Offsite Comments

What's on my mind today, besides sorrow for the dead, wounded, and emotionally traumatized of Norway, is how "one thing pushes out another" as Mr Butterburr said.

Anyone remember that flooded nuke plant in Nebraska that was rumored to be going the way of the tsunami-struck Japanese plant? Don't worry. Everything's fine there. So they say. And by fine I mean it only cost $26 million, some of which may be defrayed by federal money.

I've been busy, but still mean to get back to my congressman, asking (so I can get another form-letter reply) why the meaningless-vote against our ILLEGAL involvement in Libya yet voting for continuing funding? There's apparently still ongoing but meaningless noise about our military adventurism. At least Ron Paul has his own reasoning for not voting for limited funding. saying it would, in effect, legalize the war. Others say they don't want to be unsupportive to NATO! Has anyone heard any reasoning from West or Bachmann or anyone else supporting the war in Libya? And while we're at it, not long ago we heard that we're now in Somalia. And Yemen. Where did that news go? We're increasing bombing in Somalia according to this report by Abayomi Azikiwein in "Workers World," which looks like a communist site. Oh, wait, here's a Jun 30 Fox News report about our drones being involved in Somalia. And our involvement in Yemen goes on, according to Salon. The rest of the news sources? Nothing in a quick search.

Then there's Pigford. West issued a kind of a Kerry-style "I was for the bill before I was against it" apology in one interview. Investors Business Daily calls for investigation, noting that "Seventy-nine Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week against an amendment ... that would have blocked the government from paying out additional billions for the Pigford II settlement [including] Rep. Darrell Issa...." I tried to track down the amendment and who voted how on it, but got lost in the thicket of legislative details, amendments and resolutions and crap. The way our government runs is a mess.

You really have to wonder,
as they throw our dollars away,
In the land of We the People,
just who in hell are they?

I see I'm not the first to point out that the C.....oexist bumper sticker you're looking for already exists, but I think this has a larger version (click on small image for larger one):

http://bit.ly/pvBlsT

Following up, Officer "10 bullets in your ass" Harless has "earned several commendations," but the Canton "internal affairs unit has investigated 16 complaints involving Harless dating back to 2000. He was reprimanded in one 2003 case... for not activating the in-car video camera at the scene...." according to Canton Repository. (By way of The Blaze link found at Red Flame Wire which I got to from this Big Government page. Whew!)

#147 CharlieDontSurf: "What kind of person wants to be a cop?"

Can't say for sure whether things have really changed that much in the last 50 years, but it sure seems like Peace Officers have become Crime Warriors. Here's a revealing money quote from an article about a local harrassed-cop lawsuit: "Thomas alleges in the lawsuit that he was advised by some superiors that the BPD was a 'paramilitary organization' and that because of that he would be subjected to harassment to 'break him down.'" Not exactly the idea of friendly Officer O'Malley I tried to imbue in my kids. (Which innocence ended when an a-hole came to our place of business and "jokingly" cuffed one of my young sons.)

There's good and there's bad, and I sympathize with the dangers they really face in the cracked-out world today, but always keep in mind what the Stanford Prison Experiment revealed about the problem of power. There's no substitute for basic morality (and fealty to the Constitution). Today, it seems a reflection of societal degradation in general that there's just too much permission of "power corrupts," too little training in "great responsibility."

For your edutainment, here's a (typically prolix) webwork about my brief encounter with a cop exceedingly "passionate" about busting potheads.
A run-in with Officer Green

Thanks for the links today, um... Pete, I don't see yr handle anywhere on here. But I recognize your style! :)

Already heard about Harry Reid and Carney on the radio, on Beck, during my drive in to town this morning. Already saw the Spenditol video on Sister Toldjah. Found the raaacist Homeland Insecurity video linked to by Patti on HillBuzz. Rush on the Gang of Six? I already commented about the origins of the "Gang of" usage on HillBuzz (and have added the Limbaugh link to the copy on my website, thanks). We all must be taking our lock-step talking points from the anti-journo-list! ;)

Hadn't seen the West follow-up. Thanks for that and the American Thinker links. And all you do.

Rae, thanks for the link. Schultz is the epitome of the "say anything" crowd. In the Duck, Dodge and Dismantle address to Congress to which West was responding, the kinky-haired parrot managed to get in End Tax Breaks for Millionaires, Blame Bush, Republicans Hate Seniors, Shared Sacrifice, and (cue laugh track) Winning the Future.

