Two Crackas in My Soup...

Boy Do We Need This!

2006-08-08T13:05:00.000-04:00

Can't wait for it to pass the FDA trials.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German scientist has been testing an "anti-stupidity" pill with encouraging results on mice and fruit flies, Bild newspaper reported Saturday.

We should pump it into the UN water supply, and probably Washington D.C.'s just for good measure.

Dead or Not Dead

2006-08-02T14:05:00.000-04:00

If you have been in a heat induced coma, or trying to stay cool hiding under a rock, you may not know that Uncle Fidal has taken ill. The MSM is falling all over themselves tying to spin his trip to the hospital.

Miami broke out in parties upon news of Uncle Fidal's situation. But don't break out the champagen yet, he's not dead (official word, if you trust it, is that he is just dandy) and the coup d'tat hasn't started.

Now that's Class

2006-08-02T13:55:00.000-04:00

I guess I am glad I am not starting my collage career after reading this.

At Occidental College in Los Angeles, a mandatory course for some freshmen is "The Unbearable Whiteness of Barbie." It's a course where professor Elizabeth J. Chin explores ways in "which scientific racism has been put to use in the making of Barbie [and] to an interpretation of the film 'The Matrix' as a Marxist critique of capitalism."

Huh? Here, I have a new class. Maybe I should float this... Soc 4987 Pooh and the Sociological Ramifications of His Rampant Homosexuality with Piglet.

Or Phil 5867 Charlie Brown and the Economic Impact of Gender Role Reversal with Lucy.

What is wrong with colleges today? Are the leaders, the professors who come up with this crap, and/or the administrators who allow them to get away with it be academically dishonest by foisting this falderal on unsuspecting students (and the parents who foot the bill)? Or are they earnestly this stupid thinking this kind of garbage really passes the intellectual smell test?

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

2006-07-24T15:46:00.000-04:00

When people decry the "disproportionate" use of force by Israel, you need to keep in mind the reason for the disproportionate number of civilian casualties on the terrorist side.

If that doesn't explain it much better than I could...

Picture is from IDF Israel and a hat tip to the Jawas.

U.N. Condemns Allied Overresponse to Nazi Aggression

2006-07-23T12:06:00.000-04:00

VICHY-FRANCE June 7, 1944

A day after the largest bombing raid on civilian targets in support of a massive invasion of France, the United Nations voted on a resolution condemning the Allied response as a disproportionate use of force.

The foreign office minister, who is known for being outspoken, said that it was "very difficult" to understand the "kind of military tactics" used by the allies.

"You know, if they're chasing the Nazi's, then go for the Nazi's. You don't go for the entire French nation," concluded Mr Howells, who will meet with the U.S. foreign minister.

The resolution was vetoed by the U.S. ambassador amidst calls for an end to the fighting and for both sides to sit down to peace talks.

Televised Skin-Flute Concert

2006-07-18T14:36:00.000-04:00

Zamphere's got nothing on this.

Channel 4 is to bring mass public masturbation to the small screen.
The broadcaster - once led by Michael Grade, dubbed "pornographer in chief" by the Daily Mail - has commissioned a documentary about the UK's first "masturbate-a-thon" as part of a series of programmes dubbed "Wank week", MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.

Uhm, Ooooooh Kaaaaaaay... I'm not sure what kind of market there is in the UK for watching a bunch of pervs fapping the night away. I'm not sure that I would want to know either. However, I am not sure which is worse, the fact that the Brits would televise this or the fact that its been going on for five years in the U.S!

The organiser of the event, the San Francisco-based Centre for Sex and Culture, has run mass masturbation events in the US for the past five years to raise money for safe sex groups and plans to replicate the formula in the UK.

I've been to charity car washes, dinners and parties, but never a charity beat-off. I really start to wonder about people...

Hmmmm...

2006-07-17T14:17:00.000-04:00

Wonder what this is all about?

