Girlie Bear is taking Geography this year. This song came to mind.
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on January 11, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/01/11/todays-earworm-300/
News Roundup
- From the “WTF?” Department – The National Father’s Day Council has named Bill Clinton as its 2012 “Father of the Year”. Yeah, Bubba’s a great father. So great that he was banging a young woman who was only a few years older than his daughter in the Oval Office while Chelsea was upstairs doing homework. Yeah, father of the year material right there. In related news, Mr. Clinton was also named “Cigar User of the Year” by the Cuban National Cigar Manufacturing Association.
- From the “Rules for Thee, Not Me” Department – The President has signed a law restoring lifetime Secret Service protection to presidents and their families. You see, someone who has held a four to eight year contract with the government has more of a need for armed security than I do, and one can’t force a millionaire to pay for his own hired guns. Anyone who says I don’t need a gun to protect me and my family and ex-presidents need multiple guys with guns to protect him and his family is fully invited to pucker up and kiss something fuzzy on me.
- From the “Crockett and Tubbs” Department – Police in California were surprised recently when a check on a man who is on probation turned up 34 pounds of marijuana being guarded by a 5 foot alligator. The scaly watchman appears to be in ill-health, and has been taken to the zoo for treatment. Apparently Captain Success bought the animal as a tribute to Tupac Shakur when he died. Right, because nothing screams “I love you Pac!” than a five foot alligator hiding your stash. The miscreant has been returned to jail, where ironically, he is sharing a cell with Vincent “The Croc” Sandoval, who got his name by taking people who irritated him on death rolls at the bottom of the Bay.
- From the “WTF?” Department – The Navy has released a study that finds that the new camouflage uniforms sailors have been wearing are quite flammable. The cloth they are made from is a cotton/nylon blend, and if anyone has ever had their hand under a piece of nylon cord that’s having its end melted so it doesn’t fray, you know that burning/molten nylon is bad news. Apparently cloth that doesn’t burn and melt wasn’t part of the requirements for the new uniform. Maybe I’m wrong, and I would like you Navy vets to correct me if I am, but isn’t fighting fires and damage control part of every sailor’s job description? I distinctly remember being told not to wear under-clothing with my BDU’s that wasn’t cotton because cotton chars, but synthetic fibers melt.
- From the “Friends, Romans, Countrymen!” Department – Archaeologists in England have unearthed an ancient Roman theater, the first of its kind found in Britain. Apparently even on the wild frontier of Faversham, the Romans liked to hear a little “Agamemnon”. This find is especially significant due a scroll discovered at the site, which has the original script for “The Parrot Sketch” on it, although in this version the centurion who wants to return the parrot runs the shopkeeper through with a spatha instead of buying a slug.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 11, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/01/11/news-roundup-169/
Come on Out
Freiheit over at the Gunblogger Conspiracy sent this to me, and I’m finally going to get off my lazy butt and go to a Friends of the NRA meeting. If you’re in Louisville, come on out!
Posted by daddybear71 on January 10, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/01/10/come-on-out/
Note to the NRA
The following is the text of a message I sent this afternoon to the NRA on their Facebook page:
I just wanted to reach out, as a member of the NRA, to voice my opinion on the new laws that Vice President Biden will be proposing on Monday. I don’t think I’m jumping the gun by doing this before he announces it, because I want the NRA to oppose any proposal he makes.
I do not believe that any compromise, no matter how innocuous, will be in the best interest of the NRA, its members, or the country as a whole. We have already compromised our rights many times in the decades since the National Firearms Act in 1934 was passed, and anything further may well be the final chip in our rights that brings them tumbling down.
I urge Mr. LaPierre and everyone at the NRA to vigorously oppose any new infringement on our rights, no matter their form. We depend on you to be the umbrella organization that represents our rights and interests in the national arena, and I hope that you will earn that trust in the coming fight.
Members of congress aren’t the only ones that need to hear from us. Tell the NRA that you want no compromise.
