Wal-Mart in China

It is about time the Chinese people got a chance to get the same great quality products, low prices and courteous, professional service we have been enjoying at Wal-Marts here in America for so long. People's Daily notes that Wal-Mart is investing $100 million in a Super Mall in Hangchow.

I hope the Chinese like their meat adulterated.
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I know, Hangchow is supposed to be Hangzhou nowadays, but I don't care. We don't call Munich München to please the Germans, so why change Hangchow to suit the Chicoms' whims? Besides, Hangchow sounds funnier.

Hippy Babtist Minister Struck Dead

Electrocuted post modern Pastor Kyle Lake at left

The Drudge Report is often good for a laugh. Today the old feeder couldn't help but click on this headline: Texas Pastor Electrocuted During Baptism. Looking a bit farther, it appears that the Rev. Kyle Lake was one of the early leaders of the University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. The church is supposedly 'post-modern', (read: hippy). Here's more about UBC-Waco from the The Baptist Standard,

Chris Seay once told Mother Jones, a countercultural political magazine, he had been laid up in a hospital bed with appendicitis and a raging fever when God spoke to him. And the divine instructions were precise: Open a church for 20-somethings in Waco on Jan. 15, 1995.

Seven weeks later, right on schedule, Seay and David Crowder, a Waco-based recording artist, launched University Baptist Church. That first Sunday, about 275 people showed up.

Today, weekly attendance is about 600, and the church still is catering to the generation known to demographers as the Millennials. Something between a coffeehouse, comedy club and a catacomb, University Baptist Church meets in a cavernous space painted in Mardi Gras hues and sporting an ear-numbing sound system--not your father's Christian sanctuary.

And that's the point. This congregation, Baptist in name and doctrine but eclectic and ecumenical in flavor, is 97 percent college-aged--and 100-percent committed to "living in community" with other followers of Jesus Christ, said Kyle Lake, its pastor the last four years.

I wonder if the babtismal candidate when the Pastor was electrocuted will need a do-over? She wasn't hurt in the incident. Call me superstitious, but if I was that person, I would be looking for a different church.
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Update: If it seems to you that the old feeder doesn't care very much about other people, or takes their suffering too lightly, you can read a Very Serious and Caring analysis of this unfortunate incident at DeeperStudy, Electrocution in the baptistry: Why risk it?

Happy Halloween

Don't eat too much candy or you might get sick.

Here at the Feedlot, we don't celebrate Halloween. For personal reasons, the old feeder has always kept El Dia de los Muertos instead. Trick or treat kiddies know this somehow, and not one of the little beggars has ever ventured up my lane.

In other Halloween developments: My e-mail Wall Street Journal News Alert has this: "President Bush nominated Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, two senior Republican officials said, choosing a long-time federal judge embraced by judicial conservatives to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor."

Omaha folks, you'd better watch those kids tonight, lest the Mountain Lions snatch them away!

Saturday Morning Fun

If you like stupid beer ads, you'll like this: Big Ad for Carlton Beer.

Karl Rove slips the noose

Indictments were brought today in the matter of 007ess Valerie Plame's deep cover CIA connections being deliberately blown. Another Rovian Conspiracy sums it up well as the Fitzmas Letdown. Here's what I think of these Washington, D.C. antics:

This faked up offense was a political ploy from the outset, and involved the jamming up of political enemies by summoning a "Grand Jury", and taking tons of 'testimony' from witnesses compelled to appear without an attorney.

The prosecutor sways the dimwits on the jury; they issue indictments. But the real plan, or at least a fallback plan, is from the outset, to get an indictment for a 'crime' committed by a hapless witness under badgering by the prosecutor.

These 'crimes' usually amount to a witness' having failed to get his story straight. Maybe the witness doesn't tell the whole truth, or he might be just evasive. Perhaps he does tell a lie. In these cases, because the prosecutor has a big hard-on for the witness, it doesn't really matter. In this case, a Mr. Libby, whom I never heard of before he was called as a witness, lied about lying to qoute Kevin Aylward at Wizbang: "Libby is being charged for lying about lying to NBC's Russert and Time's Matt Cooper."

If misguided, or, perish the thought, biased judges allow these abuses to go unrestrained, the power of a Grand Jury can be as oppressive as any of the more nefarious machinations of government. And as ugly as any of the worst manifestations of political skullduggery.

This crap doesn't belong in a courtroom. It isn't within the proper purvey of any prosecutor. It is politics and it should be played out in the newspapers, on the internet, with posters and billboards. From soap-boxes and hay bales. The political assassin's bullet or bomb is no more dangerous than the government prosecutor's hangman.
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Meanwhile, who remembers why the Grand Jury was convened in the first place? Was it to root out liars? Did the prosecutor intend to cleanse the White House of quibblers or those as confuse easily under inquisition? No. He was supposed to indict someone, if indeed there was someone, for blowing Valerie Plame's phony baloney CIA cover. Well, who done it? Who really cares?

Something to worry about besides indictments

Experiment #3

If you are old enough, you will remember the ads in comic books for the X-Ray Gogs. The glasses that would allow you to see through stuff.

Then came the scare stories about how airports and other high risk public places were going to install some sort of mysterious scanners that could see through clothing like this:

Nobody seemed to like this idea, because the millimeter wave x-ray devices were expensive, big as phone booths, and produced 'immodest' images.

Yesterday the old feeder, having nothing better to do while his broken foot mends, decided to check out the "Other Feeder", a blog from Romania that features techno-modern stuff. There I found an article about a simple filter that you can screw onto certain models of Sony cameras and camcorders to get the same result as the kids who bought the X-Ray Gogs pruriently expected, and that the costly millimeter wave x-ray machines really do produce. And they are cheap.

The Tokyo company that sells them, Kaya Optics, has some gosh-awful "Experiments" they use to illustrate how their version of x-ray vision works. That is where the ridiculous pictue , Eperiment #3, at the top of this post was lifted. You really need to see these experiments. I guess the idea was to show its clothes penetrating ability without being 'immodest'. But the result is quite funny. The mannequin they use looks like an inflatable sex toy smeared with lipstick.

Next time you see some cat videotaping your daughter, he just might be producing a porno flic. Now isn't that more fun than worrying about which political hack will get indicted today?

Harriet: All the world wonder’d

I just knew this Harriet Miers business would end up like this. RedState.org says its time for conservatives to get 'back to the barracks'. More like back to the barricades.

Elitists to the right of her,
Borkers to the left of her,
Doubters in front of her
Volleyed and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with blog and shell
Boldly she rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell,
Rode the appointee.

Apologies to Tennyson.

Cindy Sheehan busted in D.C.

Just in from The Australian: "US police today arrested Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a US soldier killed in Iraq who has become a prominent war opponent, along with two dozen people for demonstrating without authorisation in front of the White House." The fearsome U.S. Park Police hauled her off.
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Update: I thought the Aussies made this up until I saw it confirmed by Michelle Malkin.

Wal-Mart gets corny

Lincoln Journal: "Two Nebraska companies have secured a multimillion-dollar deal to supply Wal-Mart stores with corn-based plastic for some food packaging."