DAMASCUS, July 17 (KUNA) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manoushehr Mottaki arrived here Monday and headed straight from the airport to the presidential palace to meet President Bashar Al-Assad and discuss developments on the Israeli assault on Lebanon.

"Discuss developments"?!?! More likely, good ol Manie, is gonna give a vigorous pa- on-the-back to Bashar. It's not a stretch to see this as a huddle so Iran can make sure its lap-dog Syria is on the same page of the "Engulf the world in blood and fire" play book.

Hey, is that coffee I smell...

H/T to Fark

Have We Already Lost the War?

2006-07-16T16:57:00.000-04:00

Or WWIV depending on how you count…

I know it is going to seem like I am jumping on the conservative bloger bandwagon by decrying the events in the Middle East as WWIII. But the fact of the matter is that this wasn’t the beginning of the war. On September 12, 2001, I held a question and answer period in my classes. It didn’t make much sense trying to talk about Pavlov’s dogs (as applicable as that might have been) in the wake of the September 11 attacks. One of my students asked if I thought that the attacks would touch off WWIII. My answer was no, it was already here. The US had been attacked repeatedly prior to the September 11 attacks, yet had not bothered to engage the enemy.

But the question remains, have we already lost the war? Our list of allies so far is rather short. The majority of the world’s nations are trying to either ignore the entire situation, appease the islamofascists in the erroneous belief that it will satisfy their blood lust, or have joined the islamofascists in tearing down civilization.

Look to the latest battle in the on-going war. Hizbullah (who happens to run the Palestinian Authority (what an oxymoron that is)) violates Israel’s sovereignty and kidnaps a soldier of the IDF. Yet, when Israel retaliates and demands its citizen be returned, the world condemns Israel not the Palestinians who started the whole thing, or the Syrians, or the Iranians who put the Palestinians up to it.

Now Israel is left bombing Lebanon to prevent Hizbullah from sneaking two more captured soldiers out to Iran. In the mean time, Iran’s terrorist puppets fire Syrian and Iranian made missiles into Israel targeting civilians, and merchants. Yet, to the international community Israel is still the bad guy. Absurd!

I find it ironic how to the liberal elite Bid Business is the epitome of evil in our time, because companies seek to make a profit. Yet, “enlightened” countries like Germany, Russia, and the paragon of liberal values France, have their hands to far up the cookie jar, you can’t tell where one ends and the other begins.

When are they (Europe, and the liberals in the U.S.) going to realize that this is not going to go away. They have been very successful in ignoring their problems for the past forty years. Korea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Algeria, and dare I say the Balkans. Now the bill is coming due for European and liberal complacency. One day they will wake up and find they no longer have the freedoms they so deeply cherish, and ignore. One day soon, we all will have to make a stand. Is it already too late?

What Happened to the Patriotic Music?

2006-07-05T10:14:00.000-04:00

Wifie and I were watching the Boston Pops Independence Day celebration. We were entertained by what had to be one of the worst performances by Steve Taylor I have ever heard. What we were really waiting for was the fireworks. As Monkey Boy (our youngest, the climber) crapped out early on us, we couldn't head downtown for the fireworks. Not that I am complaining, it is an awful time getting out of downtown once they're done.

Anyhow, as the fireworks started, I kept wondering "where's the patriotic music?" Most of the music was timed to the fireworks, but what the hell does a breathy little piece of pop-star fluff have to do with the Independence of our nation? Where was Proud to be an American, or Born in the USA, or independence Day? They did play They're Coming to America, but that was about it. I understand that the Pops might have played some patriotic music before the broadcast. But why couldn't they save a couple songs for the fireworks. It was a pretty display, but there was something missing.

Independece Day!

2006-07-04T11:33:00.000-04:00

THE 4TH OF JULY

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; Another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, And their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British That he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July Holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!

I hope you will show your support by sharing this with your family & Friends. It's time we get the word Out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games!

Author unknown. H/T to Gary

Well, You Asked for It...

