Feedlot Resolutions for 2008

Cleaning up my act for the New Year

It hasn't been my habit to make New Year's resolutions, but the last months of 2007 have treated me to so much misery and angst that I realize I must be doing something wrong. Therefore, to appease whatever great powers I have offended, I hereby resolve to stop using the Plains Feeder for wicked purposes. No more twisting the news, making fun of the way people look, creating uglified photoshops, supporting religious intolerance, gratuitous racialism, or scientific heresy. Even the French and the Mohammedan fanatics will get the kid-glove treatment in 2008. Honest injun, I mean to keep this resolution. There will be peace and love in the New Year, fer sure.
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I do, however, reserve the right to trash Fidel Castro and his friends.

Benazir Bhutto assassination: Democracy not for everyone

Our hand-basket arrives in Hell

Big news this morning: Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday, shot in the neck and chest at a campaign rally before a homicide bomber blew himself up, killing 20 others. Everyone with a blog is doing an analysis of this bloody development and trying to predict what its effects will be. Will the murder help Giuliani? Will it hurt Ron Paul? Will Fred Thompson stick his foot in his mouth over it? I say these issues are small potatoes.

I think its too early to get into specifics, but the idea of seeing democracy take root among these worthless backward Mohammedan fanatics will be revealed for the Western pipe dream it is. It might be time to take their nuclear toys away from them. Mohammedan fundamentalists don't fit into the modern world, and never will. Human garbage can't operate a democracy.

All I can say for sure is that this doesn't bode well for our efforts to crush the Mohammedan Jihad.
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Update: In town for a hot bath. Cable TV & internet is included. Flipping the news channels I'm aghast at the facility with which the experts and pundits bandy about absolutely outrageous theories and scenarios that may or should unfold in the aftermath of this Bhutto's murder. Its scary to see how blind or stupid most of them are.

It isn't all that complicated, folks. We must wipe out al Qaeda in Pakistan. Rooting them out of Afghanistan will never be enough. We must destroy every one of al Qaeda's strongholds, starting with the one that harbors bin-Laden and al-Zawahiri, and finishing up with the Jihad Chic nests in Saudi Arabia.

It makes me gag to hear talk of "bringing them to justice"; these murderous madmen and their equally mad followers must be destroyed. After they are gone, we must make sure that Jihad is never taught again, anywhere.

Eternal vigilance is the price of our Liberty. IMHO

Merry Christmas from the Feedlot

To One and All
from the Feedlot!

Aren't you glad that Jesus was born? Thanks for stopping to visit our humble blog. Gag down some eggnog, smell the pine boughs and watch the kids enjoy. Its a birthday the world will not soon forget; thank the Creator for creating Jesus.

Inching along on the campaign trail

Fred in Spencer

Fred Thompson was in Spencer, Iowa yesterday for a short visit. He gave an interview at Carroll's Bakery, across the street from where he's standing, and also spent a little time walking around and talking to people. Fred was recently endorsed by Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King.

Spencer is often accused of being a conservative town in a conservative part of the state. Maybe so but I put together some crude stats from The Daily Reporter print edition that at least question that notion. Keep in mind that the editor, Randy Cauthron, is a pro-war and pro-life conservative who isn't shy about making his opinions known in his columns.

In the month of December we've been visited by Fred, Barack Obama, and representatives of Hillary, Joe Biden and John Edwards. My so-called stats are simply column inches in the print edition of the newspaper devoted to each candidate's visit.

The winner is Barack Obama with 194" of print and pictures. Randy Cauthron, in spite of his politics, thought Barack deserved special credit for making his second visit to Spencer. He really believes presidential candidates should flock to this town of 12,000 like pigeons to an overturned wagon of corn, but Randy is originally from Los Angeles so apparently can't avoid feeling an unwarranted sense of pride for wherever he lives.

In second place, with 87" is Ben "Cooter" Jones of Dukes of Hazard fame representing John Edwards. He played a numbskull mechanic on the Dukes, was a Georgia congressman for two terms, and is now touring the country on behalf of John Edwards.

Fred Thompson came in third with 73". Bob Vila, the T.V. handyman, came in fourth with 63" for Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden's son, Beau Biden, was a close fifth at 62".

As meaningless as these stats undoubtedly are, I considered something even worse which would would have entailed driving around northwest Iowa counting the yard signs displayed for each candidate, which Hillary would have easily won.

Winter Solstice

Click to see the day-night sine curve

Its the first day of Winter, the shortest day of the year. What a dull world it would be if there were no seasons.

