New Orleans Looters

Nobody deserves to die of cholera,
but some cats have got it coming.

Katrina Looter Links:

Michelle Malkin has the low-down on the looters here:
"YOU LOOT, I SHOOT" and here.
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DottyNana faults Wal-Mart for selling guns
to poor folks (read: negroes)
but OKs looting as long as its
covered by insurance. And I'm mean.
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Don't Let Me Stop You figures 'foraging' is OK
but snagging a new TV is not.
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For Ryne McClaren looting is just a distraction,
"There are important things to worry about right now,
and they have nothing to do with
some guy who is packing away a free television set."
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Charles, at Job 21:3, rightly accuses the looters of being
"so ungrateful they can’t appreciate their very survival".
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Even Renee's Midwest Bloggin' has an exception to
the Eighth Commandment for essentials.
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Neal Boortz: Shoot to kill
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Mike Baham in the Bayou Buzz also: Shoot To Kill
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Don't Let Me Stop You has More About Looting
and picks up Peggy Noonan's After the Storm
in which she calls the nastiness "piggism".
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In the State of Anarchy, it's still FUBAR
Mas Michelle
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Truth is, the storm was an act of God; a perfectly natural event. The looting and concomitant violence are acts of men and women with free will and consciences. Ask Noah whether God ever subscribes to the PANG (People Are No Good) theory. Sometimes I really can't stand my fellow humans. Most of 'em, anyhow. That is why I have a gun. You loot the Feedlot and I'll shoot you. But ask nice, and I might just share.

World (non) news

PT's gone for a day or two so I think I'll get out the old blog and see if I can't counteract his thoughtful and informed political pieces with a little necessary foolishness. A German Opera Company is performing 'The Yellow Princess' by a French composer. They not only plan to smoke joints on the stage but will encourage the audience to do likewise to " see what they can get away with". In New York a couple years ago Keith Richards upset the moral authorities when he lit a store-bought cigarette on stage.

Moving to the Far East, consider 73 yr old Wang Ying from China who has had an inoperable tumor growing staight out of his head from between his eyes most of his life. The world is full of wimps and weaklings (like myself) who would consider that somewhat of a disadvantage. Not so with Mr. Ying, a devotee of Kung Fu, who can hook a rope around that tumor and lift 14 bricks. Most people would probably find good looking Lance Armstrong's amazing story more edifying, but I don't know that I would agree.

As one who has spent some time trying to work with the always present, always elusive 'Qi' I can appreciate what Mr. Ying has accomplished. That being said, so that there can be no mistake regarding the respect I have for this guy, I can't help wondering if women...uh...you know, I mean do you suppose some are *attracted* to his tough old tumor? If he's really good with his Qi that could help explain why he's smiling.

Zero tolerance? Legal literalism? Petty bureaucracy?

It looks like just plain injustice to me. A man wrestles a gun away from two attackers, uses it to defend himself, but gets locked up because he was on paper at the time. His brainless parole officer contends he had "possessed a firearm" in violation of his paper.

I found this story on the Knoxville News sentinel's web site, knoxnews.com. Because that publication has an annoying 'registration' procedure, I have reprinted the entire story here, under their unusually permissive copyright policy. I think you will get a rise out of reading it.

Man remains in prison after judge says he's innocent

By JAMIE SATTERFIELD, satterfield@knews.com
August 25, 2005

Ask any guy in prison blues, and he'll probably insist he is innocent.

But when Michael A. Neal says it, he's telling the truth.


For three months now, Neal has been sitting behind bars in a West Tennessee prison even though a Knox County judge has deemed him innocent of double murder charges.

That's because the state Board of Probation and Parole had accused Neal of violating his parole by possessing for a matter of minutes a gun he wrested from two intruders who broke into his East Knoxville home.

"It was politics," defense attorney Mike Whalen said Wednesday. "Two guys were dead."

Two bad guys, as it turned out.

Terry Dodson, 32, and Benjamin Pollard, 24, were linked to a Memphis gang and had a history of violence. On May 17, the pair stormed into Neal's apartment, threatened to shoot him and began looting his home, testimony has shown.

Neal didn't know either man. He tried to run but wound up in a struggle with the men. He disarmed one of the intruders, shot him and tried to flee again when the second intruder began to attack him. Neal shot him, dropped the gun and ran.

The first person he called was his parole officer, phoning her within hours to explain what happened. He then contacted Whalen to arrange his surrender to police.