2006-06-29T16:22:00.000-04:00

Ah yes, Carty is back.

After putting on his "good Carty" mask for the elections last year, the old Carty is back.

In an exclusive interview with ONN affiliate WNWO's Rob Packard Tuesday morning, police chief Jack Smith said he was stepping down due to differences with Mayor Carty Finkbeiner.

Did Chief Smith and ol' Blood and Guts Finkbeiner have a professional disagreement regarding policy? No, of course not. This is Carty we are talking about here.

Smith says he had a meeting with Carty on gang problems in Toledo. The meeting turned into an argument that nearly became physical.
I guess its a good thing Carty didn't have any coffee mugs to through at the Chief.

The Chief, a marine, and a command officer loved by his subordinates shouldn't have to put up with the petty name calling that is Carty's trademark management style. Carty should be ashamed of himself. What's more, we, the residents and voters in Toledo should be ashamed of ourselves for returning Carty to office. We should be ashamed that in a city like Toledo, the only choices for mayor were Jack "do nothing" Ford and Carty "meltdown" Finkbeiner. Well, when you ask for garbage, that's what you get.

Zarqawi Autopsy Released

2006-06-12T16:48:00.000-04:00

Today the U.S. military released the autopsy of eminant mass murderer Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi lived for 52 minutes after a U.S. warplane bombed his hideout northeast of Baghdad, and he died of extensive internal injuries consistent with those caused by a bomb blast, the U.S. military said Monday.

Aparently the two 500 pound bombs which landed on his head weren't obvious enough.

BOOM! Here comes da' BOOM!

2006-06-09T11:12:00.000-04:00

Ready or not...

Well, unless you live under a rock, or a liberal with your head in the sand, you heard the news that the U.S. military capped Abu blahblahblah al'Zarqari in an air raid in Iraq.

I have only one thing to say.

Oooh-RAH!

My hats off to the intelligence persons who found the Butcher of Babylon, and to the pilots who pushed the button, and the ground troops who secured the location. Good work lads and lassies.

Let the liberal moonbatiness begin.

Unintended Hiatus

2006-03-22T10:38:00.000-05:00

Well, anyone who has stopped by the site knows I haven't posted anything in over a month. My work schedule and the time requited to raise a one-year-old have prevented me from doing the research and composition necessary to make any postings. I hope to get back into the swing of regular posting at some point but for the time being, postings will be on an irregular basis.

Hope to see you in the funny papers.

Gun Control is Hitting Your Target

2006-02-13T11:54:00.000-05:00

And not your hunting buddy.

If you are living under a rock and haven't heard already, the media is abuzz with news that Dick Cheney accidentally shot one of his hunting buddies while quail hunting last weekend.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Ouch!

I'm sure this will spark an inferno of liberal kook conspiracy theories. I can see the DUmmies now. "ChaneyHitler was trying to get rid of Wittington because he knew too much..." I laugh just thinking of it.

Reality it much more dull the furtive imaginations of the DUmmies.

Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.

Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

You see Wittington and Cheney violated the cardinal law of hunting, "Know where your buddies are." Cheney should have been keeping track of Wittington and Whittington should have let them know he was coming up from behind. This is basic hunter safety stuff you learn in your first class.

So, I'm sure the liberals will try to spin this as something its not, but you can't let Wittington and Cheney off the hook. Send them back to hunter safety school.

Looking For Political Satire in the Muslim World

2006-02-09T12:19:00.000-05:00

(originally Posted 2-2-06)
This is probably the strangest turn of events in the war against terrorism. Cartoons are now on the front line.

I'm a little surprised that Europeans have, so far, proven pretty defiant in regards the demands of medieval Islamonuts to cease and desist or risk the usual - decapitation, bombings, and idiotic street demonstrations.

Islamists are also perpetrating faked cartoons in order to further inflame highly flammable Muslims, according to Michelle Malkin and LGF. Isn't that apostasy, however?

