Happy New Year from Saber Point!

2008 was bad.
2009 was a flaming disaster.
2010 totally sucked -- well, except for the midterm elections, which turned a lot of Democrats out of office.

2011?  It's one year closer to 2012 and the end of an error.  Have hope.

Happy New Year!

New Mexico Governor Denies Pardon to Billy the Kid; the Kid Comments

Billy the Kid reacts to being denied a pardon!

Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, after reflection, denies a pardon to famous Western outlaw Billy the Kid.

The governor explains his decision:

"It was a very close call. I've been working on this for eight years. The romanticism appealed to me to issue a pardon, but the facts and the evidence did not support it and I've got to be responsible especially when a governor is issuing pardons," Richardson said.

Richardson said that Billy the Kid's decision to continue to kill after the pardon wasn't granted to him impacted his decision.

"What I think maybe tipped the scales with me is that Billy went ahead after not getting this pardon and killed two deputies, two law enforcement individuals, two innocents," Richardson said.

Read it all here.

Grave of Billy the Kid with protective cage

Who was Billy the Kid you say?  He was an outlaw in New Mexico who was killed in 1881. Billy was considered so dangerous that he was buried in a jail cell to prevent his ghost from continuing to murder people.  See image.

P.S.  Just kidding.  The cage around Billy's grave was to prevent tourists from chipping off souvenir pieces from the tombstone.

2010: A Disastrous Year for Barack Obama

From the U.K. Telegraph, we learn why 2010 was a terrible year for Barack Obama and why 2011 won't be any better:

The political landscape still looks strikingly bleak for the “transformational president” as he goes into 2011. 2010 was a stunningly bad year for Barack Obama, no matter how much the likes of The New York Times or The Washington Post might try to sugar coat it. Here are four key reasons why it was a year Obama will want to forget:

1. The midterm elections were a defeat of epic proportions for the Obama Presidency

When Barack Obama spoke of a “shellacking” at the midterms, it was a huge understatement. The Republicans scored a significantly bigger win than they did in 1994, with their biggest gain in the House of Representatives in 62 years – since 1948. Fortunately for the Democrats, just 37 Senate seats were up for election, preventing what would have been an almost certain handover of power in the upper house too. Republicans also made huge gains at the gubernatorial level, with the GOP now holding 29 governorships to the Democrats’ 20. Republicans also picked up 680 seats in state legislatures, the highest figure in the modern era.

Read the rest here.

Obama's Birth Certificate: Legitimate Questions Still Go Unanswered

Neil Abercrombie, new Democrat governor of Hawaii, revived the Obama birth certificate controversy this week.  He publicly announced that he was determined to refute and rebut all theories, questions and doubts about Obama's Hawaiian birth.  All he did was to reignite the debate:  was Obama born in Hawaii or Kenya? And why doesn't Obama release his long-form birth certificate and settle the issue once and for all?

Some media reports state that Obama has spent around two million dollars in court to avoid releasing the long-form birth certificate.   Is it because he really does have something to hide?  What other plausible explanation is there?

These are legitimate questions, in spite of the left's frenzied attempts to shout down, marginalize and denigrate those who are asking them.  A case in point is Wikipedia's highly biased page on the issue, in which doubters and skeptics are called a "fringe" group and "conspiracy theorists" comparable to the 9/11 Truthers.  Ridiculous!

Mondo Frazier at Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts says the left is using Alinsky tactics to shut down discussion of the subject.  They do this by substituting scorn and ridicule for reasoned arguments.  However, their tactic isn't working:  a recent poll shows large numbers of Americans have their doubts about the facts of Obama's birthplace.

Now there are even  people on the left who are asking the obvious question:  "Why doesn't Obama just release the birth certificate?"  Chris Matthews of Hard Ball said:

"Why doesn't the president just say, 'Send me a copy right now?' Why doesn't Gibbs and Axelrod say, 'Let's just get this crappy story dead?' Why not do it? ... If it exists, why not put it out?"

Matthews was joined by Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune and David Corn of Mother Jones, who both agreed with the call for Obama to publicly release the document and end the controversy.