I see this phenomenon as compelling evidence for the existence of a Creator. If you live in the USA, you are free to believe and say otherwise. Not so for most other folks on Earth. I'm not just referring to dogma-ridden theocracies and jack-boot dictatorships; even our "civilized" Canadian neighbors have no real freedom of thought or expression.

Hillary never looked better

That picture of Hillary on Drudge right now, as well-known woman blogger Ann Althouse called it, certainly got a disproportionate amount of analysis on the internets.

Personally, I don't think Hillary Clinton has ever looked better. The Drudge photo is reproduced at left. The top photo is of greasy-haired activist Hillary Rodham in the mid-1960's.

Click the picture for a better view. Based only on looks, which Hillary would you rather sit next to on a long bus trip?

At least today's old Hillary looks clean.

Fevered rambling

You can almost see the mee-ul from here

I'm still itchy. Chicken-pox is really nasty on a senior citizen like the old feeder. I figure it will be another week before I can sit still for much of anything. Not being presentable in public, I'm reduced to ordering the few Christmas presents I do give on the internet. Maybe someone will steal my identity. I'll make them keep it. Here are a few thoughts rattling around in my fevered head.
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This is my store. If I insist that you order in Norwegian, then you must order in Norwegian or go elsewhere.
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One of the old feeder's pet peeves is crypto-racism. When someone promotes overtly racist policies in the name of some cause other than racial supremacy or genocide, I say they are practicing crypto-racism. For example racist policies are often justified as advancing racial equality or integration. I don't need to list the racist hucksters and shakedown artists working the spread on the racial divide these days.

Crypto-racists are legion, and find their most advantageous positions in the public sector. One area where the crypto-racist mentality poses a serious threat to the future of our Republic is public education. Read this article. Being poor (read: non-white) doesn't make kids stupid. Bad schools make kids stupid. These school administrators are crypto-racists. They are working a profitable scam by oppressing non-whites, but they they wouldn't admit to being racists in a million years. Even the newspapers wouldn't admit it, as evidenced by their disingenuous use of the word poor.
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John Edwards doesn't deserve a complete "Whats wrong with..." post. I say this because he almost certainly will not top the Democrat ticket in the 2008 election. That being said, here is my view of the candidate.

John Edwards is an enigmatic, hypocritical, pandering, parasitic inciter of economic class divisiveness. Everything about this posturing pretty-boy seems fake. The enigma is that I can't see any motive for his seeking high office. I guess you need substance to support motive. I almost feel sorry for his wife.
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Update 12/18/07 8:30 PM - Rumors are flying that John Edwards has recently knocked up a lady not his wife. If this is true, he's finished.

Barack Obama's Dope Troubles

Democrat Strategy or Negro Stereotype?
Click the picture for Video

Hillary Clinton has again smeared Barack Obama with his admitted drug use, all without actually having to get mud on her own hands. Now them as care are waiting to see if any backlash will erupt. How droll.

Perhaps Barack should point out how Hillary experimented with Marxism in her youth. Not only did Mrs. Clinton try it, she liked it so much she still uses it today, even though it has been shown to cause permanent brain damage.
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Do you suppose Oprah inhaled? All Negroes use dope, don't they? But then again, Bill Clinton is black and he claims he didn't inhale. Its getting so nobody will stick to commonly accepted stereotypes any more. Pretty soon a cat will need a program to be a proper bigot.

Intro to Corpse 101

Body Farm

I wasn't feeling too good when I woke up this Dec 13. I'd better take care of myself before I become a lab specimen for Professor Bill Bass and his students.

What is wrong with Mike Huckabee

Now that Republican Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is enjoying a surge in the polls, his detractors are coming out of the woodwork. I'd like to join their number.

The way I see it, Huckabee is just another Rudy Giuliani only without the New York City shit on his shoes. Merely a crafty pol whose position on important issues depends on recent epiphanies rather than firmly held core values.

Like Rudy G's Second Amendment vision on the road past 9/11, the Huck saw the evils of the open border only after it became obvious he couldn't get the Republican nomination without recanting his former heresies.

Tree Lighting at the Feedlot

My Rubber Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree at the feedlot stays in the same place all year long, year after year. The picture was taken in 2005, but it doesn't look any different today. About this time of year the old scrooge plugs it in and puts out such greeting cards as he gets.
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Post a picture of your Christmas tree or Chanukah bush or Kwanzaa shrub, then send a link to Angela at the Domestic Divapalooza and get your name in lights.