His parole officer filed a warrant against him. Whalen said Neal had expected as much. After all, he was by then charged with two counts of murder.

But when Knox County General Sessions Court Judge Bob R. McGee ruled at a hearing in July that Neal had acted in self-defense and dropped both charges, Whalen said he expected Neal to go free.

He didn't.

His parole officer refused to dismiss the parole violation charge, which was based entirely on the double shooting of which Neal had been acquitted, Whalen said.

Whalen lost the first round of hearings on the issue. On Wednesday, he drove to the Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex for a second hearing.

"The parole hearing officer looks at the parole officer and said, 'What's the state's position?' " Whalen said.

The officer responded that supervisors in Nashville had decided to free Neal, who was on parole for a cocaine possession charge, Whalen said. Neal still isn't free, though. First, he must be returned to the West Tennessee prison where he has been housed and then processed for release.

"They've promised to expedite his release," Whalen said with a cynical chuckle.

The entire affair has Whalen wondering just how wisely his tax dollars are being spent.

"It would be of real interest to find out how much money was spent on this whole case," Whalen said. "It's ridiculous."

Jamie Satterfield may be reached at 865-342-6308.

Copyright 2005, Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.

Hat tip to the NRA-ILA.

Sharpton to give Peace Mom kiss of death

New York Daily News : "Rev. Al will join peace mom"

The good Reverend is always willing to help out. I hope the pomaded puffball gives her a big, wet one.

Without Communism,Russkies must kill their babies.

Saw this on Drudge: More Abortions Than Births in Russia -- Health Official... a Mosnews.commie story (which really comes from Bloomberg, so it could be true): "Russians, whose lives are shorter and poorer than they were under communism, have more abortions than births to avoid the costs of raising children".

Wah wah wah. Those commie squares let their nasty government threaten me with nuclear doomsday since I can remember. Now that they can't get the government to steal from their neighbors for them, they find themselves too f--ked up to steal, their initiative atrophied and their hopes revealed for Marxist lies.

Seeing as how the Russians' lives are so wretched these days, it's probably a blessing that they are shorter.

From the Heartland: Hagelisms

Gunscribe, From the Heartland has coined a new word to describe an aspect of what passes for passes for politics in these parts. He lumps them together under the category of Hagelisms. Not unlike the way "to Bork" has made its place in the American lexicon, Gunscribe hopes to see Hagelisms make it into the dictionary.

To hagel, a verb, as in "Many Nebraskans feel they are being hageled." To me it means to attain high office by appearing to be just like your constituency, then going public with screw-ball ideas in such a manner as to make it seem your constituency has turned into screw-balls. The MSM loves the way Senator Hagel has been hageling the Nebraskans who sent him to Washington. Nebraska voters are made to look like they share Hagel's defeatist, cowardly stance in the War on Terror. We've been hageled.

Bullet Proof?

Let's see if I have this straight. First the giver-mint buys thousands of bullet proof vests for local cops all over America. THEN they decide to test them to see if they work.

Makes sense if you are the connected cat selling the vests. I got this from the Chicago paper, where boondoggles like this are well understood. I quote the Trib,"A type of lightweight police vest used by tens of thousands of officers failed to stop a bullet in nearly 6 of every 10 tests, according to a Justice Department study released Wednesday, setting off immediate changes in federal safety guidelines."

Now that the vests have been exposed as a rip-off, the Feds won't pay for them anymore. I wonder if they will sell the old ones as surplus? To street gangsters, perhaps?

Meet with Cindy - Please!

SADDAM
MEET WITH CINDY

Hagel a mischievous lemur

Ankle Biting Pundits has the Exclusive Scoop: Hagel Considers Indy Run for Prez. H-Bomb calls "Hagel a mischievous lemur, at best."

Looks like the blogosphere is suddenly aware of our renegade in Washington. I really do hope the rest of America doesn't start thinking that he represents Nebraskans these days.

Senator Kerrey left us Nebraskans a dream footbridge, Senator Nelson's gift is a dream nuclear waste dump, Hagel now gives us a dream 'favorite son'.

Spaniard nicks Osama?

Wouldn't it be funny if it turns out that a Spaniard wounded Osama bin Laden? AKI reports that "Osama bin Laden has been wounded in Afghanistan, according to two different reports carried by various Islamic websites." The word on the web has the wounds sustained, "when the Sheikh went out onto the battlefield to lead the expedition during which the Spanish base was attacked".

