Oscars

I missed the Oscars. I might have watched, but I had other things to do, like reconcile my checkbook and fold some towels. Some folks did watch and I see by their comments that I missed nothing. I trust the comments at Wizbang; I don't know why.

I'm not a fan of Chris Rock, no matter what the setting or script. On a personal level, he reminds me of a squirrely student I disliked at Iowa State 30 years ago. Even so, I have never been a fan of stand up comedy that I felt was too dirty for the common stage. I laughed at Redd Foxx in Sanford and Son, but couldn't bear his nightclub act. But Redd Foxx didn't remind me of anyone else.

Barnyard Bondage

A 63-year-old Wisconsin man is in trouble with the law for having sex with another man's heifers, something I would imagine of a raging hormonal 13-year-old. Forty-five years ago I was too much the ingenuous young 4-H er to even suspect that people might do that. Oh sure, the Jones brothers bragged about it but I always thought they were lying.

Regardless of the age of this brand of sexual predator the story suggests that the primary charge against him was sex with animals. Nowhere is trespassing or property damage mentioned, therefore it seems to be a moral issue.

Easy enough to say it's wrong, but I wonder how wrong or even how right it really was. So he tied them up? Nothing really wrong with that. Was he nice to them? Was he gentle and did he comment favorably on their bovine beauty? Of course there's also the possibility that he was a self-hating cow fucker who was mean to the frightened little girl calves and beat them.


I'm trying to envision the best possible scenario. He's a guy who really knows how to make love to a virginal heifer, that they would even look forward to another rendevous. The lucky ones he romanced would outshine all the others and gain weight at an impressive rate, thereby increasing the profits of their owners.

Ultimately it doesn't make much difference to me. My 12 guage approach would always be pretty much the same. Zip up your pants and get the HELL out of my barn!

Now it is just a steaming pile of shit.

By now, everyone has heard of the persistant manure fire at the feedlot in Milford, Nebraska. Well, now it is out. From TheOmahaChannel.com: "The owner and manager of Midwest Feeding, David Dickinson, kept taking the pile apart until finally it was giving off only steam." I'll bet that it is some nasty steam.

New Computers

I think I have finally beaten this XP installation into submission. Windows is a great OS until you try to get it to run any software. Next time I may just take a bite of the Apple and have done with it.

Scooping The Gonzo

Michelle Malkin has apparently neglected to solicit a comment from me on the suicide of Hunter Thompson. In fairness to her I suspect it's because she's never heard of me and most likely never will, therefore I'll grab my trusty grain scoop and shovel a few thoughts into the feed bunk.

Or so I thought. After that last paragraph I stopped by the Hog On Ice feed bunk for a moment and read a vituperative exchange between Laura Ingraham and someone by the name of jac des vert. If there was anything at all I could add to it I would......not even bother. Like Laura I prefer P.J. O'Rourke's political view of the world over Hunter Thompson's, but I found myself rooting strongly for the arguments of whoever jac des vert is. Right or wrong I'm glad the Good Doctor left his mark on the world.

Michelle, Laura really wants you to like her. And Laura, since no one reads this blog the odds are good you won't either, hence you don't scare me a bit. Doctor T, the closest I got to you was meeting your so-called Samoan attorney in Frisco back in '72. You and I both know he wasn't a Samoan, tho he was a lawyer. He was a Tex-Mex by the name of Oscar Zeta Acosta. Michelle and Laura are good for this world just as you and the Brown Buffalo were, but there's no way an old fool like me could ever tell them. The best I can offer is to salute you with a few rounds the next time I get out my gun.

Sen Hagel wants to "reach out" to Bathist monsters.

Chuck Hagel, our sorta-Republican Senator who wants to be President, seems to think he can negotiate with terrorists. This is a chump idea whose time came and went with Neville Chamberlain and the be nice to Nazis movement. Bush has already said there can be no negotiating with terrorists, and the Iraqis have already said they won't be bound by any such deals. See: swissinfo, . But, "[w]hen asked about the contacts, Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of both the Senate foreign relations and intelligence committees, said it was important to 'reach out' in Iraq." Sure, Chuck. Seems I saw some videos of US citizens getting their throats cut by these cats. I bet they would have liked to 'reach out' to their tormentors, but their hands were tied. What next, an 'adopt-a-terr' program for small towns in Nebraska? Take a Bathist to dinner? Shut up and legislate, Chuck, or the voters back here are going to reach out to you.

