Inspiration

Dismantling the Feedlot

I guess I'll keep this inspirational card. It has been displayed in my offices for many years. The path ahead is unknown, yet I must press forward. Like Miyamoto Musashi.

Insatiable

More!

I couldn't say it better:

Washington’s pork-stuffed panic mob forked over $700billion/$850billion/$1 trillion-plus of our money over to the Chicken Littles, who handed it over to Foxy Loxy at the Treasury Department.

And now?

And now, they tell us it’s not enough.

Its not enough.

Its not enough.

Its not enough.

Its not enough.

It’s never enough.

Welcome to the slippery slope; next stop, socialism. You get the government you deserve. Suck it up.
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Now we will never be able to know if the market would have been able to recover on its own or not. Therefore, I shall not be in any hurry to admit that my assessment was wrong.
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Update: Bitterness over being ignored by our elected representatives on the bailout? Nah! Oh, and BTW, you stink, Lee Terry.
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Note: October 6, 2008 - Gateway Pundit, an otherwise sensible blog, seems to have cleansed its front page of its slavish, partisan support for the bailout. Now that the bill has passed, he ought to be crowing about it. Someone should ask Jim Hoft how that bailout is working out for him.

How to e-mail Congress

Update: Bailout Bill Fails in House 228-205

Can you spare a few billion? NO!

The US Congress is going to vote on the biggest bailout ever. They shouldn't do it without your input.

Here is a link to the e-mail addresses of all US Senators and Representatives. I urge you to use it today. The website linked is easy to use; click on your state in the left column, then click the names of your congresscats. The format is "mailto" and is simple to use. Be sure to mention "bailout" on the subject line.
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If you can't think of what to say, here are 10 suggestions you can copy and paste into the body of your e-mail. There is also a petition you can sign, thanks to FreedomWorks. Via Michelle Malkin: The crap in the “crap sandwich;” 10 reasons to oppose the bailout.
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Update: Michelle Malkin blogs the floor debate in the House of Representatives. It has already started. Give them your 2¢ worth before they take your $3318.16. (Divide 700 billion by the number of US households: 105,480,101.)
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I'm finding that the mail server for my man in Congress is jammed-up. e-mails to him bounce back and the web mail form on his official website won't load. I had to break down and spring for a long-distance call to Washington DC. I wonder if he's getting the message from Nebraskans or if the leftist goons are mail-bombing him.
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Is the bailout constitutional? Listen to this fine interview with Andrew Grossman of the Heritage Foundation done by Fausta on Blog Talk Radio.

Next Great Depression or Next Great Boondoggle?

Get in on the top floor of the Next Big Bailout!

Its the end of the world, the economy is in ruins, the spectre of the Next Great Depression looms. Unless, of course you are on the 'take' end of the apparently inevitable bailout. The old feeder has been out of town for a few days, but all I heard on the TV and radio is that this credit crunch, combined with the collapse of the Fannie and Freddie mortgage rackets threatens another depression.

I cant' see it. The stock market hasn't collapsed. Gasoline prices continue to decrease. I still get junk mail from banks offering to lend me stupendous amounts of money for sub-prime rates.

The best analysis I've seen so far is at the Marginal Revolution. Read these posts: Where is the Credit Crunch?; Questions that are rarely asked; and A Supply Side Approach to the Crisis for a view that is a bit less dramatic than the one pumped up by the slavering media and our presidential contenders.
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If WaMu is going broke, how come I got an offer from them in today's mail to lend me $10,000 at 1.66% interest, said rate guaranteed through June, 2009? If I deposit the enclosed check, the money will be mine. Of course, the only reason I get such offers is that I have always paid these types of loans back promptly. But at the offered rate, I could hedge inflation by putting the loan proceeds into a CD.
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Them as are going broke from making bad investments or ill-advised loans should suck it up on their own. Let them sing along with John Lee Hooker: Serves me right to suffer.
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A bit of comfort and perspective from via Genevieve at Prairie Bluestem:

Capitalism is not the free world.
Capitalism is a term devised by Marxists to describe what they thought were the worst aspects of our freedom.
We should never let any corporation or bank or computer company pose as the embodiment of our freedom.