A Spaniard gets bin Laden. It kills me.

Update (and you knew this was coming): Islamist fundamentalists doubt reports on bin Laden’s involvement in Afghan fighting, sez Asharq Alawsat news

Thanks again, Senator Hagel

Mark Finkelstein at NewsBusters.org watches the graphics the MSM (here Matthews and Lauer) use to help us understand the news.

"You know the MSM figure a story has legs when they create a logo for it, and sure enough Today opened its segment with a natty little logo of an American solider, an Iraqi flag, and the emblazoned question: "Iraq – the new Vietnam?”
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"There’s nothing Dems like better than a renegade Republican, and Chuck Hagel has been filling that role nicely."
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“He’s not just a Republican. The Senator from Nebraska is from a red state, very much the heartland of America, an extremely Republican state.” Enough already, Chris. We get it: Nebraska ain’t New York.

Continued Matthews: “We’re not talking about Yoko Ono here or Jane Fonda. We’re talking about a guy from the Midwest, a Republican, who served his country and now thinks he sees echoes of a war he himself fought in himself.”

Thanks for cheering up the Dems, Chuck. Maybe Chris Matthews will kiss you on the lips next time you appear on his crappy show. And now morning TV watching America thinks real Nebraskans , the reddest of the red, agree with Senator Hagel.

It isn't all about you, Chuck. Look in the Feed Trough for some Ruffini straw. Face the facts: Nebraskans in droves don't want you to be President.
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Plus which! Michelle Malkin has this to say about Hagel 's Presidential aspirations: "Can't muster up anything more than one-syllable reactions to the prospect of President Hagel: Ick. Ugh. Gag."

No more fomenting in the UK

From merry old England comes further evidence that those miserable 'subjects' lack a Bill of Rights. The queen will kick you out for fomenting. Read all about it at the Times Online. But why do we give the benefit of our Freedom of Speech to non-citizens here in the States? Beats me.

Senator Chuck Hagel's sad Viet-Nam fixation

Too bad Chuck Hagel had to get mixed up in the Viet-Nam war. His personal witness of the events we lump together as "Viet-Nam" has left him with an inability to view those 'bad old days' rationally. His twisted historical perspective necessarily colors his judgment vis-à-vis current events. Viet-Nam, Viet-Nam, Viet-Nam; some vets just can't make that refrain stop playing in their heads. John Kerry couldn't do it.; look what it did to his political aspirations. Nebraska's own Senator Bob 'One Foot Bridge' Kerry is so permeated with the taint of Viet-Nam, he quit politics and now seeks to assuage his guilt by working for the anti-war crowd that calls him a war criminal.

I have to conclude that Viet-Nam, one way or another, tends to stick to a politician like stink to a goat. Viet-Nam, Viet-Nam, Viet-Nam; it won't stop, Senator Hagel. It is going to play in your head for the rest of your life. If only you could stop letting it spill out of your mouth! This old feeder is sick of how it makes you criticise President Bush for being brave enough to take on the truly big problems facing America. Just because 'Nam left you crippled and timid, don't think everyone shares your delusion. To consider turning and running when the going gets tough is to repeat our Viet-Nam mistake. That is your legacy, Senator, leave it in the past. As it is now, every time you cry about Viet-Nam, you insult our President and dishonor your comrades whose names are on that black wall. If you can't fix your thinking and heal your 'Nam wounds, at least shut your festering gob!

See Hagel's latest embarrassing ejaculations made on MSM TV at WOWT News:Hagel Blasts Iraq Policy.

"Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel says the war in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East and is looking more like the Vietnam conflict from a generation ago."

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Hagel said U.S. involvement in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East and that the longer we stay there, the further destabilization will occur.
Hagel said staying the course is not a sound policy.

He said, ``By any standard, when you analyze two-and-a-half years in Iraq, we're not winning.''

[emphasis added - PF]

Update: You really should see Ryne McClaren's post on Hagel's TV whine: Preview 2008.
For more on defeatism, see World War II Cartoons from Dr. Seuss at Nickie Goomba. Hat tip: Bruce at Conservative Cat.

Goat Milkin' Mama

In Lithuania two young jackers thought they had some easy pickins' when they threw down a 93 yr old woman and proceded to enter her house. When the first one attempted to walk by her she sprang up and grabbed him where it was apt to hurt the most. One might think that two young dudes could force her to let go but that was not about to happen.