Here are some hard facts:
1.  A short-form Hawaiian Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) is not irrefutable proof of Obama's birth place.  In 2008, a liberal website, the Daily Kos, published a COLB purporting to be that of Barack Obama.  Digital analysis indicated that it was a forgery.  A COLB does not specify the hospital or doctor involved in the birth and offers very little information.  Further, there are rumors on the internet that Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro, was born in Indonesia but also was issued a Hawaiian Certificate of Live Birth, allegedly proving that a COLB is not the final answer.  I have not verified the accuracy of these rumors, but they again furnish a strong reason why Obama should release his long-form birth certificate, if only to spike such rumors.

2.  A newspaper announcement is not a legal substitute for a long form birth certificate.   A couple of Hawaiian newspapers have released microfiche copies of their 1961 pages announcing Obama's birth.  Such clippings are evidence, but not conclusive -- could they just be repeating unverified and even inaccurate information supplied to them?

3.  A Congressional resolution is not proof of Obama's birth place.  This proves absolutely nothing.

4.  A Wall Street Journal article is not a birth certificate.  James Taranto has been a useful idiot on the birth certificate question from the beginning, and his opinion does not constitute persuasive proof of Obama's place of birth.

5.  The ONLY item that will prove Obama's place of birth is the long-form birth certificate.  I am willing to be convinced, but only by that item.  There is sufficient doubt that one exists, and that doubt can only be overcome by releasing the official document.  Any other discussion short of that release is mere rhetoric, rationalization or opinion and devoutly to be ignored.

Boycotting CPAC Over the Presence of Gay Conservatives

CPAC, or the Conservative Political Action Conference, is scheduled for February in Washington, D.C. However, a gay conservative organization, GOProud, has become a co-sponsor of CPAC. This has resulted in some socially conservative organizations boycotting the CPAC conference for 2011.

To those boycotting organizations, I have a simple message: grow up.

People who are gay are born that way and can't help it. They don't become gay merely for the purpose of pissing you off.  It is a question of biology, not ideology; the latter can be changed with persuasion but the former cannot.  The social conservatives who are so adamantly hostile to gay conservatives seem to operate under this erroneous assumption:  you could be straight if you really wanted to be.

Further, ostracizing gays and treating them like lepers will absolutely NOT turn them into heterosexuals. This doesn't mean you have to approve of gay marriage or men wearing dresses to social events (I don't), or public displays of gay intimacy (barf), or gays in the military, where there may be sound reasons for your disapproval (e.g., its effects on military morale and cohesion).

However, there are some very good conservatives who happen to be gay. Tammy Bruce is one of them. GOProud believes in a lot of conservative principles that I support (with the exception of the repeal of DADT, which I opposed). Per Wikipedia:

GOProud's mission is to represent gay conservatives and their allies, emphasizing conservative principles such as limited government, individual liberty, and national defense over what are usually considered bedrock issues of gay politics such as same-sex marriage, criminalizing targeted violence against gays and lesbians, and recognition of sexual orientation as a protected civil rights class.

GOProud supports repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell,[5] promotes broader Second Amendment rights [6] and opposes a Federal amendment defining marriage. GOProud "focuses strictly on federal issues which means that, institutionally, they don't take a position on state policy issues like same sex marriage."[7]

Robert Stacy McCain has stated that you should never give your enemies a stick to beat you with.  The so-called social conservatives boycotting CPAC are doing just that.

Lawrence Auster Makes Sense on the Birther Issue

Lawrence Auster of View From the Right says Obama's birth certificate continues to be a problem for Obama and that the issue is not going away.  Today he responded to a "birther" about what birthers believe, and separates the wheat from the chaff on what is important:

I've read this comment which must have taken you a while to write. I'm sorry, but I don't want to post it. My reason is this. By throwing out so many aspects of what "birthers" believe,--and some of these beliefs are plainly false, are contrary to U.S. law, and would add massive confusion to the issue, such as the belief that both a person's parents must be U.S. citizens in order for him to be a natural born citizen--you are inadvertently adding to the picture of a "birther" movement that is out of whack, irrational, and to be dismissed.

This is why it is counterproductive to the rational birther movement to bring in all kinds of theories about where Obama may have been born, who his father may have been, etc. Such theories make the birthers and their theories the focus of attention and the problem. By contrast, there is one issue that makes Obama the focus of attention and the problem: We the American people need to see Obama's birth certificate. Let us see it. Why has he refused to release it? This is the one solid, undeniable fact upon which the birthers stand, that Obama's birth certificate has not been released. Birthers who focus on this cannot not credibly be dismissed as nutcases. This is the issue that even some liberals are, despite themselves, and despite their belief that birthers are crazy anti-Obama haters, starting to recognize as a legitimate problem for Obama. 