Waterboarding - more fun than it sounds

Pox

Apologies to them whose e-mails I have not answered and whose blogs I haven't read for a week. The old feeder has been afflicted with an itch to lay on his back in a flooded bathtub, cover his face with a wet towel and pour pitchers of water over it. While I can see why some might consider the continuous repetition of this (cover face, pour water, repeat) a reason to spill the beans, for me it has been a relief.

If I really wanted to torture someone without using violence, I'd infect them with chicken-pox, wrap them in wool blankets and prevent them from scratching until they nearly pass out. Let them scratch a few minutes, then restrain their hands again. They soon would be begging for a soothing waterboard with a bit of baking soda added. And talking a blue streak.
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Also on the disabled list is Jeffro of the Poor Farm. His recent run of "piss poor health" makes adult chicken-pox seem like a day at the beach.

Armed defense vindicated in Colorado church shootings

Arvada, Colorado - Youth With a Mission murder scene

Another murderous nut-case gunman opens fire, this time on the good folks of Colorado. An armed security guard has evidently put an end to the murder spree. Is it too soon for pro-gun cats that live near Omaha to say "I told you so"? Responsible folks going armed makes our public places safer.

Stopped?

It could have happened this way at Omaha, Nebraska's "gun free" Westroads Mall. Families might have been planning Christmas today instead of planning funerals.

Gun control heavies: rolling over, playing dead?

Robert A. Hawkins

If you believe anything you read from al-Reuters, this article, Omaha massacre unlikely to alter gun laws should give you pause. Has the gun-control gang decided that they are whipped?

Once again there has been a mass shooting in the United States, this time in a Nebraska shopping mall. Once again there is no national outcry for gun control.

The article reads like a lament for a lost cause.

Pearl Harbor Day - Fly your Flag

Honolulu Headline

Don't forget the Americans whose lives were taken this day over 50 years ago. Don't forget the isolationism and head-in-the-sand attitudes that prevailed in America before Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. Attitudes that made WWII so much worse than it might have been had the US stopped National Socialism in Europe and Asia sooner. Attitudes that are still being peddled on the political market today.
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Fly your flag.

Omaha mall murders: a view from the feedlot

Robert A. Hawkins was a loser. Like a broken clock that can never do good, he brought trouble to everyone that cared for him, paid him any attention or tried to help him. Ultimately, these broken clocks will harm folks that are connected to them only by temporary proximity.

If they live for very long, the pain and damage these losers cause is dragged out; I have seen mothers suffer for decades over sons gone bad and a whole family forfeit the joy of life in trying to care for a deranged uncle. When they 'go out in style' like Robert A. Hawkins did yesterday at the Westroads Mall here in Omaha, the damage and suffering are inflicted at once.

What to do? My first reaction was to rail about the ignorant policies that discouraged anyone from stopping Mr. Hawkins murder-suicide with a gun. I know I'd feel awful if I'd had a shot at the kid right as his mainspring broke and had left my pistol in the car or at home. But that is just me.

Looking at the incident a day later, it is become clear that I missed the point. The only thing I can think of that would help prevent these infrequent but very intense incidents, as well as to alleviate the long, drawn-out damage and pain caused by broken clocks like Mr. Hawkins is to bring back involuntary commitment. I've had to say this before, when Cho Seung-Hui's murder spree at Virginia Tech caused my knee to jerk.

Re-opening the state and county asylum system, using sensible due process for involuntary commitments, is the humane way to protect the rest of us without destroying a life. It would call for modern asylums, where the broken clocks who are our sons and daughters, aunts and uncles could live life with whatever modicum of joy and decency as God allows them. Too costly? Not when the mental anguish these broken clocks can cause is factored into the calculus. Think of the effects of yesterday's shooting rippling out from the Westroads through Omaha and beyond.

As usual, the lady bloggers I read got it right. Its time to think of our neighbors.

Mitt Romney's Faith Speech

Excellent speech. Will link to transcript ASAP.
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Here's the full text of Mitt Romney's speech.

Mass Shooting at Omaha, Nebraska Mall

Thursday - What went wrong in Omaha yesterday.
Why nobody fought back.
Scroll down for latest updates

Shooting victim

Man opens fire with a rifle inside the Von Maur department store in Omaha's Westroads Mall. So far, 14 people injured, 9 dead, including the shooter, who apparently shot himself dead.

Police response was fast, considering that US President Bush was visiting in Omaha also today.
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Update: 20 year-old Sarpy County, Nebraska man is suspected of being the shooter. Evidently the chap left a note behind saying that he was "going out in style" today. Some crappy style.

