The End is Nigh!

Happy New Ye-- What the...?! Ruuuuuun!!!

Sure it's the end of the year, but it just could be the end! of! the world!, too.

The Discovery Channel today ran a happy little show called "Apocalypse How." Because what better way to ring in the new year than two hours of mass extinction scenarios, right?

In addition to the usual -- worldwide famine, plague, nuclear war -- they threw out the interesting idea of mankind meeting its doom buried under oceans of ash and magma courtesy of one of seven "super volcanoes" known to exist.

Turns out Yellowstone National Park is one of those.

And should that 45 x 35-mile cauldron of fire churning five to 15 miles beneath Old Faithful actually blow (likely 30 miles high at "several times the speed of sound") it would represent a blast 6,000 times bigger than Mount St. Helens.

Yeah. We'd be toast.

And they tell us Yellowstone has done just that at least once before.

What made me sit up and start saying my prayers, though, was one expert's line that the telltale signs it's about to blow would be the arrival of "hundreds to thousands of earthquakes a day."

And guess what the news has been reporting this week!

Personally, I'm still hoping for the nuclear thing so I can roam the wasteland in my supercharged 1983 Interceptor with a shotgun pistol strapped to my parachute pants. (It's all riding on you, Pakistan and India.)

I guess it could be worse... At least we have a magnetic field.

Oscar disconnect goes mainstream

The other critic I trust, of course, is Dirty Harry -- coming out soon as John Nolte, editor-in-chief of Brietbart's Big Hollywood blog.

He's been talking about what's become of the Oscars for some time now, and now it seems The L.A. Times' Patrick Goldstein is on board.

Check it out here. And thank Harry for all he's done at DHP while you're there as well as wish him all the best at Big Hollywood.

Loder disses 'Defiance'

Bummer... And I was so looking forward to this one.

I don't give too much credence to any single reviewer these days, but if I trust anyone anymore it's Kurt Loder. (The best and most impartial film critic out there since Roger Ebert's brain turned to liberal Swiss cheese over the past year.)

"...You might think this heroic tale would be hard to screw up in a movie, and of course you'd be wrong. Director Edward Zwick, who last gave us the rote Leonardo DiCaprio action flick "Blood Diamond," has turned the Bielskis' story into a pacelessly episodic nature film — very heavy on trees and greenery and copious snow, and lighter than you might wish in narrative structure. The two oldest brothers, Tuvia (Craig) and Zus (Schreiber) have been set up to enunciate opposing views in the eternal argument about justifiable violence. 'We must get what we need without killing,' Tuvia says. 'We may be hunted like animals, but we will not become animals.' To which Zus replies, 'Your policy of diplomacy is sh--.' "

So with The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond and now Defiance, Ed Zwick has managed to render three killer concepts as boring, anachronistic edu-tainment? (Actually, I kinda liked Blood Diamond, despite the obligatory vilification military contractors, but it was too preachy for most apparently.)

It runs in the family

What's interesting here is not what a snoozer Ted Kennedy is in this 1979 interview, it's that he apparently chose to hold a rally or two during live studio tapings of "The Price is Right." (I'm also trying to figure out why he has a framed photo of Gomer Pyle in drag behind him.)



(Thanks again to CI Photog for the heads-up!)

Man lives with trash to 'make a point'

And if the point is he's a moron, point taken.

Why do I get the impression this is the bold green future envisioned for us by the powers that be?

Or maybe he's only getting attention because he works in Hollywood. Because I lived like this back in college, and no CBS camera crew ever showed up at my door to pat me on the back.

On the other hand -- assuming he doesn't mind girls who equate deodorant with fascism -- this guy may actually land his first date with a live woman!

The More You Know

I'm not sure why the mainstream media has a problem with this woman. Swap out "you know" for "uh," then exchange the lady parts for blackness and Caroline Kennedy is Barack Obama.

1) Both fancy themselves writers, 2) both admit to being lawyers, 3) both believe 1 and 2 qualify them for public office, 4) both lack a thimbleful of real world experience between them, 5) both have spectacularly flat chests, 6) both are related to hordes of inconvenient people they put in their books to get ahead but really just wish would go away...

