the Nanny State into pulling its head out of its ass via an online petition. Elsewhere, a state Legicrat from the Lehigh Valley has served up Legicrap which would allow beer distributors to sell six-packs. So far nobody, in the state which includes Independence Hall, has come out for that American anachronism, marketplace based LIBERTY from oppressive Nanny State interference.
Is Barry Really BCS Bonkers?
With Jihadikaze terrorism - uh, man-caused disasters - expunged from planet Earth, a booming economy ‘stimulated’ into overdrive, and our vastly diminished government posting a healthy surplus, Messiah Barry is looking for new mountains to climb...new worlds to conquer.
After searching low, lower, and lowest, he found what he needed to revive his sagging approval ratings: the Bowl Championship Series that gives Elected Tormentors like Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) a rash.
Hatch wrote a letter to President Barack Obama back in October, asking the Department of Justice to look into the BCS, as he believed a case can be made that it is in violation of antitrust laws.
On Friday, the Justice Department sent a four-page letter to Hatch, saying it is reviewing the senator's letter and other materials to determine whether it will open an investigation.
The letter also said the Obama administration is looking into other options "that might be available to address concerns with the college football post- season."
One of those options is that the administration ask the Federal Trade Commission to "examine the legality of the current system under consumer protection laws." Other options include encouraging the NCAA to take control of the football postseason, asking for a study on the feasibility of the playoff system, legislation and looking into whether other agencies could play a role in reform. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
The BCS is a steaming load of unrelenting suckage, and that’s a no-shit fact. On the other hand, the BCS is something much more important: none of the Nanny State’s damn business.
Fiddling while America burns? You better believe it, what happened to my limited government Sparky.
Fiddling In Pennsylvania
Source: Patriot-News [01/27/10]
Shrugging off such unimportant issues as a $450,000,000 budget deficit and an ‘official’ unemployment rate of 8.9%, Pennsylvania State Senator Pat Browne is focused like a laser beam on a much more pressing issue:
Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh County, is sponsoring a bill that would designate the Pennsylvania Long Rifle as the state’s official firearm. Pennsylvania would become the first state in the country to have a state gun, according to the National Rifle Association.
To Browne and his supporters, the measure is a celebration of history and a decidedly Pennsylvanian contribution toward America’s independence. However, opponents say the idea of designating a state firearm is unthinkable, especially since Pennsylvania cities are scarred by gun-related crimes.
On behalf of Old Betsy and Big Bang, I salute Senator Browne for blazing this politically incorrect, official state firearm, trail. It’s not the idea that gives me pause. It’s the timing. There’s plenty of time for this foolish fiddling, AFTER, Pennsylvania’s Elected Tormentors put their house in order.
Parting shot: For what is' worth, Senator Browne’s choice of firearms is a good one:
“If you have to have a state gun, I believe it’s the most logical choice,” said Randy Hackenburg of Boiling Springs, a retiree who served as firearms curator at the U.S. Army Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks.
The Pennsylvania Rifle was developed by craftsmen in the mid-18th century. Using native iron and woods, the earliest versions could take upward of 200 hours to build. The long-barreled rifles developed in Pennsylvania were renowned for their leaps forward in accuracy and range, their durability, and — with their unique color combinations, carvings and engraved brasswork — they also have become appreciated as a prime example of early American art.
Jaw-Dropping Korrectness
Source: Daily Mail [01/27/10]
"Domestic cleaner required immediately for local hospital. A variety of different shifts available. Must be fluent in written and spoken English for Health & Safety reasons. Previous experience preferred. If you have a current CRS, it would be an advantage, but not necessary. Training will be provided. Must be reliable and hard working."
Painfully aware of the Korrectness which is suffocating liberty in J.O.E., Nicole Mamo, director of a Brit employment agency, Devonhood Recruitment, crafted the language of the advert you just read with the utmost care. She managed to elude the obvious pitfalls of discriminating against the chronically offending due to race, age, or sexual orientation. Home free? Not even close.
I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not THAT. By citing ‘Health & Safety’, her English proficiency prose passed muster, but it was touch and go, for a while. It was that other matter which left Nicole gobsmacked, when a job center in Thetford, Norfolk black flagged her advert as ‘discriminatory’.