Read it all here.

Unfortunately, there are some conservative bloggers who are played like a harp by the liberal media, and have jumped on the anti-birther bandwagon.  The fact is, Obama has never released his actual birth certificate and until he does, this issue will not go away -- nor should it.

More Backlash Against the "Global Warming" Alarmists

Disgust among the populace seems to be growing as AGW alarmists blame the freezing weather on "global warming."  There's a new article on the subject in Forbes today, "Hot Sensations vs Cold Facts" by Larry Bell.  According to Bell, some of the claims of melting icebergs and rising sea levels are not based on actual observation, but on the notorious computer models that have proven highly dubious.

With the right "computer model," one could "prove" that the sky is falling.  It's all in the programming and the assumptions fed into it.  However, any contrary news that seems to rebut global warming is ignored by the mainstream press.  Bell writes:

As 2010 draws to a close, do you remember hearing any good news from the mainstream media about climate? Like maybe a headline proclaiming "Record Low 2009 and 2010 Cyclonic Activity Reported: Global Warming Theorists Perplexed"? Or "NASA Studies Report Oceans Entering New Cooling Phase: Alarmists Fear Climate Science Budgets in Peril"? Or even anything bad that isn't blamed on anthropogenic (man-made) global warming--of course other than what is attributed to George W. Bush? (Conveniently, the term "AGW" covers both.)

Read it all here.

Meanwhile, a British meteorologist and global warming skeptic, one Piers Corbyn, went on Fox News to claim that more brutal winters are coming.  Corbyn denounced the "failed science" of global warming and says the earth is actually in a cooling phase.  An article in Mediaite states:

Predicting in November that winter in Europe would be “exceptionally cold and snowy, like Hell frozen over at times,” Corbyn suggested we should sooner prepare for another Ice Age than worry about global warming. Corbyn believed global warming “is complete nonsense, it’s fiction, it comes from a cult ideology. There’s no science in there, no facts to back [it] up.” Furthermore, he disputed the underlying assumption of most scientists, arguing that higher carbon dioxide levels does not actually have the effect of increasing temperature, and instead global warming supporters “fiddle the facts to justify political attacks.”

Read it all here.

Mike Tuggle's Article Reprinted in the Salisbury Post

Mike Tuggle's article about the Free Trade Agreement with Korea has been printed in a local newspaper.

Read it here.

True Love: Hugh Hefner, 84, to Wed Crystal Harris, 24

It was announced over Twitter that Hugh Hefner, 84 year-old perpetual adolescent, has given an engagement ring to Playmate Crystal Harris, 24. We have it from a good source that Hefner walkered himself into the room and gave Harris a big red lollipop -- the ring was embedded therein and Harris discovered it on the 23rd lick.  "Ooooh, a ring," she squealed, as she dropped her Barbie Doll and danced a jig around the room.  "Does it squirt water?  Is it a magic decoding ring?" she asked.

The happy couple has much in common:  Hefner remembers World War II and Crystal remembers last week.  Hefner loves Benny Goodman and Big Band music while Crystal loves Hip Hop and Rap.  Hefner is a fan of Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. Crystal is a fan of SpongeBob SquarePants.

What will this twosome do when they aren't having hot sex?  Probably have deeply intellectual conversations about mysticism, quantum mechanics, federalism vs anti-federalism, string theory, parallel universes and the physics of black holes (the ones in space).  Or maybe Hugh will just fall asleep while Crystal plays video games.  Yeah, probably the latter.

Hugh baby, you made it to 84 and haven't yet figured it out:  there's a big difference between a sex partner and a soul mate.   At your age you should be far more concerned with the latter than the former.  HINT:  a soul mate is someone who would marry you even if you weren't filthy rich. Does Crystal really fit that definition?

Global Warming Is Freezing the Planet: or Why to Never Believe Liberals

Iced-Over by Global Warming

Investors Business Daily has a great article today, "The Abiding Faith of Warm-Ongers."  They write:

No matter what happens, it always confirms their basic premise that the world is getting hotter. The weather turns cold and wet? It's global warming, they say. Weather turns hot? Global warming. No change? Global warming. More hurricanes? Global warming. No hurricanes? You guessed it.

IBD has it right.  There is no truth but that which furthers the revolution.  All weather patterns and climate phenomena must be interpreted as "global warming."

