Swamp Musings

Too damp to continue playing outside and it looks set in so I moved back inside. I know how much some of you truly appreciate the DNC so you might want to go sign this petition. I did! ;o)

Draft Howard Dean for Democratic Party Chairman

Hey, I'm jus' helping!

* * * * * *

This is the major reason I lost all interest in city life. My twanger got plucked once too often by the slime that cycles in and out even if the blue line bothers busting it.


Nearly 120,000 L.A. Jail Inmates Released Early

More Than Half Left Jail Within One To Two Days

- - - - - -

More fun. Slime like those "Level 3 offenders" should not have made it past Level 1. God made tall trees and there's plenty of short rope.

State police post "Most Wanted" sex offender list online

There is only one cure for a child molester and it should be swift and sure. If al Zark isn't too busy, maybe he could help the State of Mass as they seem to think panties on the head is a far worse offense than sodomizing their daughters and sons.

* * * * * *

Some interesting stuff. Here are a couple of conservative girls, one black, one white. Both are fairly high profile but I'd never heard of them until wandering through the blogworld. I was amused at how predictable they were treated.

Emboldened White Liberals
La Shawn Barber


Because I'm a girl
Mary Katharine Ham

La Shawn provided a photo on her blog. Mary doesn't in that column so I'll provide one that shows pretty white girls can be conservative! If she didn't look so much like my little sister... (nah, fergit it you old goat...) LOL! The radio station I'm listening to right now has on "I Just Don't Look Good Naked Anymore" and I'm having trouble typing!

I Just Don't Look Good Naked Anymore

I stepped out of the shower and I got a good look at myself
Pot bellied, bald headed man, I thought I was somebody else
I caught my reflection in the mirror on the bathroom door
I just don't look good naked anymore.

So I'm goin' upstairs and turn my bedroom mirror to the wall
I hung it there when I was trim and tall
I'd stand there and smile, and flex and strut until my arm got sore
Well, I just don't look good naked anymore.

I used to go out with the girls, I loved them one and all
Now they don't get very close to me, afraid that I might fall
I went to the Doctor for my annual medical exam
Standing there in the buff, suddenly he said "MAN"
I said "what is it Doc, some fatal disease, I gotta know the score"
He said "no, you just don't look good naked anymore.

Me and Mona had a dancing style, folks said it was unique
Now it's only when we're back to back, we're dancing cheek to cheek
I went down to the nude beach to have some seaside fun
Stretched out in my birthday suit, soakin' up the sun
Somebody said, "There's an old white whale washed upon the shore
I just don't look good naked anymore.

My arches fell, my waist went to hell, my butt's draggin' the floor
I just don't look good naked anymore

No, I just don't look good naked anymore.

- - - - - -


sheesh. Oh, before I forget, here's Mary.

------

I posted the wrong column from Mary although that one was good. This is the one I meant to link.

Liberals have a distorted view of tolerance

Yep. Been trying to figure out what that munching sound I've been hearing late at night is. There is NOTHING as quiet as this batcave with the windows closed and all the humming machinery off. There's no such thing as a mouse, all mice are female and they are born permanently pregnant. The next batch are being warmed up as the latest are coming out of the oven. I'd go out and catch a pine snake or 2 to fix the problem but they'd probably eat Bronson, the resident toad, and I can't have that. He's been my roommate since '98 or '99 and you couldn't ask for better company. Well, he does shit on the floor but he's a lot better than the fella before him that was using MY 'puter and connection to traffic 'stuff'. Toad turds are easy to deal with and besides, Bronson eats roaches, doesn't smoke them.

The meese have gotten into the cornmeal, rice, and dawg feed so tonight I'll have traps set all over the place. I'll also sleep with my shoes on. Kinda numb in the morning you see. Don't need a nasty suprise to start the day.

As is normal, Saturday is housecleaning (HAH!) day with today's varient being bottling up the last batch of ale until probably March or April. Sterilize a batch of bottles and caps, prime, then bottle. All done but the cleanup of the equipment and stowage until next time. Clothes are washed and hung out to be rained on, a bunch more firewood cut and stacked to be rained on (both Cookie & Rima think tarps are combination food units and bedding), and I was about to go tackle the dead tree across the lane when the rain started up again.



That's just a limb off the main trunk and for scale, the greenish post showing is 12' high.

Cookie was paying attention to the soon-to-be modified tree. I'd been wandering around the base and other broken parts estimating the best ways to cut it into bits with the least effort and bloodshed. As you can tell even from the shrunk photo, Rima was about to tackle a bug. Fierce!




The mower is still partially hung up in the roof brush. I'm going back up there shortly to try again, this time with a kettle of boiling water.



Yep, that's a fire ant mound and they got a goodly piece of me on the first go-round with the loppers.


Exciting down here, isn't it? I think I'll go clean some mildew off of the pantry door whilst waiting for the rain to pause.

Here's a couple of good reads for yesterday. They'll work just fine today as well.


They Call Them "Charlie's Angels"


Thanksgiving in Fallujah - Emails Home

* * * * * *

(written yesterday morning)

Nice and quiet down in the jungle this morning. Haven't figured out what type of trouble to get into before it ends, just enjoying the annual listening of "Alice's Restaurant" and reading A Tribute To Officer Obie. The real story is "slightly" different. I think this is called "artistic license" and it's much funnier in Arlo's version!

Just listened to the 1999 version. Arlo brought up the 18 minutes, 20 seconds missing in the Nixon tapes. Same length as the original "Alice" recording? !! ;o)

I suppose it helps to be a middle-aged male to really appreciate the humor in Arlo's old tune. I had gone throught the Air Force tests earlier, passed all except the physical, turned 18 and had to take the Army's. Passed ALL of them and only had the "conviction" of a fine that had to be paid when the muffler fell off of my 1950 Pontiac on the way home from church. Didn't get to sit on the Group W bench darn it!


* * * * * *

Not to be read until after Thanksgiving. Tends to produce indigestion.

No child left unmedicated

Phyllis Schlafly - November 23, 2004

"Big Brother is on the march. A plan to subject all children to mental health screening is under way, and pharmaceutical companies are gearing up for bigger sales of psychotropic drugs.

Like most liberal big-spending ideas, this one was slipped into the law under cover of soft semantics. Its genesis was the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health created by President George W. Bush in 2002." (snip)



Here are 16 of the reports. I've read a few of them. Not good stuff. Lots of other links available through this site.

Subcommittees of the President's New Freedom
Commission on Mental Health



The brainsuck continues:

New Freedom Initiative/Mandatory Mental Health Screening of American Children Passes

* * * * * *

Good news is always in order however.

Future of 9th Circuit Under Review

What another beautiful day! This one a bit more functional. Had to be. Blowing it off like yesterday would have eaten my Judeo-Christian work ethic all to pieces.

Nope, didn't do a single item on yesterday's unhappiness probability list, did a bunch of tech writing and ordered up some components for a small run of this this morning whilst avoiding the non-duckable item of "The Shopping Trip". Between Thanksgiving and the first "white sale" of January, I avoid town as if the Black Plague was running rampant. "Bring out your dead, bring out your dead"... However, if my diet was to consist of more than bark, leaves, roadkill, and some critters I'd rather not shoot, the trip was eventually going to be mandatory.

Stopped work for lunch which was a wonderful omelette consisting of pimento peppers, onion, mushrooms, and, of course, that good ham with toast made from yesterday's nice bread. Eversogood, as was the book that needed reading. Nope, no avoiding it. Put on my Jesus boots (they have straps unlike kerryboots), gave the gals a bribe, loaded the ice chest into Rustbucket, and Braved the Nightmare.

In truth, it wasn't so bad and not as packed as expected. Part of the comfort was almost immediately falling in love with a young matron that was shopping, then another, finally a third, and the store seemed a nice place to be. But I have always liked girl-wimmin-type folk! ;o) Expensive but eversonice. Someday, maybe I can afford one of my own... (yeah, I hear those rocks raining down on the roof).

* * * * * *

Back to idiot tax crap. I didn't loose all of last week's notes, found this one a couple of days ago and thought it needed posting. The boldface and italics are mine. To tell you the truth, I see no real chance of a rational reform such as the Fair Tax ever making it. Votes can't be bought, fraud becomes much more difficult, besides, it's a good idea.