You know, it's funny, a film came out a little while ago that sounds like a punchline in and of itself: Looking For Comedy in the Muslim World. Imagine the reviews: "I was in pieces", "I laughed my head off," "I thought it would bomb - and it did!"

But why bother looking for comedy in The Land Without Indoor Plumbing, if even a political cartoon leads to jihad?

**Updated by Cracka Jack 2-9-06**
Ah, yes. The religion of peace, once again takes to the streets in that peaceful manner that only they have mastered. Does anyone else find it ironic that these useful idiots are rioting with signs written in English (not Dutch) and burning Dutch flags? Not to be insulting to the citizens of these countries, but the average American with our wonderful, liberal education system, couldn't write signs like this in Dutch, let alone know what the Dutch flag looks like. You expect me to believe that these relatively uneducated losers could have whipped all that up by themselves?

**Updated by Scattagun 2-10-06**

What's worse is that many publications world-wide are backing down in the face of calculated Islamo-irrationalism. So, what next? Will we have radical Muslims telling the West what it can and cannot read, watch, eat, and say? Watch out, Denmark - soon to be Dhimmimark - the burkas and beheadings are coming.

He's Baaaaaack...

2006-01-30T23:59:00.000-05:00

It didn’t take very long for “Bad” Carty to rear his ugly head, but after hiding for a year prior to the Toledo mayoral election, he has a lot of time to make up for.  Even before Carty was sworn in as mayor, he voice his mighty and wise opposition to the Westgate Village renovation project.

Carty’s opposition to the project centers on the addition of a CostCo to anchor the shopping center.  For those of you who are not familiar with Toledo, the Westgate Village shopping center is one of our West Toledo malls.  In the 1970’s the mall was the height of the shopping experience.  Thirty years later, the mall is dated and is lacking for an anchor store.  Last year the owners of Westgate unveiled a renovation plan that included a major overhaul of the mall and the addition of a new anchor, CostCo.  This move initially met with the approval of former Mayor Ford and the City Council.

However, now that Boss Carty is back in the palace, there will be none of those shenanigans.  God forbid, that a company decide what to do with their own property, or their own business.  So far, Carty has floated four of his own plans for the Westgate shopping center.

At a meeting Jan. 18, Westgate owner Liz Holland said she thought the two sides agreed to work from the original site plan, which is to be reviewed at the Toledo Plan Commission meeting Thursday.

"We didn't seem to be too far apart. [But] the only feedback we've received are other plans," said Ms. Holland, chief executive officer of Chicago-based Abbell Credit Corp., which owns the shopping center. "It's difficult to say what they like or don't like about our plan because they continue to come up with other alternative plans."

I didn’t realize that Carty held degrees in economics, geography, or architecture…

Apparently, Carty is worried that building a business that actually attract customers will draw traffic to the area, and that a “big box” store will be uglier that the empty ‘70’s façade that currently graces the corner.

To top his foray into urban planning, Boss Carty is now displeased with a new law the state government had the audacity to pass.

COLUMBUS - Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner urged Ohio's big-city mayors to fight a new law signed by Gov. Bob Taft yesterday that would prohibit governments from requiring their employees to live where they draw their taxpayer-funded paychecks.

As it stands now, all the working shlubs for the city, have to live in the city, while managers and others with ten years experience have to choice to kiss the glass city good bye.  Boss Carty says that this is so that the workers have an emotional investment in the city.  I have new for you Carty.  I live in Toledo, and I don’t have an emotional investment in the city.  Making the employees live in the city isn’t going to magically make them care for the city.  Perhaps you might try hiring enough police and firefighters to really get the job done.  Maybe you could pay the employees better wages to attract better employees.  Nah, I guess that is just silly talk.

At least I guess that with Bad Carty back, there will be more to write about.

We Don't Need No Education

2006-01-26T15:59:00.000-05:00

People's exhibit #23413461298582375098 in the case for what is going wrong with this country.