The new meme out of the climate-statists is that the freezing weather is just a by-product of global warming.  It changes nothing in their view:  we must have a one-world government and it must have far-reaching power over industry, the private sector and the citizenry.  Individual freedom, capitalism and prosperity all must be sacrificed to save the world from the impending doom of man-made global warming.  Whether the impending doom actually exists or not is irrelevant.  It is the goal that is important; AGW is just the latest excuse.

Feminisim: Ugly Lesbians Who Hate Men?

She Needn't Worry

Robert Stacy McCain is fighting with a feminist today, who swears that McCain is "a misogynist through and through."  There is nothing in McCain's blog that would support the fiction that he is a woman-hater, but facts don't matter to the political-fringe group known as feminists.

The truth is largely this:  feminists hate men and seek to make it mutual.  Their constant clamor about misogyny is just so much psychological projection, a transfer of their own attitudes onto the opposite gender whom they despise.

Years ago, early in my career, I was invited by a female colleague to see a one-woman play in San Francisco about Virgina Woolf.  Woolf is a feminist icon and author who committed suicide sometime around the beginning of World War II.  I was young and very naive.  I figured that feminism must have legitimate complaints about, and solutions to, unfair discrimination against women.  However, the NOW members who attended this one-woman play were generally lesbians who hated men, and that became obvious to me by the end of the play.  From that day forth I discounted feminism and wished nothing more to do with it.

Blogs Named After the Blogger's Sexual Orientation

Come and Get It

I don't feel comfortable with blogs named after the blogger's sexual orientation, i.e. "A Conservative Lesbian" or "A Conservative She-Male."  I suppose that such appellations can have a legitimate purpose, e.g. as in "Gay Patriot" desiring to spread conservative politics and economics to the gay community; however, I still don't feel 100% comfortable with it.

Here are some ideas for those who disagree, on possible blog names based on sexual preference or orientation:

• A Missionary Position Conservative
• Chicken Suit Conservatives
• Swinging From the Chandelier in Shreveport
• A Foot Fetishist In Frisco
• A Conservative With His Freak On
• A Conservative Exhibitionist
• Cross-Dressing Conservatives
• A Conservative Horn-Dog In Hanover
• Gettin' Lucky in Louisville
• A Raunchy Right-Winger in Riverside

Well you get the idea.  Have fun in the bedroom, but really, I don't want to know about it.  

Christmas Eve at Stogie's Place

My youngest son arrived home from Los Angeles this morning.  I have Christmas presents to wrap and things to do.

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Tree Image:  Made with Photoshop CS4 and XaraX.

How to Discredit the Obama "Birthers"

Doin' That Old Soft Shoe

The new Democrat governor of Hawaii is determined to "discredit the anti-Obama birthers."  Doubts about Obama's place of birth really annoy him.

The easiest way to "discredit the birthers" is to release the long form birth certificate.  Of course, that's not going to happen.  What do you do if you have something to hide about the nationality of Barack Hussein Obama?  You do the following:

1.  Denounce those who want to see the long form birth certificate as "extremists" or "conspiracy theorists"
2.  Pass house resolutions stating that Obama was born in Hawaii
3.  Claim that requiring Obama to prove his citizenship is "self-evisceration" of politics that will lead to our downfall
4.  Claim that the release of the long form birth certificate will only fuel greater speculation and greater conspiracy theories and do more harm than good
5.  Claim that the release of the long form birth certificate will impinge "citizen privacy rights to appease 'extreme' views"
6.  Claim that doubts about Obama's birthplace is bias against Hawaiians and a feeling that they are not as American as mainlanders
7.  Shuck and jive, do the old soft-shoe, tap dance around the issue and moonwalk off the stage

Read all about these stratagems in the Los Angeles Times, that bastion of objective journalism and no-nonsense news:  For Hawaii governor, discrediting anti-Obama 'birthers' is a top priority.

Update:  Memeorandum now has a thread for this LA Times article.

Steven Spielberg's Next Film: Saving Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi voiced the wish that movie director Steven Spielberg would remake the image of the Democrats. Unfortunately for Pelosi, Spielberg declined the assignment.  However, there is one way to greatly improve the image of the Democrats, Nancy:  RESIGN.

In case Spielberg changes his mind, I have the movie poster right here.