Sounds real green-enviro-fuzzy-friendly of Wal-Mart. But Wal-Mart still adds over 10% salt water to the beef, pork and chicken they sell. They must sell tons of salt water at meat prices. See #4 of 10 Things Your Butcher Won't Tell You at SmartMoney.com. Then start reading the tiny labels on the underside of the made-of-corn boxes of so-called 'fresh meat'.
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Update: people find all sorts of reasons to hate Wal-Mart. Here are a couple from the left. Seems they 'bailed out' Tom DeLay and they sell Prussian Blue CDs. Click the photo of these naughty nazi moppets to read more from ABC's Primetime report.

Wal-Mart sells guns, too, don't they? Next thing you know they will be selling copies of the US Constitution. By the pound. Injected with salt water. And printed in China by political prisoner labor.
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I don't hate Wal-Mart. I fear them a little bit.

Ojos Condi

Michelle Malkin is always quick to catch the MSM manipulating (photoshopping) news photos. Today she catches out USA Today's underhanded (and obvious) effort to demonize Condoleeza Rice by giving her the 'creep eyes'. Heres the Plains Feeder's comparison:Why would news media that arguably want to win the trust of their readers take a risk that they will be caught out manipulating the news? I guess we'd have to ask Dan Rather.
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Update: David Codrea has obtained another photo of Condi Rice that USA Today was considering using but ultimately rejected... Too extreme, I guess. Hat Tip: Alphecca

blogrolling

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the Blogrolls here at the Feeder. Expect items to be added, moved, and deleted . I want to set up better categories, including some blogs I read for more esoteric reasons. For example, I need a new category for blogs to keep an eye on. You know what I mean. Lets say you walk into the seediest bar in Tijuana, the kind with a red velvet curtain instead of a door. The velvet is caked smooth like leather where the patron's hands have pushed it aside. You make a quick check of the place for cats you will want to keep an eye on, e.g. borrachos, locos, ladrones, pistoleros, and choose your table accordingly. Here is such a blog. I discovered it while searching for news on the unsettling Prussian Blue white supremacist kiddies. Maybe now you understand why I want to keep an eye on this blog. I need a Blogroll category for it. Any suggestions?

Mountain Lions or Cougars, Omaha's got 'em

There was another big cat sighting in Omaha Monday, the World Herald reports. It was seen along the Big Papillion Creek, around 114th and Davenport in the early afternoon. The Omaha World Herald article went on: "Humane Society workers searched the area for a short time, but found no paw prints, droppings or smaller dead animals that would indicate that a mountain lion is in the area, said spokeswoman Pam Wiese." She might add that, since no kids are missing, these sightings must be mass hysteria.

It is time we found some new cat trackers to follow up on these sightings. And we shouldn't wait until someone's kid gets dragged into the bushes. An old National Geographic article I saw mentioned a group called the Eastern Cougar Network. The ECN website is informative and extensive, and covers Nebraska. Concerned citizens like Omaha blogger Michelle Shonka, who saw a mountain lion in her yard, could ask the folks at ECN if our Humane Society trackers know what they are doing or not.

More reports of Osama bin Laden's death

The news has been full of reports that the founder of Al Qaeda has either been wounded in battle, or has died from earthquake related matters. For example, he may have had difficulty getting the regular dialysis treatments he requires following the quake. The most recent reports have him dead for months of an undisclosed illness. From Halifax Live:

The Pakistani newspaper 'Ausaf' which is based in the city of Multan in the Punjab Province is reporting that Osama bin Laden died last June in a village near Kandahar in Afghanistan.

According to the newspaper report, Bin Laden was campaigning at Bamiyan, fell very ill, returned to Kandahar where he died and was buried in the Shada graveyard in the shadow of a mountain.

By far the most unusual reports involve "remote viewers" in India, using their skills at 'seeing at a distance', getting visions of Osama and/or Al-Qaeda being dead or damaged. (Apparently these remote views aren't as clear as the remote views we get from Predators and the like.) I can't decide whether the Islamic Fundamentalist Jihadis PR branch would handle Osama's death by covering it up, or by bumping him up to Super Martyr status.

Perhaps he will be advertised as the long-awaited Mahdi., as the ever-weird World Net Daily worries? One thing is certain: Osama will die sooner or later. The real uncertainty is: will he be more powerfully dangerous dead than he has been in life?
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Update: Josy Joseph, DNA India: Osama Bin Laden is in Pakistan, down but not out.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness

Michell Malkin has more on Senator Tom Coburn, whose name is now Mud in the Senate. He actually believes that the US Constitution still means anything at all in Washington D.C.

I wonder if Tom eats locusts.

Feedlot Expedient Medicine

Feedlot Expedient Cast

Last week, the old feeder dropped something heavy on his left instep. It was a chance to practice field expedient medicine, which for me is almost as good as tax avoidance. Its easy! If you think you have broken one or two of those flimsy, chicken-bone like metatarsals in your foot, just pull the affected toes into the desired position and immobilize the whole foot-ankle mechanism. I use thick layers of sturdy newspaper and cheap masking tape. Then, just sit back and relax while the bones knit.

By staying out of the Doctor's office, you can avoid the costs associated therewith, even if you are insured. Your health insurance provider will love you more for avoiding a claim. And, you won't run the risk of exposing yourself to other infectious conditions while reading the germy copy of Field and Stream in the Doc's waiting room. Not to mention that there won't be any pointless ionizing x-rays or possibly contaminated instruments involved.

The last time I did this was about 15 years ago. I 'took a nasty fall' and broke some ribs and an elbow. I splinted up the arm with the only newspaper I subscribe to, the Wall Street Journal, and taped it tight. I eventually had to go to Ehrling Bergquist hospital for some of the other injuries sustained in the original incident. When the Docs at the base got a look at my cast, they were most admiring. They insisted on replacing it, of course. Something about military hospital rules.

File this under: Money saving tips. Read more in this free US government pamphlet.
Warning : Feed Trough link is from Silat Mubai, an offensive jihad friendly site.

MicroLnk Wireless Broadband

Earlier this month, the old feeder reported that broadband internet access had finally arrived at the feedlot. I promised then that I would plug the provider if the service turned out to be as advertised.

Well, I'm happy to report that the service I'm getting from MicroLnk is excellent. Not only were they able to get my installation done fast and professionally, but the connection is solid, speedy and reliable, so far. And the bits fly at the same speed up as down, unlike some types of broadband. A big reason I selected MicroLnk (note that there is no 'i' in the second syllable) was that real people right in my neck of the woods answer their phone.

The sales person I first contacted offered a straight-up deal. They charge for speed/bandwidth. (No BS like I got from Qwest: only $19.95/mo... well, thats only for two months, then it goes to $39.99... well, thats only so if you get your long distance and buy your car insurance from Qwest also... if not, the price goes to $59.99, and so forth. I never did get a straight price from any of the far-flung cats I talked to at Qwest.) Other outfits I called didn't seem interested, weren't local, and none could even promise that someone would get back to me within two weeks. MicroLnk didn't try to trick me; I waited until my first bill arrived to make sure everything was jake before posting this plug.