"To say that competition is going to improve education? It's just not gonna work. You know competition is not for children. It's not for human beings. It's not for public education. It never has been, it never will be," Holmes said.

Holmes is Florida teacher Ruth Holms.  The quote came in referencee to the Florida Supreme (and I use the term loosely) Court's decision that Florida's educational voucher system was unconstitutional.  If you want a good discussion on how wrong Ms. Holms is, click the link above and read John Stossel's piece on school competition.

I think, however, that this statement is indicative of the faulty viewpoint many people (especially in education) have in regard to our society.  Many people have bought into the idea that competition is bad.  However, competition is what a free market economy is based on.

You see, in a free market, I have to compete against other people for shares of the market.  This drives me to make a new, different, cheaper or better product that the other fella.  If my product isn't new, different, cheaper, or better than the other fella, then the consumer (that's you and me) will buy from the other fella.

Take a look at what happened in the former Soviet Union and other communist countries.  There was little or no competition in their collective economy.  Everyone made dirt low wages, the government owned all businesses and there was no motive to make a new, different, cheaper or better product.  After a time, the government couldn't keep up with the cost of supporting industries that couldn't support themselves and eventually the system collapsed.  China is the one exception, but rather than allow the economy to collapse as happened in the former Soviet Union, the Chinese have allowed a very modest and heavily controlled "free" market to grow (a la McDonalds).

But back to my point.  Without competition to drive people to become better and to make better products, the economy will stagnate.  Thus enters the education system.  Since the 1970's the education system has been purging itself of all vestiges of competition.  Children are no longer given grades*, everyone gets a trophy at the end of the football season (even if their team never won a game), and some places have even tried to outlaw dodgeball, and all in the name of self esteem.

Now, having been on the receiving end of a dodgeball pummeling (and on the "b" team who never won a t-ball game) I know as a parent, we don't want to see our children suffer the same trials as we did.  But games like dodge ball teach kids a valuable lesson.  Namely, that if you stand in one place, you are going to get creamed by someone else.  Life is hard.  That sucks, but that's the truth.  There is someone else out there who wants your job, your product, your market share, even your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse.  If you don't know how to compete, or deal with competition, then you are going to get creamed, just like dodge ball.
So, after decades of allowing our schools to slide into the hole of mediocrity just for the sake of self esteem, then we are going our future generations a great disservice.  I don't mean that as an attack on educators.  I have a lot of respect for educators (being that I am one), but I have seen, first hand, the results of such mediocrity.  Last semester, I had the worse papers I believe I have ever seen.  Many of my students who had either graduated from high school, or at least received a GED, couldn't put a simple sentence together, even after correcting their early work.  We are raising generations of children, who will become our leaders when we are old and grey, who don't know how to deal with a competitive market.  We, as a society cannot allow this to continue.

*Funny story; my son's school grades from K to 4 on a P, S and N scale.  P is praiseworthy, S is satisfactory and N is not satisfactory, and they throw in plusses and minuses just to confuse the parents.  My son brought his grade card home one day last year.  As his mother and I were trying to decipher the codes, my son declared, "that P there, that's an A, the S+ is a B"  If my seven-year-old can figure it out, how is it protecting his fragile self esteem?

WTF is Going Down in Texas?

2006-01-24T15:09:00.000-05:00

Ok, can someone explain this too me?

SIERRA BLANCA, Texas – Men dressed as Mexican Army soldiers, apparent drug suspects and Texas law enforcement officers faced off on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, an FBI spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Andrea Simmons, an agency spokeswoman in El Paso, told The Associated Press that Texas Department of Public Safety troopers chased three SUVs, believing they were carrying drugs, to the banks of the Rio Grande during Monday's incident.
Men dressed in Mexican military uniforms or camouflage were on the U.S. side of the border in Texas, she said.

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., reported Tuesday that the incident included an armed standoff involving the Mexican military, suspected drug smugglers and nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officers. It said Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States.