James Healy, The Heelers Diaries.

Need a Vise-Grip tool? Buy the cheap imitation instead.

Made in China

I like the Vise-Grip tools. The old feeder is shy a few fingers, and the locking feature of these (until now) well-made, heavy-duty, chrome-plated tools make them very useful around the house and shop.

There have always been cheaper imitations, but I always bought the genuine article. The cheap ones will rust or are so flimsy they seem sure to fall apart under heavy use.

Now, you might as well save your money and buy the cheap imitations. The fools that run the company have decided to move all their production to China. I guess they weren't clever enough to sell their customers on the real value of Made in the USA quality. Now the renowned Vise-Grip tools will themselves be cheap Chinese imitations. Your Vise-Grip tool dollars will help prop up a totalitarian communist state that enslaves its people.

I feel sorry for the over 300 workers that are losing their jobs here in DeWitt, Nebraska. As for myself, I'm going to buy all the Vise-Grip tools I need now, before they are replaced with crappy junk on the store shelves. I hope the Vise-Grip company goes broke.

Our Own Oil - Why Not?

Reading Assignment: Gateway Pundit
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Master: Why does the US import so much oil?
Pupil: Because of the Democrats.
Master: Correct.

Polygamist Cults - Whats in it for the ladies?

Cool Cult Coiffure

Living with any number of women, even one at a time, is impossible, at least for me. Therefore, I can't for the life of me sympathize with the men at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (only marginally connected with the Mormons). I figure these men must be just plain old everyday sex perverts and pedophiles with scads of money. But what about the women? Whats in it for them?

I cant believe that all of them were held there against their will. I know some women, and darn few of them would sit still for being forced into any lifestyle. The little kids aren't accountable, but my experience is that females have mind of their own by the time they are teenagers. Many teens are willful if not outright rebellious; its only natural. So why do the women stick around?

It must be the nifty hairdos. Thats what Homa Khaleeli writes at the Guardian:

What is not explained in any of the news reports so far is what membership of a polygamous cult could possibly offer its female members. Yet pictures showing the women and girls being bussed from the sect's headquarters have shed light on at least one unlikely advantage - great hair.

There must be something to this. Every picture I've seen of women being 'rescued' shows their hair is done up in complex hairstyles. Hairstyles which must require considerable time to effect. If the raid on the polygamist cult's HQ was indeed a surprise, one must conclude that these ladies didn't have time to do up their hair just so they'd look good in the news pictures. The cult ladies must go around with their hair fixed all the time.

Even the little girls have hairdos

Would big hair, all day, every day be enough to get these otherwise normal women to go along with perverted polygamist husbands? I wonder if the writer that suggested this, Homa Khaleeli, wears Mohammedan garb? Or, if she is married, does she share her husband with other wives? I wonder if the fundamentalist Mohammedan women have outlandish hairdos under their burqas?

Odds and Ends

She's got the odds in the end

Ever niggardly with the leniency, President Bush pardons only two of the millions of eligible American turkeys. By contrast, liberal President Bill Clinton pardoned dozens, making Bush look like a piker.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning drops out of the race for Senator Chuck Hagel's awful Senate seat. I guess it won't be too difficult to rally behind a mild-mannered, well-behaved Republican like Mike Johanns. Mike's platform: Coming Soon. Look for more on Leavenworth Street.

Barack Hussein Obama admits being 'wasted' on drugs, but only when he was Barry Obama, a young white man. If Barry's dope fiend and alcoholic days were the mud that Hillary Clinton hasn't been threatening to sling, then she will have to come up with something else. Its getting harder for pols to take the high road these days. Except for Barry, who now admits to more time spent on the high road than even Hillary's Bill, who "never inhaled".
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Medical insurance isn't the same thing as a medical plan. Insurance is a hedge against perils. Your homeowner's insurance specifically excludes ordinary maintenance and repairs. Health insurance shouldn't pay for similar medical expenses; growing old and suffering from the consequences of ill-advised lifestyle choices should be excluded.