Karina is customer service at MicroLnk, and she is as delightful to chat with as she is eager to help. I already mentioned that the cats who came out to the feedlot to install my antenna and hook it up to the Feedlot network were pros. Nice guys, too. They never once made fun of the old feeder's unconventional living arrangements, (like my asking them to pee in the grove to save strain on my lethargic septic tank).

If you live in the Omaha-Lincoln Megalopolis of Nebraska, and would like to check them out, here is a map of their coverage area:

The service is 'line of sight' so MicroLnk offers a free 'site survey' to see if you can get a good signal. Call them in Lincoln at 328-8600, elsewhere call toll-free at 866-795-6565. Choose option 3 to get Karina.

Should you call the folks at MicroLnk, be sure to tell them P.T. Gustan from the Plains Feeder sent you. Karina will be extra nice to you, and the old feeder will get a small kick-back to put towards his Fall septic tank pumping!

What is your blog worth?

My blog is worth 17,704,256,657 Turkish Lira How much is your blog worth?

Abe, over at Don't Let Me Stop You has this crazy idea that his blog is worth something like $99,000. He got the figures from this clever post . He says he will throw in the I-80 bridge over the Platte River if you'll buy. I not only want the 17.7 billion TL, but a truck to carry it back to the Feedlot. I might throw in a flimsy conditional future interest in the Hopalong Bob Kerrey Footbridge, but you'll have to ask nice.

Todays exchange rate according to Google: 1 (old) Turkish lira = 7.41565 × 10-7 U.S. dollars

Credit where credit is due.

last week saw a bit of a showdown on pork barrel politics; the Bridge to Nowhere, the Coburn Amendment. Some dared to raise their voice against the pork barrel. RedState:

Thirteen senators had the courage to vote for keeping the amendment alive, including Coburn himself. George Allen of Virginia, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, John Ensign of Nevada, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Jon Kyl of Arizona, John McCain of Arizona, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, John Sununu of New Hampshire, and Jim Talent of Missouri all deserve great credit for their principled stand.

Senator Hagel, you did the right thing. I realize I've been a little hard on Senator Hagel for undermining the Bush Administration's foreign policy. His constant likening of the War on Terror to Viet-Nam, to the point you think he wants us to get whipped in Iraq or somewhere. Well, he had it coming. Same as he has a little recognition coming for his recent stand against the pork.

I also want to credit Senator Hagel for getting his name in the local Omaha fishwrap on Friday when he wouldn't stick up for a pork barrel parking lot at Omaha's Joslyn Art Museum. The measly $7.5 Million chunk of pork was defended so viciously by Down Town art patrons and their ilk, you'd think they never got any. Thats what I'd like to see more of: hungry tax consumers, fighting over scraps.

Fidel to Cuba: Stop aborting future Young Pioneers or risk Hell

It 's just not you, fidel

This was such a shocker I couldn't think of words at first. The Vatican says the muderous commie despot Fidel Castro is asking the Pope in Rome to help him get Cubans to stop having so many abortions. The Pope! The biggest pusher of the 'opiate of the proletariat' in the western world, and Castro needs his help. I hope Karl Marx is spinning in his moldy grave. And the MSM has totally ignored this glaring commie contradiction.

For analysis and discussion of this oddball news story, you should see: It doesn't get stranger... at Babalu Blog, where I first heard about it.
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Linked with Wizbang Blog's Carnival of the Trackbacks: 10/23/05 - Sunday

Arrests Likely in Katrina 'Mercy Killings'

Update: 7/18/06 - Doctor and nurses arrested, charged with 2nd degree murder
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Perhaps the stories of panicky doctors and other care-givers having killed patients and other helpless folk during the hurricane Katrina disaster in New Oleans and other affected areas are true. The Washington Post reports that Louisiana Attorney General Charles 'Hummer' Foti says his office will likely be filing charges.

Six hospitals and 13 nursing homes in Louisiana are under investigation. The investigations were wide-ranging, looking into whether patients were abandoned, evacuated improperly, or euthanized to spare them further suffering, said attorney general's spokeswoman Kris Wartelle.

If these charges are true, I hope they don't get off with some theory of justification. Euthanasia, last I heard, was still a crime here in America. I can already hear the apellate courts citing Dutch law.

For some laughs, read more news stories about the antics of Louisiana AG Charles Foti, courtesy GoogleNews and what the blogs are saying, from Technorati.

Why did they close the funny farms?

We need a place for people like this besides prison. The other prisoners don't deserve to be locked up with this sick weirdo.

Loony left loves to quote Chuck Hagel

According to the totally classless Radar Magazine, "the boldest voices against the war in Iraq have come from the conservative wing of the GOP. Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel recently declared unequivocally that to "stay the course is not a policy. By any standard you apply to this, we’re not winning." If Senator Hagel were to shut his trap today, the Viet-Nam obsessed Democrat base will still be quoting our Nebraska boy's defeatist bullshit for the next two presidential elections.

No Tulips for Oil!

Dutch Environmental Sensitivity

US President George Bush's secret plan to destroy Holland has been revealed. The wicked Bush administration has struck the socially compassionate Dutch right where it hurts. The real reason behind Bush's refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocols has been revealed: Bush and his Don Quixote like cronies want to stop the windmills.

Windmills, long the symbol of man's victory over nature's cruel whims, these symbols of non-reliance on fossil fuels have been idled by a lack of wind. At first it was believed that Bush's sinister weather machines had used up much of the world's wind to create hurricane Katrina for his heartless assault on negroes in New Orleans. But clever Dutch scientists have calculated that the Dutch windmills will soon stop whirling as a direct result of global warming.

"It's too late now", says Rob Van Dorland, Dutch scientist and one-worlder. It is widely believed that the Dutch, who face Katrina-like flooding if the windmills fail completely, will have to resort to diesel engines to spin the water pumping windmills. If not, the Tulip industry will be ruined by the invading sea water. This would be a great victory for the Bush oilmen. It is feared Bush's next target will be the windmills in our own back yards.

Bird Flu - No worries in Argentina

Now that certain migratory birds are starting to fly across the Bering Strait, researchers in Alaska are swabbing birds' butts with q-tips. If the H5N1 avian flu is heading for the US, at least we'll get some warning. What to do about it is another question. Fall into the "grip of fear" the BBC reports in Europe and Asia?

Here's a suggestion from Gines Gonzalez Garcia, the Minister of Health in Argentina: move to Argentina: "'If I had to choose a place to be, it would be Argentina,' Argentine Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia said, referring to a country's location at the very bottom of South America -- what tourist brochures like to call 'the end of the world.'" I guess he figures that will be the last place the predicted pandemic will arrive. Want to invest in Patagonian condos?

A Footbridge Too Far

Footbridge to Nowhere

The Bridge to Nowhere lunacy has the blogosphere, the TV poonditi, and the radio talkers all a-twitter. Everyone loves the story about buying everyone at the 'other end' of the proposed bridge a Lear Jet for the same cost. It is a perfect example of timing being everything in political polemics.