The Mexican army is now escorting drug smugglers in the U.S.? Now I know that Bush, being a Texan, has a “special” relationship with the Mexican government. But this is unacceptable. Naturally, the Mexican government is denying any involvement and to smoothe things over, Michael Chertoff is trying to play down the whole issue.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday that reports of Mexican soldiers frequently crossing onto U.S. soil were overblown, calling many of those incursions innocent mistakes.

Rafael Laveaga, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, declined to comment on Chertoff's remarks. He stood by earlier remarks that the Mexican military has never deliberately stepped onto U.S. soil. He declined to say if there were any unintentional crossings.

Oh, I see, those guys were former Mexican army troops who just happened to get lost and forgot that the Rio Grande markes the border between Mexico and the U.S. Riiiiiight... That would be why the border patrol has to do this.

The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers "trained to escape, evade and counterambush" if detected -- a scenario Mexico denied yesterday.

The warning to Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., comes after increased sightings of what authorities described as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border. The warning asks the agents to report the size, activity, location, time and equipment of any units observed.

It also cautions agents to keep "a low profile," to use "cover and concealment" in approaching the Mexican units, to employ "shadows and camouflage" to conceal themselves and to "stay as quiet as possible."

Border Patrol spokesman Salvador Zamora confirmed that a "military incursion" warning was given to Tucson agents, but said it was designed to inform them how to react to any sightings of military and foreign police in this country and how to properly document any incursion.

In response to Mr. Lavega’s statement;

"Give me a break," said T.J. Bonner, a 27-year Border Patrol veteran who heads the National Border Patrol Council. "Intrusions by the Mexican military to protect drug loads happen all the time and represent a significant threat to the agents.

We have either, former members of the Mexican military taking their equipment and uniforms with them and providing security for drug traffickers, or else the drug smugglers are using Mexican uniforms to intimidate U.S. Federal Agents. Either that, or units of the Mexican army are coming into the U.S. and firing on U.S. representatives. Whichever the case may be, something MUST be done. If some drug dealer wants to dress like a Mexican soldier, then let him. But let him know that if he does so, he is going to have a Marine hunting his ass. I have never been a supporter of putting troops on the border to deal with law enforcement issues. But this goes way beyond a law enforcement issue. If the Mexican military is coming into the U.S. they should be meeting their American counterparts.

Have I Ever Told You I Hate the Holidays

2006-01-24T14:40:00.000-05:00

I hate the holidays.  There, I said it.  Its not the whole Christmas thing.  I rather like Christmas.  The lights, the decorated trees, the whole compassion and brotherly love thing, give Christmas a lot to look forward to.  I just hate the holiday season.

You see, and Scatta can attest to this, in my life, the holidays always seem to bring angst and stress one way or another.  When I was younger, it was the stress of my mother who always seemed to try to do everything for the holidays.  She would purchase more presents than was reasonable (not that I am complaining about that, mind you) for our income bracket.  She would cook a meal for twenty people, even though there was only four of us for Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years dinner.  So the weeks before the holidays would be filled with stress and consternation on the part of my mother, which then flowed over to my dad and I.

Now that I am out of the house, living with my family, and trying to live a little more realistic holiday season, you would think that the holidays would be stress free.  Oh, but no.  Something always seems to happen around the holidays.  This year started out when one of my students was killed in a car accident just hours after she completed the final exam in my class.  To add a cherry to that sundae, she was eight months pregnant and very much looking forward to celebrating the holidays with her husband and two-year-old daughter.  Hearing this news put me in a wonderful funk, just before my family and I left on our vacation (only time I get to get out of Dodge).

The day after we arrived at my in-laws, and working on pulling myself out of my funk, my father attempted a half Gainer in the living room and broke his hip.  This little event brought us home early, but not after having to put up with several days of trying to deal with the stress of two elderly people trying to manage hip replacement surgery over the phone.  You see, mom refuses to drive, dad was the designated driver, and now he is laid up in the hospital.  Thus, mom was forced to get rides from family members who she can hardly contain her disgust of.  And I got the whole thing over the phone.