Bush signals go-ahead for tax code's overhaul

By Jonathan Weisman and Jeffery H. Birnbaum
The Washington Post – 18 November, 2004

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is eyeing an overhaul of the tax code that would drastically cut, if not eliminate, taxes on savings and investment, but it is unlikely to try to replace the existing tax code with a single flat income-tax rate or a national sales tax, according to several sources familiar with ongoing tax deliberations.

During his re-election campaign, President Bush piqued interest among conservatives and liberals alike when he said replacing the income tax with a national sales tax was "an interesting idea." He signaled after the election that tax policy would be a centerpiece of his domestic agenda, reiterating his pledge to name a bipartisan panel to draft a fundamental tax-reform proposal. That sent conservatives scurrying into either the flat-tax or sales-tax camp to muster political momentum.

But before the tax panel is even named, administration officials have begun dialing back expectations that they will move to scrap the current graduated income tax for another system.

Instead, the administration plans to push major amendments that would shield interest, dividends and capitals gains from taxation, expand tax breaks for business investment and take other steps intended to simplify the system and encourage economic growth, according to several people who are advising the White House or are familiar with the deliberations.

(this will fry it for the dems and other welfare cases)

The changes are meant to be revenue-neutral. To pay for them, the administration is considering eliminating the deduction of state and local taxes on federal income-tax returns and scrapping the business tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance, the advisers said.

(great stuff, this'll fry it for everybody else)

As the tax discussion takes shape, "we're not talking about a replacement system," said a former White House aide familiar with the emerging policy.

White House aides warn that no decisions have been made. "The president believes the tax code should be simpler, fairer and more conducive to economic growth, and he looks forward to appointing an advisory panel to review options for reforming the tax code," White House spokeswoman Clare Buchan said.

(if this is it, then the prez is full of it)

She said she expects an executive order laying out the panel's mission and naming its members by the end of the year.

The contours of a tax plan already are taking shape, though: lower individual and corporate tax rates and steps to broaden the base of taxation and promote growth by cutting taxes on investment.

"From my experience, I know that he believes strongly in broadening the (income-tax) base, lowering the rates and taking the tax code out of business decisions. That's where he would start; those key fundamental philosophies will lead his decisions," said Mark Weinberger, a former assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy, now a vice chairman of Ernst & Young.

Pamela Olson, a former Bush Treasury official in close contact with administration tax planners, said the president will pursue a tax system where all income — whether from wages, dividends, capital gains or interest — is taxed once. That would mean eliminating taxes on dividends and capital gains paid out of fully taxed corporate profits. Most investment gains currently are taxed at 15 percent.

The administration also will push hard for large savings accounts that could shelter thousands of dollars of deposits each year from taxation on investment gains, according to White House economic advisers who have been involved with the planning. And any tax reform, according to Treasury Department officials, likely would eliminate the alternative minimum tax, a parallel income tax designed to ensure that the rich pay income taxes but one that increasingly ensnares the middle class.

To pay for those large tax cuts, the administration is looking at eliminating both the deduction for state and local taxes, and the business-tax deduction for employer-sponsored health insurance. That would raise nearly $926 billion over five years, according to White House and congressional documents.

(this just purely sucks)

Eliminating the state and local tax deduction, for example, would allow the administration to scuttle the alternative minimum tax and raise an extra $400 billion over 10 years, said Leonard Burman, a tax-policy expert at the Urban Institute. That would be twice what the White House needs to fund the planned tax-free savings accounts, expanded retirement savings accounts and tax-free health savings accounts.

The tax panel will be given roughly six months to make recommendations, according to administration officials. Treasury Secretary John Snow then would come up with his own plan before the end of next year. That would give Bush all of 2006 to press Congress to enact the reforms, making the whole effort a two-year process.

In the meantime, lobbyists are running into skepticism on the part of corporations that might be touched by the changes. The corporate world is taking a wait-and-see position for the most part before organizing either for or against the effort.

Even allies have their doubts.

"The White House is dreaming if they think they can do all this," said Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist with the National Center for Policy Analysis.

* * * * * *

I had high hopes for something interesting to listen to on the radio this morning when I read Neal Boortz's program notes and he seemed like he was going to get back to the Fair Tax rant. Instead it dribbled off into that NBA fubar that is of slightly less interest to me than Saddam's taste in French pastries. Of course I also find basketball of less interest than a Chinese table tennis match. Given the cast of characters involved in the NBA and the obvious IQ of the "fans", WTF? On one hand there's a bunch of hideously overpriced genetic sports with god egos and on the other, a bunch of drunken slobs.

The radio has a knob.

Later, decided to try Rush even if his voice and delivery tend to aggravate me. Guess what? Same crap. Knob time. Actually if I could have stayed in the house it would have been Radio Brazil and a good album or two online. The commercials are in Portuguese so they don't bother me at all!

This having been Monday and with my penchant for messy Mondays, I simply ignored it. Baked a fresh loaf of egg bread and had a ham sandwich with the Smithsfield bought yesterday plus a walnut brownie made last night with a stick of butter replacing the usual cooking oil, then took a nap. I like naps as I can't screw things up too bad when asleep. Eventually I had to get up, just too damn pretty outside to be indoors and seems absolutely sinful to wander outside in cutoffs and kerryboots two days away from Thanksgiving. Ought to be cold and nasty.

Well, I wandered up the hill to check out another tree that is soon to fall and block the lane. Thought about going after the chainsaw and cutting it down but decided I would probably drop it on my punkin' head (or foot) and that would make me unhappy. Besides, the base is inside of a bunch of brush and weeds so I would probably get another pantload of ticks. That would make me unhappy as well. So I've decided to let it fall by itself and after it is on the ground, bring up an assault rifle for a couple of "mercy rounds" so it won't try to jump up and fall on my punkin' head (or foot) and make me unhappy.

Next stop was up on the roof to admire the mower so tangled up in the brush and antenna wire. Neat trick, hanging in there at about 45 degrees. Thought about going down and getting Cindy (the loppers) to cut it out of the mess but it's kinda sitting on a fire ant mound. They would bite me and that would make me unhappy. Wandered over to the atrium cap to consider taking down the summer sun shields but I really need to finish mowing the roof first and for that I would have to get the mower un-snagged, then the fire ants would bite me and I would be unhappy. So I left which made Rima happy. She doesn't like me to stand still as I'm hard to trip when not moving and stationary ankles are not near as much fun to bite. Yeah, I know. I need to convince her she's getting too big to bite my ankles mostly because she's getting more knee than ankle these days.

Went down the lane to the shop. *sigh* So much brush and the windfalls that need hauling. There are probably ticks and fire ants in that mess. You know what they would do. If I wait long enough, it'll compost. I could go up and free the mower and chop it up some but...

There was a nice book in the house that needed reading. And maybe another sandwich, this time with a Fuji apple (my latest addiction). ...and another little nap. It made me happy. Rima was happy too as she found some squirrels to yarf at. The squirrels were happy as well since she couldn't catch them and eat them (yet). Cookie was also happy just sleeping in the sun.

It's time to start supper, more of that nice ham with fresh mashed taters & ham gravy plus bok choy and butter, maybe a mug of Mother-in-Law's Heart to go with it. Oh, almost forgot tonight is CSI: Miami. Life is good.

Tomorrow won't be Monday.

"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."

"The good of the people must be the great purpose of government. By the laws of nature and of reason, the governors are invested with power to that end. And the greatest good of the people is liberty. It is to the state what health is to the individual." (from L'Encyclopédie)

-Denis Diderot

Mark Twain wasn't totally right about all Frenchmen. Too bad Denis died in 1784. We could use his wisdom these days. Then, again, he did have the normal French peculiarities.
No post since last week mostly due to being an old curmudgeon swamp critter. Been scraping disgusting loads of fungus off the cave walls, lost an old buddy (not seen in years, worked with for 20), been hacking up phlegm from the mildew works... Mostly just not enjoying stuff. My last post sucks and needs editing to be properly coherent. Next year maybe. I'm still a crosspatch. Old solo swamp dwellers have a problem with their digestion, the claws are dull or broken, the teeth are worn-down, and they sleep poorly. Hair has fallen out and the hide isn't fit for tanning. Parasites give us fits. Grumble.
That, and having deleted ALL of my notes for the last week hasn't made me nice. But I am. I missed the last Wednesday shopping trip due to a bad spell hacking up mildew. It seems to have become my November hobby - said I wouldn't let it happen after last year but didn't plan on the batch of 'canes. I DID design a full-house dehumidifier that would work on solar energy many years ago, just never built it. Earth-shelters turn pretty-much black when sopping wet for months. Not nice.
Most of the accidentally deleted notes and comments were about the Marine what shot the muj and the shitheadedness of OUR MSM. I'm adding BLACKFIVE to my good blog list. A worthy read and the links inside are good as well.
* * * * * *
Good Thanksgiving thoughts next. Yes, I've got most of 30 years worth.

