Hard Times In Nevada

Lots of businesses have been suffering during the obama economic 'recovery.' But I never thought that would include brothels.

 The legal prostitution industry in Nevada is on its back. So say brothel owners, their employees and customers.

George Flint, who somehow manages to be both a retired minister and the brothel industry's lobbyist (hey, it's Nevada) told ABC News that gross revenues are down 40 percent to 50 percent from what they were 10 years ago. The number of legal operators has shrunk from 37 to 19.

"Just like every other small business in the U.S.," said Flint, "brothels have been affected by the downturn in the economy. In as much as they depend on discretionary spending, there's not a lot of that to go around."

Brothel experts say additional factors explain their industry's slump. The Internet now makes it easy for illegal, freelance prostitutes to hook up with customers, circumventing legal brothels.

"Substitute service is being offered," Flint said.

Like Miley Cyrus...

In addition, he said, the price of diesel fuel is up. That means truckers -- among brothels' most reliable customers -- have less to spend.

Not all brothels are suffering equally.

"Small mom-and-pop operations with three or four girls" are suffering the worst, said Flint.

"mom-and-pop operations" ... really? You'd think a lobbyist could come up with a better term for small establishments.

But even the biggest operations are reporting sharp declines. The owner of the famous Mustang Ranch, said Flint, told him just the other day that his business, compared to a year ago, is down by 3,000 "dates."

"The concept that sex will always sell probably is not a true concept," said the lobbyist. "It's not that there's any less interest in sex; it's just that people don't have the dollars to spend."

Hard times beget consolidation, and at least one big, deep-pocketed operator is using the downturn as a chance to expand by buying up struggling competitors.

Dennis Hof, who owns the Moonlight Bunny Ranch outside Carson City, Nev., told Bloomberg that the recession has allowed him to buy five more brothels, bringing his total to seven.

When the economy comes back, Bloomberg quoted him as saying, "I think I'm going to do real well."

In gambling, that's called "betting on the come."

Meanwhile, a new threat looms on the horizon: higher taxation. To date, brothels have not been subject to Nevada's 8 percent tax on live entertainment. But bills introduced in the state's last legislative session would change that.

Combining a new tax on brothels with existing estate taxes means the tax man will get you coming and going...

Idle brothel workers sit around and discuss the economy.

Friday Follies Happy Hour 08.30.13

Two of my all-time favorites from my neck of the woods team up for some down-home boogie blues.

Delbert McClinton and Marcia Ball ... it just don't get no better than this...

Oatmeal - It's Good For What Ails You

Well, it's Labor Day Weekend. And that can only mean one thing.

Yes, boys and girls, it's once again time for the annual Oatmeal Festival!

Bertram is perhaps best known for its Oatmeal Festival held each year on the Friday and Saturday before Labor Day (August 30th & 31st, 2013). Begun in 1977 as a good-natured attempt to put neighboring Oatmeal back on the map after state map-makers ignored the tiny neighboring community, the festival has evolved into one of the wackiest, most imaginative small-town festivals anywhere.

In 2013, Bertram celebrates 36 years of craziness and fun, and as always, it will actually "rain" oatmeal during the parade! (Watch out for Commander Caraway and the Oatmeal Air Force). Each year visitors come from far and wide, appreciating Bertram's sense of humor and their small town pride and friendliness. Because the festival is sponsored by Three Minutes Brand Oats, every event starts at 3 or 33 minutes past the hour.

The festival begins on Friday night with a BBQ dinner and the Miss Oatmeal Pageant in Oatmeal. A trail-ride moves the festivities to Bertram on Saturday morning, which includes a fun-run, parade, cook-off, zany games, food, and arts and crafts, kids events and more.

There's even an Oatmeal Festival T-Shirt Contest. (Sorry, guys, no wet t-shirts involved. Instead, it's a 'design the offical Oatmeal Festival T-shirt contest.')

On a somewhat serious note, there's so much doom and gloom in the news these days that it's refreshing to realize there's still a lot of good old-fashioned small-town All-American fun out there. So go out and find some yourself this holiday weekend.

As for me, I'll be taking my sugar to the Oatmeal Festival!...

Quit Your Wining

I like to drink wine, although my palette isn't refined enough to appreciate the subtleties of different types and vintages. Consequently, I am an enthusiastic but unsophisticated consumer. So I am approaching today - Cabernet Day - much like a Labrador Retriever approaches a tennis ball; that is, with excitement that threatens to overwhelm my common sense.

In the big beef state of Texas, cabernet sauvignon is king. The bold red wine stands up to our favorite food group — barbecue. The upcoming Cabernet Day on Thursday is meant to help people discover new wines from this varietal.

In keeping with that spirit, I'm sharing my thoughts on a big bold wine from the Three Thieves vineyard - The Show.

The Show combines grapes from the Central Coast, Sonoma County, Lake County, Mendocino, Lodi and Napa Valley AVA’s. Anchored by full-bodied Cabernet, it also features Petite Sirah which gives it a deep ruby color and a hint of violets on the nose. The Show is aged in French and American oak.

The Show grabs your attention. Big and bold, it is dominated by full flavors of dried black cherries, jammy preserves and complex toasty, vanilla, and spicy oak.

Word.

I like it slightly chilled. Just stick it in the fridge for an hour or so before opening. Let it sit for a few minutes to take the edge off, then pour a glass or two and enjoy. Very flavorful, very spirited, very enjoyable, and last but not least, very affordable.

Plus I like the label.

And yes, I'll be serving beef tonight. Grilled T-bones with all the fixin's.

Mmmmm...

Un-Friggin'-Believable

When I came across this collection of unimaginably twisted nonsense I didn't believe it at first. I thought it must be a joke, because no one could seriously think this way.

Sadly, I was wrong.

And to think it came out on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. You've come a long way, baby...

The Racial Implications of Miley Cyrus' VMA Performance

(Note: For those of you, like me, who had better things to do (like get a root canal, or clean the dog crap out of the yard, or watch grass grow, or...) than watch the VMA (Video Music Awards) the other night, evidently Miley Cyrus shocked the audience by wearing a skimpy costume and gyrating lewdly around the stage. Silly me - I thought that's what they all did. Anyway...)

