Workers' Romp*

*Title coined by Ladys Notforturning.

The news is full of stories about frivolous lawsuits.  Here's one from Australia's Herald Sun  --A federal worker is demanding compensation for injuries she received during a hotel tryst, while on a business trip. 

I guess the "...consequent psychiatric injury" is today's psychobabble for "died of embarrasment."

What's next?  Issuing a clothing allowance, like we use to receive in the military, to repair or replace clothing damaged "in the line of duty?"

Since the woman in question has not been identified, any possible likeness to either of the images I used in this post is purely coincidental...

Citizens Calling Congress

Yesterday, Obama urged citizens to phone congress.  They did, but according to FOX Nation most of the calls that jammed the Congressional phone lines called for reducing government spending.

Be careful what you wish for Mr. President.

Our current level of debt staggers the imagination of ordinary Americans.  To help understand the immensity of the debt issue, WTFNoway provides us with a visual on what the umpteen trillion dollar debt would look like, if it were a stack of $100 bills.

Definately not the hope I'm looking for.

And speaking of dollar bills...

(Image by Ramirez)

...Obama can keep the change.

Learning to Link & Lightening Up

A blog is a perpetual work-in-progress, since there is always something that can be improved upon. A friend of mine just showed me how to use the Link function in Blogger's toolbar. 

So now I can turn this:  http://www.marksteyn.com/ ...

...into this:  Mark Steyn 

It may not improve my writing, but it will help make my posts more presentable.

And speaking of presentable, I also changed the template.  Initially, I liked the black, X-File-esque background.  The black template went well with the heading photo.  But after reading comments from professional writers, I learned that most people hate black backgrounds with white letters.  Apparently it's also harder on a reader's eyes.

So I tried "lightening up."  Unfortunately all the lighter templates used dark lettering, which blended into the heading photo, making it nearly impossible to read.  Plus the dark photo, stood out like the proverbial sore thumb.  The current template, I hope is a happy compromise.

Presidential (Non)Leadership in the Deficit Debate

Debate over the looming deficit crisis continues.  So, what does our Dear Leader have to offer?

According to S.E. Cupp, not much.  But then again, as her and other commentators pointed out during the 08 election, Obama hasn't done much of anything prior to entering the Oval Office.

S.E.'s article in the NY Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2011/07/26/2011-07-26_professor_obama_lectures_on_debt_he_has_many_ideas_but_no_plans.html 

Maybe folks will listen in 2012.

Ramifications of the Oslo Massacre

(Image:  Breivik in a police van, photo by AP)

When news first broke of the bombing/shooting attack in Norway, I immediately assumed this was the work of Islamic jihadists and their ilk.  I was wrong, but I wasn't the only one.  Thanks to Al-Qaida's modus operandi, this was a natural assumption to make--not an "Islamophobic" reaction.  Or, as Comrade Karla put it:

Predictably, elements of the MSM demanded that “we apologize” for initial assumptions the Norway massacre was the work of, well, people who tend to do that sort of thing with alarming frequency.

Andrew McCarthy makes his case in the National Review Online (NRO):

http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/272654 

Apparently, Mark Steyn was one of several author's mentioned in Breivik's 1500-page+ manifesto.  Rolling-in from The Corner, Mark points out the fallacy of crying "Islamophobia" when no Muslims were killed in Breivik's attack:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/272617/islamophobia-and-mass-murder-mark-steyn 

Finally, Bruce Bawer discusses another tragedy possibly unfolding in Norway--the shutting down of legitimate criticism of Islam:

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/a-double-tragedy-for-norway/ 

More from the good Comrade:

Some good observations, particularly with respect to the continuing European delusion that they are “more evolved” than us Neanderthal ‘murcins. Also, the wave of attempts to discredit any critic of Norwegian policy vis a vis radical Islam was something that occurred to me as soon as it became clear who had committed the Norway murders.