Rima can eat what's on the clothesline anytime.

Suzanne, you've identified yourself as my loyal reader! ..now you have to take the cyanide capsule provided by the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.. (we'll miss you.. I'll say a extra prayer as the chaplin of such...)


...back in the boojams, how do you manage to justify this stuff?

Congressmen urge Bush to drop guest-worker plan

Living in a really bad load of wetbacks and their sponsers, I can get fussy. The gal that braved my lane down into the swamp all those years ago when I didn't fill out my census form told me about the "truth" in this county. Fully 1/3rd of the pop were illegal. Tijuana North. Not fun in town. I haven't been back in that town since 1999. Got threatened by a youth pack of 5 mex wetbacks, decided to live. I'm already permanently severely deaf and vision impaired by the actions of said creatures, am permanently crippled as well. Wonderfully strong and healthy in 1986, physically useless by 1987.

I love wetbacks.

I also love SSI. The powers that be, when it was decided I was un-employable due to un-insurable, sent me through a sequence of tests involving a "doc" that Micrin didn't mask (major league drunk), a runaround for X-rays that took a few re-directs and many miles, the X-rays taken of my gonads (the mexican disaster was my left shoulder)...

6 exposures of my lower portions. The 200+ pound black woman told me that was what the "doctor" ordered and the previous exposures had failed to develop. Damn. I didn't know blacks hated little whities, especially when they were in too much pain to convey themselves, to attempt to sterilize them.

Ever live with years of absolute agony? Mine's not special except I've a total intolerance to any opiate derivative. Enjoying a few months with a bunch of broken ribs and bloody froth on the lips slugging wierd heart rythyms doesn't make me very fond of said folk.

I love wetbacks.

...ssi drunken docs

...idiot ssi (given)

Finest folk.

They are examples of the best in the US

IF you want to tap the "largess" of the American taxpayer, be black, drug dependant, female, pregnant, single parent, homeless, and jus' wan' som' jazz!

..I'll be back later..

Music to accompany the opening of the Clinton Library:

All I'm gonna do..

Starr's Wars

More of the same here.
Paul Shanklin clips

Lord have mercy! I don't know how many of these beautiful days I can take. Top 30's, low 40's for the daybreak, 70's in the sunny times. This I could live with almost forever. Rain's nice, even badnasty t'storms but I'll pass on the 'canes for a while thank you. Yer old damaged unit is enjoying chainsaw swinging, Cindy lopper whacking, and rotary machete piloting making old paths and roadways reappear. I've taken my own advice at last and have been keeping my mouth shut when mowing through the really dense stuff - the dawgs DO deposit, the mower DO disperse. I think the term is something like the shit hitting the fan.

You'd laugh yer butt off if you had witnessed the stopping point on mowing the roof this evening. Last spring I'd modified the atrium ventilation with a squirrel-cage fan which took days to install. Lots of work with a lot of time perched on a extension ladder inside the house cutting and modifying. It replaced a kinda cobbled 1962 Emerson box fan that had finally given up the ghost and several other changes had to be made as well. Well, I didn't police the outside work area too well after finishing. It'd take about 800 more words to describe the 'why' but the 'what' was a leftover piece of a 75 meter ham radio antenna that had been overgrown this summer. The rotary machete picked it up and towed me into the serious jungle growth before the engine stalled. Quitting time! Roofs are always a pain to mow anyway.

Your tax money at work.
Big Dig Leaks Even More Widespread

$14.6 billion for 7.5 miles - $30,725 per inch and it leaks like a sieve. Makes $800 toilet seats look like a bargain. ...hmmm, $90/RCH...


I see I've scads of crap about the utterly worthless UN sitting on the notepad. I'm wide open for anyone to send me ANYTHING that indicates a UN success (NOT suckcess) since it's formation. I can't find one. The closest I could find was the use of nuclear weapons are allowed even if the country hasn't been nuked first. Whyfo we pay for those folk to spend our money working at cross purposes to our interests?

Come Clean, Kofi

The U.N. secretary-general ducks responsibilty for the Oil for Food scam.
BY CLAUDIA ROSETT - Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Kofi Annan and the insanity of international law
Ben Shapiro - November 17, 2004

'mo soon. I'm riled and that's not good. Midnight postings even if there is only one loyal reader..

Just came back in from a night hike. Kinda dark but Cookie is a good guide and she knows our paths. Rima is nothing but Brownian movement established with a bit of organization making her a happy go lucky tripping tool with wonderful night vision. *sigh* She's always pleased to have me out and about but probably part of that comes from her never having seen another human being. I've been re-trained by wolves, she only has me and her granny for examples. Knuckleheadedness and lovingkindness (and a smooch for the pup that just untied your boots!).

I love it! It's sooo good that maybe Kerry who is considering another run, or the Hilary, might have second thoughts. Yeah, I know, the ones sucking on the public tit and the truly ignorant (as programmed by the last 30 years of the skool system) are gonna vote for the critters anyway. Time to get the Bogdaddy Election Reform Bill shipshape and written in in a fashion so bamboozling (add pork, works for most bills) it can't fail to pass. Add "for the children" to most anything and it'll pass. Maybe that should be done to H.R. 25 (warning! 268 KB pdf file, 132 pages) before it gets too corrupted to be of any use. GWB, grow another pair and put things on track economically.

* * * * * *

Three months ago when I went in for supplies, one stop was at the Hindu's for cigaret tubes. He's a pretty good guy and he speaks English a lot better than most of his customers. In the parking lot was a shiny, new, large, not economy car. Customers. Two basketball player-equivalents and one substantial black gal. One of the players was sitting in the car with the rather awesome radio cranked out to the limit with a "song" that consisted of "f**k da bitch, f**k da bitch" 5 times, then some sort of a chant and then repeating the former. There was some sort of a 'get out the black vote' thing going on back then.

I wonder if the "40's" they bought in that store helped the drive...

Tomorrow I go to his store again. He's an American. We'll talk. I like him. Whatcha want to bet he didn't vote for Kerry?

* * * * * *

It's always nice to finish a day with James Taranto's column in the inbox.

Good day in the swamp, the round toit got duly dealt with - most satisfactory results. Even got a lot of catch-up finished from (shudder!) Monday.

However, my asbestos undies are in a big wad. The islamoshits apparently did in Margaret Hassan. Not just a whole heck of a lot about that showing up in the MSM news and obviously no video. Kinda like al Zark's treatment of his civilian prisoner beheadings. Ever watch one of those? I made it through the Nick Berg beheading. Keep in mind I've raised and slaughtered a lot of what I've eaten, used to do a lot of hunting and the hunted also got dressed and eaten, not particularly queasy about such stuff. Watching those bastards saw off that guy's head slowly and in such a fashion to prolong his agony iced any potential thought there will ever be any possibility of quarter given to al Zark or his minions.

..like his minions in Fallujah. I don't have satellite or cable teevee so I missed the CNN video tape of the Marine capping the al Zark slime. BIG, noisy coverage all over MSM. Justified? Well, the sonofabitch signed on for allah and the virgins (plus the supple young boys, can't forget them) so the guy did the asshole a favor. A "insurance" shot or two is always in order, especially since the kid had been fighting the buggers for days. Would the al Zarkite have been happier if some hillbilly chick made him wear panties on his head and point at his "pride" and giggle? (me, I'd probably like it! I'll hush now, hate to brag..)



Didn't Kerry get some kind of a medal during his few days in Vietnam for shooting a wounded teenager in the back while the kid was running away? It seems to me he also confessed to multiple atrocious war crimes in front of congress. Truly, the MSM is screwed.