Discriminatory? Why? You’re going to be thrilled:
When she ran the ad past a job centre, she was told she couldn't ask for 'reliable' and 'hard-working' applicants because it could be offensive to unreliable people. "In my 15 years in recruitment I haven't heard anything so ridiculous," Mrs Mamo said yesterday. "If the matter wasn't so serious I would be laughing out loud. Unfortunately it's extremely alarming. I need people who are hardworking and reliable - and I am pleased to discriminate in that way. If they're not then I really can't use them. The reputation of my business is on the line."
"Even the woman at the job centre agreed it was ridiculous but explained it was policy because they could get sued for being discriminatory against unreliable people. She told me they'd had lots of problems with people taking them to court for adverts stating something like ‘would suit school leaver’."
When ‘hard-working’ and ‘reliable’ are deemed discriminatory, the world has well, and truly, been buried beneath a mountain of politically correct bull crap.
Buffalo Buttheads
Source: Buffalo News [01/24/10]
As far as I’m concerned, a Buffalo (New York) homeowner, 63 year old Dennis Cherry is a hero who used his right to keep and bear arms to defend his home from a pair of home-invading desperados. Unhappily, the proper authorities have ‘you’re so busted’ issues with the way Dennis greeted Anibal R. Cordero, 24, and Jenna M. Zsebhazy, 18, who misinterpreted Dennis’ open garage door as an invitation to invade and steal.
Cordero and Zsebhazy were confronted by Cherry, 63, who was holding a rifle as they entered through an open garage door of the home, just south of Bulmore Road. Cherry detained Zsebhazy, while Cordero tried to flee in a vehicle, police said.
Cherry then fired about 15 rounds at the vehicle. There were no injuries, according to police. After then running from the scene on foot, Cordero was caught in a wooded area. (Buffalo News)
The good news is that Cordero and Zsebhazy were bagged, tagged, and dragged for second-degree attempted burglary, a Class D felony. The bad news is that Dennis was bagged, tagged, and dragged to graybar on a laundry list of bullshit charges: first-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree criminal mischief, both Class D felonies, and second-degree menacing, a Class A misdemeanor.
If there’s a Dennis Cherry defense fund, count me in. Free Dennis. Free Dennis. No justice, no peace.
Now That’s Funny
Source: News Herald [01/20/10]
A Panama City Beach (Flori-DUH) booty parlor owning capitalist, Allen Johnson, has been in a legal battle with the local Elected Tormentors, since 1999. The feud started when the Nanny State Nitwits painted a bull’s-eye on Johnson’s topless bar, Show N Tail, with an ordinance which banned adult bars along tourist corridors. Since his booty parlor was on such a corridor, Johnson responded with a lawsuit.
After a truce was declared in 1999, when the county agreed to let Johnson relocate to an industrial park, Johnson dropped his lawsuit, for all the good it did him. He was still dealing with Nanny State roadblocks, when his nudie bar burned down in 2006. Since then, Johnson has been trying to get the county commission to live up to its 1999 agreement.
Johnson wants to relocate his bootie parlor to an industrial park named Holly Circle, per that 1999 agreement, but the local hacks have unresolved ‘issues’ with that:
‘...Bay County Planning and Zoning Director Martin Jacobson rejected Johnson’s plan for a club on Holley Circle in November, but the county commission Tuesday unanimously approved Johnson’s request for an appeal. Attorney Harry Harper will plead Johnson’s case at the commission’s Feb. 16 meeting in the Bay County Government Center on 11th Street...’
‘...Commissioner Jerry Girvin and Mike Thomas said Tuesday that, given the nature of the 1999 agreement, Holley Circle might work. Commissioner George Gainer agreed, although he said he had a problem with the proximity to Pete Edwards Football Field and the nearby county skate park...’
Curiously, neither Planning and Zoning Killjoy Jacobson nor Commissioners Girvin and Thomas, mentioned an ironic - in this context - establishment named Hannah’s House, which is thisclose, to the proposed booty parlor location. Irony? You better believe it, Sparky. Locating a nudie bar in such close proximity to a - ta da - home for unwed mothers is the essence of irony.
Censorship Bonkers Down Under
Source: The Australian [01/16/10]
What do Mel Gibson’s "Mad Max", George Clooney’s "Three Kings", Brad Pitt’s "Fight Club", and Sasha Baron Cohen’s "Bruno" have in common? For starters, they’re all R- rated, but there is a much more meaningful link. All of them are subject to new restrictions imposed by South Australia, on the promotion and display of R-rated flicks.
The most obvious change is that all R-rated films must be packaged in such a way that only the film’s title is showing.
The rule will apply to titles for sale or rent unless those titles are quarantined from all other audiovisual materials, in an area signposted with a warning.