They have had the pork barrel rolling in Congress since forever. This isn't even the first idiotic pork barrel bridge. In fact we have our own idiot pork barrel bridge story right here in Nebraska. Nebraska's pork-barrel bridge never raised a ruckus like the Ketchikan - Gravina bridge has. There was no Coburn Amendment , the fate of which is still undecided, despite its sensibility. Kevin Aylward's take on this at Wizbang inspired this blast from the pork-barrel past

When Nebraska's Senator Bob Kerrey decided his political career had hit a wall (read: Viet-Nam atrocity stories surfaced), he left Nebraska a chunk of pork to remember him by. It was to be a footbridge across the Missouri River. Why Kerrey thought Nebraskans would want to walk to Iowa, nobody knows. It started off getting roundly razzed. Most folks here (read: Nebraska Republicans) were sick of Bob Kerrey.

First, Reason.com. tried to point out the stupidity of it. They thought it would cost a mere $4 million, and illustrated it with this little comparison:

The next time you go to the ballpark, imagine the seats are filled with 42,321 low-income, taxpaying spectators, each with an adjusted gross income of between $3,000 and $5,000 -- students, part-timers, and the working poor. Then hold on to your hot dog and think about this: All of the federal income taxes paid by everyone in that stadium over the entire 7-month baseball season will go to build a footbridge in Omaha.

Also in April of 2001, OmahaRiverFront.com touted the bridge at Missouri River News , saying it will be, "among one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the nation". But the price mentioned was now $17 Million.

The bridge is being funded by a $17 million federal grant obtained by former U.S. Senator Bob Kerry, a $1.7 million federal planning grant, $1.5 million each from the states of Nebraska and Iowa, and $1 million from the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District. It is expected to be completed sometime in 2003.

Next, in 2004, it finally came time to let the bids for this fabulous footbridge to Iowa. By now it is become:

The futuristic bridge, with its two suspension towers designed to look like giant sails, was supposed to redefine Omaha's skyline and symbolize the cooperation between Omaha and Council Bluffs. It was proposed as a $22.6 million project

Only two bids were submitted. The low bid was $44,942,000. The other bid was $50,286,498 . Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey, feigning surprise, noted that, "It missed by so far it's mind-boggling" and concluded that the "city doesn't have enough money to build the project for the $45 million low bid". The Nebraska Footbridge to Nowhere story still drags on, and won't die until the speculators, developers and pols have milked it to death. Bad timing.
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Update: From Power Line: The Coburn Amendment fails 82 - 15 - the pork barrel is intact.

Update II: A hysterical Senator Stevens of Alaska threatened Omaha's Joslyn Art Museum parking lot pork to protect his bridge pork. Michael Yanney, Joslyn director, defended the museum parking pork and even asked for seconds, saying: "I think we’ve got to spend considerably more taxpayer money on cultural activities,” he said. “Kids need culture. I don’t think the private sector can possibly afford to do all the cultural activities by themselves." Read about it in the Omaha World Herald, quick, before they archive it. OWH notes that Nelson and Hagel "came down on opposite sides of the fiscal tempest". Yanney thanked Nelson for pulling our pork out of the fire.

Rainy Day

WOW TV City-Cam - 11:00 AM today
It is a slow and rainy fall day here at the Feedlot, so I think I'll work on my blogroll and links. I'm finding more and more excellent Great Plains blogs, and the old blogroll has some deadwood in it. Suggestions will be welcomed.

Ain't fall wonderful?

Reptilian refugees in Scottsbluff, Nebraska?

The Sioux City Journal reports that Scottsbluff's Riverside Zoo has added four alligators to their collection. The new reptiles were donated by another zoo in Louisiana. I'm wondering if these are hurricane Katrina refugees.

Cardinals Fans

Now that we will have a World Series without the despised New York Yankees, (and sadly devoid of the Dodgers) I'm liking the Cardinals. I don't know why, I don't care for St Louis much, as cities go. But the old feeder enjoys a good baseball game, and you have to root for someone. Here are some links to Cardinal blogs, courtesy of Fungoes:

• Get Up, Baby!
• The Birdwatch
• Viva El Birdos
• Random Redbird Reasoning
• The Cardinal Virtue

Baseball: still America's pastime! And the Yankees will be back, Ryne.

Sex with stallion death gets only trespass charge.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Hagel sells Bush on Viet-Nam style pullout

Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel has finally convinced President Bush that we can't win the war in Iraq, and we need to pull out now. At least that is what they are saying in Bulgaria these days.

Republican party 2008 election candidate Chuck Hagel, senator from the state of Nebraska, has also expressed criticism to the present White House policy. A famous politician, a Vietnam war veteran, blamed Bush for not sending enough soldiers in Iraq for the execution of the goals set and insists the withdrawal of the army begins next year. There is much time till presidential elections in 2008 but the so-called interim elections, which will take place in 2006 are also important. If the pullout from Iraq does not begin by then, the issue may become a central topic of the election campaign and become the banana skin on which the republican majority in Congress will slip. This is what made George Bush listen to senator Hagel’s free advice. Under the cover of fanfare statements about the existence of “some” strategy for victory, Bush ordered the Pentagon to plan a step-by-step reduction of the army. Besides, the vociferous speeches sound as a cover, a way to disallow discredit for the initial decision for the military move between the banks of Tigris and Euphrates.

Seems Senator Hagel has shown Bush the light at the end of the tunnel, and advised the receptive President on how to orchestrate a Viet-Nam style pullout. It will be peace with honor. America will be able to move on. Senator Hagel, what a genius you are. I take back all the silly things I wrote about your fixation with your role in America's most humiliating moment in history.

Vikings Sex Boat Update

Georgia Hookers Board Viking Boat

I see from the "search words" that land unsuspecting folks here that the pictures reportedly taken during the Minnesota Vikings orgy cruise on Lake Minnetonka aren't easy to find yet. All these gomer hits indicate the growing popularity of this stupid story. Like nobody thought football players could be nekultury.

Today the cat that tipped the Feeder to the pictures in the first place, Brian at a day in the life has discovered that the Vikings had hired the hookers from out of state!

The Minnesota Vikings bring in gobs of money from Minnesota residents, give back to the community. Use local, homegrown intercourse professionals on the next sex cruise. And we all know that something like this will happen... it's only a matter of time.

No Minnesota story is complete without a Norwegian in it. This one is no exception, as Pharyngula points out.

You need two pieces of information to understand this story: our state football team, the Vikings, had a sex party on a boat; and the Minneapolis newspaper, the Star Tribune, recently hired a right-wing hack as a columnist. Put those two together, and the results are predictable: a whine about decadent liberal values. Fortunately, we've got Norwegianity to slap that nonsense down.

The old feeder confesses to being half Norwegian, it comes from my mother's side. I have relatives named Knut. Some time ago I came across Norwegianity, seeking fellow lutefisk eaters in the blogosphere. I had to delete my bookmark though. The cat that writes it reminds me of my sorry-ass norsky relatives. They are all Democrats. The ones that aren't commies.

Guns guns guns

Regarding this headline: U.S. Murder Rate Hits 40-Year Low

Overlawyered has an interesting observation stating the obvious, "When Florida passed a law in 1987 making it easier for citizens to get licenses to carry concealed firearms, opponents predicted that blood would run in the streets ... instead, Florida's murder rate has been cut in half since then."