A medical plan is a system of financing some projected health expenses. Think of a dental plan; these schemes are cost-smoothing, like even-pay gas and electric billing. I don't think most cats grasp the distinction. There isn't anything wrong with such plans, but they aren't insurance against unforeseen perils. Without being able to distinguish the two, Americans are in peril of adopting some wretched National Health Scheme thinking they are going to get an insurance policy.

I wouldn't put anything past the sophists and power mongers that yearn to run our lives for us.
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The Supreme Court is threatening to take up a Second Amendment case arising from Washington DC's total ban on handguns. Look for the court to find any imaginable way to resolve this case without having to set forth a bright-line Constitutional rule. Joe's Crabby Shack notes the occasion, provides links, and locates a fine analysis of Shelly Parker, et al. v. District of Columbia and Adrian M. Fenty (pending appeal as District of Columbia v. Heller and Shelly Parker, et al. v. District of Columbia and Adrian M Fenty), 478 F.3d 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007). SCOTUS docket as District of Columbia, et al. v. Dick Anthony Heller.
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There is a manhunt in Arizona for a man suspected of raping a Jack Russell terrier. Shoot on sight?

Des Moines, Iowa to be a 'sanctuary city'...

Eco-Friendly Free Ride ~ Omaha to Des Moines

Thats what the Drudge Report headline reads today: Des Moines, Iowa to be a 'sanctuary city'. Here is the Des Moines Register article about this stupid but predictable development.

I'm sure most of you will think "Here is another anti-American, liberal, Democrat-ridden town that believes in open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens, trying to jump on the post 9/11 self-destruction bandwagon." I believe this tragedy for Iowans could be good news for Nebraskans.

We should use the Nebraska Soybean Program's biodiesel powered bus to provide free one-way trips to Des Moines, Iowa for anyone claiming to be an illegal immigrant and hasn't any papers to prove it. The free sanctuary city rides could be advertised locally, and the cost offset by taking legal, paying passengers on the return trip.

It would also be good exposure for our soybean producers; it has been ages since the beanerbus was in the news. I had to look all over to find a picture of it.
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Update: Michelle Malkin reports that the San Francisco City Board of Supervisors has decided:

In a 10-1 vote, the city’s board of supervisors — the equivalent of a city council — approved giving identification cards to all residents, including illegal immigrants. The move makes San Francisco the largest U.S. city to back such a plan.

Residents will be able to obtain the resident cards by presenting photo identification and proof they live in the city, such as a utility bill. It was unclear if the new cards, which will be accepted at libraries and health clinics, will carry photos.

San Francisco, always in the vanguard of dysfunctional oddness, has been a sanctuary city since before it was cool. What a great idea: legit ID cards for all, no matter who or what you are. I'll bet you can wear a burqa or other religious disguise for the picture. Tres PeeCee! Can Des Moines be far behind?

Re-open the Insane Asylums of America

Shuttered Loony Bin

Here's a thought brought to mind by the revelation of just how crazy the Virginia Tech gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, actually was known to be before he started his rampage. It is time to reconsider our laws on involuntary commitment of the mentally ill, so we could put these cats safely away before they get to this point. Either that or we condemn them to a life spent in and out of jail. Not to mention that we condemn ourselves to suffer the damage and grief crazy folks cause.

So much of the 'law of the land' pertaining to involuntary commitment depends upon ephemeral (or penumbral) court-created 'privacy rights' for its Constitutional rationale. Rights like those that gave us Roe v. Wade. The very same rationale condemns thousands of mentally ill Americans to life on the streets or homeless shelters as they attempt to self-medicate with dope and booze.

Lets take the shutters off the old Funny Farm, reinvigorate our sense of service to those of us that are crazy. Asylums needn't be the Bedlams of old or the more recent 'human warehouses'. Are we not more civilized with each passing year?