I could go on. I didn't even mention the horse teeth.

Not that, you know, the paleo press would make such a connection. That's what we, your friendly neighborhood blogging scum, are here for. (Thanks for dropping a dollar in the hat on your way out.)



Our thanks to the all-seeing CI Photog for the link.

Eat your heart out, Giant Buddha!

Speaking of the Chinese... And giant things made out of snow... (Looks more like a really P.O.'d Daniel Boone to me, though.)

Commies don't like 'Dark Knight'

Visa problems

We've already discussed Batman's right-winged tendencies here, but now we have further proof -- the second biggest box office champ in history will not be shown in China.

The UAW...membership has its privileges!

Fore the workin' man

It takes balls to be an American auto worker in 2008. (Maxfli... Titleist... Top-Flite...)

2008 -- the year that killed global warming?

Twentynine Palms, California, 2008

Here's a great piece from Christopher Booker in The Daily Telegraph.

"...First, all over the world, temperatures have been dropping in a way wholly unpredicted by all those computer models which have been used as the main drivers of the scare. Last winter, as temperatures plummeted, many parts of the world had snowfalls on a scale not seen for decades. This winter, with the whole of Canada and half the US under snow, looks likely to be even worse. After several years flatlining, global temperatures have dropped sharply enough to cancel out much of their net rise in the 20th century."

Not so fast, Mr. Smarty McLogic... Al Gore says global cooling is proof of global warming. As will be any future global tepidness, global chilliness or global nice-enough-for-short-pantsedness.

"...Thirdly, as banks collapsed and the global economy plunged into its worst recession for decades, harsh reality at last began to break in on those self-deluding dreams which have for so long possessed almost every politician in the western world. ...

Suddenly it has become rather less appealing that we should divert trillions of dollars, pounds and euros into the fantasy that we could reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 80 per cent. All those grandiose projects for "emissions trading", "carbon capture", building tens of thousands more useless wind turbines, switching vast areas of farmland from producing food to "biofuels", are being exposed as no more than enormously damaging and futile gestures, costing astronomic sums we no longer possess."

And yet, I have a feeling that won't stop us from trying anyway.

"As 2009 dawns, it is time we in Britain faced up to the genuine crisis now fast approaching from the fact that – unless we get on very soon with building enough proper power stations to fill our looming "energy gap" -- within a few years our lights will go out and what remains of our economy will judder to a halt. After years of infantile displacement activity, it is high time our politicians – along with those of the EU and President Obama's US – were brought back with a mighty jolt into contact with the real world."

Barack Obama is a Harvard professor and nonprofit lawyer who has never had a job in the private sector in his life. (Unless you count the one he brags about taking as an anti-corporate spy in his book.) It's safe to say any contact with the real world is going to be a "mighty jolt" for our next president.

Kremlin's favorite prof predicts U.S. gone by 2010

The Russians may not be dumb enough to elect their vacuous academic superstars president like we do, but they too are hoping for change they can believe in.

"...California will form the nucleus of what he calls "The Californian Republic," and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of "The Texas Republic," a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an "Atlantic America" that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls "The Central North American Republic." Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia."

They can take Alaska when they pry the hunting rifle from Sarah Palin's cold, dead fingers.

Child slaves in suburbia

Remember, Islam is a beautiful faith, and immigration is good for America.

Remember me?

Hope you all had a fine Christmas! Sorry no posts for the holiday, but as Bob Cratchit says, I was making rather merry.

Anyway, back to the daily blogging grind.

Maybe you've seen this one already. There have been dozens like it over the past several years, but this one, produced by a 15-year old, is the best I've seen.

Merry Christmas from David Spade, punks.

Bang.

David Spade just bought the cops a truckload of boomsticks. I knew I liked this guy for a reason.

Just wait until his Hollywood pals find out. (Not the guns. The part about watching Fox News.)

Santa buzzes Ahmadinejad

I just checked NORAD's live Santa Tracker. Notice his location on the screen shot above. Hope Rudolf ate his Wheaties today, because those Russian missiles are fast!

The return of Snowzilla!

And as usual The Man is trying to take him down. Power to the (snow) people!