Then, when we did come back from our abridged vacation, we found out that two very good friends of ours had medical problems too.  However, their medical problems make a broken hip look like a hang-nail.  One had an aneurysm and wasnÂt expected to live (she did, and is making a miraculous recovery).  The other discovered that their eight-year-old daughter had a tumor.

Well now, dad is home (he has already fallen once and mom has been fighting me on the changes we have to make in their home to accommodate dadÂs condition).  The tumor isnÂt cancerous and our friend with taneurysmism is doing much better.  Life returns to what passes for normal in the Cracka house.  So, with any luck, I will start posting more regularly.  Once I have recovered from my ÂvacationÂ that is.

SCATTAGUN: Your holidays always play out like "Stalingrad: The Remix".

What a Dumbass

2006-01-04T16:16:00.000-05:00

Former Toledo mayoral candidate, and city councilman, Mike Ferner was arrested for defacing highway overpasses with idiotic, anti-war slogans.

Mike Ferner, a former Toledo councilman and one-time mayoral candidate, was arrested yesterday with his brother for spray-painting anti-war slogans on overpasses along I-475/U.S. 23 in Maumee and Sylvania Township.

There once was a time when Mr. Ferner was seen as a postitive alternative to the bombastic managerial stylings of Mayor Finkbiner. Despite whatever Mayor Finkbiner’s critics might say, the mayor hasn’t supported a megalomaniac dictator nor has he been arrested for vandalism.

Mike Ferner has been an active critic of U.S. military action in Iraq and, in 2003, took part in a "peace tour" of that Mideast country. He has several previous convictions for civil disobedience related to war protests or other causes he has taken on.

What I don’t understand is what makes a fairly intelligent person, no matter what political views you might hold, think that by spray-painting crap on the side of an overpass is going to change the president’s foreign policy?

Ms. Carter said the graffiti is one of her husband's nonviolent tactics for speaking out against injustice, and he "has always been prepared to go to jail."

In keeping with the great tradition of other non-violent protesters like Gandi and Martin Luther King, Mike Ferner will certainly go down in history for his immortal protest against the war on terror "Bye Bush! Hi Robb!".

Or maybe everyone will just ignore the washed up-has been idiot.

Chalk One Up for the Good Guys

2006-01-03T18:29:00.000-05:00

For anyone who has read this blog for any length of time, you should know that I am a supporter of Scouting by now. I have written in the past about attacks on the BSA as well as attempts by scouts and friends of scouting to protect the institution.

Well, much to the consternation of liberals, the Save Our Scouts act passed the Senate the week before Christmas.

The "Support Our Scouts Act of 2005" was passed as part of legislation titled, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006. (H.R.2863), passed in the House of Representatives on 6/20/05 and on 12/21/05 passed in the Senate.

The law protects scouting units and activities (such as jamborees) by allowing equal access to government funding and recourses (such as Fort Hood which hosted the 2005 Jamboree).

(Sec. 8173) Support Our Scouts Act of 2005 - Prohibits any federal law from being construed to limit any federal agency from providing any form of support for a youth organization (including the Boy Scouts of America (Boy Scouts) or any group officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts) that would result in that federal agency providing less support to that youth organization (or any similar organization chartered under federal law relating to the Boy Scouts) than was provided during the preceding fiscal year.

Thus, we have moved in a positive direction in protecting the institution of scouting from one avenue of attacks by liberal groups like the ACLU.

This isn’t the end of the war. It is, however, a great victory in one battle to keep Scouting for generations to come.

Vacation Time

2005-12-18T19:21:00.000-05:00

Ah, its time for the annual Christmas trek to see the in-laws. Twelve hours in a car with a sqalling nine-month old and a board eight-year-old. These are the time we will look back upon and think, "What the hell were thinking!?!?"

Well anywho, not that I have been posting a lot of late (our hit tracker can attest to that) but I will be even quieter than usual for the next week or so. I may opine from time to time, but nothing regular.