The Chicago Sun-Times has, on the other hand, this odd claim: Chicago drives down murder rate. The article goes on to completely ignore the obvious fact that Americans are fighting back against crime by arming themselves, and positing every posiible reason cime is down but the obvious. Like, 'all the crooks are in jail'. The Chicago writers even suggest that increased terrorism might be keeping the murderers at home!

Charles, a Great Plains blogger at Job 21:3, who harbors 'reasonable' gun control views, gets it properly sorted out here: Gun Control Means Hitting Your Target, even while dizzy from the thin air in Denver.

Stand your ground against crime!

Omaha mountain lion sighting update

Reposted due to continued sightings of mountain lions in the Omaha area.

Big Mountain Lion
The Plains Feeder had a comment today on a tongue-in-cheek post I made about a week ago, Rewilding Nebraska: Mountain Lions that deserves a post of it's own. Here is part of the comment from Michele Shonka:

Hi, I don't know if you read the article about a Papillion woman seeing a mountain lion , if you did that was me. I have 4 children , ages 1,2 ,7 & 13. After seeing that mountain lion I am freaked out. It scares me to have my kids play in the back yard.

You may read the rest of Michelle's comment here, but you really should see her own extensive blog entry, A mountain lion in my back yard!!! What a story. I don't think Michelle and her neighbor are making this up. And it isn't like she is some citified lady , unfamiliar with wildlife. She sees animals around her house all the time. She insists there is, " NO WAY A huge cat, like the one I saw, could be mistaken for a fox or coyote. AND a mountain lion has a long tail, which I saw, not a short tail like a bobcat."

Michelle is quite reasonably afraid for her kids. She has tried to raise the alarm, only to have her mountain lion sighting more or less poo-pooed by the authorities. Along with all the other big cat sightings she enumerates in her blog. She says, "[t]he local humane society seem to think people are seeing a fox or a coyote. I know what I saw..it was a cat."

Update: Michelle has been adding more sightings here in the comments. Today, Tuesday 10/18/05 , she added this link to another sighting. Alongside the story, the World Herald posts a lengthy list of things to remember when confronted by a mountain lion.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission offers these tips if you come across a mountain lion: Do not approach the animal; Leave the animal an avenue of escape. Stay calm, move slowly. Back away safely if you can. Do not turn your back to the lion or start running. Raise your arms or backpack to appear larger. Lift up your children to prevent them from running. If you are being attacked, fight back. Use rocks or whatever you can get your hands on. Try to remain on your feet or get back up if knocked down.

Sounds like a lot of "tips" to me. Maybe you should drill your family in this. Or follow the Plains Feeder's EZ 4 step system: Get a gun big enough to stop a mountain lion. Learn to handle it safely and shoot it accurately. Carry it with you when venturing into Omaha lion country. Dispatch any mountain lions you see by shooting. Simple and effective.

Thanks to Michelle at ~♥~My Kids, My Life, My Story~♥~

Powerball - You can't win if you don't play

Ordinarily sensible, intelligent folks are heard to say, "You can't win if you don't play." as they bet their dollars against the worst odds in town. The old saw is a truism, but for all practical purposes, you can't win if you do play, either. Something to do with fuzzy logic. Bankers understand it, they won't lend you money if all you offer for collateral is a Powerball ticket. Even one good for $340,000,000.00, if it is the winner.

Obviously, this big number has the power to cloud the mind. It is utterly irrational to believe that one has more than a snowball's chance in hell of winning the big Powerball jackpot. But people are lining up to play the numbers in Nebraska where most folks hate gambling.

How irrational can you be for a buck? I say go ahead and play if you want. You can't win if you don't play.
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Update: CNN - Netscape News : this Plains Feeder post named as Editor's Web Pick for Wednesday, Oct. 19.

Senator Hagel's Iraq play book

Hagel Buttons

Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel's Iraq play book. All he does is change Viet-Nam to Iraq. I wonder if he was a regular listener of Hanoi Hannah's radio broadcasts while he was in country. The pundits say Hagel is trying to 'distance himself' from the pack of 2008 Republican presidential hopefuls. He seems to be doing it by siding with the opposition. I should say 'siding with the losers'. That is what he will be in '08: a loser.

Chuck is the one that has lost touch with reality , especially as reality is perceived from Nebraska. Perhaps he will get sucked into a "big black hole" created by his idiotic niggling and caviling about Bush's proven winning agenda. Read RedState's review of Chuck's appearance on the Sunday morning talk shows.
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ABC Online, Australia, actually published a story referring to Senator Hagel as a Democrat: "Democrat Senator Chuck Hagel says a withdrawal strategy must now be fast-tracked." They quickly fixed the error, but not before it showed up on my Omea Reader. They shouldn't have bothered.
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Update: The 'moonbats' of the Democrat party's balmy base still haven't forgiven Senator Hagel for helping George W. Bush and his Republican co-conspirators steal elections . For example this old Hagel story "Twenty Amazing Facts" still pops up in the loony left blogs, e.g. Nightweed.com's Angry Girl.

Pain in my heart; start me up

According to this story the Stones are now touring with a defibrillator backstage in case one of the *boys* needs some resuscitation. I wonder if they had anyone particular in mind when they included this piece of equipment.

Since Keith and Mick are a year older than I am I'm glad to see them still doing it. I'm also curious to see how long they can go on before one of them needs a jump-start.

John Denver Deer Overpasses for Colorado?

John Denver Overpass

Colorado, once home to wilderness toughened indians, grizzled mountain men, and tough as nails hard-rock miners, has become totally wussified. John Denver started it. The finishing touch appeared in today's Omaha World Herald. But because that nasty rag supports gun control, I won't link to it. Read about this nonsense here at the Summit Daily News, or Channel 9 News.

Must be too many city sissies seeing road kill deer on their way to ski holidays in Vail. This is what they came up with. Deer overpasses! It might make the Colorado panty-waists feel better, but it won't work. Deer would have to be herded over this thing.

Get that Living Will signed

Get that Living Will signed, then pray you don't become incapacitated or fall mortally ill in Louisiana, especially if the weather looks bad. Or in Holland. They'll euthanize you if saving you is to much of a problem.

Found with Google News.

US Federal Deficit down

I had to read about it in the People's Daily (ChiCom) to see the facts reported without a big "but" in the first paragraph. e.g.: US deficit down but war deaths continue; deficit reduced, but Americans still poor; deficit spending cut, but [fill in any liberal gripe].

Not much is made of the fact that the deficit is down due in large part to increased tax revenues. Wait a minute... that doesn't square with the fact that Bush's tax cuts for the rich were going to bust the welfare bank. Lets see, reduce tax rates, collect more tax revenue, its a trick isn't it? That would only work if Capitalism worked, and all liberals know it doesn't. Marx said so.

Best Bird Flu post yet: Sparrow's Fall

Let's all party like it's 1349

Avian flu worries got you down? Don't like that it is becoming increasingly contagious? Afraid it will become drug resistant? Think it is coming to your town? Parrish Baker at Sparrow's Fall has the remedy. Party like they did during the good old days of the Black Death.