In case you're keeping score at home...

If this goes down like it seems to be going down, I pray Al Franken gets hit by a bus. One just big enough to hurt but not kill. Ideally one loaded with poorly secured cacti, porcupines and ninja throwing stars. Then I'll pray one of those tiny cartoon clouds materializes over his head and starts raining rubbing alcohol. And fire. And dog crap.

Nor, as the lady points out, will this be the first time Democrats have sprinted from the proverbial Walmart with a few plasma screens under arm.

As newish Washington state residents we missed the shenanigans pulled by current Governor and all-around babe Chris Gregoire to abscond with the election, but it remains the stuff of legend and armed peasant revolt around here. Sadly, she surfed Obie wan Kenyobi's wave into an undisputed second term more recently. But that's another story.

California real estate sinkhole to grow in '09

Eight of the 10 worst real estate markets in the country next year are predicted to be in the state of California. The good news is smart people can start making the fortune of a lifetime right about now in those same places. With the possible exception of Stockton, which will remain a sinkhole no matter what happens.

(Even if this topic bores you, fans of good writing should give that second link a look. One of the most engaging articles on any topic I've seen in a long time. )

R.I.P. VHS

The L.A. Times has a nostalgic piece on the final curtain for VHS as its last distributor moves on. Well worth a read.

The above commercial references the RCA SelectaVision line of VCRs. My love of all things movies began with the RCA SelectaVision VideoDisc player that dad brought home some 30 years ago. They still have it, and it still works. (Check it out here. Move immediately to the 4:00 mark to skip the movie clips and see the ole "CED" in action.)

Banks blow tax money on hookers and cocaine

Bank of America new-account reps at work

Yes, I made that hookers-and-coke headline up. But America's financial institutions could very well be spending their cut of the TARP loot that way, and we'll never know. And they like it that way.

" 'We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, "Here's how we're doing it,"' said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. 'We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to.' "

Now I know what Curly felt like when he'd get that double poke in the eye from Mo.

"There has been no accounting of how banks spend that money. Lawmakers summoned bank executives to Capitol Hill last month and implored them to lend the money — not to hoard it or spend it on corporate bonuses, junkets or to buy other banks. But there is no process in place to make sure that's happening and there are no consequences for banks who don't comply."

That's the Congressional equivalent of handing a homeless heroin addict a thousand dollars and "imploring" him to spend it on vegetables and clean underpants.

" 'Those are legitimate questions that should have been asked on Day One,' said Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., a House Financial Services Committee member who opposed the bailout as it was rushed through Congress. 'Where is the money going to go to? How is it going to be spent? When are we going to get a record on it?'

Nearly every bank AP questioned — including Citibank and Bank of America, two of the largest recipients of bailout money — responded with generic public relations statements..."

If Nancy Pelosi and President Bush look so creepy as a couple, can you imagine the unholy offspring she and "EZ Money" Obama will spawn?

Of course, the economy will recover independently in '09 as predicted by most pundits, and Obama will take the credit like Clinton in the '90s...while, like Clinton, laying the groundwork for the next crash...probably during a Republican administration...assuming the new voter majority with dual Mexican citizenship will allow a Republican administration ever again...but I digress.

Again, this whole collapse was not a failure of capitalism. And (if we had any brains) wouldn't be seen as a call to throw more fuel on the socialist fire. It was a failure of the government's limited, biblical role to ensure just weights and measures. It was a failure of our leaders to hold a biblical view of fallen human nature. It was a failure of Republican and Democrat politician alike, though it was a particular failure of Democrats, and Republicans alone are currently trying to improve themselves.

Jeff Dunham with Achmed the Dead Terrorist

Dec. 17 in review

Is it just me, or did we just have a freaky day?

From the headlines:

'Death Map' shows where Americans most likely to die

Little 'Adolf Hitler' denied birthday cake at New Jersey grocery store

Human-sized heart found at the Paw Paw car wash

And weirdest of all...

Frigid storm closes California freeways, drops snow in Malibu

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? If the Paw Paw car wash is in San Francisco, that heart just might belong to Tony Bennett. (Hope not, because I paid a lot of money for that thing on eBay last year.)