Under changes to the state's classification act, which came into effect on Sunday, businesses will face fines of up to $5000 for displaying a "poster, pamphlet or other printed material" for films classified R18+. The new law applies to general outlets containing films with classifications lower than R18+, and not adult-only premises.
Several distributors expressed surprise at the announcement of the law coming into effect, saying they had learned of it only yesterday. Potential Films managing director Mark Spratt, who has distributed numerous R-rated titles, including the contentious French drama Romance, said he was "gobsmacked".
"It's gone completely under the radar," Mr Spratt said.
Plain packaging would prevent consumers making informed decisions about these films, including critically acclaimed titles such as Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now, he said. "It's certainly discouraging people to look for these films, discouraging shops from stocking them and (creates) an extra hassle for (distributors)," Mr Spratt said. It also had the potential to harm retailers in South Australia as consumers who wanted to buy the titles with their packaging intact would shop interstate or online.
The law was announced by the office of South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, whose conservative campaigning is well known to the film industry. (The Australian)
Censorship is alive and well in South Australia, but, fear not, Aussie PIGsters, they’re restricting your rights ‘for the children’.
Nanny State Nitwit Games
Source: PIG News Wire [01/15/10]
The Most Dangerous Dude In New Jersey?
If you want to send some TSA twerp into a mindless panic, simply shout out the name of the most dangerous - so sayeth the TSA - dude in New Jersey. His name is Michael W. Hicks, and he’s enshrined on the TSA’s "selectee" list. What’s that? As far as I can tell, it’s one step below the ‘no fly list’, but it’s very serious shit and prompts ‘a high level of screening’. ‘A high level of screening’ involves the infamous pat down plus some mindless grilling by the TSA Einsteins who flunked Fast Food Window 101 and landed at the bottom of the employment barrel.
What has Michael Hicks done to earn this level of TSA infamy? I don’t know, and neither does the 8 year old New Jersey Cub Scout who just happens to have the same name:
According to the powers that be, Michael W. Hicks has the face of evil. Or so you might think by the way he's questioned and patted-down before he boards an airliner. "I don't like getting touched in certain spots. They go like, (pat down on the side), and they do it on the sides and go like that way," Hicks said.
Hicks is an 8-year-old Cub Scout who may not look like a terrorist, but he gets the terrorist-screening treatment every time he flies with his parents -- because his name is apparently the same as someone else's on the list. "That's ridiculous. That's just insane. What are you talking about? Get my kid off the list," mother Najlah Feanny said. (CBS)
How long have these TSA asshats been terrorizing this 8 year old lad? Much too long, because they’ve been subjecting him to this mindless bullshit since he was a 2 year old rugrat. Patting down a 2 year old? WOW. That takes stupid right off the scale.
FDA Smoke Nazis Take One On The Chin
It’s called an electronic cigarette, and it’s a very clever gizmo that gives the user a nicotine rush, without generating any smoke - first, second, or third-hand. Instead of ‘fire’, it uses a heating element and a battery to ‘vaporize’ a liquid nicotine mixture, which the ‘smoker’ then inhales. No harm, no foul? Not according to the FDA, which tried to stop firms from shipping electronic cigarettes into the USA.
These heavy-handed FDA antics hit a speed bump, this week, when a federal judge banged his gavel down on them:
A federal judge said Thursday the Food and Drug Administration cannot stop shipments of electronic cigarettes into the United States. The preliminary ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon came as California Attorney General Jerry Brown sought in a state court to halt one company's sale of electronic cigarettes. Brown says the e-cigarettes contain dangerous chemicals and are being marketed to children.
The FDA says electronic cigarettes are subject to regulation as drug-device combinations. "This case appears to be yet another example of FDA's aggressive efforts to regulate recreational tobacco products as drugs," Leon wrote. The judge said he found the regulatory agency's claim of jurisdiction "at first blush, to be unreasonable and unacceptable." A final ruling in the lawsuit will come later. (ABC News)
If, as Judge Leon indicated in his preliminary ruling, an electronic cigarette is - DUH - just like other cigarettes, it's a game changer. In a rational world, that means the same rules should apply to it. That, at least, is the way Ray Story, vice president of an electronic cigarette wrangling company targeted by Mexifornia’s Jerry Brown, Smoking Everywhere, Inc., sees it:
"Understand that this is a cigarette. We are acting as a cigarette company. We have all the applicable warnings on all our packaging that actually backs that up," Story said. He said his company did not represent the product as healthy or safe. (ABC)
When Old Ka-Boom finally cuts the crap and smites Washington D.C., he needs to do a proper job of it, which means taking out the whole alphabet soup of liberty-nuking Federal agencies.