* * * * * *

Officials Double Saddam's Oil-for-Food Theft

"Saddam Hussein's regime made more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting the UN oil-for-food program and other sanctions - more than double previous estimates, according to congressional investigators." (snip)

Cool. I've been keeping a file full of this crap since 9/11, make me feel really wonderful about that august institution. If you held a party and over 80% of the folk attending ate your pretzels, drank your beer, and hammered your butt continually, lied like rugs, were better at thievery than Ali Baba, what would you do? Truly, the party ought to move to Haiti. Gay Paree? Nah, ought to move to Fangataufa.

* * * * * *

Tomorrow, if all the parts are still closely associated with the old bod, I intend to go spend some of the gains received Saturday re-stocking the pantry and freezer. It'll take 2 trips to fully stock for the normal winter boycott of travel, the second is to be Sunday. From then until late February I can eviscerate Rustbucket and see if it has enough working parts to be patched up for another season. My 'gotta have' list is 28 items, the 'wanna' is MUCH longer but with the lane mostly cleared, maybe UPS will deign to visit. Besides, the bucks really don't go very far anyway. It would be nice to have a renter that likes to go to town..

I have nothing nice to say today. Monday sucks. As usual. Don't know why I have so much trouble with it since all days down here in the swamp are pretty much the same. Absolutely nothing on my "got to be finished today" list even got close to being finished. As usual. A bee at a silk flower show degree of futility.

It looks like it would be difficult for me to become Muslim.

This made me remember JAX New Orleans beer. I may have to build one.
RoboDump

Better than some art anyway.
The Art of the Meal

Lifted from the Dailypundit who lifted it from somewhere else.
Wish I'd Said It, But I Didn't

Moonbats on Parade (3.07 MB wmv)
from Discoshaman via Instapundit

Under an hour until CSI: Miami. Time to start supper. There's not a clean plate in the house. Was that on the list? I don't want to wash dishes. Monday sucks.

The 60 Minutes segment was interesting. Of course it doesn't matter to the trial lawyers anymore than the 30-something years worth of the warning labels on each pack of cigs. There's billions to be made and we can't have the poor torties being reduced to domestic wine and (God forbid!) that awful pate' their majordomo might have to buy at Krogers. The air in the Mercedes tires just might have to escape to avoid the shame and indignation..

Guilty? Probably. As charged by 60 Minutes? Interesting. Have you suffered from what has been nearly intractable joint pain? I sure as hell have, and for many years. If the pill jar would have said "every 10th pill will take a year off your life", I would have taken it if it worked. At times, if the jar would have said it'd kill me, that would have been considered.

Think about chemotherapy. Not a nice thing to go through and look at the stats. Radiation & chemo. Much not-fun. Stats are still pretty grim but there's always the alternative. In my very limited social world, all that have had the "benefits" of one or all three including the knife, have died miserably. Oughta sue those critters that did it. Yeah, that'll do it.

"until we respect him we will probably die in numbers that are unnecessary"
- Michael Scheuer, 60 Minutes, 11/14/04

Let's have a little respect folks. Let's have it for all those murderous bastards.

Drudge is at it again with another developing...
Osama bin Laden now has religious approval to use a nuclear device against Americans

Fri Nov 12 2004 12:02:34 ET
"Osama bin Laden now has religious approval to use a nuclear device against Americans, says the former head of the CIA unit charged with tracking down the Saudi terrorist. The former agent, Michael Scheuer, speaks to Steve Kroft in his first television interview without disguise to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Nov. 14 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network." (snip)

As little as I think of SeeBS as a valid news source, I'll probably watch it tonight (unless there's a rerun of "Gilligan's Island" or some other truly worthwhile show on). With a billion muslims on the planet, one murderous bastard amongst millions of other fanatical murderous bastards getting the green light from a Saudi sheik doesn't really shake me as "breaking news".

* * * * * *

Bordering On Nukes?
TIME Magazine - Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004
New accounts from al-Qaeda to attack the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction
By ADAM ZAGORIN

" A key al-Qaeda operative seized in Pakistan recently offered an alarming account of the group's potential plans to target the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction, senior U.S. security officials tell TIME. Sharif al-Masri, an Egyptian who was captured in late August near Pakistan's border with Iran and Afghanistan, has told his interrogators of "al-Qaeda's interest in moving nuclear materials from Europe to either the U.S. or Mexico," according to a report circulating among U.S. government officials.

Masri also said al-Qaeda has considered plans to "smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, then operatives would carry material into the U.S.," according to the report, parts of which were read to TIME. Masri says his family, seeking refuge from al-Qaeda hunters, is now in Iran." (snip)

This is news?

* * * * * *

..from the Times online edition:
Who Left the Door Open?
Despite all the talk of homeland security, sneaking into the U.S. is scandalously easy—and on the rise. Millions of illegal aliens will pour across the U.S.-Mexican border this year, many from countries hostile to America. TIME looks at the damage, the dangers and the reasons the U.S. fails to protect itself
By DONALD L. BARLETT & JAMES B. STEELE
"The next time you pass through an airport and have to produce a photo ID to establish who you are and then must remove your shoes, take off your belt, empty your pockets, prove your laptop is not an explosive device and send your briefcase or purse through a machine to determine whether it holds weapons, think about this: In a single day, more than 4,000 illegal aliens will walk across the busiest unlawful gateway into the U.S., the 375-mile border between Arizona and Mexico. No searches for weapons. No shoe removal. No photo-ID checks. Before long, many will obtain phony identification papers, including bogus Social Security numbers, to conceal their true identities and mask their unlawful presence." (snip)

This is a long article, shows as a 15 page, 12 point text doc and is not the best news I've read this year. Expect a rant from me in approximately a month if I don't get shot first - I've been collecting data locally for quite a while and it'll be presented with hard, verifiable proof if I can get permission to publish. I truly don't understand several items.

* * * * * *

Did I already post this link? Can't find it so it probably went out in an email. Time for me to acquire a reliable printer and start keeping a paper notebook again..
Bush revives bid to legalize illegal aliens
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published November 10, 2004
"President Bush yesterday moved aggressively to resurrect his plan to relax rules against illegal immigration, a move bound to anger conservatives just days after they helped re-elect him.
The president met privately in the Oval Office with Sen. John McCain to discuss jump-starting a stalled White House initiative that would grant legal status to millions of immigrants who broke the law to enter the United States." (snip)

Is he looking to get impeached by his own party? WTF.

* * * * * *

Arizona Calling
The brewing immigration backlash.
by Rich Lowry - NRO

Slate recently featured an article on the "unteachable ignorance" of the Bush red states, in light of the dismaying (from its perspective) election results. On immigration, we should talk about the "unteachable ignorance" of America's political and media elites. Nothing will convince them to take the issue seriously.

The latest sign that the public wants the kind of immigration enforcement that politicians simply won't give them comes out of Arizona. Proposition 200, a measure to tighten up enforcement of existing laws relating to illegal immigration, passed with 56 percent of the vote. It requires that someone provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and valid ID when voting or applying for public benefits. Since it is already against the law for illegals to register and vote, and illegal for them to receive welfare, it is astonishing that Proposition 200 became — as the media always puts it — "controversial." (snip)

- - - - - - - - -

I wonder what the real backlash is going to be when a truly devastating attack occurs. So far, so good but all that has to happen is for the bastards to score one big one to really throw a monkey wrench in the works. 9/11 is most often quoted as causing about $500 billion in economic damage, pretty much the same as the oft quoted figure for compliance with the IRS rules. ...and this thought of the "biggie" being a "mini-nuke", nonsense. Go take a look at The Nuclear Weapon Archive and The Effects of Nuclear Weapons by Samuel Glasstone. A dear friend and co-worker gave me her copy of the latter tome just before she commited suicide. Take a look at the megatonnage of illegal drugs smuggled into this country each year despite a many decade, extremely expensive "War on Drugs" that intercepts around 5% (some say more, some less, no creds). It seems to me that one could take a vehicle like Rustbucket, the beater truck, down to a fishing pier somewhere on the Big Bend and load up the equivalent of a stolen Soviet equivalent of our W-9 (850 lb, 15 KT), W-19 (600 lb, 15-20 KT), W-31 (945 lb, 40 KT), W-33 (240 lb, 40 KT. We made 2,000 of these), or any of scads of other "little" firecrackers, but a real coupe would be to score a few W-47's or W-56's (733 lb and 680 lb, both 1.2 MT). I'd rather not think of the horrific damage done to this nation if just one of these things were detonated in a major city.