Obama set to deliver on illegal immigraton promises

Before... After...

See, liberals? Nothing to fear from Barack Obama.

I understand Robert Gates and Jim Jones had you furiously leafing through your Anarchist Cookbooks already, but B.O.'s cabinet is taking shape very nicely indeed for the more fanatical open-border, one-worlders among your ranks.

Because with Ken Salazar, Cecilia Munoz -- everyone on board so far, really -- it's clear that only the big, bad Great Depression II is going to save us now from millions of Mexicans bum-rushing the great gringo cash sow of the north.

(In case you're unfamiliar with Munoz, she's an 18-year leader of racist organization La Raza -- means "The Race," right? -- and a woman whose life is fueled by rage.)

In other words, barring the advent of millions of Americans lining up for soup the government can't afford, we will experience a titanic population shift. And that means a titanic political and political philosophy shift in favor of the Latin American mindset.

And that means whatever is left of the nation forged by the Founders is doomed.

Winning hearts and soles in Iraq

The only opinion that counts

When that brave Iraqi reporter tossed a shoe at the president's head yesterday -- a major event dutifully played on a loop everywhere fine journalism is sold -- I learned just one thing...

Reporters are idiots the world over.

Seriously, what's the difference between Sheik Olbermann (like it? made it myself) and the one on MSNBC? Keith Olbermann smells slightly better, presumably.

Granted, I can see how the man wouldn't need shoes anymore. No dictators or terrorists to run from these days thanks to the American government and all.

The real difference, of course, is between both of these guys and George W. Bush.

Unlike Abu Blitzer, Bush didn't fall flat on his can during this incident. Imagine, as I do occasionally to stay sane, if Al Gore had won in 2000 and by some miracle found himself in this situation. He would have globally warmed his pants.

And unlike Keith Olbermann, Bush knows how to respond rationally and smile in the face of his enemies. Heck, smile period.

Love him or hate him, you've gotta respect the grace and humility with which President Bush takes the hits. And this hit was undeniably the cruelest, funniest moment in a presidency not lacking for sketch comedy material.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. With regard to protection of this country during time of war -- a war Islam declared on us, not the other way around -- history will do the talking for George W. Bush. And last I checked, that's supposed to be the primary role of the federal government.

True, we've all wanted to pelt the man with produce on certain tangential issues from time to time. I personally have a Nike Outlet's worth of zapatos to unload his direction if he retires to the ranch with Ramos and Compean still in jail.

But for me the negatives all fade into the background when I see this footage, same as when Michael Moore tried to denigrate him with this clip and ended up having the opposite effect.

So keep rolling that beautiful bean footage, CNN.

Those catlike moves and "bring it on" grin President Bush flashed as Hajji tossed his dusty Keds his way only makes me remember why I loved this president in the first place.

Insert Uranus joke here

I guess if there was ever a universal way to say "come enslave us and feast on our brains" it's with Keanu Reeves.

"In a time when global movie launches are now commonplace, Fox is raising the bar by spearheading, with Deep Space Communications Network located at Cape Canaveral, the ultimate in “wide release” platforms. As millions of Earthbound movie fans get their first look at THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, the film will be zipping through space at 186,000 miles per second to a heretofore untapped possible consumer base orbiting the three star system, Alpha Centauri."

Half our own planet loathes us because they believe what we say about ourselves on VH1 and the moving picture shows. Now we're introducing ourselves to the galaxy with this unholy stink bomb??

Good going, 20th Century Fox. Now we'll never find out how the pyramids were made.

Companies unveil 'Terminator' hover gun, cop car of the future

Made in America: Carbon Motors E7

If the Big Three die, we get more stuff like this.

And if Barack "I'll slow the development of new weapons systems" Obama hadn't been elected, we would have got more stuff like this.

Ex-Marines rescue girl from 30 gang members

Liberating New York, one city at a time.

Talk about your "Semper Fi" moment.

"...The former leathernecks, Valentyn Olenyev, 23, and Boris Bukler, 22, Russian émigrés who served tours in Iraq, were walking a female friend to her parked car on West 23rd Street [Coney Island] at 12:30 a.m. when they spotted two men holding the screaming teen by her hands and legs.