'Soja' has been milking goats probably a lot longer than the hoodlums have been alive and claimed to have a 'grip like iron'. And apparently a will like a pit bull. So it may be that the young tough was gelded by an old milk maid and will never father a 2nd generation B&E man. If, in fact, that's the way it will play out you can call it what you want but it sounds like justice to me.

One Omaha

Omaha's hegemonist mayor Mike Fahey

I see from the search engine referrals that folks are looking to the Plains Feeder for something about the Elkhorn annexation and the OPS school putsch. This is much better than you cats who come here looking for "barnyard sex". (You know who you are, and you should knock it off before this happens.)

As I have said before, I don't have a dog in this fight. I don't care if Mayor Fahey takes over all of Douglas County; he can have it. But I still think what he wants to do is wrong. Here's why.

Centralization and geographic expansion of government power enables any despot to increase the imposition of cultural hegemony. Enforced hegemony is to democracy what anti-matter is to matter. One annihilates the other. Despots love to centralize power because each individual's vote is diluted to the extent his voting district is enlarged or engulfed.

The opposite of centralization and expansion of government is called local control. Local control is a close kin to self-determination and local autonomy, all manifestations of freedom. Local control is the friend of democracy.

Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey's insensitive plan to annex all he can reach, and the Omaha Public School District's hypolegalistic 'one city, one school district' scheme both represent a dangerous trend. An island of entrenched Democrat party machine liberalism seeks to impose cultural hegemony upon their more conservative neighbors without giving them a voice or a vote in the matter. Shame on them for using the demographically skewed 'big city' of Omaha to leverage their political power by such non-democratic means.

Let the ideals of freedom, self-determination and local control be served. Just say NO to Fahey and OPS. Whoops, I forgot. They don't care what you have to say.

Liberals always know what is best for the peasants under their care.

Apologies to Stalin's family.
Another definition of 'hegemony' is in the Trough.

Ram Implosion Wing

No, it's not a new military weapon per se. Robert Patterson has developed a wing-like attachement that can be mounted on the roof of most vehicles for the purpose of increasing gas mileage. Being scientifically challenged, I'll just say that it works by creating a vortex in front of the vehicle that uses wind resistance to its advantage; automotive judo, if you will.

Will it double gas mileage as claimed? Remains to be seen. We've all seen a great many inventions come down the pike over the years that were supposed to do that, only to be revealed as ineffective. But if this thing proves itself it could cause quite a stir across the world.

In no time at all the Japanese and Chinese would go to work on them, fine tune them, and sell them to millions of guys like me. Voila; my '83 GMC will get 20 mpg.

A conceivable disadvantage is that tailgaters would become ever more obnoxious as they use their vortex to mess with the car in front.

The right decision.

Hiroshima - John Hersey

Every year I dig out this book and read it again. I have been doing this since you could buy a new paperback for 75 cents. From what I know about the way World War II came to an end, I think the US did the right thing to use the bomb. This book follows several people who were in Hiroshima that day. It is quite graphic, even without pictures.
These cats' personal experiences, while horrific, weren't much worse than the suffering caused by the giant B-29 incendiary bombings of Tokyo and other cities which preceeded the A-Bomb. But the psychological effect on Japan was far worse, enough to bring a surrender.

At an air show years ago, I got a chance to to meet the crew of the Enola Gay, thank them for their great service, and shake their hands. Afterward it occurred to me that I had just shook hands with the man who had killed more people with one stroke than anyone else in history: the bombardier. I hope no one beats his record.

Distorting Her Makeup

I guess not many people care about Katherine Harris' argumentum ad hominem woes in Florida. Why should anyone care if her feelings are hurt by the elementary-school level attacks on her appearance. By my standards, Ms. Harris is a nice looking lady. Most of my friends don't wear so much makeup, but, hey, this is America, if you want to wear makeup don't let me stop you. (sorry, Abe)

Her complaint, reported by the Tampa Tribune, and picked up by Drudge, was that the MSM had been "colorizing" her photos to accentuate her makeup. Ms. Harris' makeup problems started at the same time most people in America found out who she was: the 2000 Florida recount. The jokes were flying, the Trib recalls, "One Democratic commentator compared her to Cruella DeVil of the Disney movie 101 Dalmatians.' Comic Jay Leno said a cold snap made Florida so chilly Harris "put on a third layer of makeup.''" My own favorite was the Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" wherein Darrell Hammond as Jesse Jackson says:

"But I digress.. Dick Cheney - big ol' butt; one Denny's Grand Slam away from dead. Let's make sense. Now, Mr. Bush has appealed to the highest court in the land. Next Tuesday night, we will march on the steps of the courthouse, and when Katherine Harris come out.. look like Dracula.."