Iowahawk did it again! Cocaine & Perrier or Redman & Pabst?

My ribs hurt!

Making up a big batch of red-hot curried slop for supper isn't always too bright. Woke up at 3:30 AM with Chernobyl-grade heartburn so bad all a soup spoon of bicarb did was make me foam and froth like a freshly cast batch of homebrew. Finally got back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Saturday is housecleaning (HAH!) day but I always start by reading Uncle Al's weekly essays with morning tea. No new ones posted so just surfed around for a while before tackling the kitchen. There are 2 drain systems here, one greywater, one septic, and I haven't cleaned out the greywater grease trap in a long time. Wound up with about a half-gallon of used sink water on the floor before noticing and since the mop was in the shop, wheeled over the wet-vac to clean up the mess. It hasn't been used since Jeanne and I thoughtfully hadn't emptied it. Such a wonderful aroma. Well-aged wet dawg hair, mildew, and essence of something that died horribly a long time ago.

This day isn't starting out too well. I think I'll postpone installing that nice, new hard drive that was on today's agenda.

* * * * * *

Well, the rest of the day went pretty decent except for the hole burned in my innards. I gave the rest of the curry to the dawgs (they needed worming anyway). Went for a walk with them and Cindy (my loppers) to clear a bit more of the access lane and decided to visit my mailbox. Been over a week and got the usual huge haul of future fireplace fuel, a couple of bills, and a PAYMENT! It was due the first week in September. Now I can afford some more red beans & rice to go with the squirrel, bark, and ramps.

* * * * * *

A good read.
Letter to Europe
Hi. Are you nuts?
by HERBERT E. MEYER

Forgive me for being so blunt, but your reaction to our reelection of President Bush has been so outrageous that I’m wondering if you have quite literally lost your minds. One of Britain’s largest newspapers ran a headline asking “How Can 59 Million Americans Be So Dumb?”, and commentators in France all seemed to use the same word – bizarre -- to explain the election’s outcome to their readers. In Germany the editors of Die Tageszeitung responded to our vote by writing that “Bush belongs at a war tribunal – not in the White House.” And on a London radio talk show last week one Jeremy Hardy described our President and those of us who voted for him as “stupid, crazy, ignorant, bellicose Christian fundamentalists.” (snip)

* * * * * *

Another good read but Mr. Krauthammer is always good.
The myth of the bigoted Christian redneck

Charles Krauthammer
November 12, 2004
WASHINGTON -- In 1994, when the Gingrich revolution swept Republicans into power, ending 40 years of Democratic hegemony, the mainstream press needed to account for this inversion of the Perfect Order of Things. A myth was born. Explained the USA Today headline: ``Angry White Men: Their votes turned the tide for the GOP.''
Overnight, the revolution of the Angry White Male became conventional wisdom. In the 10 years before the 1994 election, there were 53 Nexis mentions of angry white men in the media. In the next seven months there were more than 1,400.
At the time, I looked into this story line -- and found not a scintilla of evidence to support the claim. Nonetheless, it was a necessary invention, a way for the liberal elite to delegitimize a conservative victory. And even better, a way to assuage their moral vanity: You never lose because your ideas are sclerotic or your positions retrograde, but because your opponent appealed to the baser instincts of mankind.
Plus ca change ... Ten years and another stunning Democratic defeat later, and liberals are at it again. The Angry White Male has been transmuted into the Bigoted Christian Redneck. (snip)

* * * * * *

And now for something completely different:
Carling Beer ad (748 KB wmv)

Beer Bitch ad (668 KB wmv)

Michael Moore OnStar ad (216 KB mp3)

For more of the same time-wasters, go to IMAO

Who says there are no technological benefits from the space program?
NASA shuttle glass

* * * * * *

Time to start supper. Tonight it'll be chicken and dumplings with a hint of basil & bicarb!

"Don't say things about dead people unless it's good. Well he's dead. That's good."
- Brother Dave Gardner

I turned on the teevee early this morning to see what was going on with the "hero". Gazillions of the servants of allah all massed-up with a bunch firing off rifles and automatic weapons. Wonder how many were wounded and how many died? (I know, there's an obvious thought there but I'll be nice)

Took a google cruise to see what the terminal velocity might be for something like a AK 47 round and came up with some reasonably uniform results.

Bullets in the Sky
"Based on the results of these tests it was concluded that the bullet return velocity was about 300 f.p.s. For the 150 gr. bullet this corresponds to an energy of 30 foot pounds. Earlier the Army had determined that, on the average, it required 60 foot pounds of energy to produce a disabling wound. Based on this information, a falling 150 gr. service bullet would not be lethal, although it could produce a serious wound."

300 feet per second is 204 miles per hour.

An Introduction to Ballistics
"As a point of interest, a velocity of about between 180 and 360 f/s (±) is needed to penetrate skin. The wide range comes from the non-uniform strength of normal skin tissue. Projectile shape has no statistically significant effect on the penetration. However, one could still be seriously injured if struck by a falling bullet even if it doesn't break the skin."

Ever play marbles as a kid? Remember "steelies"? They were mostly banned in our games because the purpose of using steelies was to crack your opponents marbles. Something tells me being conked on the noggin by a projectile with something close to the mass of a steelie traveling at 200 mph would not improve the quality of one's day.

..this also brings up the memory of a buddy back in the teen years, a 250cc Yamaha, 80 mph, and a dung beetle. Dental work was required. BTW, turd bugs seriously go splat when impacted at 80 mph..


You've probably already read this article:
Report: Suha to receive $ 22m a year from PA

This morning on teevee (ABS) this was reported with a qualifier - she is to receive the money for the rest of her life. I wonder how the gentle souls in Hezbollah, Hamas, the PA, etc. feel about that? Methinks the lady's pucker-factor should be severe. I'd hate to be responsible for her life insurance premiums.

It's been a halfway useful day. Can't complain and sure can't complain about the wonderful Indian Summer. Did manage to find a batch of seed ticks to amuse me after coming in this evening but when one is wrestling scads of trumpet vines and Virginia creepers off of tree limbs that never completely fell, one expects a modest sprinkling of the State Bird of Florida. No greenhouse or garden work today and probably won't be much until the damaged fig tree decides to go dormant for the second time. It elected to sprout a full set of leaves after being mostly stripped (going dorment back then) by Frances and a lot of it is inside the greenhouse framework. It'll keep. I usually don't re-skin the g'haus until December anyway and I don't want to make the cuttings until the leaves drop.

I've about got the studio apartment access back to pre-'cane season status less the normal growth and kinda hope to be in the right attitude to offer it for rent soon. There's a bit of it's history here and I just installed a counter for fun. Rural and secluded it is and it's a long, long way to "culture".

* * * * * *

There's a reason for this.
Conspiracy theories about presidential election flood Internet
The Seattle Times (from the People's Republic of Washingtonistan) - Thursday, November 11, 2004

"There are claims that a suspicious number of Florida counties ended up with Bush vote totals that were far larger than the number of registered Republican voters."

" The Florida case is more nuanced than the Ohio voting battle. Numerous bloggers have noted that President Bush's vote totals in 47 Florida counties were larger — in some cases much larger — than the number of registered Republican voters in the same counties. A widely distributed piece on Consortiumnews.com said the results "are so statistically stunning that they border on the unbelievable."

The article's main numbers are correct. But the central premise — that there is something suspicious about Bush getting more votes than the number of registered Republicans in rural counties, which use paper ballots — may not be suspicious at all. It does not account for thousands of independents or for voters who do not list party affiliation. It is also common for Florida Democrats, particularly the "Dixiecrats" in the northern reaches of the state and the Panhandle, to vote for Republicans, a pattern repeated in much of the Deep South.