"She was yelling, 'Help!' " said Olenyev. "I asked her, 'Do you need help?' She said, 'Yes!"

"It wasn't our intention to get into a fight," said Bukler. "We said, 'Let the girl go, and we'll leave.' We told them, 'Stop.'

"She was screaming, and all we did was look to help her. I got a bottle smashed over my head, and after that, I started fighting."

Can I get an oorah! from all the ladies in the house?

This happened back in August, but I'm just hearing about it now. Mainly because only one newspaper, The New York Post, appears to have thought it worth reporting.

The MSM is happy to print every alleged incident of wrongdoing by our guys -- not that they have many to report -- but the truth about the kind of men produced by our military gets shelved every time.

And how cool is it that these dudes are Russian emigres? (Thanks again, Uncle Ronnie.)

It also didn't help, I'm sure, that the girl and Marines were white, and the slur-yelling gangbangers were black.

"...The two former Marines, meanwhile, insist that the violence had racial overtones, although the assault has not been labeled a bias crime.

Bukler said, "Those in the crowd were yelling, 'Hey, white boys, you're in the 'hood now!' We were yelling back, 'We don't care - we live here!' "

"We don't care - we live here!"

Oo. Rah.

SCIENCE! says Al Gore's hot air responsible for global warming

Speaking of religion, here's one faith vs. science debate for which I'm backing science.

That would be 650 people with advanced degrees and shiny Nobel Prizes on the shelves of their sterile white workspaces. Not that we needed them when these guys already called it.

Now excuse me while I turn up the heat in my globally cooling house.

Bush the Deist

"Thanks for comin', padres."

I didn't think it was possible for Dubya to alienate more people at this point with so little time and so few people left to alienate. But we can add Bible-believing Christians to that list after his Nightline interview.

In case you missed it, as I did...

"Asked about creation and evolution, Bush said: 'I think you can have both. I think evolution can -- you're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm just a simple president.' "

Hey, Obama got away with the "above my pay grade" abortion dodge, right?

"The president also said that he prays to the same God as those with different religious beliefs.

'I do believe there is an almighty that is broad and big enough and loving enough that can encompass a lot of people,' Bush said.

Charo... Desmond Tutu... Larry the Cable Guy... We're all children of the same loving almighty/Supreme Being/Spirit Entity.

"Interviewer Cynthia McFadden asked Bush if the Bible was literally true.

'You know. Probably not. ... No, I'm not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it, but I do think that the New Testament for example is ... has got ... You know, the important lesson is 'God sent a son,' Bush said."

Bush went on to explain his wide-open border policy with Mexico was, in fact, due largely to God having named His Son "Jesus, which of course is Esp'nole for 'Allah' or some such."

Man... Washington D.C. can really do a number on your soul, can't it? Though for the record, I still think he's still been a stellar wartime Commander in Chief and thank the real God he was at the helm Sept. 11, 2001 instead of Albert Gore, Jr.

Lincecum lands 2K cover; Giants reduce prices, pursue Big Unit

Gamer

I neglected to congratulate Tim Lincecum on his well-deserved Cy Young win at the time, but the cover of a bestselling video game is pretty good, too.

" 'I'm a huge video-game guy, and to be able to do something like this really is a dream come true,' Lincecum said. "I remember playing the college baseball video game when I was at [the University of] Washington, and Jered Weaver was on the cover. Me and my teammates would play and talk about how cool that would be to be the cover guy, and here I am.' "

This makes me nervous, though...

" 'You don't really realize all the little things that go into something like this,' Lincecum said. 'When you're in a real game, in front of 50,000 people, it's all just natural. But when you're out there by yourself, doing all the little stuff, it's totally different to have to think about it' "

Do not overthink it, Tim. Do. Not. Just ask Barry Zito.

In other Giants news:


• Looks like Brian Sabean is eying Randy Johnson for a spot on the rotation. The Big Unit is in no hurry to decide, but throwing at AT&T would be a smart move for his aging arm IMHO.
  