Update – I received the following reply from the NRA after they put out their statement on today’s meeting at the White House:
“We have no plans to give away our gun rights.”
Posted by daddybear71 on January 10, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/01/10/note-to-the-nra/
Quote of the Day
Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. — Thomas Paine, Common Sense, published January 10, 1776
Posted by daddybear71 on January 10, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/01/10/quote-of-the-day-97/
BRM has an Idea
My proposal is this. Last month I noted that certain states with Republican-controlled legislatures and/or governors were considering changes to how they appointed their representatives to the Electoral College every four years, to elect the President. Instead of giving all their electors to the presidential candidate who gained the majority of votes in their State, they’re thinking of allocating them on the basis of each congressional district. The candidate who gets the most votes in each congressional district would get that district’s electoral vote.
Peter suggests that doing this would swing the vote significantly to the Republicans in the next election. Assuming that the Republicans actually put a real conservative, complete with respect for civil rights, up as a candidate, it’s not a bad idea. Of course, they haven’t done that since 1984, so take that for what it’s worth.
What do y’all think?
Posted by daddybear71 on January 10, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/01/10/brm-has-an-idea/
Thought for the Evening
Tonight’s bedtime story was “Green Eggs and Ham“, by Dr. Seuss, brought to you by the National Statin Council, who ask “How’s your cholesterol?”.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 9, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/01/09/thought-for-the-evening-4/
Really?
A couple of things have come across the newswires that have caught in my craw today.
First, the former CEO of AIG, a company that received $182 billion from the taxpayers to stay afloat during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, has sued the U.S. government. His claim, filed in 2011, is that when we were paying AIG to stay in business, we didn’t pay enough.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, asserts that the government didn’t provide shareholders fair compensation when it took a nearly 80 percent stake in the insurer as part of its bailout. As a result, the government violated the Constitution, Starr claims.
Now, I never agreed with the bailouts passed around by the Bush and Obama administrations. All of the companies that were in trouble, from GM to AIG and beyond, were in that situation because of their own stupidity and avarice. Yes, allowing them to fail and be broken up would have hurt, but then it would have been over. All we’ve done by keeping them on a slow drip of money after the initial infusion is to keep the pain going. Yes, we didn’t crash as hard as we might have, but we’ve also bumped along the bottom and the people who caused the situation in the first place didn’t lose anything.
Be that as it may, some feel that we cheated them on the deal. Apparently $182 billion isn’t enough to pay for 80% of a failing business. I’m guessing they would have gotten less if the assets were sold on the courthouse steps, but since they weren’t, they feel they should have been paid top dollar for virtually worthless paper.
The board of directors at AIG have to decide in the next few days if they will either take part in the lawsuit, try to stop the ingrates from suing the government for more of our money, or just passively let the lawsuit go forward without their assistance or hinderance. I hope for the sake of decency that they choose to actively try to stop the lawsuit. My little mind can’t imagine a sum of $182 billion dollars not being enough for much of anything outside of buying whole countries. I seriously can’t see how someone could ask for more.
I never thought I’d find myself agreeing with Maxine Waters and Elizabeth Warren, but in this case, I do. The people behind this lawsuit should be ashamed of themselves and if AIG doesn’t oppose it, then they should pray that they never have to come to us with their hands out again.
The next thing to get my back up was a report from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, that the spouse of a gay Army lieutenant-colonel being excluded from the local military spouses club. The excuse given by the club is that the lady doesn’t have a military ID card, regardless of her legal marriage to an officer, so she can’t be in the club. Basically, because the Defense of Marriage Act prevents the military from issuing the ID, these ‘ladies’ won’t let her be part of what is normally a big part of any military community.
You all know my opinion of gay marriage, in that I believe that if I can be allowed to screw up two marriages and then try again with Irish Woman, then I have no business telling other consenting adults that they can’t have the chance to do the same. The law for me is the law for everyone. If my marriage is recognized, then the marriage of my gay son should be recognized when he finds someone with whom he wants to spend the rest of his life. I’ve always thought that if President Obama was willing to burn political capital picking fights with Congress over the color of the sky on a particular day, then he ought to spend some of it to either get DOMA amended or repealed.