Drudge posted this photo of Harris with his link to the Tampa Trib story. I photoshopped it a bit to see what she meant by colorize. On the left is the original. In the center I tried to minimize her makeup , removing the blue eye shadow and reducing the 'shine' on her face. Now if I wanted to make Ms. Harris look garishly made-up, I would do what I did in the image at the right. I couldn't do anything with her choice of lipstick color. Look like Dracula to you?

Leftist fruit blogger Zenyata thinks the papers have pasted that cool moustache onto the new Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton. And the S.D. Watch has the pancake makeup makeup flap on its "Must Read" list. In the time it took me to photshop the pic, dozens of other blogs have picked this up. it could be big!

Update:Michele Malkin has a collection of photoshop foopas here: "Katherine Harris vs. The Photo Doctors". Also: DadGum comments that Ms. Harris is "good looking in a swampy southern mansion sort of way." Does this look swampy enuff for you?

My first smuggle

My Dad, on one of our Sunday Drives
from our home in Rialto, California

Reading Abe the Gun Runner caused the old feeder to recall his very first smuggling caper. My parents took me along on a day trip to Tijuana. As soon as they weren't looking, I bought the biggest switchblade knife I could afford. I kept it hidden from the parents until we got into the car to head back to Rialto. I had to play with my knife. Mom heard me clicking the blade behind her seat and caught me. She set up a real fuss about it, mostly directed at my Dad. He was supposed to stop the car and take it away from me immediately. He just kept driving toward the border, and told her not to worry about it.

I figured my Dad was really with it, as I clicked and brandished my switchblade. I was already thinking of taking it to school. I knew just who needed to see it. But when we stopped at the US side of the border, the Customs guy asked my Dad if we had bought anything in Mexico. My Dad pointed his thumb over his shoulder at me and said, "Just a big switchblade."

What followed was a mildly traumatic scene. I didn't so much resist as whine, and it ended with the Customs officer snapping the blade off and tossing the resulting junk into a 55 gallon drum while my Mom clucked. But they didn't know I had also bought a deck of cards with awfully naughty photos on the backs!

May I ask who is calling?

As anyone who knows me can tell you, I haven't much truck with the Charity Rackets. Since the "Do Not Call" list seems not to affect these relentless bunko artists posing as do-gooders, they call the Feedlot from time to time. In spite of the number being listed under an alias, these callers act like they know me. Maybe they did call me last year, but they wouldn't be calling me again if they had.

Yesterday I get one from what purported to be some kind of association of fire fighters or police. The spiel was about the same, "...send poor kids from the city to camps, keep them entertained with programs, etc."; whatever it takes to keep the kids from stealing our stuff or killing us for dope. My usual answer to these cats goes something like this: "I don't care if any kids anywhere go to camp or not, but I'm certainly not going to pay for it if they do." If they persist, I tell them I heard on the radio that their charity was a fake.

Because I was feeling better than usual yesterday, I told the phone solicitor that I was flat broke from a long string of bad luck and couldn't afford to give anything. When the caller could see he wasn't getting a sale, he said, "I know what you mean, man. Eight years of George Bush has ruined the economy." I was left speechless. What was that all about?

I gotta come up with something nastier to say to these chumps.

The Plains Feeder Tree

The Plains Feeder Tree is adapted from this foto I took in 1963.

This is a tree growing out of a rock in eastern Wyoming in the median of Interstate 80. It was found by railroad crews when the train followed that right-of-way, and the Union Pacific Railroad added cables around the rock (to keep it from being shattered by the tree) and a fence, which remain to this day. The trains used to stop to water the tree as they would pass through. When the Lincoln Highway (later US 40) was built through the area it became a stopping point for travelers, and when I-80 was built, a pull-out on the fast lane of each direction was made so that travelers could stop.

From Bill & Holly's Honeymoon.

I was inspired to use it by Don't Let Me Stop You's "Great American Desert" forest theme, which still makes me laugh.