Giving Our Country Away

“ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the city of Hazleton from enforcing a pair of ordinances targeting illegal immigrants, just hours before the measures were to go into effect.
The measures, approved by the City Council last month, would have imposed fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and denied business permits to companies that give them jobs. They also would have required tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit.
U.S. District Judge James Munley ruled that landlords, tenants and businesses that cater to Hispanics faced "irreparable harm" from the laws and issued a temporary restraining order blocking their enforcement.”

Read the rest.

Democratic Semantics

In this year of 2006 there are two predominant political parties in America, Democrats and Republicans. Interestingly our form of government is a republic, not a democracy. But that is begging discussion at a later time.
For now, let’s define “semantics” courtesy of Merriam-Webster.

"Main Entry: se·man·tics Pronunciation: si-'man-tiks
Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction
1 : the study of meanings
a : the historical and psychological study and the classification of changes in the signification of words or forms viewed as factors in linguistic development
b (1) : SEMIOTIC (2) : a branch of semiotic dealing with the relations between signs and what they refer to and including theories of denotation, extension, naming, and truth
2 : GENERAL SEMANTICS
3 a : the meaning or relationship of meanings of a sign or set of signs; especially : connotative meaning
b : the language used (as in advertising or political propaganda) to achieve a desired effect on an audience especially through the use of words with novel or dual meanings"

With this in mind I have a question or two, or more. Why do we often refer to Democrats as members of the Democratic Party? Do we speak of Republicanists? How about Republicanics or Republicaniacs?
Hell, even my spell checker can’t abide that!
Here’s my theory. We have become so enamored of our so-called “Great Democracy” that we have forgotten the meaning of the words. “Democratic” sounds so warm and fuzzy, so nice. Bull!
So, please, for the sake of the sanctity of the king’s English language, let’s forego the use of the ‘Democratic Party’ in favor of the proper ‘Democrat Party’.
It will make me feel better. And Democrats are all about feelings.

Be Afraid...Be Very Afraid!

PC Horror

“Today is, of course, Halloween, but if, like me, you have a kid in an elementary school, you wouldn’t know it. Rather, in many classrooms around the country “Fall-Fest” is being celebrated.
Why not Halloween? For a number of reasons really. The first is of course, politically correct reasons. Sadly, school districts are loathe to offend either the “Wiccans” (or those like them) who think their religion is being mocked or not understood, or some fundamentalist Christians who think celebrating Halloween is akin to doing the bidding of Satan.”

Read the rest.

But He Supports Our Troops!

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” -- John Kerry

Courtesy of Right Wing News

Update here

I Think, Therefore I Am...I Think

Things I Know

It is never a good idea to fry chicken while shirtless.

I hate getting up at one AM to set the clocks forward/back for daylight saving/standard time.

It is obviously racist to name the shortest month of the year (February) "Black History Month".

Remember not to judge your fellow man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. Then go ahead because you have his shoes, and he’s a mile away. (I can’t remember whom I stole that one from.)

My neighbor weighs in with “i before e, except after c”. I suspect he's right.

We reward “second-degree” murderers with a lesser sentence simply because of their incompetence.

Men are always going to look stupid as long as there are remarkably intelligent women like Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, and Lynne Cheney in the world.

"Balderdash" and "hornswoggle" are two of my favorite words.

It makes perfect sense that a politician will spend twenty-million dollars to get a job that pays him $100,000 a year. (Paraphrased from Charles Barkley.)

One should either write numerical values as '1,2,3' or 'one, two, three'…never both in the same sentence.

Steroids are an abomination for professional athletes. Lasik surgery is perfectly acceptable.

I not only know all the words to the Beatles' classic "I Am the Walrus", but also understand them, and try to live my life by them.