On the other hand, she does say of the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill would that "It is crucial that the American people understand that this plan would require even deeper cuts than under the Ryan plan we saw in April." As Mrs Webworker said when watching, "Oh? Good!"

In the video I've linked, at 2:25, it seems like she used "passed" when she means "pass." Well, who hasn't made a tiny mistake like that! You hear it all the time, in daily speech, and on radio and TV by both interviewees and professional announcers. In my college DJ days, I was taught, for tiny mis-speaks you just go on. Assume people are smart enough to know what you meant. However, at 0:42, she says "incredulously, [sic] the gentleman from Florida... is supportive of this plan." It might seem like she meant "incredibly," but she doesn't bat an eye or skip a beat. I suppose she might have meant that she was incredulous that West believed in the plan, as she does follow this up by saying it's "unbelievable," but if so, she really mangled the usage. Either she doesn't really know what the word "incredulous" means or she doesn't know how to use it in a sentence.

Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but after Challenger and Columbia, I'm quite glad we didn't "end with a bang."

A big salute to all our astronauts, and everyone who was involved.

Eras end, new ones begin (inspired by ST)

Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins 1969 — a comment I left on Ace of Spades

Captain, don't know if you saw my other message about this, but you inspired me to do this little bit of photo remix. Hope you don't mind that I gave you due credit for the inspiration.

Carlos: "...if you could have had Bob Crane in the pic for reference..." Yeah, good idea for possible future versions. I knew it wasn't all that clear, but I wanted it to be just "Sgt Schlultz." Letting the mustache show through was really an afterthought, but seemed to help. Maybe a big logo on the bottom SGT SCHULTZ? Just to be clear? :)

Why Obama cannot be impeached (and should not be) by Devvy Kidd at World Net Daily (my emphasis added:

Congress cannot even impeach him because, not being the actual President, he cannot be "removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" ... Despite all the noise out there by Obama's supporters, it is crystal clear the putative president was born with dual citizenship and is forever ineligible to be president. ... To impeach would also accomplish this: Every piece of legislation he's signed into law would remain on the books. ... Will he ever be indicted for his crimes? With enough public pressure, it can happen because his handlers would simply throw him under the bus as a liability.

Nearly seventeen years old and watched it alone. Then, like so many others, went out to gaze at the moon and marveled.

I wasn't a big Byrds fan, but so many times this little oddity just pops into my head.
(YouTube) Byrds: Amazing Grace / Armstrong. Aldrin and Collins 1969

(Historic footnote: The moon landing was one reason that Wikipedia: Ted Kennedy) Chappaquiddick didn't get more media play.)

<snark>Too busy to read through the thoughtful and courteous comments.</snark> But not too busy to leave a link to my own mindful "medical marijuana" webwork, for yr edutainment: Allergies

Doubt that he hurt himself in any way politically, as far as speaking to his base, but I agree about specifics. I think a little of that would have gone a long way to enhance and justify his indignation.

"In everything, somebody's in charge...."???? Uhhhh... Yeah, I suppose with Obama as pResident, someone might make that mistake. Hope we can find out what happens from the national viral blowback!

I've posted another slapdash Mindful photo remix, with apologies to John "Sgt Schultz" Banner, inspired by a a great comment by captaingrumpy at Sister Toldjah that "Everyone must start calling her SERGEANT SHULTZ." (I would've posted it here, but past attempts to embed a photo haven't worked.)

cate007, I believe you're off by 1 if you're thinking of the infamous "Gang of Four" (Wikipedia article).

I idly wondered where the "gang of six" meme came from. Professor Wikipedia's Gang of Six article doesn't say, but it references this July 2009 Ezra Klein article in the Washington Post, which refers to Matt Yglesias at Think Progress , no longer available, referencing the New York Times. Using that Think Progress 404 page's search box on "Matt Yglesias gang of six" also yielded no results, but did suggest searching American Progress Action's advanced search, which gave three results, one of which was Think Again: Of Filibusters and “Stunts,” Then and Now by Eric Alterman in 2007, which refers to "the Gang of 14... “obstructionist” Senate leader Tom Daschle." And there I stopped bothering. (Can you imagine trying to do that pre-Internet?)

So, apparently, the meme has been used and abused repeatedly, since it was first coined to refer to Mao's wife & company in the '60s & '70s. Much like the -gate suffix, I suppose, it's just a handy pejorative reference.