...Miley's performance last night, and the subsequent ignoring of the racial implications of what she did is just the latest incident in the long line of things that shows me as a black woman, that white feminism does not want me, or care to have me.

Racial implications?!? She acted like a tramp. That transcends racial lines - or so I thought.

...can we talk about the problematic and racist nature of her performance? Her literal use of people as props? Her association of her newfound sexuality with the traditional codifiers of black female culture, thereby perpetuating the Jezebel stereotype that black women are lewd, lascivious and uncontrollably sexualized?

There's more such claptrap at the link, but I won't waste your time or mine by subjecting you to it.

I guess I missed the class where I was taught that "black women women are lewd, lascivious and uncontrollably sexualized."

So did Condoleezza Rice, Crystal Wright, Star Parker, Kay Coles James, and many other black women who are too busy trying to improve things in their community than to sit around and dream up ways to twist everything into some demented form of racism.

That whirling noise you hear is Dr. King spinning in his grave...

I Have A Dream - 50 Years Later

Today we're going to be subjected to a tsunami of stories and commentary concerning the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. Thomas Sowell beat them to the punch yesterday by offering what I consider to be a very telling perspective.

At the core of Dr. King’s speech was his dream of a world in which people would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by “the content of their character.”

Yet many — if not most — of those who celebrate the “I have a dream” speech today promote the directly opposite approach of group preferences, especially those based on skin color.

Sowell goes on to point out that the improvements in civil rights arising from that speech and associated movement were necessary. He also states that equality under the law is just the beginning. Other factors are necessary to achieve true equality, and the government cannot supply those.

Education and job skills are crucial, and the government cannot give you these things. All it can do is make them available.

Race hustlers who blame all lags on the racism of others are among the obstacles to taking the fullest advantage of education and other opportunities.

Evidence to back up that claim may be found in several venues.

A growing body of empirical evidence is undermining the claim that racial preferences in college benefit their recipients. Students who are admitted to schools for which they are inadequately prepared in fact learn less than they would in a student body that matches their own academic level.

Duke admits black students with SAT scores on average over one standard deviation below those of whites and Asians (blacks’ combined math and verbal SATs are 1275; whites’ are 1416, and Asians’, 1457). Not surprisingly, blacks’ grades in their first semester are significantly lower than those of other ethnic groups...

That gap shrinks considerably by the students' senior year. One might think, therefore, that the minority students are catching up with their white and Asian peers. However, a closer look at the facts indicates otherwise.

Blacks improve their GPAs because they switch disproportionately out of more demanding science and economics majors into the humanities and soft social sciences, which grade much more liberally and require less work ... more than half of those would-be black science majors switched track in the course of their studies, while less than 8 percent of white males did, so that by senior year, only 35 percent of black males graduated with a science or economics degree, while more than 63 percent of white males did.

Attrition from a hard science major was wholly accounted for in the paper’s statistical models by a freshman’s level of academic qualifications; race was irrelevant.

The reaction to this study was, as you might expect, quick, vicious, and misguided. Critics accused the authors of lacking "a genuine concern for proactively furthering the well-being of the black community.” That's where the critics totally miss the point. The black community's well-being is imperiled by the prevailing social, economic, and cultural attitude promulgated by its own 'leaders' who encourage an environment that fosters single parent families, disrespects women, encourages violence and drug use, tolerates under-performing schools, and in general dons the mantle of victimhood. (here and here.)

The Duke study is not an isolated case. An earlier study demonstrated that blacks admitted to law schools under racial preference practices "end up overwhelmingly in the lowest quarter of their class and have much greater difficulties passing the bar than students admitted on their merits". Another paper reinforces the Duke study across multiple universities.

But academic studies are dry exercises in statistical analysis. A recent case study published by the Los Angeles Times humanized the tragedy of failed affirmative-action programs and unrealistic expectations.

The University of California, Berkeley, admited Kashawn Campbell, a South Central Los Angeles high-school senior, in 2012. Admitted under a state policy that allows students in the top 10 per cent of their high school class to attend the university of their choice, Kashawn struggled from day one. His first semester results?

[Kashawn] barely passed an introductory science course. In College Writing 1A, his essays — pockmarked with misplaced words and odd phrases — were so weak that he would have to take the class again.

His writing often didn’t make sense. He struggled to comprehend the [assigned readings] and think critically about the text.

He ended up with a 1.7 GPA. His best grade? An A- in African American Studies. His struggles soon took a psychological toll.

He had never felt this kind of failure, nor felt this insecure. . . . Each poor grade [was] another stinging punch bringing him closer to flunking out. None of the adults in his life knew the depth of his pain: not his professors, his counselors, any of the teachers at his old high school.

It wasn't long before he found himself sitting for the first time in a campus psychologist's office. The counselor urged him to put his life in better perspective. Maybe he didn't have to be the straight-A kid he'd been in high school anymore. Maybe all that mattered was giving his best.

In other words, lower your standards. Lower your expectations. Settle for mediocrity.

That's the true tragedy of racial preference programs. They overlook the cause of outcome disparities - the socioeconomic factors that ill-prepare so many of our poor and minorities for later success in life - and instead try to treat the symptoms. The obvious lesson is that students admitted to academic environments for which they are not prepared struggle more and learn less than if they had been enrolled in schools where their peers share their level of academic preparation.

There's a subtler lesson here as well: the ones harmed the most by racial preferences are those for whom it was designed to help.

I don't think this is what Dr. King had in mind...

UPDATE: Ben Carson nails it.

Great Minds Think Alike

I was working on a post about the (alleged) use of chemical weapons in Syria. Then I saw this story on CNN, which makes the same point I was going to make. So here's my rushed version.

The total number of people killed during the Syrian unrest is around 100,000. The estimated number of dead from the (alleged) gas attack is around 1000.

Are we seriously considering military action because the last 1000 dead people are more valuable than the previous 99,000? Or is it because the manner of their death is so ... what? immoral? inhumane? threatening?

Dead is dead. What makes those 1000 different from the others? And is that difference significant enough to risk American lives?

Here's the CNN version.

The international effort to respond to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria begs the question: Why intervene now, and not earlier in the civil war?