Oliver North

“As of this writing 2,802 young Americans have been killed during three and a half years of war in Iraq. That’s roughly the same number killed at Iwo Jima during the first three and a half days of fighting against the Japanese. Every life lost was precious and every loss grievous to those who loved them. Unfortunately, our media intends to use every one of those killed to make their point. It’s a lesson they learned in Vietnam. On Feb. 27, 1968, after a month of brutal fighting and daily images of U.S. casualties on American television, Walter Cronkite, then the host of the CBS Evening News, proclaimed that the Tet Offensive had proven to him that the Vietnam War was no longer winnable... It didn’t matter that Tet had been a decisive victory for the United States and South Vietnam. Today’s potentates of the press are trying to deliver the same message: that Iraq, like Vietnam, is un-winnable. One television network has gone so far as to broadcast images of U.S. troops being killed by terrorists—making Iraq the first war where Americans get their news from the enemy. The war in Vietnam wasn’t lost during ‘Tet 68’ no matter what Cronkite said. Rather, it was lost in the pages of America’s newspapers, on our televisions, our college campuses—and eventually in the corridors of power in
Washington. We need to pray that this war isn’t lost the same way.” —Oliver North

Hat tip: The Patriot Post

Being A Philly Sports Fan

'ESPN’s “The Sports Guy” is one of my favorite writers. This week he did a “Power Poll” of NFL teams. After each team he writes something (usually funny and insightful at the same time). But when he got to the Eagles - who have lost all 3 games this year on the last play of the game, including last week on a 62 yard field goal - he didn’t write anything. He just let the emails he got from Philly sports fans speak for themselves - he probably knew he couldn’t top any of them.
Because I’m a glutton for punishment, and because it’s therapeutic, here’s what people wrote in to him about my beloved Birds.'

Read the rest.

Cool Game

Too much time on your hands? Try this.

Nicotine Withdrawal…Day Six

Cravings for tobacco are more infrequent (or should that be 'less frequent'?) and much less intense. Insomnia is a bit of a problem, but that may be because during the day I feel exhausted and take catnaps. Trouble writing complete sentences.
All in all, I’m okay, you’re okay, but you are somewhat confused and confusing.
Excuse me while I try to find something really trivial to get worked up about (great, one freakin’ preposition immediately followed by another).

How’s That, Again?

From the Pepto Bismol Files: “It was him, and I was like, and then I was like, he’s like, ‘I understand that you, you’re upset.’ And I said to him, ‘You know, to tell you the truth, sir, you broke my heart.’ I said, ‘You know, I loved you like my mom loved Kennedy and, you know, I had faith in you, one of the few men I had real faith and hope in.’... [Y]ou know what he said to me? He said, ‘I’m sorry.’ He said, ‘I’m sorry for any man who ever hurt you and all those things you have said to me, I have said to myself, and you’re right and I’m sorry.’ And then I started to cry and couldn’t talk. Then I was like, ‘Ok, I gotta go, bye!”’ —Rosie O’Donnell on a “conversation” with Bill Clinton

Courtesy of Patriot Post

Nicotine Withdrawal

After forty-one years of addiction, I am now into my fourth day of withdrawal. May God have mercy on my soul if this kills me.
Light blogging lest I say something out of anger, confusion, or just plain meanness.

What’s in a Name?

‘It sounds silly, but when "Hillary Clinton" is matched up against Sen. John McCain in a hypothetical presidential election, she loses by a single percentage point. But if pollsters refer to her as "Hillary Rodham Clinton," she trounces the Arizona Republican by 7 percentage points.’

Continue…

Consider Your Vote Carefully!

Police to Avoid Ramadan Arrests

When will the world stop making nice with Islam? These maniacs want to kill us!

“Police in Manchester have been told not to arrest Muslims wanted on warrants at prayer times during Ramadan.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed it had asked detectives not to make planned arrests during those periods for reasons of religious sensitivity.”

Read it all.

Hat tip LGF

Weep for our Courts

"EL PASO, Texas — Two U.S. Border Patrol agents were watching the Mexican boundary last year when they stopped a van carrying 743 pounds of marijuana. The driver fled back across the Rio Grande — with a gunshot wound in his buttocks.
Federal prosecutors convinced a jury in March that the agents had shot a defenseless man and schemed to cover it up. Much of the evidence against them came from the drug runner, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, who reported the shooting to a friend at the Border Patrol in Arizona.
Aldrete-Davila was given immunity from prosecution by the U.S. attorney's office."