Ghost of Young Boy in North Carolina Inn? (Photo)

It's a slow news day.  ABC ran a film of an old North Carolina Inn where one of its employees took a picture of a dining room display.  When the photo was placed on Facebook, people began to remark that there seemed to be a ghost in the photo.  On the left side of the photo there appeared to be a transparent image of a young boy.

Here's a capture of the film:

Can you make out the "ghost" on the left side of the photo?

If not, see picture 2 beneath the fold where I outlined him.

More surprising to me is that no one seems to have noticed the ghostly face in the ice sculpture, at the bottom of the heart marked "Josie."  The face resembles that of George Washington.

Finally, the ghostly specter grinning from the ether on the right is a bit hard to see, but I used Photoshop to enhance the image so it is more visible.

See picture 2 below the fold where I circled the "face" in red and brought the right side specter into better view.  WARNING:  If you have a weak heart, please reconsider viewing these frightening images.  For the brave, click on "read more" below.

Oklahoma Teacher Has Her Student, 13, Arrested for Using a Permanent Marker in Class

Talk about a busy-body on steroids.  DeLynn Woodside, a 50 year old 7th Grade math teacher at Oklahoma City's Roosevelt Middle School, made a citizen's arrest of a 13 year old student.  His crime:  she caught him writing in class with a Sharpie pen, which bled through the paper onto the desk.  Permanent markers are illegal in Oklahoma, under certain circumstances.  This is based on an obscure law designed to prevent graffiti.

Another youngster is criminalized by the public school system for seemingly innocent infractions of some rule.  You can write or call the school at the following:

Roosevelt Middle School
3233 Southwest 44th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73119-4399
(405) 685-7795

What's the matter with airhead teachers these days? So many seem to be completely devoid of all common sense. I wrote about this phenomenon in October 2009:

DeLynn Woodside

You hear a version of this story nearly every week.  Some public school official turns in some student for "bringing a weapon to school" where the "zero-tolerance policy" requires that the student be suspended or worse.  A 5th grader brings a birthday cake to school to share with her classmates, as well as a pastry knife to cut it with; the teacher uses the knife to cut the cake, then turns the little girl in for "bringing a weapon to school."

A six year old cub scout brings his scout camping tool to school to eat lunch with.  The tool is a combination folding fork, knife and spoon.  He was charged with "bringing a weapon to school" and ordered to spend 45 days in an alternative school for trouble makers.

Now an Eagle Scout, Matthew Whalen,  has been suspended from Lansinburgh High School in Troy, New York, for carrying a two inch utility knife in the trunk of his car.  The knife is part of Whalen's scout survival kit that includes a sleeping bag, water, a ready-to-eat meal and the small pocket knife in question.  When School Superintendent George Goodwin found out about the pocket knife, he suspended Whalen from school for 20 days.  Goodwin refuses to reconsider the draconian punishment, or talk to Matthew or his parents about his decision. 

This is the totalitarian mindset, where rules are rigidly enforced without the benefit of judgment or context, even when the alleged "weapon" is a pocket knife or eating utensil. 

The News for a Dull Wednesday: Cheesecake Photos!

Cheesecake

There isn't much to write about today.  Well, the FCC is trying to take control of the internet to enforce something called "net neutrality," which in government-speak probably means ending free speech in digital form.  Once the FCC gets their hands on it, they may figure out some way to end conservative blogs and websites, or at least suppress them somewhat.  They may also be looking for ways to tax the internet and milk the private sector some more.  Government always seeks power and control the way a committed drunk seeks the bottle.  Don't leave your wallet out in plain sight.

South Korea carried out its land, sea and air military drills without any aggression from North Korea.  That's good, but when you are living next door to a violent lunatic, you can never let down your guard.

More Cheesecake

My friends Robert S. McCain and Donald Douglas have both noted the blog-traffic suckage that comes with the holiday season -- people are too busy shopping and imbibing laced eggnog than to read blogs.  Actually, my traffic is up and growing, though my volume is small compared to theirs.  Both McCain and Douglas like to post pictures of cheesecake (meaning scantily-clad, young and beautiful women) to bring up their numbers, and it does work.  Not really my style, though.

The U.S. Census shows population growth in conservative states, that is, those in the South and Southwest (namely Texas), and in those states with no state income tax.  Growth has slowed or ceased in Democrat states.  People are voting for conservatism with their feet.

I finished my Christmas shopping yesterday.  Well, actually, I started it and finished it yesterday morning and it was easier than I feared.  I just walked into a store and started looking around and immediately spied a few items my wife actually needs.  No, I didn't buy her a new mop.  Not even I'm that stupid.