A very bad year for liberals in McCook, Nebraska

Whiney Nebraskans with sour stomachs. Mike (at night) Hendricks at the McCook Daily Gazette didn't get invited to Senator Ben Nelson's local shindig. And he's a good Democrat. Wah wah. Good for a Saturday morning laugh.

Teacher that sold meth to make ends meet meets end

Jolene Cortez - would like to teach again

Former Nebraska teacher Jolene Cortez, 34, pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday morning to a charge of possession and intent to deliver meth. Read the news here at WOWT. Get the bleeding heart version here at the OmahaChannel. I'm sure the World Herald will have something weepy for her. After all, she's a white collar poison pusher. Good people. A victim of tax cuts and slashed education budgets. We wouldn't want to send her away for a long stay in the Federal pen. Thats just for the jittery white punks and negroes that sell meth to get easy money.

Everyone is howling about how meth is ruining our kids. Its so bad ordinary folks can't get a cold pill without a hassle. But this poor underpaid teacher who had to sell meth to make ends meet, who gets caught with between 2.5 and 3.5 ounces of meth, now says she wants to teach again. "She's clean, sober, everything is going well for her now", according to her lawyer. Lets give her another chance.

Read what Doug Patton wrote about this case after she was busted: No Excuse for Drug-Dealing Teacher, and Jan Larson's article: Teacher is a Drug Dealer. Jolene's arrest story is here.

Update: Meg at WhyWeHomeschool includes this story in a long round-up of reasons to home school your kids.

State 29: Corn Burning Stoves

With winter coming soon, the old feeder's thoughts turn to wood stoves. Oh, I've had to live in a house in town with 'forced air' central heat. Fate has also landed me in big cities for years at a time, with noisy, leaky steam radiators. I could stand it when I was younger, but I just don't have time to waste on it any more. I like rural , even rustic life. I like wood stoves. Fireplaces just aren't the same.

Not only are they homey things, but feeding them is as good for you as having a treadmill or a bow-flex. And they appeal to the old feeder's penny pinching nature. I've never had a modern one, though. The fanciest one was an enormous old Monarch cook stove, complete with numerous lids, warming ovens and a hot water reservoir. The most humble was an old 'trash burner', pictured here, and which I think DadGum still has.

The fall smell of other wood stoves in the air inspired these fond remembrances like Proust's madeleine. Now comes State 29 with a post titled Corn Burning Stoves to add interest to my nostalgia. The feeder has burned wagon loads of cobs, but never corn itself. These modern contraptions are made by Even-Temp Incorporated of Waco, Nebraska, and are apparently so popular this winter as to be almost unavailable.

It isn't the first time Great Plains folk have burned corn to keep warm. The Great Depression was the last time the practice was widespread. The Buffalo County Nebraska Historical Society web site has this story that describes Depression corn burning in Nebraska: The Plow That Broke The Plains by Michael W. Schuyler.

The first major shock waves of the depression did not strike the farm belt until 1931 but, by 1932, had destroyed nearly all that was left of the farmers' foreign markets and had driven farm prices down to disastrously low levels. By 1933 farm income was less than half of what it had been only a year earlier. Many farmers in the County burned corn for fuel when the price fell to only nine cents per bushel.

I hope this renewed interest in burning corn is merely a reaction to the high cost of traditional fuels this winter, and not a sign that 'hard times' are again upon us. Its a good thing the Feedlot bought a propane contract for this winter.
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Reposted to stay on top today- because it's such a nice warm fuzzy post - ptg

Hagel to speak at Iowa State University

I can't wait. Senator Chuck Hagel will be making a foreign policy speech at my old Alma Mater, Iowa State University. I quit sending ISU money the first time they paid Jane Fonda to speak there. The last time I was in Ames, the place had become a typical collegiate leftist bastion. They should love Chuck, especially if he engages in further Bush Bashing.

The Lincoln Journal Star goes on to report that, "Hagel has accepted speaking engagements on a number of campuses, including Harvard, Notre Dame and Kansas State University." There is always hope he will use the speech to announce his non candidacy for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination.
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Senator Hagel will also appear on CBS' Face the Nation this weekend, along with Joe Biden. Maybe they can be third party running mates.

Poliovirus Infections in Minnesota vaccine-derived

The Plains Feeder has a subscription to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Now and then they issue a dispatch, a sort of disease of the Week Club hors d'oeuvre. We just got this interesting one: Poliovirus Infections in Four Unvaccinated Children --- Minnesota, August--October 2005. The following summary came from the e-mail cover letter:

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has identified a vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) in an unvaccinated, immunocompromised infant girl aged 7 months and in three siblings in a separate household. All four children live in an Amish community largely unvaccinated for polio. The infant girl has no paralysis, and the source of her infection is unknown. VDPVs are derived from the Sabin poliovirus strains in oral polio vaccine, which was discontinued in the United States in 2000.

Were you innoculated with Sabin type polio vaccines? Does this make you nervous? I got the old Salk stuff.

Aetiology, the Iowa City disease blog, has analysis posted at Polio in Minnesota.

Leftist Monster Series: Che Guevara installment

The idiots wearing Che t-shirts should read this one: Fidel's Executioner by Humberto Fontova at FrontPageMagazine.com. Hat tip to George at Babalu Blog. It is a long and fact-filled piece, probably too long for the Che-ists ' attention spans. Keep trying.

Senator Hagel in the Cairo paper and more

I like to look for references to Nebraska in the foreign press. Today I find Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel in the Cairo paper. Al-Ahram's weekly on-line edition just came out, and reprints Immanuel Wallerstein's recent article "Exit Strategy", which quotes Hagel:

"I think the strongest sign of a change in mood in the US is that one of the candidates for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2008, Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, says the US is getting "more and more bogged down in Iraq", that the president should meet Cindy Sheehan, and that the White House is "disconnected from reality and losing the war". It does not matter whether Hagel is right. The important thing is that he's running for the Republican nomination, and he must think that there are Republican voters who will respond to the validity of his analysis. Hagel is in fact moving faster than the leading Democratic politicians, except for Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, also a candidate for a presidential nomination, who has called officially for a withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2006."

Wikipedia's article on Immanuel Wallerstein says he has become "a grey eminence with the anti-globalization movement within and without the scientific community, along with Noam Chomsky and Pierre Bourdieu." It irks this Nebraskan to see Hagel's words used to undermine President Bush's foreign policy on the 'Arab street'. And quoted for support by a Marxist nut whose mantras include such gems as "Pax Americana is over."
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Meanwhile, at The Nation, McCain and Hagel, are named as colleagues in the "attempt to corral Bush" into being nicer to terrorists. How can one cat come down on the losing side of so many issues? Examples of Hagel's questionable judgement calls are popping up all over the place this week.

USA Today has a puff piece on "strange alliances" in Washington, D.C. which pairs up Senator Hagel with Hillary R. Clinton. "You often end up working with people with whom you have a good, positive personal relationship, even though you don't agree on many issues," says Senator Clinton. What about this good, positive personal relationship with that nasty skank, Senator Hagel? I don't like the sound of it.