Years ago, in Chicago, we sometimes visited Toguri's, a Japanese import shop owned and operated by one of the so-called "Tokyo Roses." I often saw, and once got to chat with, the late Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino, a very nice lady. Read about her in Wikipedia and weep for how she was mistreated and abused, first by the Japanese, then by her own countrymen. Not a traitor, but a casualty of war and bigotry.

With the beginning of American involvement in the Pacific War, Toguri, like a number of other Americans in Japanese territory, was pressured by the Japanese central government under Hideki Tojo to renounce her United States citizenship. She refused to do so. Toguri was subsequently declared an enemy alien and was refused a war ration card. "A tiger does not change its stripes" is a quote attributed to her. ...

Toguri had previously risked her life smuggling food into the nearby prisoner of war (POW) camp.... After she refused to broadcast anti-American propaganda, Toguri was assured by Major Cousens and Captain Ince that they would not write scripts having her say anything against the United States True to their word, no such propaganda was found in her broadcasts....

Documentary about her on YouTube

As a sci-fi fan of 15, I went to see Barbarella and got to see Jane Fonda's nipples. That was the highlight of the film and the last time I saw her in anything. Except the news. When Hanoi Jane went to NVN, I wondered how it was she did not get arrested and tried as a TRAITOR for "giving aid and comfort to the enemy." Along with so many, I still wonder.

For some truly classic and serious hatin', see the Ace of Spades thread Jane Fonda: Very Upset That Older Americans Can Remember Things. One commenter linked to this detailed page about her anti-American activities.

Another AoS commenter mentioned something I hadn't heard before: "Jane Fonda was the first out of the gate [her voice thru Huffington] to blame Sarah Palin for Jared Loughner's actions." She hasn't changed.

When she says she loves her country and didn't do anything wrong, I have to wonder. "Her country" is owned by the Chinese, funded by George Soros, and has a Marxist for a President, so by the definitions of her ilk, "Guilty as Hell and free as a bird" Ayers and Irreverend "God Damn America" Wright, and so on, I guess she really did do nothing "wrong." But by every standard of humanity and decency, she is guilty. If she can't be tried and executed for her acts, this will have to do.

Hotlanta Mike, thanks for the link to Jimmy O'Bama. I heard this -- or a version of it -- on Jerry Doyle one day, and have been looking for it ever since. Morph morph morph.

[VIDEO DELETED, ACCOUNT REMOVED]
http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z-tZq4CWLi0

"You are the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives."

Gee, I wish Mr. West would quit mincing words, holding back, wearing the kid gloves, and instead just come out and say what he really means. Let's see if the big-teeth smiley works for me:

Just before I saw this post, I had (not entirely coincidentally) just finished posting a new photo remix on my site, inspired by a comment made a while back by captaingrumpy. Thanks, cap'n!

Sgt DW Schultz

N.B. I am not a doctor -- any medical recommendation I suggest is that of just some layman out there on the Net, okay? Okay. And Sister T, forgive me if this is inappropriate for some reason.

From around her middle teens through her forties, my wife had migraines so intense and debilitating sometimes I could feel them (if only in sympathy). In her case, an upper cervical displacement was corrected by a simple, gentle, amazingly effective, specialized chiropractic technique called NUCCA (the only chiropracty I would recommend to anyone). Before her Atlas bone was nudged back into alignment, she had decades of recurring misery and lost whole days, and since her first treatment, she never had them again! I also had many life-long problems corrected by the same technique, as have all my kids and two cousins and neighbors to whom we recommended NUCCA. We were fortunate that one of the world's best practitioners is in our area. Patients come to him from Northern Alaska to the Middle East.

Upper cervical maladjustment is, I've learned, quite common but rarely diagnosed and treated properly; like many natural health approaches, many pill-and-scalpel docs don't know about it or dismiss it. Besides the testimony of my own friends and family, every time we go to our Doc's, I see people limping in and waltzing out, with praise and thanks. Seems to me to be the real deal. (Here's a page from our Doc's site, describing the general idea.)

There may be other causes for migraines, but if Bachmann (or anyone else!) is suffering from migraines, I'd tell them, the best first place to start looking for help would be getting checked out by a genuine, certified NUCCA practitioner.

Note to those trying to link to this page. There is a single-character ellipsis in the URL that my site's software will not permit. If you run into this also, substitute %E2%80%A6 for the … and it should work.

Similar character problems can be resolved using the "URL encoding functions" utility at this w3schools.com page.