Robert A. Hawkins

Latest eyewitness reports indicated that the perp was a white man who shot a teddy bear during his 'stylish' murder spree. Now we know his name was Robert A. Hawkins, a youth facing 'minor in possession' of alcohol charges, and a history of depression. Last words: "Now I'm going to be famous."

What made him snap? The family who had taken the 'emotionally troubled' young man into their home reported that he was fired from his job at McDonald's yesterday or early today. The firing seemed to upset him inordinately. Thousands of young cats get fired from McDonald's jobs, almost none of them react by going on a murder-suicide spree. Oh! He just broke up with his girlfriend, too. Now my heart is really starting to bleed.

We may never know why Mr. Hawkins chose Von Maur, an upscale department store, to vent his madness. His boss and co-workers at his old place of employment should be grateful he didn't seem to be looking for revenge. Perhaps he figured McDonald's wasn't stylish enough to accomplish his stated goal of going out in style.
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I note that Omaha Mayor Fahey was out of town as this happened. Look for the absentee tyrant to call for more worthless gun control laws.
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For the latest coverage of this unpleasantness, see our local TV stations' websites. The local coverage is getting too sappy for me. Example: "the scene must have been surreal, hearing Christmas music and smelling gunpowder..."

• KMTV
• WOWT
• KETV
• KPTM
  

Don't bother with the Omaha World Herald. It would appear that any breaking news nearly crashes their wretched web-site.
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Sad Conclusion: These killings could have been minimized or even prevented if just one mall employee, store employee or customers had been armed and taken action. I'm guessing misguided policies are at least partly to blame for the extent of the damage. Not just misguided mall and store policies that often deter a citizen from exercising their Second Amendment rights, but the misguided personal policies of the shoppers and workers that lead them to go unarmed despite their right to defend themselves.

The Westroads Mall is a "gun free" zone. I didn't know until I saw it at Joe's Crabby Shack; I almost never go into malls. Bad store policies like this don't make me want to change my ways, either.

I don't understand why any self-respecting citizen would let a store or mall policy take away their natural right to self defense by force of arms, whether such right is deemed guaranteed by the US Constitution or not. I'll not be reduced to "huddling in a corner" as David Codrea at War on Guns describes today's victim's plight.

Lonely Machines would "like to see the owners of Westroads Mall held accountable for rendering their patrons defenseless." Sounds like a good idea to me.
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Missing the point - the Day After
Lets see how many bloggers covering this tragedy have so far missed the fact that it occurred in a state that allows both concealed and open carrying of firearms BUT which allows local entities to post areas as "gun free zones". Westroads Mall has a posted "No Weapons" policy. Just one armed customer or shopkeeper could have spared much suffering. A small sampling of bloggers that have missed the point so far:

Michelle Malkin - no mention of the Mall's ill advised policy or Nebraska's CCW law.
Hot Air - ditto
Unstable - same, plus more heart-bleed
Stop the ACLU - no mention of self defense
Jawa Report - at least it wasn't a Mohammedan
JammieWearingFool - no mention
Leaning Straight Up - notes the 'assault rifle' moniker, but not the CCW aspect
Gateway Pundit - no mention
Irish Calvinist - Repent or ye shall be shot dead! A weapon won't save you.
Eye on Omaha - gets the blame game right.

I'm sure there are more bloggers that are waking up to what really went wrong in Omaha yesterday.
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Some bloggers that saw the real issues:
From the Heartland
Joe's Crabby Shack
imatt.us
AndrewsDad
John Lott's Website
Liberty Zone
Real Gun Guys
The Pickle
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Read these pro-carry comments on a Democratic Underground forum.
More comments from the Freepers.

Everything that Uncle John needs...

High Hair Days

Power Line: Little Richard turns 75.

Debra LaFave busted for house arrest violation

Debra Lafave - Click for Big

When the Plains Feeder's visitometer goes off the scale for no apparent reason, I check to see if Debra LaFave is in the news again. Sure enough, the too good-looking for jail former teacher sentenced to house arrest back in March of 2006 for extracurricular sex with her students has been arrested again.

This time it was for some sort of convoluted violation of the terms of her Florida house arrest. According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, she violated Condition 69 of her probation, which states she cannot discuss "Non-work related issues such as family problems, friends, high school, personal life, boyfriend issues and sexual issues" with any minors.