FEMA to Reconsider Gun Ban

Good news from the hardest working independent, libertarian, gay gun nut blogger in Vermont, Jeff Soyer at Alphecca: FEMA to Reconsider Gun Ban.
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Update: dont' get too excited, there's "a 'little Hitler' trying to create the perfect Singapore replica" in the FEMA settlement. Seems the 'walls are too thin' for Constitutional rights. Again, thanks to Alphecca.

Previously at the Feeder: More disaster-justified gun grabbery

Vikings Gone Wild

Al & Alma's Minnetonka Sex Cruises

What has become of the Minnesota Vikings? The behavior of some of the team members on a cruise on Lake Minnetonka was so lewd and lascivious that the crew members are threatening to sue . (I guess there is a civil cause of action in Minnesota for having one's sensibilities offended.) Prostitutes, sex on the deck, oral sex in the cabin, mechanical sex toys everywhere, and masturbation are all alleged. Criminal charges may also be filed; soliciting prostitution and 'lawn urination' being the most likely. Watch the possibly offensive video at WCCO. Greg Hunt of Insanti County News suggests worldly Minnesotans aren't shocked.

Update: Al and Alma's crews say pictures were taken at the Vikings boat party. H/T: a day in the life.

Read what others blogs have said about the Vikings sex party: Google - Technorati

Al Gore and the country we could have been

Sore loser Al Gore, looking pallid and waxy, told an admiring audience of Euroconomists in Sweden, (where he was hanging aound hoping to snag a Nobel Prize) that "the United States would be 'a different country' if he had won the 2000 election". (AP at MyWay)

I wonder what country Al figures the United states would be now, had he been elected in 2000. New Arabia? China West? The North American District of the UN World Government? Goravia?

I almost forgot to mention that the high point of Gore's Stockholm speech was his much awaited announcement that he won't be running for US President ever again. Thanks to Angela for the reminder.

Chuck Hagel's Viet-Nam fixation revisited

Chuck Hagel in the quagmire

Nebraska's own Doug Patton, in an article titled "What Chuck Hagel Has Become" (RealityCheck), observes that:

"While serving in Vietnam, Hagel and his comrades in arms were continually undermined by thoughtless, narcissistic politicians who spoke without considering the propaganda value their words would give to the enemies of America. Now Hagel has become one of those politicians."

We have noted this sad irony before at the Feeder, and remain perplexed by Senator Hagel's continuing self destructive public diplay of his pathological fixation that all wars are Viet-Nams. It might seem that Senator Hagel is trying to set himself apart from President Bush like the rest of the hopefuls in the 2008 Republican bull pen. For example, see this Knight-Ridder story in the Columbia Trib:

Republican hopefuls - as many as a dozen men who already are jockeying for advantage - don’t want to be perceived as insiders and heirs to the Bush political establishment. On the contrary, most of them are trying to advertise their independence, to distance themselves from Bush on key issues, to appear as rebels fed up with the wicked ways of Washington.

But, unlike the other male Republican wannabees, Chuck can't seem to find any issue except the war in Iraq to differentiate himself from Bush. I think it is sad. Reminds me of another Nebraskan who wound up a self-caricature.

Update: If Senator Hagel really wants to set himself apart from the Republican pack, he might consider supporting President Bush's current policies, instead of making such unhelpful utterances as the President is "disconnected from reality." He could promise to improve upon the current administration's policies in the areas of immigration, border security and spending cuts.

Hagel would be wise to bet that, come November 2008, Americans will want more of the same resolve to defeat and unwillingness to appease our enemies as they have with Bush . The terrorists of the New Caliphate will not go away; the threat will only increase. The candidate that voters perceive to be strongest in the fight against Jihad will win.

Hagelisms - hat tip: From the Heartland

What next?

Someone finally managed to commit murder with an air gun in the UK. They probably had to resort to an air gun because real guns are effectively banned in Great Britain.

So now they will 'do the right thing' and pass an 'air gun control' law. Then brits will have to find other ways to kill one another.

I can't wait until some resourceful limey manages to murder his antagonist with a steak and kidney pie. If they would just ban that awful culinary combo, I might feel safe enough to visit Merry Olde England again.
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Update: From Alphecca: bow and arrow control? (read the comment about robbing a bank with a bow!)

Liberian Elections

Liberia - 1980

I first saw it on the BBC: "Counting is under way across Liberia following voting in the first national elections since the end of the 14-year civil war in 2003." Blogcritics.org has it here. The Liberian Times has election news and background.

Liberia has been a real mess for a long time. More than 14 years' worth. It is the disfunctional result of idiotic social and geopolitical meddling. Starting with the US government encouraged (read: funded) American Colonization Society. Good intentions pave the road to hell, I guess.

From what I can see from the feedlot, things may be getting better. I can recall when Liberian politics consisted of machine-gunning the losers. That was how you lost: you got tied to a post and shot.

Good luck to the Liberians. They're going to need it!

Sex Kittens Go to College

Louis Nye is dead. He played Dr. Zorch in Sex Kittens Go to College. Among other things.

More disaster-justified gun grabbery

Michelle Malkin says , "another good reason not to move back to the Katrina disaster area" is that FEMA doesn't allow 'refugees' to keep their guns. Once you put yourself in mother Gummint's loving care, you won't need self-defense any more. That is the theory.

Michelle also has a link to the Second Amendment Foundation, a good outfit that hasn't the membership numbers of the NRA, but has them beat in the 'balls' category. Nothing says you can't belong to both.

Previously:
The NRA and the Katrina gun grab - part II
NRA responds to Katrina gun grab
Americans just plain don't want niggers to have guns

Update: Gun nut Jeff at Alphecca covers FEMA's anti-gun slant in his Weekly Check on the Bias.

I can't explain the swimming piglets.

Plains Feeder: One year old

It is our first blog birthday. Our first post was Common Sense, but it took us a while to figure out what we were doing. Thanks to all for reading, helping, commenting and criticising the Feeder through this eventful year .

New OPS school takeover blog

There is a timely new blog in the Omaha neighborhood: Omaha Schools News. Check it out if you haven't already. They were quick to point out what Plains Feeder has been saying: Mackiel's plan is no more than a "share the pain" scheme to dilute the ill effects of OPS' history of mismanagement. The post that caught my eye: OPS Plan May Result in Less Per-Pupil Funding.

I need to readjust the blogroll here to make a place for 'topical' or de jure blogs like Omaha School News.

Baseball at its most enjoyable

A Yankees-free World Series.

No Columbus Day in Columbus, Nebraska?

If they observe Columbus Day in Columbus, Nebraska with a parade or anything, I couldn't find any clue of it in the Columbus Telegram. Not enough Italians in town, I guess. Or bad PR. And folks complain about Omaha's web presence sez Job 21:3's Charles.

Perspective on the earthquake in Pakistan

The numbers look bad. Tens of thousands reported dead from yet another natural disaster. (Are there un-natural disasters?) Media coverage consists largely of blaming everyone in sight. Sounds just like Katrina-Rita. The MSM has a mind set not unlike that of an aggressive tort lawyer.

Today's editorial in the Pakistan Daily Times gives a more rational view: "The truth is that no government anywhere, but particularly in the Third World, can be prepared for large-scale post-disaster management."