Now all I have to do is wrap the presents in my amateurish way, lots of holiday wrapping paper taped together in a sloppy and crude way with a stick-on ribbon.  There are some things I am just no good at, and wrapping presents is one of them.

The Left's Deadly Gradualism: Erasing Western Civilization, Bit by Bit

The left's war on Christmas continues.  Since Christmas is an important cultural event that underpins Western Civilization, it must be removed.  The left is patient.  They are determined to erase Western Civilization in a scenario of death by a thousand cuts.  They are boiling the frog by turning up the heat one degree at a time, and we are letting them do it.  Usurpation by gradualism; two steps forward and one step back; transform traditional America into something alien, but not too fast, lest you provoke a backlash or even a revolution.

Obama tried to accelerate the pace and it backfired on him; but the left isn't through by any means.  Obama's rejection is the "one step back;" the two steps forward will happen a little later.

150 Years Ago Today: South Carolina Seceded From the Union

South Carolina Sovereignty Flag

The Sesquicentennial has officially begun.  150 years ago today South Carolina seceded from the Union.

Paul Rahe discusses the secession of South Carolina from the Union on December 20, 1860, 150 years ago today.  Rahe, a misinformed Northern apologist, recycles old lies and myths about the "illegality" of secession, at this link.

Rahe claims that, since the Constitution doesn't specifically state that secession is Constitutional, then it is not allowed. Nonsense. Since the Constitution doesn't state that secession is prohibited, then it is not prohibited. Rahe has it exactly backwards. Our rights and powers are not limited to those specifically stated and enumerated.

Rahe then claims, unbelievably, that the Articles of Confederation (which existed before the Constitution was formed) stated plainly that the Confederation (the original Union) would exist "in perpetuity."  Really?  Is that why it was ended and cancelled and replaced? Implied in Rae's reasoning is that our current Constitution is illegal because we are still legally governed by the Articles of Confederation, which were "perpetual"!

In reality, those words "in perpetuity" only meant there was no automatic expiration date -- many corporations and other organizations have that same term in their organizing documents, but it is not to be taken literally.

Then there is the unfortunate (unfortunate for Rae) the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, which states:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

And those powers include the right of secession, recognized by every state when the Constitution was formed, and by key founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson, and taught as a right at West Point before the War for Southern Independence.

Update:  Great minds think alike.  Robert Stacy McCain also rebutted Paul Rahe at this link.
Update 2:  1389 blog weighs in too -- read it at this link.

The Korea Free Trade Act

My friend Mike Tuggle has asked me to post a link to his article "Stop the Korea Free Trade Act."

Is Free Trade a good thing or a bad thing?  I'd like to hear opinions on both sides.  Long ago, when I took economics in college, my conservative professor said that free trade is a good thing, allowing various countries to concentrate on the goods and services at which they are most efficient.  Also, the South was pro free trade before the war between the states and the North was against it, hence the system of tariffs that so punished the Southern economy.

So why is this situation any different from that?  Mike explains at the above link.

Nigerian Email Scams Take a Strange Twist: Threat of Assassination

I get several Nigerian scam emails a day and generally mark them as "spam" without reading them.  The one I got yesterday, however, caught my attention with its strange new twist:  my assassination unless I pay up.

The writer pretends to be a hit man who has been hired to kill me, but this assassin will forgo the assignment if I pay him (or her) $9,000.  They will then reveal the identity of the party paying for my assassination so that I may turn them over to the police.  I was warned (me and the unidentified others on the email) that to disclose the contents of the email or to contact the police would result in my planned assassination going forward.

To show my contempt for this email, I am making its contents public.  That's it directly below.

Ann Wojcik
show details Dec 19 (1 day ago)

This is the only way I could contact you for now, I want you to be very careful about this and keep this secret with you until I make out space for us to see. You have no need of knowing who I am or where I am from. I know this may sound very surprising to you but it's the situation. I have been paid some ransom in advance to terminate you with some reasons listed to me by my employer. It's someone I believe you call a friend; I have followed you closely for a while now and have seen that you are innocent of the accusations he leveled against you. Do not contact the police or try to send a copy of this to them, because if you do, I will know, and I might be pushed to do what I have been paid to do. Besides, this is the first time I turn out to be a betrayer in my job. I took pity on you, that is why I have made up my mind to help you if you are willing to help yourself.