To use a bad law as an excuse to exclude the spouse of one of our soldiers is despicable. A gay soldier is still a soldier, and their spouse is still a military spouse. Clubs such as the “Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses” ought to be ashamed of themselves for doing such things. Military spouses, gay or straight, provide support to and receive support from such groups, and excluding someone goes beyond the pale.
When I was in the Army, I had a garrison commander who kicked a club off post because it was found that it discriminated against non-white soldiers and dependents. He decreed that military personnel were forbidden from taking part in the club in any way, and that post facilities could not be used for its meetings and activities. The commander of Fort Bragg should take just such a step now.
I’m going to climb down off the rant box now and go back to trying to make weak jokes. Some things just get me up on that box.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 9, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/01/09/really/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on January 9, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/01/09/todays-earworm-299/
News Roundup
- From the “Flying Calamari Brothers” Department – Japanese scientists have created some fascinating video of a giant squid in the wild. The tentacled beauty was followed down until it was impossible to follow anymore. The scientists hope to repeat the feat again, although they plan to bring a lot more sticky rice, seaweed wrappers, and good beer with them next time.
- From the “Leaning Liner of Leon” Department – A ceremony is being held this weekend in Italy to commemorate the wrecking of the Costa Concordia. No word yet on whether or not President Obama will be there to expound on his opinion on whether or not this ship has a listing problem, that everything would be OK if more water was pumped aboard, and that it’s all the fault of George W. Bush, that criminal mastermind or incompetent, depending on the subject and who you ask.
- From the “Insult to Cockroaches” Department – Congress is currently polling somewhere between whale scum and the bottom of the ocean. Only 9% of Americans approve of Congress, which makes them slightly more popular than Ebola, but not as popular as cockroaches. What’s the difference between a kitchen full of roaches and the floor of the Congress? Roaches at least look guilty and run when someone shines the light of day on their activities.
- From the “Bad Omen” Department – A couple in California were fortunate to not be hurt when the balloon they had just gotten married in crashed. Everyone was able to go on to the reception, where such time-honored traditions as “let’s do a conga line under a ladder” and “black cat crossing contest” were held.
- From the “Samsonite Strut” Department – Authorities in Florida are searching for a seven-foot long alligator which was spotted walking down the street. Reports are that the creature wasn’t hurting anyone, and was just out to stretch its legs and/or jaws. Residents are reminded to keep pets, children, and relatives whom they like indoors for the time being.
- From the “Sweeps Week” Department – A TV station in Sweden is red in the face after a monitor in the background of an interview was showing adult content. Fox has already announced that Cinemax will be shown behind all news programs featuring good-looking anchorwomen. For those of you who don’t watch Fox, that means all of them. Never to be outdone, ABC plans to be putting hardcore videos in the background of The View, although the influence of seeing Joy Behar and pornography on the same screen might just kill off the sex drive of every human being that sees it, causing a massive drop in the birth rate.
- From the “Going to Hell on a Scholarship” Department – A man in Colorado must have had a lot of karma to burn, because he stole an ambulance that was parked outside of a home the other day. The vehicle’s crew was in the home assisting an old lady who had fallen, and apparently Captain Cuervo was a bit cold and needed to drive an ambulance around to warm up. Ambulance Driver was not available for comment.
- From the “Inconvenient Profit” Department – Al Gore, former Vice-President and current huckster of green energy drinks, has made himself richer than Mitt Romney after selling his failing TV station to Al Jazeera. I hope his rather liberal staff enjoy working for the oil-rich new owners. I understand that the new name of the network will be “PetroNews”, with a slogan of “Globally warming your heart since 2013”.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 8, 2013
https://daddybearsden.com/2013/01/08/news-roundup-168/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 