More than 100,000 people have died in the conflict, which has raged for more than two years.

There have been massacres. Populated areas have been bombed. Blasts have targeted people lining up for food at bakeries. People have been decapitated.

But a single, horrifying attack has crossed what U.S. President Barack Obama called a "red line." Rebel officials say more than 1,300 people, including many women and children, died recently as a result of chemical weapons.

The United States believes Syria was behind it; rebels blame the Syrian government as well. The Syrian regime denies it, and some Syrians have told CNN they doubt their government used chemical weapons.

Given the massive human toll of attacks with conventional weapons, what makes this a potential turning point for the world to act?

And here's what Ralph Peters had to say.

Exactly which American vital security interests are at stake in Syria, Mr. President? Your credibility? Put a number on it. How many American lives is your blather about red lines worth?

Chemical weapons use? Horrible and illegal, a war crime. So is the mass slaughter of civilians. Is it really so much worse to be gassed than tortured to death by al Qaeda or burned alive in your church? Which is more important, the number of dead, or the means that killed them?

Let's make it real simple.

Assad heads up a Muslim regime that supports terrorist organizations.

His opponents are Muslim terrorists whose objective is to install a more ‘pure’ (read: extreme) Muslim regime.

Why on God's green earth should we do anything else than pop open a Shiner, sit back and relax, and watch those savages kill each other?

First Day Of School

Yesterday was the first day of school for the local school district. This is what our street looked like that morning.

Yesterday was also the first day of classes at the university where I used to teach. For the first time in almost two decades I wasn't standing in front of a bunch of blank-faced, texting, yawning dolts, answering the same old questions about material I had just discussed. Do I miss it?

Not one damn bit...

Here's a couple of stories that illustrate what the first day of class is like.

Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and taught them, saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are they that mourn.
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice.
Blessed are…

Then Peter said, “Should we write this down?”
And Mathew said, “Do we have to know this?”
And Mark said, “Will this be on the final exam?”
And Luke said, “What was that thing about the meek?”
And John said, “The other disciples didn’t have to learn this.”
And Judas said, “What does this have to do with the real life?”

Then one of the Pharisees present asked to see Jesus’ lesson plans and inquired of Jesus his learning objectives for the course. 

… and Jesus wept.

(PROFESSOR strides briskly into the room at the exact moment CLASS is scheduled to begin. The look of restrained excitement on his face is counteracted by the emotionally detached and mildly hungover stares of STUDENTS.)

Professor: Statement greeting the class. Poor attempt at joke about the weather/the college/most students probably not wanting to be here.

(STUDENTS WHO WANT TO DO WELL laugh. STUDENTS WHO DON’T GIVE A SHIT remain silent.)

Professor: Horribly strained and inaccurate justification as to why this course is worthwhile and will prove useful in the real world.

(PROFESSOR begins passing out syllabi. STUDENTS’ eyes light up as they see “INTRODUCTION TO COURSE” under class description for first day, as they know it is code for “NOTHING.” Many commence napping at this time.)

Professor: Announcement that he will begin reading the syllabus. Statement that students should feel free to ask questions at any point.

(STUDENTS WHO ARE STILL AWAKE snicker in disbelief.)

Professor: Statement read directly from the syllabus. Statement expressing exactly what is written on the syllabus but in slightly different words so as to prove that hearing him read the syllabus exposes students to information that they would not know if they just read the syllabus themselves.

(PROFESSOR repeats this approximately 2-3 times until he has completed reading the syllabus. He looks up at the CLOCK and discovers that he has completed the day’s lesson plan in 12 MINUTES.)

Professor: Desperate, pleading inquiry into whether or not there are any questions.

(STUDENT raises his hand after a brief pause. He will soon evolve into STUDENT WHO EVERYONE ELSE IN THE CLASS HATES.)

Student: Simple and inane question that could be directly answered by reading the syllabus.

Professor: Overly enthusiastic, lengthy, and detailed response containing at least four mentions of the phrase “You probably don’t need to know this, but” and quickly devolving into an awkward story about his personal life. Inquiry into whether or not there are any more questions.

(STUDENTS all glare at STUDENT WHO EVERYONE ELSE IN THE CLASS HATES to make sure he does not raise his hand again. PROFESSOR waits an unnecessarily long amount of time before finally conceding that there are no more questions.)

Professor: Reluctant statement telling students they can leave early this time.

(STUDENTS WHO ARE STILL AWAKE subtly wake up STUDENTS WHO FELL ASLEEP. Both groups walk briskly to the door so they can begin/resume napping before PROFESSOR tries to tell them something else. He will never see many of them again.)

Professor: Calls out reminder of when his office hours are to exiting students.

Student: Inquiry into what office hours are.

Professor: Resigned sigh upon the realization that this year will be no different from years past.

(Source)

FOD Cartoons

Cleaning up the ol' PC...

FOD 2013.08.26

obama has spent a large part of the summer - when he wasn't on vacation - bemoaning the plight of America's middle class, and promising to do something about it. How is that playing in Peoria?

Not very well.

Despite his ongoing campaign to promote his economic agenda, President Obama is having trouble persuading the country that his policies are helping the middle class.

The latest Monmouth University poll finds that a plurality of Americans think Wall Street and other elites have been served better than the middle class by the president. Only 12 percent of Americans said middle class families have greatly benefited from Obama's policies, while 46 percent said they haven't benefited at all and an additional 39 percent say they have benefited only a "little."

There's a good reason for those poll results. Middle class Americans deal with harsh economic reality every day - going to work (or looking for work), paying their bills, and trying to put a little aside for a rainy day ... or paying for their kids' college education ... or saving for retirement.

And it's getting harder and harder for us middle class types to keep our heads above water.

New estimates derived from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey by Sentier Research indicate that the real (inflation-adjusted) median annual household income in America has fallen by 4.4 percent during the "recovery," after having fallen by 1.8 during the recession.  During the recession, the median American household income fell by $1,002 (from $55,480 to $54,478). During the recovery—that is, from the officially defined end of the recession (in June 2009) to the most recent month for which figures are available (June 2013)—the median American household income has fallen by $2,380 (from $54,478 to $52,098).  So the typical American household is making almost $2,400 less per year (in constant 2013 dollars) than it was four years ago, when the Obama "recovery" began.