Despite its apparent flaws, the Florida theory raises some interesting questions. For instance, a further look at Florida voting patterns shows that the number of counties with more Bush votes than registered Republicans jumped from 32 in 2000 to 47 in 2004. Bush's improved performance might be explained by Al Gore, a Southern moderate, having had more appeal to Dixiecrats four years ago than Kerry, who is from Massachusetts." (snip)

The following is bar napkin calculated from the following sources:
County Voter Registration By Party and Race February 9, 2004
Florida Election Reporting System

Just taking my county, Suwannee, only 28% are registered Republican but the vote was 58% for GWB. The South had always been a bastion of the Democrat party every since the Civil War, mostly in reaction to the carpet baggers from the Union that royally punished and profiteered what was left. It was the party of the Klan as well although only about 4% of Southerner's ever owned slaves. Oh yes, there was a Southern aristocracy and bits and pieces are still evident and in some future entry I'll probably write a bit of my South Alabama youngunhood. I wonder whatever happened to Lynne, Andrea, and Patricia... (small smile on the boy from the wrong side of the tracks.. ;o)

The Democratic party has left the self-reliant Southerners behind in favor of a "vision" more like a straight jacket than something which encourages initiative.

I'm going to have to get back to this subject. It's too much to handle right now as I'm halfway watching "Saving Private Ryan". Stay tuned, I feel a trip into my archives coming up soon.

* * * * * *

A little light-heartedness. Put your coffee down and go take a pee before clicking this link!
Dude, Where's My Votes?

* * * * * *

How about the Daily Arafart? I'm NOT going to link any MSM love-fest crap. That bastard needed killin' not dying of old age and excess.

Heavy stuff.
Omitted from Arafat's AP obituary
Posted by The Big Trunk at Power Line - November 11, 2004


...tell us how you really feel Jeff, don't hold back...
The Boston Globe
Arafat the monster
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist - November 11, 2004


http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/Yassir_Arafat_1929-2004.asp
Yassir Arafat: 1929-2004
HonestReporting.com (436 KB)

There's a one minute movie clip that's interesting available on this link.


di, I think you may find this very interesting. Below is a 119 KB map locating current and recent militant Islamic groups in the US. It's from "American Jihad" by Steven Emerson, 2002
The terrorist network in America

I've resized it to 800 x 536 at 135 KB here so it'll open in a larger screen for us old fogies that don't see too well! ..and no, I'm NOT talking to you di so save the acid bath for others! ;o)


And last (and for me, extremely cringeworthy), this offering:
Serbian Chefs Go For Testicles

Yum?

Got lots done but I still hate chain saws. They're no fun anymore. I'm going to be able to cut all the wood I need to heat this winter without going more than 100 feet from the house and the shop just from windfalls. Megatonnage down over the 40.



The grrls at the DU worry me.


A good friend just sent me the link to the Acorns from an Okie blog and he's linked some good stuff.
Advice For Both Sides
"John Hawkins has advice for both Republicans and Democrats over at Right Wing News. Yes, yes, I know. Lots of lefties will never read that site, but he does offer some good advice."

The "My Advice For The Republican Party" represents my thoughts almost to a tee.


Dozens more Kerry supporters flock to Florida therapists

"More shocked John Kerry supporters on Wednesday sought psychological help with “post-election selection trauma” in South Florida, prompting the American Health Association to officially release symptoms of the disorder and open its doors for free counseling." (snip)

Symptoms of Post-Election Selection Syndrome (PEST)

According to Florida mental health professionals, the following symptoms have been identified in John Kerry voters since Nov. 3 and are signs that one should seek help from a licensed mental health clinician. Although therapists report that patients so far have uniformly identified themselves as Kerry supporters upset over their candidate’s concession, they urge that the trauma is not necessarily unique to Democrats.

* Feelings of withdrawal
* Feelings of isolation
* Emotional anger and bitterness
* Loss of appetite
* Sleeplessness
* Nightmares
* Pervasive moodiness, including endless sulking
* Excessively worried about the direction of the country.

Source: American Health Association exclusive to Boca News.

...at least it's free. Probably worth every penny...


An interesting article about our 'hero' if you can take anymore. Daniel Pipes writes well.
Arafat's Bedroom Farce


War on fire ants goes airborne with new weapon

"This is not something the homeowner can do," Santana said. "It's a very delicate operation that requires the government. And thankfully, the government is doing it."

OK. Now I'm worried.

Spent a bit too much time surfing the lefty blogs yesterday, even caught up with Wonkette's and felt unclean. Seems they have been refining the favorite liberal hobby.



Poor lefties. I'm sure by now you've read about Kerry supporters seek therapy in South Florida.
Boca Raton trauma specialist has treated 15 patients
Published Tuesday, November 9, 2004
by Sean Salai
More than a dozen traumatized John Kerry supporters have sought and received therapy from a licensed Florida psychologist since their candidate lost to President Bush, the Boca Raton News learned Monday.
Boca Raton trauma specialist Douglas Schooler said he has treated 15 clients and friends with “intense hypnotherapy” since the Democratic nominee conceded last Wednesday.
“I had one friend tell me he’s never been so depressed and angry in his life,” Schooler said. “I observed patients threatening to leave the country or staring listlessly into space. They were emotionally paralyzed, shocked and devastated.” (snip)

Wonder who's paying for all this?


I found the Generosity Index from the Catalogue For Philanthropy so interesting I made a red/blue table by ranking. Having a batch of New Hampshirites locally, I can believe it! Just goes to show the Dem's want to give away YOUR money, not theirs.

...and, we've got to have a little update about our favorite Nobel Laureate butcher. The highlight is mine.
From http://OpinionJournal.com

Best of the Web Today - November 9, 2004
By JAMES TARANTO
Arafat Unplugged? http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6759644

French doctors are carefully watching terrorist leader Yasser Arafat; if his condition improves significantly, they may be able to pronounce him dead today. As Reuters puts it, Arafat's "fate" is "mired in confusion":

*** QUOTE ***

Several Palestinian sources said Arafat, 75, had succumbed to the mystery illness that led to his being flown to Paris from the West Bank on Oct. 29 but a source close to the French medical team treating him said: "Mr. Arafat is not dead."

"He is dead," one of the Palestinian sources said in Paris. Another official close to Arafat said: "Yes, he is dead. There will be an announcement soon."

But Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath told CNN from Paris that Arafat was alive and no decision has been made to take him off life-support.

*** END QUOTE ***

I'd like to propose that they take his sorry carcass, wrap it in a class one body bomb, install it in a junk bus, then splatter his ass all over a worthless piece of the "Palestine Homeland". The area demarked by the radius of the debris could be held in perpetuity as the Yasser Arafat Memorial Peace Park.


This is a pretty good rehash of what we've had to live with this election cycle. Lots of good links as well if your heartburn and nasty habit of returning all those request for donation postpaid envelopes from the DNC with RNC literature has died down.
The Ten Worst Media Distortions of Campaign 2004


Time to get back outside and pick away at the mess for a while. I'd grouse about the hoof but it wouldn't do a bit of good. It's keeping me grouchy enough that the Bogdaddy Election Reform Bill has now mandated the cloning of al Zark to punish offenders.

I was all set to continue my researches into moral relativism and work on the Bogdaddy Election Reform Bill this morning but Suzanne's comments about Suha Arafat talking to Al Jazeera about the old fart's condition gave me a chuckle and a morning's distraction. I suspect her source was "Arafat's Wife Lashes Out at Officials". Yep. Jerry Springer quality! Nope. The money's still missing. As Drudge would say, ...developing.

Just think about this for a moment: here we have a hopelessly rich by whatever means 41 year old woman married to a 75 year old pile of shit that she hasn’t seen in 4 years. Livin’ the good life in Gay Paree, ostensibly on a budget/allowance of ~$100K a month (no source with any creds) and in jeopardy of suddenly facing the real probability of becoming unpopular with folk like Hamas and the PLO. Interesting.

Here's a couple of good reads about the old terrorist. No comments from me just yet.