  
• The team will be the first in the league to implement "dynamic ticket pricing" for the coming year, allowing for lowered prices on not-so-interesting games or pitching matchups.

In case you're wondering, prices will stay the same or go down next year.

"We want to ensure that baseball remains accessible to everyone even during tough economic times."

That sounds good, and I think it will be, but a few of the reasons listed to adjust prices include events that would appear to tick prices up in future when demand is high. I guess only time'll tell.

'I am Legend' prequel update

Where there's a Will...

Will Smith talks general specifics over at Collider on the prequel for the excellent 'I am Legend," which feels like it's going to happen.

"We have a fantastic prequel idea…we’re still trying to work through a couple of bumps in the story. It’s essentially the fall of the last city – the last stand of Manhattan. The movie would be…within the body of the movie D.C. and then Manhattan would fall as the last city. It’s a really cool idea trying to figure it out…there’s a reason why we have to take a small band and we have to get into D.C. So we have to make our way from New York to D.C. and then back to New York."

Legend was a killer siege picture. And I love, love, love me a good siege picture, which this appears to be, too, with the additional heapin' helpin' of Road Warrior action. Giddyup, Jerry.

Is Scott Derrickson a sellout?

Lies down in green pastures

In 2005, director Scott Derrickson hit it big with The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a good little film respectful of faith and never gratuitous despite the genre.

Better yet was the prospect of Derrickson, one of those "Christians working in Hollywood," gaining a foothold in the industry, which he next parleyed into directing 20th Century Fox's enviro-retake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Saying yes to a goofy message movie like Earth should have been my first clue, but I guess I hoped he would subvert the Utopian brotherhood-of-man stuff with some sort of Christian subtext.

Based on his interview at Dark Horizons, it would appear our pilgrim's progress either ended in Vanity Fair quicker than most, or he was one of those Christians from the get-go.

"Derrickson: ...I was struck by the idea that updating this movie had tremendous value because of the original being so rooted in the social issues of its time. It was such an intelligent and interesting self-reflective commentary, coming from an American studio and an American filmmaker, on the Cold War and the fear of the atomic bomb and the struggle to establish the UN, and things that were controversial and divisive.

I loved the idea of being able to tell basically the same story but bring in these new social issues that we have now, these new interesting messes that we’ve gotten ourselves into now in the world, and that alone seemed to have value to it and made sense."

Only in your town, Scott.

He goes on.

"Question: Wasn’t this a green production?

Derrickson: Yeah, this was Fox’s first show that was a green production. The generators that were used…I honestly don’t know all the ins and outs of it. I do know that there was a lot of effort that went into making it a true green show. It didn't have much of an effect, the only effect that it had on me personally was that it was paperless, and for a director storyboards become very complicated because they were all digital and so I never knew who had what. There was no notebook to carry around and that became confusing.

I think that, you know, I’ll join in. We got rid of our SUV and got a hybrid and all that stuff but I’m also of the belief that those contributions are important but not in the end going to solve the problems. I really like Thomas Friedman who writes for the New York Times and his perspective on these issues and his statement, ‘Don’t change your light bulbs, change your leaders.’ I think that the larger solutions are going to come from larger places..."

"I think that, you know, I’ll join in."

Well said, Klaatu.

Can't wait to see what he does with Paradise Lost. I mean apart from the scene where Lucifer tempts Eve with the keys to a shiny new Chevy Suburban.

Bush pardons rapper, lets Border Patrol officers rot

Carly Simon -- she's got the power!

Speaking of Ramos and Compean, guess who were left off the most recent list of names pardoned by my one-time second-favorite president.

Some of the names on that list?

Among the 14 pardons and two sentence commutations were bank embezzlers, tax evaders and rapper John E. Forte, convicted of aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

"John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., a graduate of the elite Phillips Exeter Academy prep school who later became a producer for the rap group The Fugees and released two albums on his own, was caught in 2000 at Newark International Airport with two briefcases filled with $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine, according to court documents."

But hey, the man didn't like the way his trial was conducted, so by all means. Plus, he graduated from prep school, so he and Dubya had a connection. Not to mention how both Carly Simon and uber-RINO Orin Hatch had been stumping for him:

"Now is the perfect opportunity for John to be given the chance to provide positive benefits to society through his considerable musical talents."