Importantly, these income tallies include government payouts such as unemployment compensation and cash welfare. So Obama's method of funneling ever-more money and power to Washington, and then selectively divvying some of it back out, clearly isn't working for the typical American family.

obama's summer offensive includes several mystifying elements: a federal rating system for universities (huh?), along with proposals to create jobs in the wind, solar (anyone remember Solyndra?), and natural gas industries.

Oh yeah, and unicorn ranching...

He should quit meddling with things he obviously doesn't understand - like the economy. As Uncle Jed was fond of saying to Jethro, "Don't help me, boy."

(That "boy" isn't a racist comment - it's a quote from the old Beverly Hillbillies TV show that Jed would say whenever Jethro got involved in something and immediately made things worse.)

Sunday Funnies 2013.08.25

Cleaning out the in-box...

MT. VERNON, TEXAS, WHOREHOUSE SUES LOCAL CHURCH OVER LIGHTNING STRIKE

Diamond D's brothel began construction on an expansion of their building to increase their ever-growing business. In response, the local Baptist Church started a campaign to block the business from expanding -- with morning, afternoon, and evening prayer sessions at their church. Work on Diamond D's progressed right up until the week before the grand reopening when lightning struck the whorehouse and burned it to the ground!

After the cat-house was burned to the ground by the lightning strike, the church folks were rather smug in their outlook, bragging about "the power of prayer."

But late last week 'Big Jugs' Jill Diamond, the owner/madam, sued the church, the preacher and the entire congregation on the grounds that the church ... "was ultimately responsible for the demise of her building and her business -- either through direct or indirect divine actions or means."

In its reply to the court, the church vehemently and voraciously denied any and all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise, claiming it was pure fabrication on the part of the house of ill repute.

The crusty old judge read through the plaintiff's complaint and the defendant's reply, and at the opening hearing he commented, "I don't know how the hell I'm going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, that we now have a whorehouse owner who staunchly believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that thinks it's all bullshit!"

Ole was hunting geese up in the Minnesota woods.  He leaned the old 16 gauge against the corner of the blind to take a leak. As luck would have it, his foolish dog knocked the gun over, it went off and Ole took most of an ounce of #4 shot in the groin.

Several hours later, lying in a Duluth hospital bed, he came to...and there was his doctor, Sven.

"Vell Ole, I got some good news and some bad news.  Da good news is dat you are going to be OK.  Da damage vas local to your groin, dere was very little internal damage, and I vas able to remove all of da buckshot."

"What's the bad news?", asks Ole

"The bad news is dat dere vas some pretty extensive buckshot damage done to your pecker.  I'm going to have to refer you to my sister, Lena ."

"Well, I guess that isn't too bad," says Ole.  "Is your sister a plastic surgeon?"

"Not exactly," Sven says.  "She's a flute player in da Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra.  She's going to teach you vhere to put your fingers, so you don't piss in your eye."

The children in a kindergarten class were beginning to learn how to match up colors with their associated flavors. The teacher gave them different colored Lifesavers, and the children were supposed to figure out what flavor went with what color.

For example:

Red....................Cherry
Yellow.................Lemon
Green..................Lime
Orange ..............Orange

But they got a little confused when the teacher gave them Honey flavored Lifesavers. None of the kids could identify the taste.

Finally, the teacher said, "I will give you all a clue. It's what your mother sometimes calls your father."

One little girl looked up in horror, spit her Lifesaver out, and yelled, "Oh my God! They're assholes!"

I was in my back yard trying to launch a kite.

I threw the kite up in the air, the wind would catch it for a few seconds, and then it would come crashing back down to earth.

I tried this a few more times with no success.

All the while, my wife is watching from the kitchen window, muttering to herself about how men need to be told how to do everything.

She opened the window and yelled to me, "You need a piece of tail."

I turned with a confused look on my face and yelled back, "Make up your mind. Last night, you told me to go fly a kite."

One of my all-time favorite comic strips was Andy Capp. Here's a few from yesteryear...

Good News For A Change

I've had it up to here (holds hand horizontally near neck) with all the crap that's been going on recently. So today I'm going with a story that made me feel more positive about this country. Hopefully it'll have the same effect on you.

Home At Last

When 3rd Infantry Division soldier Greg Alford returned to his Effingham County home Wednesday from a tour in Afghanistan, he was touched to see all the “welcome home” signs and American flags in his neighborhood.

“She always does something,” Greg said, turning to his wife Joni and sharing a smile with her.

Alford was one of 270 soldiers from the 3rd Aviation Combat Brigade to receive a big welcome back to Hunter Army Airfield on Wednesday night following eight months in Afghanistan.

“Eight months and five days,” Joni specified.

Following the homecoming ceremony at HAAF, the Alfords headed to their home in southern Effingham County ... Along with American flags lining Crystal Drive, several yards were adorned with signs saying “Welcome home CW3 Alford” with a silhouette of a helicopter. As a maintenance test pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alford’s primary job is to test-fly aircraft after they have undergone maintenance.

“When we turned (onto the street), I saw the signs,” Greg said, “and there were more signs and more signs … I knew she had gone all-out.”

It was certainly not a last-minute idea. Joni ordered the signs about three months in advance.

The neighborhood also took some initiative of its own. The Alfords’ good friends Mary and Jon Mistak helped put out the word last month that Greg would be coming home soon, and several neighbors started placing American flags on their mailboxes and in their yards two weeks ahead of his arrival.

This was Greg’s fourth deployment since 2005 — two to Iraq followed by two to Afghanistan. Though every return home has been joyous, Greg described this latest one as “very special.”

“Knowing I had somebody here that loves me and goes out of her way to make it special, and seeing the whole neighborhood being supportive, it’s awesome,” he said.

I feel much better now...

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2013.08.23

I've had to put up with too many politically correct idiots this week. It's time to get back to my roots...

Breaking News

Dateline: Spokane, Washington

Major crimes investigators have just confirmed that one teenager has been arrested in the beating death of WWII veteran Delbert Belton. One suspect remains on the loose. Charges of 1st degree murder and 1st degree robbery pending.