A Gangster With Politics
WSJ - OpinionJournal - Bret Stephens

America's Unsettled Score With Yasser Arafat
Minneapolis Star-Tribune - Scott Johnson

Another glorious day unfortunately spent not getting a whole heck of a lot done. This hobbling around and being careful is not conducive to the Big Cleanup. It got so warm that shorts and my kerryboots were called for (no chainsaw action!), removed the fence panels on a 8' x 16' garden plot to clean out the old sugar snap trellis's with Rima totally enraptured with the few square feet of the yard she hasn't dug up yet, and piled up a haystack of weeds. Rima, bless her little lovin' heart, was so pleased with old slow movin' me that she came over often for the ear scratchin' and chin rubbin' that just can't be denied a critter with those beautiful eyes. Now, one of the first things I teach a pup is to not jump up on a person. I will invite one to do so, that's OK, so I invited Rima for a stand-up double ear scritch. Eventually, I wanted to get back to my job and told her 'down'. Yep. One paw directly on top of the sore hoof. I believe I began bleeding out of my eyes and ears. Hobbled back in the house with Rima getting little half-hearted noggin rubs. That finished my outdoor chores for this day.

Earlier I checked out what it was going to take to repair the greenhouse roof frame. Easy as pie, just need a come-along or cable pull. Since the frame is not glued but cable stayed, the only damage was one broken 2,000 lb cable and 2 fractured 5-way couplings that won't even need replacing.

There's always plenty to do even with the hoof on the desk top. Today's challenge was to go back and take another stab at converting my small greenhouse assembly manual written in 1997 into a reasonable sized PDF doc rather than the present, printer-friendly, 4.3 MB Word 6 as originally composed. Lots of photos and diagrams and most suffer horribly with more compression. I didn't run any advertizing for the things this year and I'm not too sure it is really worthwhile selling them in onesy-twosys, takes a lot of time that way, but they are pretty therapeutic to fabricate. There's a lot that goes into each of them, tried to publish the parts list but the table wouldn't work with blogspot's html editor. For each of the small greenhouses, there are 131 tube sections of 21 different lengths, 73 fittings, 8 which I make, plus scads of hardware and I've been cutting, labeling each part, and assembling each one before dismantling and shipping just to make sure there are no errors. Takes a couple of days after all the material is in hand. I bought a year's worth of listing on the GP's Bazaar in 2000-2001 and the stat chart shows 2 major interest peaks, mid-Nov. to Christmas, then very heavy in mid- March. Donno, maybe I'll revise the web site and try to flog a few of them again in a couple of months.

'nuff. Time to pick on Arafat again!

Paris Tells Palestinians to Remove Arafat
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Weekend at Yasser's
Power Line

BBC reporter cried for Arafat
Jerusalem Post




Top Ten Uses For A Dead Palestinian Nobel Laureate

10. Wheel chocks for IAF jet

9. Shellac, make into bobsled for the heartwarming underdog Palestinian Winter Olympics team

8. Police barrier for West Bank car swarms

7. Large finishing trowel for that big Israeli barrier wall spackling project

6. Whimsical towel dispenser for that one UN restroom where the hand dryer is always broken

5. Comfy beanbag chair for the Middle East Studies faculty lounge at Columbia U

4. Artsy stage ramp for 2005 Nobel gala in Oslo

3. Gold-plated memorial statue at Switzerland's Tomb of the Unknown Money Launderer

2. Crash test dummy for Ramallah Institute for Semtex Safety

and...

1. Beelzebub's eternal prison bitch



Arafat Burial Plans Done in Time for Final Death
Scrappleface



Is it a requirement of Islam for burial within 24 hours of death? I hope he doesn't miss out on all those virgins and young, supple boys...



Deep pools of blue
Redstate

"As Walter Williams pointed out after the election in 2000, the places of greatest Democrat strength are places of major dysfunction and social pathology -- higher illiteracy rates, higher crime, higher drug use, higher illegitimacy, higher unemployment. "Red America" is made up of producers; "Blue America" is predominantly made up of users (of government services). Rather than stand for policies that will enhance the health of society, the Democrats apparently believe that their path to success rests in dumbing America down more, making more Americans dependent upon government programs, and increasing social misery and hopelessness. The Democrats are the party of despair. While their support is isolated in pools of "blue," those pools of blue are increasingly becoming social and cultural hell-holes."


Doug Isles can be kinda mean to lefties!
Spanked


I know there are not enough registered voting muslims in this country to affect a national election but it's interesting where they have settled.



* * * * * *

"Only lawyers and mental defectives are automatically exempt for jury duty."
-George Bernard Shaw

One wonders about Arafat, the winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize and exemplary citizen of the world.

Mrs. Arafat keeps husband on life support

Where's his money?

Special to World Tribune.com
GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT.COM
Thursday, November 4, 2004

RAMALLAH — Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has died. He was 75 years old.

Israeli and Palestinian officials said Arafat died on Thursday in a military hospital in Paris. They said Arafat was deemed clinically dead, but is still attached to life support systems on the insistence of his wife, Suha.

Palestinan Authority's Yasser Arafat: Abbas and Qurei sought to acquire his power to allocate money as the PA chairman departed for Paris. But as he boarded a Jordanian Air Force helicopter, Arafat refused. "I'm still alive, thank God, so don't worry," Arafat was quoted as saying. Reuters/Loay Abu Haykel
"He is dead, but neither Arafat's wife nor the Palestinian leadership is ready to announce this," a PA official said. "The announcement could take place on Friday."

The problem is that Arafat is still the only Palestinian official who can pay the bills. And it is unclear who, if anyone, has access to the estimated $2-3 billion in his personal Swiss bank accounts, according to a report in the current edition of Geostrategy-Direct.com. Even his wife is said to be unaware of how to access the funds. ..snip..



Actually, this is what is keeping him somewhat alive:




The evangelicals kept the Poodle from the Presidency?

Hello, Uranus? Got Any Room?
Must. Move. Away. Cannot endure more Bush. Soul about to implode. Right? Not so fast

by Mark Morford, SF Gate columnist

"After all, you don't hand over all your children the first time the flying monkeys bang on your door. You don't give up your dream house just because a bunch of gangbangers moved in down the block. You become a bit more wary and alert and you stock up on the superlative porn and the expensive wine and the deepened sense of true beauty and sex and love and hope and you hunker down and grit your teeth and dig in for the long haul, and you work on making your own goddamn garden more beautiful than even you could have imagined, because, well, the neighborhood -- and the world -- needs it, more than ever."

"The bottom line: Don't disband the newfound army just because one ugly battle was lost. Mourn, commiserate, lick wounds, lick each other, drink heavily, spit out your stale gum of disappointment and pop in a fresh clove of laughter and spiritual heat and then regroup and sober up and take an even deeper breath and watch in hot wet spiritually emboldened amusement as the cosmic circus unfolds."



Maybe this'll help the poor lefties:

Electroconvulsive Therapy Improves Mood, Quality of Life
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) improves mood, quality of life and activities of daily living in patients with major depression, according to researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center,

“Quality of life and function are improved in ECT patients as early as two weeks after the conclusion of ECT,” said Vaughn McCall, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and the lead author, writing in the November issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.

ECT is a treatment for severe mental illness, especially major depression, in which a brief application of electric stimulus – a shock – is used to produce a generalized seizure. ..snip..



...wonder if this bunch will require "green" power for their ECT treatments?

On the Avowed Left Coast, a Feeling of Being Left Out


Fascinating. It's been updated since yesterday, even better.

Election 2004 Results
Robert J. Vanderbei

* * * * * *

this boy isn't too bright

I should be outside doing all that good Fall stuff, still yet to winterize the joint and finish up the multiple 'cane cleanup & repair. Couldn't find the latest photo of the big sweet gum in front of the house and have to do with this one from 2001. These are "before" shots all compressed for dialup:



Somehow I misplaced all but one of the photos taken just after Frances came to visit with her 18 inches of rain and mal-aria. Yesterday I pulled out the chainsaw to cut up the gum tree, I had been waiting for the fig tree to go somewhat dormant so it could turn it into lots of cuttings, besides, the gum would dry out better just left perched on top of the greenhouse.



The weather was absolutely delightful yesterday afternoon, mid-60's, cool enough for chainsaw fun, warm enough to leave the chilly clothing in the closet. I was cutting the tree from either end to keep it balanced as it is MUCH easier on the old back to do the job with it perched in the air. On the 3rd cut at the big end, the limb (36" circumference) elected to shift slightly over my head. Kept cutting. It took another shift when cut through and gave a little bump to the trajectory of the falling section.

I was wearing sandals.

Perfect end-on impact from 6' up.

Dead center on the bone on top of my hoof.