Update: Power Line suggests these talks may indicate the Bathists want to surrender. Why didn't you say so Chuck? If this is true, (and I don't think it is) what kind of a 'deal' do they think to strike? Pardons for their crimes? Positions in the new Iraqi government? Any surrender should be unconditional and the Iraqi people should have a crack at bringing these murderous cowards the justice they so richly deserve.

Mr. Kim's Birthday Flower

The Immortal Kimjongilia, a flower named after Mr. Kim, is so beautiful it "is now being rapidly propagated in at least 60 countries to be loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world." (See Trough story) Tomfoolery of the Highest Order says it "Sounds like something a sailor might catch while on shore leave in Bangkok." I was just watching one of my favorite movies, the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and am now concerned that this plant might be some kind of nuclear radiation enhanced mutant that Mr. Kim hopes will make commie pod people out of an unsuspecting world. They get you when you sleep.

Just how stupid are we?

Thomas Sowell's column, Tainted media identifies a "gross double standard" in the way the MSM handled news during the last presidential election. As if nobody noticed. Times have changed, and the Alphabet Networks lame newsertainment shows, Big Old Newspapers and Movie Star Pronouncements aren't what they used to be. The information explosion blew up in their faces. It is now possible to know more than what these entities deign fit to spoon feed us. The audience isn't made up of bumpkins, rubes, hayseeds and peasant farmers any more. Big city intellectual sophistication and a dollar will still get you a cup of coffee in Omaha.

The Daily Joe

Peggy Noonan's column has an insightful view of the relationship between bloggers and the Main Stream Media. (Thanks to Michelle Malkin.) Ms. Noonan's predictions are as interesting as her analysis. I can hardly wait for The Daily Joe.

Wah! Wah!

I haven't the faintest idea why I should feel bad because I haven't posted anything for a while. But I do. Over the last few days I had to build a new computer and get all my old crap loaded up on it. Problems arose with a fancy ATI video card. Drivers supplied with the card were, as usual, outdated. New drivers from ATI wouldn't work either. This is typical, but the necessary downloads have become hugely bloated. Here at the Feedlot, dial-up internet is the only economical option. I'm too far from a DSL enabled main station, can't get cable, and can't afford a trunk line or wireless. (There is no competition for wireless here; the service is overpriced.) My phone lines might as well be strung on fenceposts, as they are subject to line deterioration caused by water. The downloads take hours. Wah! Wah!

King Corn

State Senator Jack Kibbie of Iowa is introducing a bill mandating that all gasoline sold in the state include 10% ethanol, as in Minnesota, the only state that presently requires this. The timing of the wiley old farmer couldn't be better due to the war in Iraq and consumer concerns about fuel costs and the environment. Ethanol is supposed to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and provide a cheaper and cleaner burning fuel. One problem is that ethanol doesn't perform as advertised according to the EPA and the National Academy of Sciences. It could conceivably worsen air quality, cost more and reduce gasoline mileage.

The corn lobby is powerful, as Senator Diane Feinstein learned after an unsuccessful attempt to prevent ethanol from replacing MTBE in California gas. Minnesota already has a government/agri-business hard-on to raise their requirement to 20% by 2012. For those who would like to see the development of hydrogen fuel and other alternatives, the ethanol industry will undoubtedly become a special interest roadblock. And for those, like myself, who would like some freedom of choice at the gas pumps, don't look for it in Minnesota and, quite possibly, Iowa.

Gag me with a Sceptre

ThisisLondon: "The Prince of Wales today said he was 'very excited' about his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles."

Babalu Blog

Val Prieto of Babalu has posted a picture created here at the Feedlot. I'm honored that Val likes the picture, because it didn't really fit in here. But I'm an anticommunist, and I love to read Val's earthy version of anti-communism. And Fidel, you can kiss my ass!

The Ownership Society

What is it that we actually own? The best answer I've heard is that you own whatever you can get and keep. This explication allows for the economic truism that nothing is without cost. You got your house by convincing others to loan you money to buy it. Once you have paid them off, you must continue to pay property taxes to keep it.

There are always costs associated with both the getting and the keeping of property. Even if the state didn't tax your property, you would still incur economic costs of ownership. Like the cost of defending your grasp on whatever you claim to own againt those who would steal it or trick you out of it.

Critics of Bush's Ownership Society come in many flavors, but they are all simply trying to keep whatever it is they think they have now. They feel they own their cut of giver-mint entitlements. Their delusions include ownership of rights which spring only from the state: housing, food, cheap shit. The problem, for me, is that they want others to pay the 'cost of keeping' these ephemeral properties. I won't be chipping in.