The 16-year-old arrested in the Delbert Belton case is identified as Demetrius Glenn, he's facing 1st degree murder and robbery.

Demetrius Glenn's criminal history: malicious mischief 3rd,4th degree assault, driving w/o license. Glenn also had an issue involving "riot with a deadly weapon."

The second suspect police are looking for is identified as Kenan Adams-Kinard. 

Original Story:

88-Year-Old World War II Vet Beaten to Death By Two ‘Youths’ Who Could Look Like Obama’s Son

God bless Delbert Belton. He survived Okinawa, but not Obama’s America.

In other news, Vice President Joe Biden spoke out on the murder of Christopher Lane, the white man killed by bored black teenagers in Oklahoma:

"If I had a son, he's look like Chris Lane."

(No, Joe didn't really say that. But I had you going there for a minute, didn't I...)

Pictured below are three individuals linked to the murders of both Chris Lane and Delbert Belton.

This Is Getting Out of Control

I can't even make it through my first cup of coffee in the morning anymore without reading another story like this one.

WWII vet beaten to death by teens

WWII veteran Delbert Belton survived being wounded in action during the Battle of Okinawa only to be beaten and left for dead by two teens at the Eagles Lodge in Spokane on Wednesday evening.

Belton, 88, succumbed to his injuries Thursday morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Spokane police are looking for two male suspects in the attack. They said the suspects are African Americans between 16 and 19 years old. One suspect was described as heavy set and wearing all black clothing. The other was described as being about 6 feet tall and 150 pounds. There was no description of what clothing the second suspect was wearing other than a silk do-rag.

Spokane Police are looking for these two suspects in the beating death of an 88-year-old World War II veteran.

The motive?

"Police don't have one. The teens appeared to have picked him at random..."

Oh, I think we all know what the motive was. The problem is that very few people in the media -- or in positions of influence, such as the president, the head of the NAACP, the 'reverends' Jackson and Sharpton, etc. -- have the balls to say what is painfully obvious to the rest of us.

Racism.

In this case, it manifests itself in the form of a hate crime - that is, a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.” That definition, BTW, comes from the FBI.

If those people mentioned above can get their panties in a wad over the antics of a rodeo clown and call for an FBI investigation in that case, I'm sure they'll be equally as outspoken in this one.

Yeah, right...

Why has it come to this? How did we get here? Pat Buchanan has a few thoughts on the subject.

Surely one explanation lies in the fact that the old conscience-forming and character-forming institutions – home, church, school and a moral and healthy culture fortifying basic truths – have collapsed. And the community hardest hit is Black America.

If we go back to the end of World War II, 90 percent of black families consisted of a mother and father and children raised and disciplined by their parents.

(Today) Seventy-three percent of black kids are born to single moms. Black kids who make it to 12th grade may often be found reading at seventh-, eighth- or ninth-grade levels. In some cities the black dropout rate can hit as high as 50 percent.

Drugs are readily available. And among black males ages 18 to 29, in urban areas, often a third are in prison or jail, or on probation or parole, or walking around with a criminal record.

Where do the kids get their ideas of right and wrong, good and evil? In homes where the father is absent and the TV is always on. From radios tuned in to rap and hip-hop. From films where Hollywood values prevail and the shooting never stops. From street gangs that sometimes form the only families these kids have ever known.

Thank you, LBJ. Thank you, cultural revolution.

Since Lyndon Johnson took office, 50 years ago, we have spent trillions on his programs for health care, housing, education, food stamps, welfare and civil rights. Are we living in that Great Society we were promised?

In that same decade, we were told that the social, cultural and moral revolution bursting forth on the campuses would rid us of the repressive old-time morality and Old Time Religion, and lead to a more equal, just, humane and better America, a beacon to mankind.

In the real America, interracial violence is overwhelmingly black-on-white. Even if the media will not report it, everybody knows it.

And journalists will not dig into the numbers that prove it, for the truth would undermine their ideology and contradict the narrative that governs and gives meaning to their lives.

The other truth that journalists will not face is that barack obama swept into office promising to be 'the Great Uniter.' He has turned out to be just the opposite.

According to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, the share of Americans who consider race relations "very good" or "fairly good" has plummeted from above 70% between 2009 and 2011 to only 52% today.

Perhaps most amazing is the poll's finding that just 38% of blacks in the U.S. — in spite of America's first black president being re-elected less than a year ago — hold a positive view of the current state of race relations. At the outset of Obama's presidency, by comparison, no doubt with Fairey's iconic, feel-good image in mind, nearly 80% of whites and some 63% of blacks had a favorable viewpoint on ties between the races.

Sigh ... time to go add some more coffee to my Kahlua...

Keep Your Hands Clean

I've lost count of all the scandals emanating from the obama administration. By one count there are at least two dozen. But I have run across a product that makes cleaning up the messes much easier.

If there's one great universal truth that we can all agree on, it's this: No one wants poop on their hands.

And yet, we laugh carelessly in the face of danger every time we take an old fashioned wet wipe to our heinies, flying completely blind in the critical poop-to-hand spatial relation.

With new Shittens, you can fully protect your hands while tending to the dirty deed.

The way things are going these days you'd better order a case...

Potpourri 2013.08.22

There's just too much going on these days to keep up with it all. So I've picked a few stories that I found interesting. Brief comments and links are below, but you'll have to read the stories for yourself to get the most out of them.


What happens when an idealistic liberal meets reality head-on? Find out at:

Starry-eyed Liberal Meets Reality

The dynamics between father and son are different than mother-son or father-daughter. Michael Gerson chronicles the mixed emotions we fathers experience when our eldest son goes off to college.

Saying goodbye to my child

At last, someone in the media acknowledges what is painfully obvious to many of us.

Don’t Ignore Race

And while we're at it, don't ignore the culpability of parents when kids go bad.

Negligent parents, lawbreaking kids

What Difference Does It Make?

The 2014 midterm elections are still over a year away, yet there are an increasing number of stories popping up about hillary running for president in 2016. Interestingly, several of them present reasons why the rush to coronate  her may be premature.