There! Someone finally said it. Some things that happen are simply not problems your government can be reasonably expected to solve. Where you go from there depends on the source of your faith, if any. If you are a true believer in secularism, then you must consider becoming an international statist. Give your life and your home folks over to the UN. Everyone else can pray.
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Update: Godless Calvin Woodward at WaPo says we're helpless as against nature. I almost feel sorry for the alienated jerk.

Update: Paul at Wizbang Blog calls it conceit - he's right. Hubris is the seed of all Global Warming theories.

OPS Super Mackiel threatened

question the timing

Omaha Public School Superintendent John Mackiel has gone public with claims that his life has been threatened by boorish peasants who aren't enlightened enough to embrace his One City - One School District plan. Now the Plains Feeder wouldn't be at all surprised if, among the thousands of folks who feel they would be adversely affected by this ill-advised scheme, there are some kooks. Maybe even dangerous kooks. The Omaha TV News take is here and here.

Neither would it be surprising to find a few kooks so incensed by OPS's attack on local control of their schools that they would make stupid threats. Happens all the time.; people in public office get nasty letters. I'd wager that Senator Ted Kennedy gets a mail bag full of kook threats every day. Threatening violence to others in writing is not only stupid, but is also almost universally illegal. Most folks don't do it.

Many public people, especially the elected variety, prefer to downplay such threats. There are plenty of good reasons to do this, mostly related to security. Idiots learn to behave like idiots by watching other idiots. Some kooks are encouraged by publicity, others actually get off on pursuit. Security reasons for going to the media with threats are few and far between. Ask NYC Mayor Bloomberg.

Of the reasons for which a public person may make a threatening letter public, most are political in nature. One might release a particularly nasty or even criminal threat letter to the media to disparage more reasonable and rational opponents. Tar them with the same brush, as it were. Could this be Mackiel's reason for going to the media with his kook letter?

Before you comment that the old feeder is a Millardian neanderthal fascist reactionary who hates kids and negroes and won't share his neighbor's pain, please note that I am a disgusted disinterested observer of the nascent Fahey - Mackiel empire. I am geographically insulated from any citified Omaha monkey business.

Che Guevara's death anniversary

Honor the anniversary of Che Guevara's death.
See: Babalu Blog and Real Clear Politics
And don't forget Bolivia Appreciation Day

Rewilding Nebraska: Mountain Lions

Seen along the Papio Creek in Omaha

The numerous mountain lion sightings around West Omaha has folks a bit nervous. I heard an 'expert' on the radio today saying the usual 'they won't bother you if you don't bother them' and 'they are just as frightened of you as you are of them'. What baloney. These big animals need to eat. They eat meat, and they like to kill their prey. One cat says he saw one chasing a deer in town. All of us, our dogs and our kids are made out of meat. Don't bother them, indeed.

I'm thinking this is the work of the re-wilders. Consider this: if they can run us off or at least thin us out by surreptitiously introducing man-eating species, then their ungodly cause will be advanced. There is corroborating evidence like the 7' boa constrictor found in an Omaha drain. It seems City Hall is no help, further proof Mike Fahey hates West Omaha folks. He probably favors re-wilding.

Update: Humane Society's Mark Langan sez "Lions can be mistaken for other city wildlife".
Update: When you see Pumas, can cougars be far behind?

Maybe the earlier Chupacabras reports from Sarpy County were wrong, and mountain lions are the local goat-suckers.

Doe v. Cahill - Internet Law

Drudge linked to this story about the Delaware Supreme Court Decision in Doe v. Cahill. It reverses a lower Court's decision that only required one suing for defamation (aka libel, slander) to make a good faith case before being able to compel an ISP to disclose anonymous bloggers' names.

The Court said the correct standard is to require the plaintiff to make a prima facie case, (one that would withstand a defendant's motion to dismiss) before allowing the plaintiff such power to compel production of evidence. I think it is good ruling.

Download and read the opinion (pdf) here at Stupid and Wrong. Or here. Analysis at delawareonline. No joy at the NY Times. RCox at the National Debate doesn't like it.

No way!

Statist twits meeting in Geneva say "the US may be forced to relinquish control of the internet to a coalition of governments." I think this is ridiculous. Nobody forces the US to do anything, except maybe in a one-worlder's dreams. That's what sovereignty backed up with might is all about.

The Guardian article continues: "There are still dozens of unanswered questions but all the answers are pointing the same way: international governments deciding the internet's future. The internet will never be the same again."

Here's another question for the ChiComs and the EuroSocialists in Geneva: How will you force Americans give up their freedom to access information on the 'net? If they think we will let Kofi Annan block our web access as the ChiCom government does to the people in China, they've got another think coming. Americans aren't sorry assed royal subjects, commie slaves or european dupes, and they never will be.

Hat Tip: Drudge.

Sex perverts play musical chairs

Nebraska's Most Wanted Missing Sex Perverts
Click picture to get to know them better

Since Iowa has passed new rules for registered sex offenders that place complicated limits on where they can live, city councils and state legislatures in states neighboring Iowa are concerned that frustrated Iowa perverts will move across the border. At least one Nebraska town has passed an ordinance copying the Iowa residence restrictions. Other towns are likely to follow suit.

All of this sounds like feel-good legislation that really won't protect kids from perverts. Making them live a bit farther from schools, for example, just makes the deviants' icky work a bit more difficult. As the picture above shows, Nebraska has trouble keeping track of its own sex offenders. It is a montage from the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry's Most Wanted list.

What to do with these broken clocks? The recidivism rate being bandied about for sex perverts is over 50%, and these figures only include repeat offenders that get caught. Here at the Plains Feeder, we have a modest proposal. Give these dogs one bite. Punish that one bite severely. For any second offense they should get a quick trip to Nebraska's underused electric chair.

Update: Gunscribe From the Heartland is 'way ahead of me! If you catch one of these pedophiles in the act, consider shooting them. Or if the only weapon you keep handy is a sword, at least learn how to use it!

A little bedtime reading

Sleep tight! Don't let the nano-bugs bite.

Prairie dog poisoning postponed

A story in the Chadron Record got my attention: Prairie dog poisoning postponed. It seems the impending prairie dog poisoning has been delayed by a Federal Court in Denver, which is hearing a convoluted agglomeration of appeals. What a waste of time and tax dollars. The cases all concern the killing or saving of prairie dogs.

"Three appeals filed by environmental groups complain that the plan doesn't do enough to protect prairie dogs or their habitat. The fourth appeal - filed by six grazing groups and counties in Nebraska and South Dakota - argue that the plan would not kill enough prairie dogs and damage more grazing lands."

The Plains Feeder is taking sides on this one. Against the useless, disease carrying, dirt squirrel varmints, of course. Rodents, either you like 'em, or you don't.

Its a tough life

The old feeder had to spend some time out on the lake.

In the meantime, broadband internet arrived at the Feedlot, sans cable or copper. If this service continues to work as well as it is right now, I'll be sure to give the providers a plug. You might think this improvement over the old, miserably slow phone modem would speed me on my way to increased blog productivity, but you would be wrong. I'm having too much fun surfing the 'net!