Read the rest.

He Needs to go!

"Islam is a religion that brings hope and comfort to more than a billion people around the world. It has transcended racial and ethnic divisions. It has given birth to a rich culture of learning and literature and science...
...Ramadan is the holiest month in the Muslim calendar. For Muslims in America and around the world, Ramadan is a special time of prayer and fasting, contemplation of God's greatness, and charity and service to those in need. And for people of all faiths, it is a good time to reflect on the values we hold in common, including love of family, gratitude to God, the importance of community, and a commitment to tolerance and religious freedom."-G.W.Bush

Courtesy Michelle Malkin

Bow to the Dow

The stock market ebbs and flows because of many things including, but not limited to, the consumer price index, inflation fears, and unemployment rates.
More accurately, the market reflects the outcome of expectations of what these numbers might be. If the numbers fall short of expectations, the market declines, and vice-versa.
I wonder who “They” are that decide what the economy should be doing? Doesn’t it make more sense for the market to reflect was is happening with the economy rather than what we think might happen?
But, then again, I’m just a humble regular guy. What do I know?

Are You a Survivor?

“Survival kits and disaster preparedness used to be something out of the mainstream. After a brief (and heavily-mocked) period of fallout-shelter construction in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the notion of private disaster preparedness retreated from the mainstream. Survival kits and equipment were available, but mostly through military surplus stores and other specialty sources.
But now that seems to have changed. As I noted on my weblog last week, both Eddie Bauer and Target are selling survival kits, and a reader emailed to note that survival preparation has gone even more mainstream:”

Read it all.


If anyone is interested in making his own survival kit, an excellent source of foods is here.

Latest U.S. Torture Technique

“SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A high-calorie diet combined with life in the cell block - almost around the clock in some cases - is making detainees at Guantanamo Bay fat.
Meals totaling a whopping 4,200 calories per day are brought to their cells, well above the 2,000 to 3,000 calories recommended for weight maintenance by U.S. government dietary guidelines. And some inmates are eating everything on the menu.
One detainee has almost doubled in weight, to 410 pounds, said Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, spokesman for the detention facilities at Guantanamo, a U.S. Navy station in southeast Cuba.
Human rights groups attribute the weight gain to lack of exercise. They cite accounts of released detainees who complained they were allowed to exercise fewer than three times a week outside their small cells.”


This is just another example of how the evil Bush Administration (appointed by the Supreme Court, by the way) forces others to conform to “American values”.
When will the right-wing evangelicals realize that food is the enemy, not Freedom Fighters, praise Allah?

Hat tip: Blonde Sagacity

The Fascists Among Us

“It’s no secret that hurling names about is as common in the political world as it is in a grammar school playground. One oft-used pejorative is “fascist,” which, along with racist, sexist, homophobe and others, tends to be least understood by those who utter it most. And because these damning terms are used wantonly, more to discredit than describe, they tend to be misapplied. Then, soon, calling someone a fascist becomes akin to calling him a snake: more a vague impugnment of character then a characterization of methods and goals.
Rhetoric aside, however, I’ve come to realize that true fascists do exist in our time. But who are they? How can they be correctly identified? To discover the answer, let’s start with a trip down Bad Memory Lane.”

Read it all.

Should have Gotten Life…at Least!

“NEW YORK - Civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart was sentenced Monday to 28 months in prison on a terrorism charge for helping a client, a blind sheik who plotted to blow up New York City landmarks, communicate with his followers.

Stewart, 67, could have faced up to 30 years in prison.

She smiled as the judge announced his decision to send her to prison for less than 2½ years.”

Read the rest.

Helping the Invasion

"SAN DIEGO — The high-top sneakers cost $215 at a San Diego boutique, but the designer is giving them away to migrants before they cross to this side of the U.S.-Mexico border."