Feminist icon Camille Paglia (I know, I know ... I've never heard of her either) had this to say about hillary running for prez in 2016.

It remains baffling how anyone would think that Hillary Clinton ... is our party’s best chance. She has more sooty baggage than a 90-car freight train. And what exactly has she ever accomplished — beyond bullishly covering for her philandering husband? She’s certainly busy, busy and ever on the move — with the tunnel-vision workaholism of someone trying to blot out uncomfortable private thoughts.

Others echo that theme.

What has the woman done? As a lawyer, what important cases did she win? As a first lady, her only major “accomplishment” was a failed health-care-reform scheme that didn’t even get a vote in the Senate. As a carpetbagging senator from New York, what historic legislation did she shepherd? ... Pretty much the only thing her biggest supporters can tout about her tenure as secretary of state is that she “travelled a million miles,” which strikes me as the ultimate triumph of quantity over quality (particularly given the hot mess that is American foreign policy).

Granted, hillary is an adept politician. But there's a big difference between wheeling and dealing behind the scenes, and wowing people on the campaign trail with soaring rhetoric and inspirational speeches. Can you recall one memorable thing she's said - besides, of course, "What difference does it make"?

Personally, I'm rooting for a hillary-biden shootout for the 2016 nomination. Two reasons: one, the survivor will be severely wounded, and two, it'll be a blast to watch.

Severely wounded:

...if Biden runs and if it looks for even a moment that he might steal the prize from Hillary, the Clinton machine will go bat guano crazy and attack Biden either directly or via legions of sock-puppet proxies.

If he starts racking up wins in the early primaries ... Bill Clinton (will become) even more enraged than he was when he missed his chance to be a judge at the Hawaiian Tropic beauty contest. Once both sides start hurling mud, both Biden and Hillary are likely to look like stale defenders of the status quo – a status quo that stinks by the way. That’s important to keep in mind as well. Defending the Obama record works in Democratic primaries, and having Hillary and Joe fight over who deserves more credit for it will create enormous opportunities ... for Republicans promising a fresh start.

Fun to watch:

The smarter spinners will try to bait Biden into saying something stupid, which should be about as hard as baiting a bear with a huge bowl of ice cream, smoked trout and Captain Crunch. Seriously, does anyone think that he won’t say something stupid or crazy when Hillary gets under his skin?

We might even see liberals suddenly become very troubled by Biden’s past statements on race or whatnot...

That last line may be a bit too much to hope for. But in any event, it will be an entertaining primary.  Sadly, however, the republicans will probably find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in 2016, just like they did in 2012.

Egypted Us - Update

In my most recent post I asked the rhetorical question "why is the president of the United States so intent on putting (the Muslim Brotherhood) back in power in Egypt?

Here's one possible answer.

Obama's brother linked to Muslim Brotherhood

President Obama’s half-brother in Kenya could cause the White House more headaches over new evidence linking him to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt...

Malik Obama’s oversight of the Muslim Brotherhood’s international investments is one reason for the Obama administration’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to an Egyptian report citing the vice president of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Tehani al-Gebali...

Malik Obama, best man at the wedding of Barack H. Obama, Oct. 3, 1992

The cherry on top of that particular sundae is that funds contributed in the U.S. to a tax exempt foundation run by Malik Obama may have been diverted to support Malik’s multiple wives in Kenya.

And just for good measure, the IRS official who approved the tax exempt status of that foundation was none other than controversial IRS supervisor Lois Lerner, who is currently under congressional investigation for targeting conservative groups.

As if that's not enough, Malik isn't barry's first relative to receive preferential treatment.

A document obtained from the Obama administration through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request shows that President Barack Obama's uncle, Omar Onyango, received a deportation stay from the Obama administration. The document ... suggests the possibility that Onyango is receiving special treatment from authorities.

Judicial Watch recalls that Onyango was first required to leave the country in 1989, and failed to do so. His case entered the spotlight after he was arrested for drunk driving last year:

Another relative, Obama's half-aunt, Zeituni Onyango, overstayed her visa and received public housing and other public benefits before being granted political asylum in 2010.

Remember, kids, incest begins at home...

Egypted Us

I'm confused. Granted, the Middle East is a muddled mess. But one thing seems crystal clear. The Muslim Brotherhood is a front for an anti-democracy, anti-Western, and anti-American terrorist movement.

(The Muslim Brotherhood) is not a legitimate political party. Its objects are not consistent with democracy or democratic goals. It is ... "a fascist political faction with murderous intent..." Its goal is the (re)establishment of an Islamic caliphate.

...although it claims to be non-violent, its motto describes “dying in the way of Allah” as the group’s highest hope.

So why is the president of the United States so intent on putting them back in power in Egypt?

...the U.S. has a president who apparently believes ... the Muslim Brotherhood's most famous political slogan, “Islam is the solution.”

On June 4, 2009, Obama gave his famous speech to the Islamic world, from Cairo ... The concept of addressing the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims this way, defining them as members of the Islamic community rather than citizens of their respective countries, is itself a Muslim supremacist idea. 

Tellingly, he invited the leaders of the banned Muslim Brotherhood to attend, where they sat in the front row. This effectively excluded his official host and America’s friend, President Hosni Mubarak, who pleaded ill health.

It also seemed to tell the Muslim Brotherhood, an anti-Western, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, anti-female and anti-gay group that spawned the ideology that created Al Qaeda, “You are the future.”

Fast forward to 2011. The Mubarak government was overthrown, and the Muslim Brotherhood played a major role in the new government. Their candidate, Mohamed Morsi, was elected as the new president.

In 2012 protests began against the Brotherhood's rule. In July 2013 the Egyptian military assumed control. Amid ongoing unrest, obama and his new Secretary of State, John Kerry, made their displeasure known.

(obama denounced) the “arbitrary arrests” of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and the “broad crackdown on Mr. Morsi’s associations and supporters” and then insisted “We don’t take sides with any particular party or political figure.”

Oh, really? Contrast that statement with the following.

This June, Kerry insisted that we had to keep providing aid to Egypt, despite Morsi’s abuses and lack of democracy, in order to maintain “a channel to Egyptian military leadership, who are key opinion makers in the country.”