So, Merry Christmas to y'all!

Nuking Schlomo

2005-12-15T11:33:00.000-05:00

From Newsmax:

Ruling Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani declared Friday that the Muslim world could survive a nuclear exchange with Israel - while accomplishing the goal of obliterating the Jewish state.

"[The] application of an atomic bomb would not leave anything in Israel - but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world," Hashemi-Rafsanjani said, in quotes picked up by the Iran Press Service.

I have to dispute Mr. Ayatollah of Rockenrolla Hashish-ReefaMadness on this one. Has he read accounts of what exactly happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki? I doubt it. Greece translates more books per year than the entire Islamic world put together. Still, it might be wise of him to try reading a book on the subject as opposed to, say, burning it.

Israel is believed to have somewhere in the range of 300-400 nuclear weapons. This is hard to verify for obvious reasons; is Schlomo serious or is he bluffing? And do we really want to find out? Do you, Mr. H-R?

I'm willing to bet that this is more than enough firepower to "just produce damages in the Muslim world." 300-400 nukes - even a fraction of that - will definitely rock the Casbah. And, judging by the way the Muslim world handles ordinary catastrophes - earthquakes, tsunamis, military defeats, sudden outbreaks of democratic voting - this cracka just can't imagine them shrugging off an all-out nuclear exchange. There's a reason why the US and the USSR avoided it, H-R. They wargamed the event, analyzed the projected results, became very quiet and very pale and on the morrow set out for Rekjavik.

And while we're on the subject, H-R, thanks for considering all your fellow Muslims who apparently have nothing better to do than be flash-burned out of existence and onto a nearby wall for all eternity!

I Don't Know What Victory Is but...

2005-12-12T19:13:00.000-05:00

(Yes, I am getting to a back log of blogging that I haven't done in a few weeks.)

I guess I need to redefine what the word victory means in my vocabulary, because by Howard "Chairman Yeow" Dean's dictionary, I have the word wrong.

Saying the "idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong," Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean predicted today that the Democratic Party will come together on a proposal to withdraw National Guard and Reserve troops immediately, and all US forces within two years.

Well, if someone were to ask me if we were winning the war, I might mistakenly (according to the scream king himself) answer "yes." I would cite the fact that more Iraqis have electricity today than they did under Sadam. I would cite the fact that free elections have occurred and are continuing to occur. I would cite the fact that the three ethnic groups have, for the most part, put aside their differences and come together to write a constitution. But I guess I would be all wrong.

Now, I may not know what victory is, but I can damn sure tell you one way to lose the war. That would be to pull our troops out. If we follow Dr. Dean's prescription for the war, the U.S. would pull the bulk of our support troops out now, leaving our combat troops to do jobs they were never trained to do.

"I think we need a strategic redeployment over a period of two years," Dean said. "Bring the 80,000 National Guard and Reserve troops home immediately. They don't belong in a conflict like this anyway.

Ok Dr. Dean. Then who do you suggest should take care of the wounded? Or who should transport supplies around the country? Who should be performing the police tasks carried out by the NG MP battalions? I guess we could spare a few infantry men from fighting terrorists to handing out MREs to hungry Iraqis.

But then what happens in two years (which every terrorist will have marked on his calendar with highlighter) when the combat troops pull out? Iraq will surely descend into chaos. The left is so keen to compare Iraq to Vietnam, how-about we take a look at what happened there? The U.S. withdrew all our combat troops and in two years the North Vietnam army and the Viet Cong over ran the unprepared government forces in the South. Thousands of Vietnamese who had worked with the U.S. were murdered, thousands more fled the country in homemade rafts. Then, knowing we lacked the will to fight and prevent another massacre, Pol Pot and the Camar Rouge overthrew the government of Cambodia and murdered millions of civilians.

I may not know if we are winning now, but I know we will surely loose if we leave Iraq as it is.