Read the rest.

Hat tip: Neal Boortz

Government School in Action

“INDUS, Minn. - A school principal has resigned and could face felony firearm charges after he shot and killed two orphaned kittens on school property last month.
Wade Pilloud, who resigned as principal of the K-12 Indus school, 40 miles west of International Falls, said he shot the kittens to spare them from starving to death after their mother was killed in an animal trap.”

Read it.

Quiz Answers

Definitive Answers to THE Hard Knocks Test

1. “The Man”
2. “Crazy Legs”
3. Some may want to say “i”, however, my 9th grade teacher told us that two negatives multiplied are a positive, so therefore there can be no answer to this remarkably stupid question.
4. “Supersede”
5. “Audie Murphy”
6. “Onions”
7. “Cornelius MacGillicudy”
8. “Snips and snails and puppy dog tails”
9. Can’t be done, Bozo!
10. Cornelius Jacobson Mey
11. Be careful answering this one. However, if you lie, I hope you have a pleasant time in Hell!
12. Cracker Jack
13. “The Temptations”
14. Unfortunately true. He was an under-appreciated “Great“.
15. William McKinley
16. True, very, very true
17. If you are a Liberal, this is “true”. If you are a Conservative, “false”.
18. If you said “Nelson”, you are correct.
19. This doesn’t count. I just wanted to see how many of you are idiotic enough to mutilate yourself.
20. Almond Paste, yum.
21. “What a maroon!” The Peahen lays the eggs.
22. It’s “crick”, as any South Jersey raised individual rightly knows.
23. If you even attempt to answer this one, you should be hospitalized.
24. Black History Month
25. Eleven
Extra Credit
1954
(This test in no way reflects the writer’s ethnic, geographic, or sports bias)
Scoring
20-26, (You cheated.) However, if you are a female aged 30-50, we should meet.
19-15, Great score! If you’re an attractive female aged 30-50, we should meet.
14-10, Nice going! If you are a wealthy, attractive female aged 30-50, we should meet.
Under 10, Let’s see how the higher scorers work out.

Hello, Everyone

Got a nice new look, thanks to Blogger. I'll being posting daily (Monday through Friday, at least) starting today. The content will be a little different from my other site.
Thank you for reading this little blog.

Testing, testing

Official School of Hard Knocks Test
(Do not click on a link until you have answered the question, slime ball!)

1. What was Stan Musial’s nickname?

2. Elroy Hirsch was known as:
3. What is the square root of -1?
4. Name the only word in the English language to end in “sede”.
5. Who was the most decorated soldier in WWII?
6. If you order a Philly cheesesteak “wit”, what do you get?
7. What was Connie Mack’s real name?
8. What are little boys made of?
9. In 25 words, or less, explain the difference between Einstein’s ‘Special’ and ‘General’ theories of Relativity.
10. Cape May, New Jersey was named after what Dutch explorer?
11. Do you know anyone named “Cornelius“

12. What do you want when you gotta have somethin’, and it’s gotta be good, and it’s gotta be a lot, and you gotta have it now?

13. David Ruffin was the lead singer for what Motown group?
14. Richie Ashburn is dead. True or False?

15. Mark Hanna was the ‘money man’ behind what U.S. President?
16. True or False? Herman Melville was a wretched novelist

17. Supply and Demand have little to do with rising prices. True or False?

18. Name a famous Ozzie.
19. Would you ever consider getting a tattoo?
20. Marzipan is (a) an island off the coast of Saipan (b) an almond paste (c) who cares?
21. A peacock lays what color eggs?
22. Creek is correctly pronounced “crick”. True or false?
23. Explain why the Beatles song, I am the Walrus is relevant to our times.
24. Fill in the blank. “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. All the
rest have thirty-one, except:
25. How many schools are in the Big Ten athletic conference?

Extra Credit
I was wrong once. What was the year?

(answers tomorrow)