But once Morsi was gone, the F-16s that had been the subject of such controversy, and that Obama had insisted on providing to Morsi, were denied to the Egyptian military. Obama was willing to provide advanced weapons to the Muslim Brotherhood, but not to the Egyptian military.

Obama demanded that the Egyptian military go easy on the Brotherhood protesters, but had made no such requests of Morsi. He repeatedly emphasized that foreign aid was on the line in his threats to the new Egyptian government, but had made no move to warn Morsi that foreign aid was linked to his treatment of the political opposition.

During the Morsi era, the administration insisted that human rights could not be linked to Egyptian military or civilian aid. After Morsi, suddenly the same officials were very interested in human rights.

That pattern of support for the Muslim Brotherhood at the expense of any opposition has been repeated throughout the Mid-East.

In Syria, Obama had made the decision to arm the Muslim Brotherhood dominated Free Syrian Army while disregarding its blatant ties to Al Qaeda.

In Libya, an Islamist militia linked to the Muslim Brotherhood had been paid to protect the Benghazi mission, which had been deprived of more conventional security and assistance.

While the protests against the Brotherhood were mounting in Egypt, in Libya the Muslim Brotherhood was orchestrating a wave of protests against the government. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood insisted on its right to power because it was the democratically elected government, while in Libya it was trying to overthrow a democratically elected government.

Obama created a set of favorable conditions that would allow the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists to take over country after country. When they couldn’t do it non-violently, he went to war, as he did in Libya. When he couldn’t go to war for them, he supplied them with weapons and training, as he did in Syria. When they were overthrown, he supported them to the hilt, as he is doing in Egypt.

The wave of terror spreading over the region has empowered Al Qaeda and endangered America, bringing no stability, only an endless conflict between the Muslim Brotherhood and everyone else.

One of the consequences of obama's bungled handling of the Egyptian situation is a loss of U.S. influence in the region.

The U.S.’s closest Middle East allies are undercutting American policy in Egypt, encouraging the military to confront the Muslim Brotherhood rather than reconcile, U.S. and Arab officials said.

The parallel efforts by Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have blunted U.S. influence with Egypt’s military leadership and underscored how the chaos there has pulled Israel into ever-closer alignment with those Gulf states, officials said.

A senior Israeli official called the anti-Muslim Brotherhood nations “the axis of reason.”

It's not just those countries that are taking advantage of the obama administration's dithering. Russia is moving in as well.

Vladimir Putin appears to be seizing on the Egyptian crisis and the U.S. response to it to expand Russia’s influence in the Arab world’s most populous country.

On Thursday afternoon President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. would be cancelling a joint military exercise with the Egyptian Army over its violent crackdown on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Shortly afterwards, Egypt Independent reported that Putin had called an extraordinary session in the Kremlin to put “all Russian military facilities ‘at the Egyptian military's disposal.’" The report, which cited several sources without providing any further details about them, also said that “Putin will discuss Russian arrangements for joint-military exercises with the Egyptian army.”

So who cares? Why should we lose any sleep over more turmoil in a region that seems to consist of nothing but turmoil?

Well, Egypt controls the Suez Canal. That's vital for the deployment of our naval forces to the Persian Gulf (and elsewhere), as well as the shipment of several million of barrels of oil daily. And the Egypt-Israel peace accord is an anchor of stability in that volatile region.

If the Egyptian military comes out on top in the current conflict, as seems likely, Russia will have positioned itself to substantially expand its influence with Egypt, while the U.S. suffers a corresponding loss. And that may come back to haunt us at some point down the road.

Meanwhile, obama dithers on...

Good News, Bad News

My last few posts have dealt with depressing reality. It's time for something that's a little more uplifting. So today we'll be talking about beer.

Since the beginning of time,  it seems sipping on a frosty cold beer has been a necessity on a scorching hot day. This can be counter-intuitive at times, given alcohol actually increases dehydration...

However, researchers from Griffith University’s Health Institute may have answered every Australians prayers. They have found that by adding electrolytes, a common ingredient found in sports drinks, and reducing the alcohol content could make a beer more refreshing than ever.

As part of the study the Institute manipulated the electrolyte levels of two commercial beers, one that was regular strength and one that was light. They then gave those two beers to volunteers who had been heavily exercising just before consumption to test their fluid recovery.

Talk about a dilemma. Volunteer for a study that involves heavy exercise, but that also gives you free beer. What to do, what to do...?

The study showed that the light beer that had been combined with electrolytes was one third more effective at hydrating a person than a regular beer. The best news for beer drinkers was that the taste of the modified beverages didn’t change.

The good news is that the taste didn't change. The bad news is that we're talking about light beer, which doesn't have much taste to begin with.

Whilst of course the researchers don’t recommend drinking beer after rigorous exercise, Professor Desbrow suggests that it is more effective to tell people how to minimise dehydration than to tell them not to drink at all.

He said, “If you’re going to live in the real world, you can either spend your time telling people what they shouldn’t do, or you can work on ways of reducing the danger of some of these socialised activities.”

Give the good professor his props for recognizing how the real world works. But if it's all the same to him, I'll stick with Shiner...

We Must Stop All This Clowning Around

By now there's been plenty written and said about Clowngate. I'm a little late coming to the party.

I don't have much to add in the way of profound insights or penetrating analysis that hasn't been put out there by others. I do, however, feel compelled to say something about the unbelievable ignorance and hypocrisy of the left, if only for my own peace of mind. What follows is more a stream-of-consciousness download than a reasoned and structured essay. It's also more for my benefit than yours, although I hope you get something out of it.

First of all, let's get the terminology straight. The proper term is not "rodeo clown," but rather "bullfighter."

Today's bullfighters, descendants of what used to be called rodeo clowns, need to persevere. While the job has enjoyed an image upgrade in recent years ... it's kept its almost primeval purpose: Serve as a bodyguard for bull riders who've been thrown or hopped from bulls after their eight-second rides.

One of the reasons I respect and appreciate bullfighters is because I have a 42-year-old son who, in his younger days, like most 20-something males thought he was immortal. He chose to celebrate his immortality by riding bulls in jackpot rodeos. (A jackpot rodeo is a small, informal affair where the participants throw a few bucks into a kitty. The top performers split the pot.)