Who cares? At least it is a good excuse for thousands of curious cats to search the internets for pictures of the sex-crazed schoolmarm.
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Local joke: I'll bet Omaha defense attorney James Martin Davis wishes his sex-crazed client, former Lexington Nebraska teacher, Kelsey Peterson, looked more like Ms. LaFave.

Hillary discloses Obama's secret desires

Draw, ya varmint!

Senator Barack Obama, campaigning in Iowa, said: "I have not been planning to run for president for however number of years some of the other candidates have been planning for.” Obviously, this was a thinly veiled slam at Hillary Clinton, the most power mad woman in America., and she didn't take it lying down.

Hillary Clinton's campaign was quick to call the tall, dark candidate with protruding ears on this statement. From her spokesman, Phil Singer: “Senator Obama’s comment today is fundamentally at odds with what his teachers, family, classmates and staff have said about his plans to run for president. Senator Obama’s campaign rhetoric is getting in the way of his reality.” In short: Barack Obama is a liar.

The Hillary cats back up this claim with hard proof, reaching back to Obama's kindergarten days to disclose that the precocious little pol wrote an essay entitled "I want to become President" when his classmates were learning their ABCs and eating paste. The anti-Hillary gang has picked up on this as proof that Clinton is getting desperate enough to risk a backlash.

Its all pretty amusing, but one cannot dismiss a young man's clearly stated ambitions so easily. The old feeder made claims as a kindergartener that proved to be true. I am pictured above trying to get yet another sucker to slap leather so I could shoot them, but if you had asked me then what I wanted to do when I grew up I had a ready answer: "I'm going to drink whiskey and chase wild women."

I'm not kidding. I think my Dad or one of my uncles taught me to answer that way. Cats that know me are aware that I grew up to do exactly that. Hence I live in a shack, which my divorce lawyer charitably called a 'cabin' in court, and I am suffering from cirrhosis of the liver, which my gastroenterologist euphemistically refers to as a 'life limiting' disease.
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John Lee Hooker got the blues from me.

Showing the noose: not always a hate crime

What is it with Negroes that stage fake racist assaults on themselves? Of course, I'm referring a noose that appeared in a Baltimore, Maryland firehouse back in November. It was quickly diagnosed as a 'hate crime' and even the FBI got involved.

Now it has been discovered that the noose was planted by a black fireman who wanted to make it look like white racists were sullying his workplace with threats of lynching. Shades of Tawana Brawley! These fake hate crimes are not a new phenomena.

I don't know what this black racist wanted to gain from baiting his own kind, but I'm sure getting fired probably wasn't his goal. The nooseman, Donald Maynard, has been suspended and will likely lose his job for his trouble, but he won't be charged with any crime!

Things would have turned out differently had it been one of Mr. Maynard's white co-workers who had placed this noose in the firehouse, then fessed up to it later. A white noosehanger would be looking at criminal charges besides getting fired. Heinous hate crimes, federal civil rights violations, you name it, the officials would have thrown the book at the chump.

So why is it that Mr. Maynard will cop a walk for the very same actions? It wouldn't be racism at work, would it?

Venezolanos: Vota No

Update: 11:40 PM - Results are in from Venezuela
Hugo Chavez gets a NO vote - 51%-49%
Now, to see if the tin-horn dictator can let the results stand.
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¡Vota NO! ¡Communismo NO! ¡Chavez NO!

Today is the day. Don't let the Marxist idiot Hugo Chavez assume the role of dictator for life. Rise up, Venezuela, and drive this loco from your country. Here's at least one Venezuelan blogger who has already voted NO! Stop Hugo before he ruins Venezuela totalmente.

For many informative and thoughtful blog reactions, see Babalu Blog today.
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Update II: Hugo Chavez is claiming an early victory in Al Jazeera. Riehl World View notes: "Interesting that this would first turn up on Al Jazeera, via Reuters, ay? Very interesting. Ai yi-yi.
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Update: Polls are favoring a NO vote in Venezuela. Michelle Malkin's blog has the numbers. If Chavez cannot claim a victory, look for the thug to call in his secret Yanqui election fixer.
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Same goes for Putin. How many cheese-ball, tin-horn dictators can we stand?
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Marxist thought stinks on ice.

Internal Combustion

Evel Knievel

Getting old isn't the worst thing if you know what you're doing here. PTG -I mean 'Evel' - knows something about hard landings. But more than that he was able to pull things off beautifully, each time knowing (in his bones) it could be the last thing he did.

Evel said, "For you to do what I do isn't right, but for me it isn't wrong."

For Evel it was motorcycles, Jesus and probably a lot of other things. As for PT, there's more to him than you might think.