Jaw-Dropping Red Shed Bullshit
After a year of relentless ‘Big Brother Barry is awesome’ happy talk from Messiah Barry and his minions, a faint glimmer of objective reality has penetrated into the higher levels of Prompter Punk’s administration. I don’t know how it happened, but the smart money says a free ranging rational adult walked past Barry’s Swiss Cheese class Red Shed security to spread the word. Spread what word? You’re going to be thrilled.
You already know it and so does every other rational American adult. On the other hand, Barry’s boys and girls were/are gobsmacked to learn that the government - even under Barry’s bumbling imitation of leadership - is - GASP, SHUDDER, CRINGE, PRIMAL SCREAM - inefficient and ineffective.
Fear not, PIGsters, Barry’s brainiacs have it all figured out. If you think that it’s due to ham-fisted interference by congenital morons in positions of authority, get over it. If you think that it’s due to a blatant power grab by petty, job for life tyrants who wouldn’t recognize objective reality if it fell on them, get over THAT, too. It’s nothing like that, according to an intellectual flat-lining fool named Peter Orzag:
A big reason why the government is inefficient and ineffective is because Washington has outdated technology, with federal workers having better computers at home than in the office. This startling admission came Thursday from Peter Orszag, who manages the federal bureaucracy for President Barack Obama. The public is getting a bad return on its tax dollars because government workers are operating with outdated technologies, Orszag said in a statement that kicked off a summit between Obama and dozens of corporate CEOs.
“Twenty years ago, people who came to work in the federal government had better technology at work than at home,” said Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget. “Now that’s no longer the case. The American people deserve better service from their government, and better return for their tax dollars.”
The White House release that included Orszag’s comments said one “specific source” of ineffective and inefficient government is the huge technology gap between the public and private sectors that results in billions of dollars in waste, slow and inadequate customer service and a lack of transparency about how dollars are spent.
The best way to deal with a lie of this magnitude is to drive an objective reality stake through its heart. When it comes to that, nobody does it better than Neal Boortz.
These people love government so much they can't even see the obvious failures we observe on a daily basis. Just one example: When you see ten people on a street work crew, and eight of them are standing around with their teeth in their mouths ...that is not because they don't have good computers. When you stand in a waiting line at a government office watching phones ring off the hook while unionized government workers file their nails and pick their noses ... it's not because of outdated technology. When government officials claim that 300 jobs were "created or saved" with the purchase of a lawn mower .. you can't blame computers.
Government is inherently inefficient. That's one of the reasons we need so much less of it.
I changed my mind, and decided to add my 2 cents worth, after all. Neal did his usual masterful job of cutting to the chase, but it’s not enough. I still need to pound the table about this crap.
This steaming pile of political crap, Orszag, is blaming the lack of transparency on out-dated computers? That’s world class bullshit, especially when it comes from THIS administration.
Silly me, I had the insane notion that the record shattering lack of transparency was due to secret meetings, wherein legislation thousands of pages long were cobbled together, in the dead of night, on a holiday weekend.
Silly me, I had the insane notion that the lack of transparency had everything to do with bills whose details are so closely guarded that the Elected Tormentors who vote on them aren’t even allowed to see them, before, during, or after, voting on them.
Silly me, I had the insane notion that this liberty-eviscerating lack of transparency was due to the fact that the Marxist rat bastards, who are running our once great nation into an early grave, don’t want We the People to know what they are doing to us.
Now that this fool Orszag has enlightened me, I see the error of my ways. All we need to do to restore Nanny State transparency is exchange the relevant pleasantries with a Dell salesdweeb. Yeah, right, dude, now tell me the one about the Tooth Fairy.
Nanny State Nitwitdom
Source: PIG News Wire [01/08/10]
Surrender Monkeys Mandate A Marital White Flag
In a highly publicized move, which elicited a tidal wave of richly-deserved derision, from the world’s rational adults, the Surrender Monkeys are thisclose to black flagging that icon of marital bliss, the expletive-intensive marital spat. Deeming such snarky, high volume, exchanges of views "psychological violence", the pussy-whipped French are painting a criminal bull’s-eye on any married individual who dares to go there.