Now listen, I will arrange for us to see face to face, but before that, I need $9,000. I will come to your home or you determine where you wish we meet; I repeat, do not arrange for the cops and if you play hard to get, it will be extended to your family. Do not set any camera to cover us or set up any tape to record our conversation; my employer is in my control now. Payment details will be provided for you to make a part payment of $3,000 first, which will serve as guarantee that you are ready to co-operate, then I will post a copy of the video tape that contains his request for me to terminate you which will be enough evidence for you to take any legal action against him before he employs another person for the job. You will pay the balance of $3,000 once you receive the tape.

Warning; do not contact the police, make sure you stay indoors once it is 7.30pm every day until this whole thing is sorted out, if you neglect any of these warnings, you will have yourself to blame. You do not have much time, so get back to me immediately.

Note: I will advise you keep this to yourself alone, not even a friend or a family member should know about it because it could be one of them.

Reply Me To My Personal Email: CUTSYCAT@LIVE.COM

Paris Conference on Stopping "Islamization of Europe" Picketed by Islamophiles

A conference is being held in Paris to stop the Islamization of Europe.  France has the greatest number of Muslim immigrants in western Europe and their unwillingness to assimilate has posed great problems for the French.  Only leftists, liberals and socialists believe that having two mutually hostile cultures living side by side is a good thing.

Of course, a small number of Islamophiles showed up to picket the conference, protesting "Islamophobia" (as if that were a bad thing).  Liberals, leftists and socialists always demand "SELF-DESTRUCTION NOW!"

I fear that France is well along the path to destruction and any efforts to stop it are too little, too late.

Read it all here.

Here's a Warm Fireplace for Those Cold, Wet Winter Days (Video)

Outside my window I hear the soft staccato of raindrops on the glass, it's late and I want to climb beneath the covers.  Here's a nice video of a warm fire to soothe you in bad weather.

Getting What I Want: a Video Camcorder for Christmas

My wife and I are still financially pressed by this economy so decided to give each other a common Christmas present this year, an HD video camcorder, a Canon Vixia.  I have wanted a good video camcorder for some time for capturing family events (I wish I had made videos of my mother-in-law before she died -- fortunately, other family members did so).

I also want it to create YouTube videos.  Videos of my band, videos of me playing bass to recorded music (for practice and auditioning purposes), videos of Tea Party and other events in the Bay Area.

I can hardly wait to try it out.

Freezing Weather is Proof of Global Warming. Also, Up is Down and Left is Right.

Viscount Christopher Monckton of Brenchley, a member of the British upper class, speaks common sense to the Global Warming eco-freaks for whom logic and common sense are non-entities.  Monckton attended the "Global Warming" conference in Cancun, in the middle of a historically cold winter and snowstorm, and was told he would be allowed to attend as long as he raised no points from the floor.  Only the true-believers of APG would be allowed to ask questions.

The Viscount writes:

The climate bugaboo, the strangest intellectual aberration of our age, rampages because in the me and now we have cast aside three once-universal forms of learning that gave us perspective: a Classical education, to remind us that in reason and logic there is a difference between true and false; a scientific education, to show us which is which; and a religious education, to teach us why the distinction matters.

With perspective, no one would waste a single second of his own time or a red cent of other people’s money trying, Canute-like, to make “global warming” go away.

Well said, Viscount!  I have been skirmishing with Global Warming eco-Marxists at a British online newspaper site, and their arguments consist of some combination of the following:

1.  You're not a scientist so you are not allowed to disagree.
2.  You're either stupid or a tool of the petrochemical industry.
3.  Facts in the books you've read that rebut global warming may not be considered because:

• a.  The author is stupid
• b.  The author is a tool of the petrochemical industry.

In no case are any facts presented by the warming true-believers, just a lot of ad hominem attacks and personal insults.  One gets the impression that a belief in man-made global warming is not so much a philosophy as it is a bad attitude.

Read all of Viscount Monckton's points here.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Dressing in Drag Sure is Swell

Corporal Klinger and Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The TV sitcom MASH was popular some years ago.  It was about an army field hospital during the Korean war.  One of the soldiers there was Corporal Maxwell Klinger, who desperately wanted out of the army.  So desperate in fact, that he regularly dressed in female garb to prove that he was either crazy or gay.  No doubt Corporal Klinger would disapprove of ending DADT, as that would make his strange behavior acceptable and lessen his chances for a Section 8 discharge.