It's such a pretty thing today. All big and fat, such a lovely shade of purple. Two pairs of stout work boots in the closet and not two brain cells talking to each other. "Hello. My name is doofus. Watch me do dumb stunts."

It must have truly sucked to have been Dan Rather this morning. Last night I was getting more and more fretful that my prediction at the bottom of the previous post was probably going to become a reality. Couldn't take it anymore so I turned everything off and retired to my cot with a book and a bottle of Mother-in-Law's Heart around 10 PM. Promptly went to sleep, awoke at 2 and fired up the gear. Put Peter Jennings on the tube and started surfing the blogs with a RSS electorial map on the side. The DU'ers, what can I say? Poor babies, getting sooooo worked up. How can it be? All the hate, spite, lies, and MONEY and GWB is going to STEAL another election! Every now and then Mr. Jennings would announce that it seems another state has "fallen" to Bush. "Fallen?"

There was one beauty of a constitutional amendment up in Florida I felt pretty sure would make it despite a massive investment in fuzzy-brained ads directed to the lowest common denominator of the electorate by the trial lawyers. The John Edwards clones really didn't want No. 3: The Medical Liability Claimant's Compensation Amendment at all. It doesn't go nearly far enough but it's a start. Passing No. 6 and getting that total special interest bullet train boondoggle out of our pockets was a real plus.

It dawned on me around 5 AM that I had not seen dear Mr. Blather in weeks. Obviously it was time. Rotated the antenna toward Tallahassee and there he was. Poor fella. It was tough to see the old lying sack 'o stuff so close to the blubbering point. Yeah. Schadenfreude.

Iowahawk has some excellent advice for the poor lefties.

Rand Simberg did pretty good as well.

I know this little tale has been around in several forms, probably dates back to the 18th century.

One sunny day in 2005, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry." The Marine replied, "Sir, Mr. Kerry is not President and doesn't reside here." The old man said, "Okay," and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry." The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Kerry is not President and doesn't reside here." The man thanked him and again walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same Marine, saying," I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry." The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Kerry. I've told you already that Mr. Kerry is not the President and doesn't reside here. Don't you understand?" The old man answered, "Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it!" The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow."

ScienceDaily has this bit of serious stuff:

Brain Differences In Adolescents, Psychopaths, Lend To Their Impulsive, Risk-taking Behavior

New research—in both humans and animals—shows differences in the structure and functioning of adolescent brains compared with preadolescents or adults that correspond to such teenage behaviors as immature decision making, increased risk taking, and impulsive behaviors. As a result of this research, scientists now urge that puberty be studied as a separate stage of development—one distinctly different from the life stages of children or adults.

“Adolescents' brains seem to bias their decision-making capabilities in the direction of favoring short-term benefits, even when these benefits are weighed against potential long-term detriments,” says Jonathan Cohen, MD, PhD, of the department of psychology at Princeton University. ..snip..

funny that Democrat voters were not included in the headline!

Enough! For serious close-out thoughts on the election, the folk at Power Line and Instapundit did good work. I'm just curious how Iran and North Korea are gonna take it.

Lord have mercy does this nation need some luck this month. I just can't conceive of anyone voting for Kerry. He has NOTHING to offer the United States except his grotesque record which promises to make Prez. Peanut's look like the good old days.

They will though. I heard a little snippit on the radio Saturday stating there are 400,000 people in Florida with some form of senile dementia. There's 400K for Kerry. Added to the 150K+ I mentioned here, that makes over half a million. Then you've got all the welfare brood-mares, NEA members, civil "servants", transplanted yankees, plus the horror of this early voting crap that inevitably will be chock full of fraud. Florida just barely went conservative last time. It won't this time.

If, for some reason the traitor looses, the DNC has already got that rigged.

Democrats file 9 suits in Florida
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

10,000 Lawyers Mass to Attack 2004 Election
WSJ, October 29, 2004; Page A14

Thousands Of Lawyers Prepare For Battle In Florida
WKMG Orlando, October 26, 2004

I am an economic libertarian and I've been dismally disappointed with virtually all candidates forever. I'm not voting Libertarian again this time. This country needs a president that will fulfill the number one mandate of protecting its citizens more than ever, more than Mr. Badnarik's policies, and if you don't read anything else today, I would like you to read what John Hospers, the first Libertarian for president, has written.

An Open Letter to Libertarians
by John Hospers

Dear Libertarian:

As a way of getting acquainted, let me just say that I was the first presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party back in l972, and was the author of the first full-length book, Libertarianism, describing libertarianism in detail. I also wrote the Libertarian Party's Statement of Principles at the first libertarian national convention in 1972. I still believe in those principles as strongly as ever, but this year -- more than any year since the establishment of the Libertarian Party -- I have major concerns about the choices open to us as voting Americans.

There is a belief that's common among many libertarians that there is no essential difference between the Democrat and Republican Parties -- between a John Kerry and a George W. Bush administration; or worse: that a Bush administration would be more undesirable. Such a notion could not be farther from the truth, or potentially more harmful to the cause of liberty.

The election of John Kerry would be, far more than is commonly realized, a catastrophe. Regardless of what he may say in current campaign speeches, his record is unmistakable: he belongs to the International Totalitarian Left in company with the Hillary and Bill Clintons, the Kofi Annans, the Ted Kennedys, and the Jesse Jacksons of the world. The Democratic Party itself has been undergoing a transformation in recent years; moderate, pro-American, and strong defense Senators such as Zell Miller, Joe Lieberman and Scoop Jackson are a dying breed. Observe how many members of the Democrat Party belong to the Progressive Caucus, indistinguishable from the Democratic Socialists of America. That caucus is the heart and soul of the contemporary Democratic Party.

Today's Democrats have been out of majority power for so long that they are hungry for power at any price and will do anything to achieve it, including undermining the President and our troops in time of war; for them any victory for Americans in the war against terrorism is construed as a defeat for them. ..snip..

Please click this link for the entire message.

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Since my last post, I have compiled 5 pages of links and my comments. I've put it all in a file labeled "pol crap - Oct 2004" and burned it off to disk. Too much "stuff". The links are quite informative and some are entered below. In case they have died or require a subscription you don't want to bother with, I keep text copies of all and an email to me will get one shipped your way.

Justifications for backing Kerry fall flat Mark Steyn


Kerry's non-honorable discharge
WorldNetDaily


Kerry's Legacy:
No One Who Has Aided the Enemy Deserves to Become President
Richmond Times-Dispatch

PAUL GALANTI
GUEST COLUMNIST

note: this is a most excellent read


Kerry's Discharge Is Questioned by an Ex-JAG Officer
BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB


Stop the Shakedown
WSJ - By WALTER OLSON

hopeless case - tort reform


The Forgotten Clinton Report
By Dr. Paul Kengor


I had a hatful of comments and links on HMXGate, too much crap to include. Just another case of Kerry shooting himself in the ass again with help from his sycophant MSM support. There were a few humor links, a couple of fun personal observations, and a cute photo to add but, since it looks like there's going to be a Prez. Kerry, there's no joy in the swamp today. Please make me wrong.

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7:24 PM - Whew! Gen. Schwartzkopf is slightly po'd:

Kerry Campaign Fakes Schwartzkopf Endorsement

The stop-at-nothing Kerry campaign apparently is making phone calls in Florida, falsely claiming that Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf is supporting Kerry. Today, Schwartzkopf demanded that the DNC cease making false representations about his support:

"The Democratic National Committee is making fraudulent phone calls claiming that I have endorsed Senator Kerry. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I demand that they stop immediately.

Senator Kerry opposed the Reagan defense build-up that won the Cold War. Senator Kerry opposed the removal of Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Senator Kerry proposed billions in intelligence cuts after the first attack on the World Trade Center. Senator Kerry voted against funds to equip our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with supplies like body armor and ammunition.

I am supporting President Bush for reelection, because he is the candidate who has demonstrated the conviction needed to defeat terrorism. In contrast to the President's steadfast determination to defeat our enemies, Senator Kerry has a record of weakness that gives me no confidence in his ability to fight and win the War on Terror. His attempt to make up for these deficiencies by falsifying my endorsement only confirms my impression that he is not the man we need to lead our nation."

Posted by Hindrocket at 05:37 PM