The law would apply to cohabiting couples and to both men and women. It would cover men who shout at their wives and women who hurl abuse at their husbands - although it was not clear last night if nagging would be viewed as breaking the law. The law is expected to cover every kind of insult including repeated rude remarks about a partner's appearance, false allegations of infidelity and threats of physical violence. (Daily Mail)
Proving that there is still intelligent life in La Belle France, a French sociologist, Pierre Bonnet, asks the obvious, ‘slippery slope’ question: "What’s next?"
"The next step will be to make rudeness a criminal offence. The police and courts will be over-stretched trying to deal with numerous cases."
Outlaw rudeness? Do they plan on locking up the entire ‘damn those ugly Americans’ population? Enquiring minds want to know.
Prompter Punk Pisses Off The CIA
According to the London Daily Mail, some CIA officials aren’t thrilled spitless with the way that the Fraud From Abroad is talking out of both sides of his mouth about Uncle Sam’s legendary spy agency. I get that, but I wonder why it took them this long, to figure out that Messiah Barry is a congenital liar, who can’t be trusted as far as I can throw Jupiter?
Barack Obama was accused of double standards yesterday in his treatment of the CIA.
The President paid tribute to secret agents after seven of them were killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. In a statement, he said the CIA had been ‘tested as never before’ and that agents had ‘served on the front lines in directly confronting the dangers of the 21st century’.
He lauded the victims as ‘part of a long line of patriots who have made great sacrifices for their fellow citizens and for our way of life’. Yet the previous day he had blasted ‘systemic failures’ in the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies for failing to prevent the Christmas Day syringe bomb attack.
‘One day the President is pointing the finger and blaming the intelligence services, saying there is a systemic failure,’ said one agency official. ‘Now we are heroes. The fact is that we are doing everything humanly possible to stay on top of the security situation. The deaths of our operatives shows just how involved we are on the ground.’
But CIA bosses claim they were unfairly blamed at a time the covert government agency has been stretched further than ever before in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They point to the murder of seven operatives at a remote mountain base in Afghanistan’s Khost Province as an example of how agents are putting their lives on the line at the vanguard of America’s far-flung wars. (Daily Mail)
Here at PIG News, we’re compelled to ask the hard questions: how much more room is there, under the Narcissist-In-Chief’s bus? It’s Enquiring minds time, again, in the PIGdom.
Panhandle Panhandlers
The Elected Tormentors running San Antonio (Mexas) have tried, and failed, repeatedly, to outlaw panhandling. Each time they ran a begger ban up the judicial flagpole, a black-robed hooligan shot it down as an unconstitutional ban on free speech. Are San Antonio officials ready to surrender? Nope.
At least one Elected Tormentor thinks they can get the job done. How? By attacking the panhandler problem from a new direction:
San Antonio City Councilman John Clamp has a new and intriguing idea. He tells 1200 WOAI's Bud Little he will propose making it a crime, with stiff fines, for people to give money to beggars on the public street. "They can still give money, just not on the public street," Clamp says.
Clamp says complaints about 'aggressive panhandling' is one of the biggest complaints he gets. "We have gotten lots of phone calls and concerns about seniors and other individuals being threatened and intimidated" by beggars, Clamp says.
Frequently, beggars take advantage of motorists stuck in busy intersections or in construction sites by walking into stopped traffic, even banging on the windows of stopped cars. Technically, it is illegal for panhandlers or solicitors of any sort to stand in the traveled portion of the roadway, but the law is seldom enforced. "Motorists would be prohibited from giving money to panhandlers," Clamp says. "The first citation would be a warning, the second would be a fine, and the third would be a very large fine," Clamp says. (WOAI)
This new approach to San Antonio’s panhandler problem puts a whole new spin on ‘just say no’, but will it work? When I know, you’ll know. Stay tuned, Lone Star State, Sparky.
D. C. Dipsticks Paint A Bull’s-Eye on AT&T Inc.
When it comes to thievery under the color of political authority, Washington D.C. is second to none. Ironically, this adventure in political punk plundering is taking place in City Hall, instead of Capitol Hill.
Inspired, no doubt, by the pillaging perpetrated by the 111th Congress, the District of Columbia’s attorney general is trying to coerce a leading outpost of American telecommunications capitalism into compliance. I know what you’re thinking but it’s not that. In this case, the pot of capitalist gold contains minutes, not money.
The attorney general for Washington D.C. has filed a lawsuit against an AT&T Inc (T.N) unit, seeking to recover consumers' unused balances on prepaid calling cards. The suit claims that AT&T should turn over unused balances on the calling cards of consumers whose last known address was in Washington, D.C. and have not used the calling card for three years.