Foreign Bus Crashes

Here is a fun Google pastime:
Google Search: bus crash plunge OR plunged OR plunging.

I can read these all day.

Sex Crazed Teachers in the Great White North

The problem is spreading. I'm guessing it is coming to the United States from Canada, much like mad cow disease. Possibly something in the toilet paper supply. Perhaps the work of terrorists, bent on showing the worls how truly decadent the West has become.

I need to take my meds, now. Meanwhile you can read about the Sex Crazed Canadian Teacher here at Angry in the Great White North. GWN says, "She should have waited...it'll probably be legal tomorrow."

Sex Crazed Teachers - a modest proposal

Wizbang commenter Rob Hackney has a suggestion to the problem of sex-crazed school marms cavorting with their students, "female circumcision". Eeeew!

European Ban-it-all nonsense spreads to Russia

Picture the poor little girl, startled and crying after seeing cartoon skeletons on her yogurt carton. Her mother, having heard about walking skeletons from her parents experience of the Stalin era, goes right to her tort lawyer. As Russia looks toward the West, the long opressed see the shining European example. A world where no person need endure anything that makes them feel uneasy. Epecially not free speech or expression. If a thing offend thee, get the courts to ban it.

Sue the insensitive bastards! "The woman says that says that the skeletons featured in ads make her daughter cringe and cry. She seeks the court to ban the sales of the products and also their advertisement on television. Experts of the Russian Psychology Institute supported the plaintiff and said that little children should not watch skeletons as this 'does not contribute to a positive outlook and can form either unhealthy or cynical attitude towards death.' "

MosNews from Moskovsky Komsomolets

Danone, the offending French yogurt propagators, have had no comment so far.

New Egg 2

Hard boiled?

People's Daily: Bush's so-called democracy and freedom

In your dreams, chicoms. We won't forget how you handled democracy and freedom dreams at Tiananmen Square. The creeps at People's Daily Online, make inscrutible oriental comments on Bush's SOTU address. I bet more Chinese folks dream of democracy and freedom (and I mean real dreams - at night - asleep) than any other nationality.

Plains Blogger meets the President

Mike of The Trials of White Suburban Children in the Heart of Nebraska got some good pictures at President Bush's speech in Omaha.

Is it just me...

...or are teachers crazier now than they were when I was in high school. There was talk of sex between teachers and students, but never anything like this. At least, I don't think the band teacher was into bondage. This headline: Police found bondage videos at home of accused teacher caught my eye. Apparently this creep did these things in class, during school hours. "Officials describing the alleged abuse in the schools said sometimes Sperlik spent the entire class period sexually abusing his 9- to 14-year-old students, sometimes asking them to duct-tape themselves" What amazes me is how long it took everyone to catch on that his bizarre antics weren't just progressive teaching methods.

Random Thought

Self-esteem is not the same as self-respect.

Al Sharpton: will not eat at KFC; thinks you shouldn't either - NYT

It could have been your town. Badly beaten birds were found stuffed into bags, drugged, covered with feathers and smeared with their own feces. The words "KFC" and "chicken dinner" were emblazoned on the bags. The birds were badly burned, their skin almost crispy in places. This shocking birdist outrage would have gone unnoticed in the heartless carnivore that is America, but for The Reverend Al Sharpton. He says the shocking bird abuse is a capitalist plot to bloody the hands of unwitting negroes and he wants it to stop. When asked if he thought this might be another hoax, like Tawana Brawley's bagging and tagging, he said, "No way, man! These chickens can't talk."

Boobs!

The fine folks at Wizbang mentioned that one of the keys to successful blogging was to include a liberal number of tittie pictures. So, I am including this hot boob shot. Now these are really big ones, and viewed from the same angle the bull sees when the missus is feeling frisky. No wonder bulls don't need viagra!

Strange Bedfellows

The Morocco Times reports secret talks between Hawaii and Morocco. Something smells fishy. Don't they remember Billy Beer?

Another Sale Barn Closes

This is sad news. I remember going to the sale barn in Spencer, Iowa with my grandpa. As a young man, I tended the tanbark at Iowa State's animal pavilions. Yeah, they smell and they can be noisy and messy, but the sale barn is/was an important part of Plains Life. But times change, as this old-timer notes in the Omaha World Herald, "With a lot of sale barns across the country struggling, Schlieker could see the writing on the wall." I suppose Grand Island has a big mall to hang around, now that the sale barn is history.