True. Still time for him to perform with Carly at Obama's inauguration if they hurry.

Meanwhile, Ramos and Compean are working on new shivs to defend themselves from the next beating they'll take in the prison chow line.

California congressman Dana Rohrabacher's reaction:

"The fact that the president has neglected to free these men from their imprisonment while freeing drug dealers, embezzlers and other criminals is insulting to the American people. For the sake of justice, let's hope this is not the last round of pardons and commutations."

Rohrabacher has called this episode

“the worst miscarriage of justice that I have witnessed in the 30 years I’ve been in Washington. The decision to give immunity to the drug dealer and to throw the book at the border patrol agents was a prosecutorial travesty.”

The following quick recap of the case fails to mention how Bush handpicked pal Johnny Sutton to fly down and prosecute the case. Remember:

* Compean and Ramos were convicted almost solely on the word of a known illegal alien drug smuggler who claimed that Compean and Ramos shot him in the butt while he was attempting to escape.

* This smuggler was attempting to transport 743 pounds of marijuana into the United States at the time of the incident.

* In exchange for his testimony, the smuggler was granted blanket immunity and allowed to come and go across the border almost at will and was actually caught attempting to transport more drugs into the United States while waiting to testify against Compean and Ramos.

* The court WOULD NOT allow this fact to be submitted during the trial.

* And, in what may be the greatest irony of this whole case, the smuggler was eventually convicted of the smuggling offenses that occurred AFTER he was granted immunity and was sentenced to LESS TIME than Compean and Ramos.

Failing a pardon for these two in the coming days, let me take this moment to again say, Mr. President, thanks for killing terrorists and all, but given your promotion of the invasion at home, your "compassionate conservative" squandering of the Reagan legacy and now the bazillions in bailouts to crappy companies...there's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out.

Blackwater operators facing 30-year sentences

Blackwater taking care of business

This is total crap.

"Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in the deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting of Iraqi civilians could face mandatory 30-year prison sentences under an aggressive anti-drug law being considered as the Justice Department readies indictments, people close to the case said.

...Though drugs were not involved in the Blackwater shooting, the Justice Department is pondering the use of a law, passed at the height of the nation's crack epidemic, to prosecute the guards. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 law calls for 30-year prison terms for using machine guns to commit violent crimes of any kind, whether drug-related or not."

I'm not saying the use of private military contractors is the ideal way to fight a war. You can argue it's no cheaper than having the military do everything, possibly more expensive. You can point to instances of waste and fraud. But the majority of top companies -- Blackwater in particular -- operate professionally, patriotically and with distinction given the dicey role we've asked them to play -- to fight and die off the books in service of our modern requirements for neat and tidy conflicts with ridiculously small official body counts.

More to the point, these contractors were operating under the promise of immunity from prosecution for ugliness that might occur in the fog of war.

And make no mistake, they've been fighting this war.

Blackwater contractors have battled alongside, and saved the bacon of, U.S. and allied troops on numerous occasions. And while others may have, this company avoids gunslingers and wannabes. These are largely former special operators who regularly train the military itself. They know restraint and know the rules of engagement -- as knowable as the rules are in a place where civilian and enemy combatant are one and the same.

The article suggests prosecutors have their work cut out for them, but our current president clearly isn't averse to a good railroading if it serves a "higher" cause. (Ramos and Compean, anyone?) And if you think this is ugly, just wait and see what the guy in line for his job has up his sleeve.

Second "How Obama Got Elected" poll gets same results

Having learned a valuable lesson from the Left's successful "Bush = Hitler" campaign, I plan to beat this dead horse for all it's worth. Or at least frequently link to its carcass.

Call me a sore loser. Call me a crybaby. I call it hope and change. Expect this to continue for, oh, the next eight years or so, or until the black helicopters descend on my fortified RV deep in the Idaho wilderness.

So gone for so long

Apologies for the lack of new material lately. Still on vacation in California, with limited (high speed) Internetspaceweb access. Rest assured we'll be chumming the water again in all our nutty, right-wing glory in a few days. Thanks!