Shooting Sprees in the Pacific NW

(Image:  Crime Scene in Kent, from KOMO News)

While Norwegians mourn, two shooting sprees erupted in our local area.  The first, occurred at a low-rider car show in Kent. 

The Seattle Times has the story:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015711094_kentshooting24m.html 

One story that emerged is that someone "dissed" a car owner's paint job, while other witnesses say two groups got into an altercation.  From KOMO News:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/126067653.html 

While the shooting in Kent may be gang related, the root cause of the one at the Muckleshoot Casino early this morning, may be domestic violence.

From The Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015715866_auburnshooting25m.html 

Norwegian Mass Murderer Confesses

(Image:  From Yahoo News)

This picture breaks my heart every time I see it.

Anders Behring Breivik confessed shortly after quietly being apprehended by police on Utoya Island.  In various statements he considers his heinous acts "cruel but necessary," along with imagining himself as an anti-Islamic "crusader."

From Yahoo News:

http://news.yahoo.com/norway-suspect-deems-killings-atrocious-needed-013354792.html

From the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015711360_norway24.html

From FOX News:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/24/norwegian-suspect-wanted-european-anti-muslim-crusade/

No Mr. Breivik, you are not a crusader.  You are a POS (Piece Of "Crap") mass murderer.  Crusaders are warriors, willing to confront armed enemies in battle--not methodically slaughter unarmed teenagers.  If you wanted to be a crusader, why didn't you join the Norwegian military, volunteer to deploy to Afghanistan and fight the jihadis along side American troops?  (I won't delve into NATO's deployment policy here).  Or become a politician and advocate changing your country's immigration laws?

From what I've seen on the FOX News programs, the maximum sentence Breivik will get will be 21 years. 

That's less than 4.5 years for every person he's killed. 

Quite an indictment against progressive law, if you ask me.

Massacre in Oslo

(Image:  Oslo, Norway after the explosion, from Associated Press, Jon Bredo)

News of the coordinated attack in Oslo continues to unfold.  Apparently, this wasn't the work of Muslim jihadists as I implied in yesterday's post.  Instead, police have charged Anders Behring Breivik, a possible right-wing extremist, with mass murder.

From The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/23/anders-behring-breivik-norway-attacks

Norwegian police are now looking for a second gunman (bomber?).  Cincinnati.com has now provided a photo gallery of the bombing in Oslo along with the shooting on Utoya Island:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110723/NEWS03/307230011/Update-Norway-gunman-fired-90-minutes?odyssey=nav%7Chead

The latest from FOX News:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/23/gunmans-background-puzzles-police-in-norway/

And Yahoo News:

http://news.yahoo.com/gunmans-background-puzzles-police-norway-044701742.html

Station Relocation

My divorce was finalized last month, so I've spent most of my off-duty time looking for, and moving into a new home. So my posts have been sparse and sporadic lately. When I get resettled, I hope to resume posting at my normal, or even better, rate.

Breaking News: Bomb blast in Oslo, Norway

(Image: From the BBC)

I'm in the process of moving, which will be the subject of another blog post.  So I haven't had time to post my $0.02 on events of the past several days.

I caught this headline on the Seattle Times, just as I was getting ready to read the comics while I ate breakfast:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015695625_apeunorwayexplosion.html 

Anyone care to guess who the "usual suspects" might be?

Covering Up Operation Gunrunner

What could go wrong indeed?  Other than scores of deaths in Mexico and the killing of a US Border Patrol agent, that is.