"AT&T's prepaid calling cards must be treated as unclaimed property under district law," the attorney general's office said in a statement.
According to the attorney general's office, that sum, known in the industry as "breakage," represents some 5 to 20 percent of the total balances purchased by consumers who use the calling cards.
States and municipalities have often similarly used unclaimed property laws, known as escheat laws, to claim ownership of unused retail gift card balances. (Reuters)
Given my legendary cell phone hostility, I understand how D.C. officials plan to turn these unused minutes into dead presidents. I’m not sure that it matters, because this transaction between AT&T and its prepaid calling card customers is none of the Nanny State’s f-ing business.
Grinchy Word Games In J.O.E.
Source: Daily Mail [12/27/09]
Feeling the spirit of the season, the British Transport Police, devised a clever slogan to advise their customers that they would have extra manpower deployed during this festive time of year. Surrendering to a case of the cutes, their advertising agency deployed the phrase "Christmas presence", a pun based on a more familiar term "Christmas presents". No harm, no foul? It is, to a rational adult, but that excludes the Korrectnik cretins who infest J.O.E. in such large numbers.
[I]n a move branded ‘bonkers’ by Christian leaders, the police’s marketing department decided the word Christmas could anger non-believers or people from other faiths who disliked its Christian connotations.
Instead of scrapping the poster, however, the department merely swapped ‘Christmas’ for ‘Holiday’, so the slogan now reads ‘Holiday presence’.
I’m pleased to report that this asinine Korrectnik crap elicited a memorable dose of blowback from pissed off rational adults. Did this response make the perpetrators hang their heads in shame? Not a chance:
A Transport Police spokesman said the poster had the dual purpose of making people aware of the extra officers on duty and warning that anyone who assaulted transport staff would be treated severely.
The spokesman said that there was normally a rise in such assaults over the Christmas and New Year period. He added that the decision to remove the word ‘Christmas’ had been made by the Transport Police’s marketing manager, Alison Lock, who is based at its headquarters in Camden, North London. "It is just to make the message non-denominational so that it applies to everyone and so that people who don’t buy into Christmas don’t feel excluded," the spokesman said. "I can see there can be a debate around it but it is a matter of opinion and I’m not going to comment." (Daily Mail)
Holiday presence? That’s an asinine outburst of Grinchiness and you can quote me.
Sheriff Joe Update
Source: Washington Times [12/21/09]
On our last visit to Maricopa County (Arizona), Sheriff Joe Arpaio was terrorizing....uh, filling his graybar guests with the spirit of the season, by piping in a Christmas songs. Curiously, some of his graybar guests weren’t thrilled spitless by this 12 hours at a stretch assault on their sanity. In fact, several of those graybar guests took Sheriff Joe to court over this seasonal songfest:
Sheriff Joe Arpaio - the self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff" in America - likes Christmas music, especially "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and anything by Alvin and the Chipmunks, and apparently he thinks the 8,000 inmates inside his Phoenix jail should, too.
So it was with some glee that his Maricopa County office announced Thursday in a red-and-green press release that the "sixth and perhaps final lawsuit" brought by inmates to stop the sheriff from playing the holiday songs all day, every day, during the holidays had been dismissed in federal court.
"We keep winning these lawsuits. Inmates should stop acting like the Grinch who stole Christmas and give up wasting the court's time with such frivolous assertions," it read. "But chances are they'll keep suing and we'll keep winning."
The latest lawsuit was filed by inmate William Lamb, who said that being forced to listen to the Christmas songs 12 hours a day was a violation of his civil and religious rights. But U.S. District Judge Roz Silver disagreed, dismissing the case and denying Lamb's claim for $250,000 in damages. (Washington Times)
By and large, I tend to agree with the graybar guests, on this seasonal songfest. I can take Christmas carols in small, controlled quantities, but 12 hours at a stretch, day after day, would make me snap. Despite that, in this case, I, grudgingly, side with Sheriff Joe. Why? Because jail time is supposed to be a punishment and few things are more punishing, for me, than 12 straight hours of Christmas carols.