One night he got thrown, trampled, and hooked by a bull. Fortunately there was an amateur bullfighter on hand who distracted the beast while sonny-boy staggered from the arena. His injuries: a dislocated shoulder, fractured ribs, and facial lacerations. He still has scars on his face today from his up close and personal encounter with 1500 pounds of pissed-off t-bone steaks. But it would have been much, much worse if not for the bullfighter.

Now for the hypocrisy. I'm sure the same folks who are indigent over the obama dummy incident would be equally outraged if any other president had been treated likewise.

Oh, wait...

The big white gate flew open. The bull came out bucking. The rider flopped from side to side and the bullfighters held back, letting the bull make his moves until the rider dropped off ... A dummy with a George Bush mask stood beside the clown, propped up by a broomstick. (emphasis added)

(The bull) dispatched his rider before the mandatory eight seconds. Now he stood tall, his head up, looking for something to charge.

Then the bull saw the George Bush dummy.

He tore into it, sending the rubber mask flying halfway across the sand...

That happened during a rodeo in 1994. I know I'm getting old and forgetful, but I don't seem to recall an eruption of outrage over that incident.

Neither do I recall any complaints from the left over the following images (H/T The Frugal Cafe.)

Can you imagine the furor if Bush was replaced by obama in this picture?

Or if Michelle Obama was portrayed in the same way as Condoleezza Rice was in this image?

Many on the left will argue that the obama incident is different, because he is black.

The Missouri chapter of the NAACP demanded an FBI investigation of the perpetrator. Mary Ratliff, the head of the NAACP's chapter in Missouri, called the incident “a hate crime, pure and simple. We need the FBI to investigate before this type of denigration of the President becomes common.”

This isn't the first time a presidential mask has shown up at a rodeo. Back in 1994 a dummy wearing a George Bush mask was gored by a bull while the crowd cheered.

“It's not the same,” Ratliff argued. “Bush is white and by 1994 he was already an ex-president. So it couldn't have been a hate crime and it certainly didn't threaten a sitting president. The FBI has got to protect President Obama from all threats. They may seem trivial to some, but he's the most important person in the world. We can't risk even the slightest danger to his well-being. Such a blatant show of disrespect says it's okay to oppose the President and try to block what he's doing for the country. That's what we need to discourage.”

Now that your blood pressure is spiking, I should tell you that the above story is satire. But if you're like me, when you first read it you took it at face value. That's because we've reached the point where any criticism of obama is immediately labelled as racism by the media and professional racists.

As for the role of the mainstream media in all this, well, I've long since given up any hope of 'fair and balanced' reporting or analysis.

And of course there are the usual idiots who feel compelled to show their support for barry, no matter what.

At times like this there's not much to say. All I can do is repeat the old cowboy saying:

"Let's go, let's show, let's rodeo!"

(H/T to the Earl of Taint for the image.)

FOD 2013.08.19

George Will has been commenting on the antics of our elected 'leaders' for over 40 years now. He is articulate, insightful, and IMHO generally spot-on. What many people forget is that, although of conservative (if not libertarian) leanings, he made his bones excoriating Nixon for that president's crimes and deceit.

In a recent column, Will compares and contrasts Nixon's aberrant treatment of the Constitution with obama's campaign to emasculate it.

President Obama’s increasingly grandiose claims for presidential power are inversely proportional to his shriveling presidency. Desperation fuels arrogance as, barely 200 days into the 1,462 days of his second term, his pantry of excuses for failure is bare, his domestic agenda is nonexistent and his foreign policy of empty rhetorical deadlines and red lines is floundering. And at last week’s news conference he offered inconvenience as a justification for illegality.

Explaining his decision to unilaterally rewrite the Affordable Care Act (ACA), he said: “I didn’t simply choose to” ignore the statutory requirement for beginning in 2014 the employer mandate to provide employees with health care. No, “this was in consultation with businesses.”

The case in point is obama's announcement that he would delay enforcement of the requirement that all employers with more than 50 employees provide coverage to their workers from 2014 to 2015. That, however, is merely the latest symptom of obama's penchant for riding roughshod over the Constitution. In the context of obamacare alone, "the Obama administration had missed as many as one-third of the deadlines, specified by law, under the Affordable Care Act."

First, there was the delay of Obamacare’s Medicare cuts until after the election. Then there was the delay of the law’s employer mandate. Then there was the announcement, buried in the Federal Register, that the administration would delay enforcement of a number of key eligibility requirements for the law’s health insurance subsidies, relying on the “honor system” instead. Now comes word that another costly provision of the health law—its caps on out-of-pocket insurance costs—will be delayed for one more year.

Sadly, such Constitutional neglect has gone unnoticed by the mainstream media - the same group that hounded Nixon from office for similar behavior.

Serving as props in the scripted charade of White House news conferences, journalists did not ask the pertinent question: “Where does the Constitution confer upon presidents the ‘executive authority’ to ignore the separation of powers by revising laws?”

In a 1977 interview with Richard Nixon, David Frost asked: “Would you say that there are certain situations ... where the president can decide that it’s in the best interests of the nation ... and do something illegal?”

Nixon: “Well, when the president does it, that means it is not illegal.”

That is a truly frightening statement. It reveals the mind of an individual who holds himself above the law. It was wrong when Nixon did it, and it's wrong now.

Nixon’s claim, although constitutionally grotesque, was less so than the claim implicit in Obama’s actions regarding the ACA. Nixon’s claim was confined to matters of national security or (he said to Frost) “a threat to internal peace and order of significant magnitude.” Obama’s audacity is more spacious; it encompasses a right to disregard any portion of any law pertaining to any subject at any time when the political “environment” is difficult.

Obama should be embarrassed that, by ignoring the legal requirement concerning the employer mandate, he has validated critics who say the ACA cannot be implemented as written.

I think by now it's clear that obama cannot be embarrassed. If he won't hide his head in shame from the debacle that is obamacare, why should we expect him to be embarrassed by Fast and Furious ... or Benghazi ... or the IRS scandal ... or spying on the Associated Press ... or using the NSA to spy on everyone else ... or anything?