Tomorrow Congress will vote on reversing the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT) policy of military recruiting.  Under this policy, the military would not object to gay soldiers so long as they kept their sexual orientation to themselves.  So what happens if DADT is reversed?  For one thing, openly gay men and women can now serve in the military.  What are the ramifications of that?

No doubt most gays would probably not abuse their new privileges, but I fear the radicals who delight in rubbing their gayness under the noses of the greater society.  I remember once, a bank employee in San Francisco, a gay male, like to show up for work dressed as a woman (though it was obvious he was a male). The bank fired him over it and he sued the bank for discrimination.  I think he won.

Will this kind of behavior now be used to deliberately demoralize the majority serving in our armed services?

If so, I have no doubt the Democrats will insist on a compromise, allowing gay men to dress in WAC uniforms if they so desire.  After all, it if it's bad for America, the Dems will be all for it.

Senate Shelves Sappy Spite Budget

The lame ducks in the Senate have abandoned their pork-laden spite budget as Republican support is withdrawn.  Bloomberg has the story:

A $1.2 trillion “omnibus” spending bill loaded with thousands of lawmakers’ pet projects known as earmarks is dead in the U.S. Senate after the chamber’s top Democrat conceded that he didn’t have the votes to overcome Republican opposition.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said yesterday that he was abandoning the measure after several Republicans he had been counting on withdrew their support of the plan to fund the government through Sept. 30, 2011. He said he would work with Republicans to write a shorter-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, in its place.

Can the Senators go home now, Harry?  It's Christmas, you old Grinch!

Kooky Californians Cap Corps, Creating Chaos

Rick Moran at American Thinker explores the eco-fanaticism occurring in the Land of Fruits and Nuts (California to the uninitiated). The state's "cap and trade" law will suppress economic activity even more as California seeks honorary status into the Third World. Rick writes:

California's Air Resources Board passed a cap and trade regulation for the state's top 600 industrial facilities that will almost certainly bring economic activity in the state to a near standstill.

Of course, state bureaucrats claim that this job-killing law will actually "create new jobs" in "green energy."  Whoopee!  And if we eliminate bulldozers from  clearing roads, we will "create new jobs" in shovel production.

Moran concludes with these salient points:

Cutting emissions by 15% in 8 years is economic suicide. There's no other way to say it. The federal cap and trade law was designed to cut a similar percentage of emissions but spread out over more than twice the time span. Many economists predicted a potential loss of GDP for the federal law of 3-5%. Can you imagine the devastation the California regulations will wreak on business?

It's like the California government is telling the people to pack up and leave, that there will be little opportunity in the former Golden State. 

Read it all here.

Brian  Sussman on KSFO radio said that liberals are seeking to "de-develop" California with this law.  "De-development" is the leftist notion that we must close industry in the industrialized world and move it to underdeveloped nations so they can "catch up" economically.  The notion is as extreme as anything Marxism ever devised:  that millions in the west must suffer severe economic destruction and impoverishment so that the Third World can improve.  Basically, the de-development idea is born of the left's irrational hatred of economic activity and prosperity and their total ignorance of economics.

The Three Types of Global Warming Ideologues

In my spare time I like to poke libs in the ribs with the sharp stick of truth.  In a U.K. Independent article online, I rebutted two of the article's key premises, i.e. "the rapid loss of arctic sea ice" and the "declining polar bear population."  I finally attracted the attention of an airhead liberal who asks me a question, and I reply with a question of my own.

• Chrysichthys 36 minutes ago in reply to Stogie Chomper

  I have decided that there are basically two types of global warming denier: Those who are one light bulb short, such as Sarah Palin, and those with vested interests in the petrochemical industry.
  
  Which are you?

   

• Stogie Chomper 3 minutes ago in reply to Chrysichthys

  I've decided that there are three types of global warming ideologues: (1) an arrogant punk who has been brainwashed in leftist political ideology and imagines he actually knows something when he is basically ignorant; (2) a "global warming" researcher who is getting millions of dollars in grants and must maintain the fiction so he can keep getting the unearned moola, and (3) a leftist politician who sees the scam as a means to gaining unprecedented power over industry and individuals, of redistributing wealth from the productive to the non-productive and basically accomplishing Marxism by other means.
  
  Which are you? I suspect you would fall into the number 1 category.