Nanny State Nitwit Antics
Source: PIG News Wire [12/18/09]
Ruskies Paint a Bull’s-Eye On Swearing
From our ‘they can dish it out, but can’t take it’ news desk, PIG News serves up the latest antic perpetrated by Ruskie strongman, Vladimir Putin. Tired of the profane slings and arrows dished up on a popular Ruskie blog, Putin, yanked the strings of his personal puppet, President DMitry Medvedev, and demanded that swearing in public be outlawed:
The law would be based on an existing scheme in the Russian region of Belgorod where police hand out on-the-spot fines for anyone overheard using foul language in public, reports the Daily Telegraph. The fines there range from 500 roubles (£10) to 1,500 roubles (£30). The heaviest fines go to people heard cursing in front of children.
Mikhail Nikolayev, deputy chairman of Russia's upper house of parliament, or Federation Council, is pushing the improbable scheme. "Swearing should cease to be part of our everyday life," he says, adding that the scheme in Belgorod, started in 2005, has produced encouraging results. A clutch of fellow senators is supporting Mr Nikolayev's plan.
The move comes as the Kremlin seeks to tackle rampant alcoholism, a culture of heavy smoking, and a steady stream of hardcore violence and erotica on TV and in adverts. (Ananova)
I know what you’re thinking, but they’ve already tried to make the blogger, a famous designer, stop serving up his "foul-mouthed tirades" against Putin and Medvedev. Unimpressed by threats from various Kremlin insiders, the blogger responded with a salty, non-negotiable, demand that they leave him alone. What is the Ruskie equivalent of "Bite Me"?
Hubbub In Houston
It’s touted as an election which "has changed the world" for GLAAD BAAGs. I seriously doubt THAT, but I do find it moderately newsworthy that a Y-Naut was elected mayor in a major Mexas city like Houston.
[Openly gay, City Controller Annise] Parker, 53, has never made a secret or an issue of her sexual orientation. But it became the focus of the race after anti-gay activists and conservative religious groups endorsed Locke and sent out mailers condemning Parker's "homosexual behavior." (Fox)
Her opponent, city attorney Gene Locke, tried to court the VRWC voters, without straying too close to the GLAAD BAAG phobia. His attempt was a good one, but, when the chads were counted, Annise had 53.6% of the votes cast.
Call me names if you must, but why should I care about Annise’s sexual orientation? It is, at most, a side issue, an irrelevant side issue. If I lived in Houston, I would be much more interested in Annise’s leadership skills, and her political agenda. Is she a big spender? Does she aid and abet border jumping scumbags? Is she qualified for the job? Did she run as a GLAAD BAAG, or, did she run as an experienced Elected Tormentor with proven executive level abilities?
A GLAAD BAAG mayor? Tell somebody who cares.
A Self-Inflicted Tax Nazi Wound
Source: Golden Oinks [12/11/09]
On paper, imposing, then enforcing, a tax on coffee beans ordered over the Internet, seemed like an enriching idea, for German Tax Nazis. When they ran the numbers, they concluded that the new taxes and fees would produce a tidy windfall. What could possibly go wrong?
‘Germany spent more than 30 times as much collecting taxes on coffee beans ordered online from abroad than it received in the tax revenues, the accounting office said on Tuesday. Some 4,000 Germans who bought coffee over the Internet from other EU countries but failed to pay the coffee tax have been charged between a few cents to 10 euros ($14.81) in taxes and fees, said Dieter Engels, head of Germany's Federal Accounting Office...’
‘...Tax collectors ended up with just 25,000 euros, way below the 800,000 euros in the costs of staff charged with collecting the payments, Engels said. Engels said that other administrative costs often exceeded the amount collected. It usually takes up to a year for customs to handle the cases. "While the financial and customs authorities are too lax on some occasions, they go overboard in others. This has led to somewhat grotesque results in coffee taxation."...’ (Reuters)
What the hell happened to that legendary German efficiency? It’s Enquiring minds time, again, in the FSOP.
Excuses, Excuses
Source: NBC Connecticut [12/07/09]
The Elected Tormentor asshats on the Litchfield (Connecticut) town board are full of themselves, and it, when it comes to their battle against those ‘support our troops’ yellow ribbons. Since 2003, patriotic individuals have deployed the yellow ribbons around 5 trees on the Litchfield Green. Over that same time period, locals like Leslie Caron have seen to it that the ribbons are kept clean and presentable. Despite that, the town board of buttheads want to get rid of the ribbons - and the troops the ribbons represent, no doubt.
Initially, the town board whined that if they allowed yellow ribbons for deployed warriors, they would be compelled to let other groups deploy their own commemorative ribbons. Laughable? Hell yes. It’s a steaming pile of rhetorical turds from asshats who aren’t worthy of shining a warriors boots.