Our Department of (In)Justice, Attorney General Eric Holder tried backpedaling a couple months ago.  However, public statements made in obscure places have a way of jumping onto the center stage.  From FOX Nation:

http://nation.foxnews.com/eric-holder/2011/07/11/holder-bragged-about-project-gunrunner-2009?cmpid=NL_FiredUpFoxNation_20110711 

Here's the "flow chart" on Operation Give-the-Bad-Guys-Guns:

Sadhill has a bunch of links regarding this fiasco: 

http://sadhillnews.com/2011/07/09/project-gunrunner-now-in-theaters-everywhere 

Meanwhile, inside the DC Beltway, this issue may (hopefully) be boiling-over, beyond an "internal investigation."  Erica Wenig, of The Washington Examiner, reports:

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/03/grassley-wants-gun-walker-investigation 

Multi-Culti Madness North of the Border

No, I'm not referring the Canadian Broadcasting Company's (CBC) liberal fantasy program.  Instead, I'm referring to this story, by Mark Steyn, about a "mosqueteria" in a Toronto public school:

http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/4259/ 

Since when did it become okay for a public school in a western country to treat it's female students like dogs in heat?

Things Are Getting Dimmer...

Mark Steyn rolled-in on the comments Steven Chu, Secretary for the Department of (Obstructing) Energy, made a few days ago:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/271470/light-motif-mark-steyn 

So if the Incandescent Light Bulb Ban isn't defeated, then cashiers at hardware stores will be asking "Do you want 'curly-fry' light-bulbs with that?"

If people really think switching to compact fluorescent will save the environment, they should realize grandiose schemes like this have unintended consequences.  Consequences like this one observed three years ago:

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=57426

It's the Economy, Stupid II

(Image from Funnypages.org)

Our Dear Leader's political advisor, said people aren't likely to consider our nation's unemployment rate as a factor in the 2012 election.

Ian Swanson wrote about this "don't worry, be happy" news in The Hill yesterday: 

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/170309-plouffe-says-jobs-rate-not-key-i 

My favorite passage in the article: 

Plouffe said, according to Bloomberg. “People won’t vote based on the unemployment rate, they’re going to vote based on: ‘How do I feel about my own situation? Do I believe the president makes decisions based on me and my family?’ ”

Spoken like a true liberal: Don't worry, our Dear Leader has things well in hand and will take care of you.

My friends chimed in with:

 

 

If that is the way they really see things then I say be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Between people who are unemployed, underemployed, insecure about their employment (whether real or perceived), or insecure about their childrens' future (whether real or perceived), they may not like the answers they get to Plouffe's question.

I've long been critical of conservatives who relish the economy and other
aspects of the country going bad in order to hurt the Democrats. However,
this president is so bad I'm starting to cheer things like high
unemployment, if only...to punish America for being stupid and
ensure the current reigning bozo gets the boot.

Happily, said bozo's peeps are really digging their heads down into the
sand.

Another way of looking at this - is Plouffe the Douche suggesting that the unemployment rate is not a big deal because it will not factor in the 2012 election and therefore the President shouldn't worry about it? Yeah, that sounds like very sound political advice to me....

TSA Warns About the Dangers of Implants

(Image:  Sabrina Sabrok, Argentine TV star)

No, not cosmetic surgery gone wrong.  Instead, terrorists are seeking ways to implant explosives into human bodies, so they can blow-up commerical airliners. 

From the Wall Street Journal (WSJ):

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303365804576429741400016376.html?mod=wsj_share_facebook 

And from FOX News:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/06/us-warns-terrorists-might-try-to-plant-bombs-inside-people/

It will only be a matter of time before TSA starts instituting cavity searches.

Don't believe it will come to that?
For an unfortunate few, we're already there:

Two weeks ago, a wheelchair-bound 95-year-old woman at Northwest Florida Regional Airport flying to Michigan to be with her family for the final stage of her terminal leukemia was made to remove her adult diaper by the crack agents of the Transport Stupidity Administration.

(From: No Independence Day for Debt Ridden America, by Mark Steyn in the Orange County Register, 1 July 11)

Maybe there should be a subdivision of TSA, called the Bureaucratic Office of Human Intelligence Collection Agency, or BOHICA.  Which by the way, is an acronym more commonly used to say:  Bend Over, Here It Comes Again. 

But if TSA ever does begin profiling, they'll probably limit it to porn stars.

