• Archives

  • Topics

  • Meta

  • The Boogeyman - Working Vacation
  • Coming Home
  • Via Serica

Happy Birthday WAM!

No, not that horrid act by George Michael and the other guy. I’m talking about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was born on this date in 1756.  His music has inspired and entertained people since he was BooBoo’s age.

So raise a glass and give an ear to one of my favorite composers.

30 Days of Reagan – Day 25

It’s true hard work never killed anyone, but I figure, why take the chance?

My Take – Sounds like a good plan for the weekend to me!

New Car Line

Recently the People’s Collective Automotive Fabrik announced a new car line:  The “Pendejo“.  The line will include several models:

  1. Pendejo Rapido – This model consists of the frame and body from a 1980’s muscle car, bolted-on extra fins and a spoiler, extremely stiff suspension and steering,  a huge V16 mid-body engine, a cosmetic blower in the hood, and one heck of a stereo to drown out the road and engine noise.  It will also include an “auto-stick” transmission so you can pretend you’re driving a standard transmission, even though you may never do anything but put it in park, reverse, and drive.  It will be marketed at people who saw “Cannonball Run” and “Fast and Furious” one too many times.  It will allow the driver to leave 15 feet of tire marks at intersections both stopping and starting, whip in and out of traffic, and cut off school buses.  This car screams “Live fast, die young!”.
  2. Pendejo Verde HTS – This model is a plug-in, electric, low emissions, recyclable, sustainable commuter car with a range of about 15 miles.  The car is composed of two recombinant recumbent bicycles welded to three ironing boards, with the trickle charger from a 1978 Winnebago connected to a bank of lithium batteries.  The body is made up of synthetic materials made out of recycled two-liter pop bottles and aluminum parts made from sintered ground-up Schlitz malt liquor cans.  This sporty two seater is furnished with airliner chairs taken out of old DC-8’s, with a small cargo area big enough to carry not just one, but two loaves of organic, whole-grain, shade grown, high fiber, low carb, artisanal focaccia.  HTS stands for “Hipster Transport System” and that is the target market for this little beauty. Sure, any collision in this deathtrap at over 2 miles an hour will leave the occupants looking like underdone lasagna, but who wants to live forever?  As an added bonus, when the lithium batteries go critical after an accident, the carcasses of the occupants will become totally organic ash that will fertilize the byways of America for generations to come.
  3. Pendejo Grande – This is the largest of the models in this line.  It will be marketed to middle-aged parents who want the convenience of a station wagon or minivan, but don’t want to be seen in one.  The vehicle is the body and frame of a 1990’s vintage minivan, with the suspension jacked up about a foot and a half, big knobby tires, bolted on extended wheel wells and headlight frames, deer stalker lights on the front of the cab, a hitch capable of towing a 155mm cannon, and a diesel engine salvaged from a garbage truck, but without the muffler.   American Moms and Dads will be able to pick up the kids from school, go to the grocery store, and haul all the groceries, soccer gear, Cub Scout equipment, and a load of mulch for the front yard confident that no-one will mistake them for someone who grew up and had kids.  This beast will come in coyote brown, OD green, and matte-black.  Accessories will include luggage containers that bolt to the included rooftop cargo rack that double as sails in high winds.  
Remember this name:  Pendejo – The car that matches your personality!

Today’s Earworm

News Roundup

  • From the “Spelling Under the Influence” Department – In a recent interview, Pat Sajak admitted that he and Vanna White used to drink, sometimes to excess, during dinner breaks while taping episodes of their game show “Wheel of Fortune”.  That’s fair.  Usually I have to be drunk to watch the show, so who am I to judge if they thought they needed to be drunk to make it.  But usually when I’m drinking and things start spinning, it’s not a good thing.
  •  From the “Victim Selection Process Failure” Department – A teenager in Florida is in jail for burglary after he broke into the home of a police officer.  Around here, a lot of officers bring their cruisers home, and if that’s also true in this case, then Mr. Einstein here had all the warning he needed.  The report says that the officer restrained the suspect, so I guess he’s lucky he’s not listed as a victim of gun violence.
  • From the “Spotting a Trend” Department – Following the example of American gun manufacturers, LEGO has begun marketing its block sets to girls.  The toy giant will include sets with pastel colored blocks and kits that make beauty parlors.  I take the same stance on pink LEGO’s as I do on pink guns:  If that’s what it takes for you to buy and enjoy a product, have at it.  But almost every woman I know shoots evil black guns just as well as they do the pink ones, and the girls I know who play with LEGO’s tend to make the same thing as their male counterparts:  houses and guns.
  • From the “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise” Department – Officials at the United Nations called the police recently when a fake diplomatic pouch containing two bags of cocaine were found.  Of course, the U.N. is disavowing any knowledge of the Peruvian marching powder.  I mean, it’s not like the U.N. would have a narcotics trafficker mixed in amongst the dictators, potentates, spies, and sycophants.  But hey, if the U.N. snorted a bit of the devil’s dancing dust every once in a while, they might get something constructive done.

My Newest Time Waster

H/T to An Ordinary American

Let’s hunt some prairie dogs!

Sickening

The state of North Carolina has offered a settlement of $50,000 to people who were forcibly sterilized by the state prior to the program being shut down in 1974.  The principle subject of the article was sterilized in 1968 when a board of 5 people labeled her as “feebleminded” and decided she should be sterilized because they worried she might become promiscuous.  The lady was 14 at the time and a pregnant victim of rape.  This “feebleminded” woman has since gone on to graduate from school and be a productive member of society.  Draw your own conclusions there. 

This one hits close to home for me.   My family, like most, has members who are impaired in some way, either mentally, cognitively, or physically.  My sister has learning disabilities, I am an arthritic, and one of my sons is slightly autistic.  I’m a responsible, productive member of society, as is my sister.  My son may be one someday, if he can ever grow out of the case of the galloping stupids that every teenager goes into. 

My point is that under the standards that these boards, which were active in at least 30 states and sterilized 65,000 citizens, any of us could be considered genetically undesirable and sterilized. 

I’m not trying to Godwin here, but if the term “Final Solution” just went through your mind, then we have something in common. Eugenics, whether it’s done under the auspices of a fascistic regime in Europe or promoted by Margaret Sanger in the United States, is evil.

Can the state of North Carolina truly compensate Ms. Riddick for what was done to her?  Definitely not.  She was fortunate to have a son with whom she has remained close.  But thousands of others were sterilized before they could have children.  Money won’t do it.

Now the state wants to compensate victims with $50,000.  If only 2000 people who were forcibly sterilized in North Carolina are still alive, the state will spend at most $100,000,000.  That’s assuming they can find all of the victims and all of them take the check instead of taking it as the insult it is.  

But the road for the victims of eugenics could be smoothed considerably if the governments in question would make a true apology.  Ex-governor Easley issued a one line apology in 2002.  Governor Perdue and the state legislature, as well as the leadership of the other states who perpetrated this barbarity, need to make a public apology that does more than check the block and throw money at the problem.

30 Days of Reagan – Day 24

Well I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — America’s best days are yet to come. Our proudest moments are yet to be. Our most glorious achievements are just ahead.

Today’s Earworm

Caption This Photo