When the ribbon deluge turd didn’t float, these traitorous rat f-ing bastards pulled another stinker out of their butts. This time, they went greeniac and claimed that the yellow ribbons cause a - GASP - tree fungus. The dreaded yellow ribbon tree fungus? What a steaming pile of crap. I think it’s time for a certain porcine high flyer and his self-described "mutant spawn" to increase the voltage on the Litchfield Elected Tormentors’ shock treatments.
Parting shot: According to NBC Connecticut, none of these braying jackasses are returning the News Nitwits’ calls. They’re probably cowering under a rock, hoping that the rational adult blowback doesn’t become a category 5 political hurricane.
Feeling Puny In Phoenix
Source: Arizona Republic [12/02/09]
It was just ‘one of those’ days at the Phoenix Superior Court. Chaos started early, when 20 Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies and detention officers didn’t show up for work. Of the 20, 19 took sick leave and the other one cited ‘unforeseen circumstances’. Rendered egregiously short handed, the court had to scramble to find someone to handle the 100 in custody inmates who were scheduled for a court date.
In addition to being short-handed, the Phoenix Superior Court got a bigger thrill, when someone ‘who claimed to be disgruntled with the Maricopa County Public Defenders Office phoned in a bomb threat around 10 a.m. Between evacuating 200 people from the court building and searching for the bomb, things didn’t get settled down again, until 1 p.m.
As fun as this sounds, it gets better, because the timing of this officer-felling disease is, uh, curious:
A representative for the Maricopa County Association of Detention Officers, John Solano, said the high absenteeism was not a coordinated act of solidarity for detention officer Adam Stoddard, who turned himself Tuesday night in to serve a sentence for contempt. That sentence stemmed from an incident in which Stoddard removed documents from a defense attorney's during a defendant's sentencing hearing.
Solano said a number of sheriff's personnel have been out sick of late. Solano and other detention officers refused to answer any questions about the "brownout" at a Tuesday afternoon press conference where more than 150 deputies and detention officers gathered outside the courthouse and reiterated their support of Stoddard.
The sheriff's personnel repeatedly said "they would not stand down" in their support of Stoddard, but could not elaborate on whether that support would include more press conferences or any other forms of protest. "We don't want to create a problem," Solano said, distancing the union from the decisions of sheriff's personnel who called in sick. "We don't have any protests. We don't plan for any protests. Our solidarity is for officer Stoddard." (Arizona Republic)
And what, you ask, does our favorite lawman, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, have to say about this mysterious malady which struck down 19 of his deputies? Prepare to be thrilled:
Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he had no indication that the sick-leave in the courts was related to Stoddard's situation. "I do have a political prisoner in jail who happens to be my Detention Officer," Arpaio added.
Give ‘em hell, Joe. Give ‘em hell.
Swiss Voters Get NIMBY
Source: PIG News Wire [12/01/09]
If you have an Islamikaze on your gift list, and want to thrill him, her, himher, or it, you can get ‘er done, by gift-wrapping a large bar of Swiss chocolate. If that doesn’t knot their supernaturalist knickers, you’re not doing it right.
That’s right, PIGsters, this week Swiss voters double dog dared the Islamikazes to ‘hit us with your best shot, Mecca Maniac Sparky’, when they approved - by a 57.5 to 42.5 margin - a constitutional ban on the construction of new minarets. In theory, since only 6% of Switzerland’s 7.5 million residents are Mecca Maniacs, and only 1 in 10 of those are active in Mecca Mania, this shouldn’t be a big deal. It shouldn’t, but it is. Why? The proponents of the initiative served up some properly PIGish campaign prose:
The sponsors of the initiative provoked complaints of bias from local officials and human-rights group with campaign posters that showed minarets rising like missiles from the Swiss flag next to a fully veiled woman. Backers said the growing Muslim population was straining the country "because Muslims don't just practice religion."
"The minaret is a sign of political power and demand, comparable with whole-body covering by the burqa, tolerance of forced marriage and genital mutilation of girls," the sponsors said. They noted that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has compared mosques to Islam's military barracks and called "the minarets our bayonets." (Fox)
The FSOP salutes the Swiss denizens who shed their nation’s notorious neutrality to draw a line in the sand against steady, Mecca Maniac encroachment. Now, if we could make the Dumbo-eared Red Shed Marxist wake up and smell the Jihadikaze coffee, life would nudge up from ‘just shoot me’, to ‘ask me again, tomorrow’.