L.B.JObama?

(Image by: Rex Rabin of the Sacramento Bee)

While automatice weapons are falling into the hands of narco-gangs, thanks to "Operation Gunwalker" (officially known as "Operation Fast and Furious"), Iran's nuke program is still going full-speed ahead.  Elise Jordan, wrote about the looming crisis in the National Review Online (NRO), over the Fourth of July Holiday:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270992/obama-versus-tehran-elise-jordan 

And as Iran's nuke program goes forward, our military begins it's "exit strategy" from the middle east.  Last week, Jeffery Kuhner compared Obama to LBJ in the Washington Times:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/30/obama-the-lbj-of-our-time/ 

This gives me a bad feeling we'll see images like this all over again:

The Fast and the Failures

Someone in the Obama Administration has been watching too many action/adventure movies.  "Operation Fast and Furious" was suppose to be a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) sting operation against weapons trafficking to narco gangs in Mexico.  However, someone came up with "a cunning plan" to allow weapons to fall into the hands of Mexican narco-gangs.  The goal of this was to “create a ‘nexus’ between the drug cartels and the straw purchasers.”  Straw purchasers are people who buy guns from gun shops, then turn around and sell them to criminals.

However, things didn't go according to plan and the scandal has been brewing for several weeks.  From PowerLine, 20 June 2011:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/06/029290.php

Despite attempts by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to cover up the fiasco, the congressional investigaion continued and the scandal may, in fact, be widening.  From yesterday's Powerline:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/07/fast-and-furious-blows-sky-high.php 

With DOJ stonewalling, speculation is high, that this was an attempt to generate a crisis in order to initiate stricter gun-control policies.  Pajamas Media has the details:

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/mega-scandal-was-gunwalker-a-pr-op-for-gun-control/ 

American Civil War II?

(Image:  The Electoral Map of the 2000 Election)

Yesterday, we celebrated our nation's birthday--what unifies us as Americans.  Now that the Independence Day party is over, it's time to look at what separates us.  To say our country is divided politically is an understatement.  All one needs to look at is the Electoral Map of the 2000 Election to see where the battle lines are drawn.  Conservatives call this "The Red Sea," while liberals refer to it as "Fly-Over Country."

Despite a couple states changed sides in 04 and even more in 08, not much has changed.  And the emotional divide is getting worse.  Witness liberal reaction to the TEA Parties along with "Palin Derangement Syndrome." 

The concerns among conservatives is that our "ship of state" is heading for the financial falls, much like the PIGS of Europe (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain).  For the past several years a friend of mine has been convinced another civil war is brewing.  I never took him that seriously.  Now I'm not so sure.

Mark Steyn discusses why some states may feel it's time to "jump ship:"

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/271053/liberty-and-loss-mark-steyn 

In the 2004 Election, New Mexico and New Hampshire changed sides, but the rest of the "usual suspects" stood firm.  This was still a close election.  Despite the swath of red, several of the blue states have a much higher population. 

In the 2008 Election, many states were caught up in the historic moment of Barack Obama running for president.  Since then, Obama's popularity rating plunged to the low 40 percentages.  Congress continues to debate the debt ceiling issue, with very little headway made towards resolving the looming crisis. 

Conservative Americans are hoping Congress will do more than "re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic."

Happy Independence Day!

(Image: From PowerPoint Ranger)

Our soldiers of any era are badass, but I love the comparison.

Charming the "Big Snake"

(Image: By Eric Allie)

In keeping with favoring our enemies over our allies, our Dear Leader has now formally recognized Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (MB).

From Politico:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/58094.html 

This decision will surely come back to bite us one way or another.

Atlas Shrugs had even more to say on this matter yesterday:

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/06/reuters-obama-to-establish-formal-contacts-with-the-muslim-brotherhood.html

While we may not know what MB will evolve into once it gains enough power in Egypt, but future events will probably look a lot like this: