Memorial Day 2010

We remember. We'll always remember. Thank you for your service, thank you for your ultimate sacrifice.

Semper Fidelis

Cue Twilight Zone Music...

Pelosi blames Bush administration for BP oil spill

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blamed the Bush administration for any lack of oversight leading up to the Gulf oil spill. The Obama administration, on the other hand, is blameless.
From Talk Radio News Service:

“Many of the people appointed in the Bush administration are still burrowed in the agencies that are supposed to oversee the [oil] industry,” Pelosi said when asked if Democrats could have prevented or mitigated the crisis by keeping a closer watch on the industry.

Added the Speaker, “the cozy relationships between the Bush administration’s agency leadership and the industry is clear…I’ve heard no complaints from my members about the way the president has handled it,” Pelosi stated.

On Friday, the Washington Examiner requested that Speaker Pelosi’s office release the list of Bush appointees to whom she was referring. We’ll let you know when we hear back.

Question: What's Slimier Than Millions Of Gallons Of Spilled Crude Oil...

Answer: The Obama Presidency

So then; TransOcean and British Petroleum got the okay to drill in the Gulf of Mexico just last year, something I wasn't aware of until recently.

Some rumblings are occurring at the tree-huggers, beg pardon, EPA, that go something like this:

BP dumped scazillions into the Obama campaign and in return was awarded at least one sweetheart deal so far. That's the well that's pumping our crude oil into the Gulf. The usual environmental impact and safety studies weren't conducted beforehand, in order to allow BP a running start at what was predicted to be one hell of an oil deposit.

Turns out they were correct. It IS one helluva mother-lode of dead dinosaur droppings.

So why hasn't the Yellowstream Media jumped all over this? Now, we know that the Obama White House is infested with more rats than a Harlem tenement, so the real question is when do they start jumping ship? The only true standard liberals have is a double-standard, and dollars to doughnuts someone or someone's will crash the guys presidency long before his one-term-and-out comeuppance goes down.

But doesn't that mean the media must do its job?

Or can the new media step in and give this felon his just desserts?

Oh and by the way, don't be looking for Barry on the tube this Memorial Day weekend. You know, the usual spot where the sitting President visits Arlington and lays a wreath, etc.

Barry is going on vacation and won't be available.

Ann Coulter On The Modern Interpretation Of "Civil Rights"

Watching TV this week, at first I thought Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul had flown a commercial jet into the World Trade Center. But then it turned out that he had only said there ought to be discussion about whether federal civil rights laws should be applied to private businesses.

This allowed the mainstream media to accuse Paul of being a racist. Twisting a conservative's words in order to accuse him of racism was evidently more urgent news than the fact that the attorney general of the United States admitted last week -- under oath in a congressional hearing -- that he had not read the 10-page Arizona law on illegal immigration, the very law he was noisily threatening to overturn.

And really, how could the U.S. attorney general have time to read a 10-page law when he's busy doing all the Sunday morning TV shows condemning it?

Eric Holder's astonishing admission was completely ignored by ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press, Time or Newsweek, according to Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center.

I just want to say: I think it's fantastic that the Democrats have finally come out against race discrimination. Any day now, maybe they'll come out for fighting the Cold War. Perhaps 100 years from now, they'll be ready to fight the war on terrorism or champion the rights of the unborn.

It would be a big help, though, if Democrats could support good causes when it mattered. 

But as long as the media are so fascinated with the question of why anyone would want to "discuss" certain aspects of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, maybe they should ask Al Gore why his father was one of the leading opponents of the bill.

Or they could ask Bill Clinton, whose mentor, Sen. William Fulbright, actively supported segregation and also voted against the bill. Or they could talk to the only current member of the Senate to vote against it, Democrat Bob Byrd.

As with the 1957 and 1960 civil rights acts, it was Republicans who passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act by huge majorities. A distinctly smaller majority of Democrats voted for it.

In the Senate, for example, 82 percent of Republicans voted for the act, compared with only 66 percent of Democrats. In the House, 80 percent of Republicans supported the law, compared with only 63 percent of Democrats.

With even all Democrats coming aboard on opposition to race discrimination (and it only took them 45 years!) I think we can stipulate that everyone in America is opposed to discrimination against blacks.

Now let's talk about the "civil rights" lawsuits that are actually brought in modern America. Today's "civil rights" lawsuits have nothing to do with black Americans. Worse, blacks are used as props to benefit the Democrats' favored constituencies: feminists and trial lawyers.

Democratic political consultant Bob Shrum pioneered the technique, running ads against Republican Ellen Sauerbrey in the 1998 Maryland gubernatorial race, accusing her of having "a civil rights record to be ashamed of." To really drive the point home, Shrum's ads showed sad-looking black people in front of a mural of Africa.

Of course, if I were forced to appear in political ads for Bob Shrum, I'd be sad, too.

But the only "civil rights" bill that Sauerbrey opposed had nothing to do with blacks. It was a sexual harassment bill that was so silly that Democrats in the Maryland legislature helped kill it.

Similarly, the vast bulk of "civil rights" lawsuits today have nothing to do with race. Although plaintiffs will jam every possible allegation of discrimination in their complaints, in 2009, according to the website of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, 65 percent of all civil rights claims brought had absolutely nothing to do with race discrimination.

These days, a typical federal "civil rights" case is the one brought this year by the Game Fowl Breeders Association in New Mexico claiming their "civil rights" have been violated by a state law banning cockfighting.

Another modern "civil rights" lawsuit charged that a McDonald's restaurant violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by hanging a bathroom mirror two inches too high for people in wheelchairs. The error was made when employees replaced the original mirror, which had been destroyed by vandals, with a shorter one.

The restaurant owner, Ron Piazza, corrected the problem as soon as it was brought to his attention, but he got sued anyway. Curiously, the plaintiffs had retained their McDonalds' receipts, allowing them to claim damages for 27 separate visits to the restaurant.

And of course there are all the lesbians shutting down high school proms across the country because they can't take their girlfriends to the dance as the Founding Fathers intended.

This year's graduating class at Itawamba Agricultural High School in rural Mississippi will never have a school senior prom because the ACLU brought a lawsuit on behalf of Constance McMillen demanding that she be allowed to bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.

With cockfighting bans and heterosexual proms, Martin Luther King's work remains unfinished!

Half a century ago, Democrats beat up the Freedom Riders. Today the Democrats insult the Freedom Riders by comparing them to irritating lesbians, lawsuit-happy disabled persons and cockfighters.

The question is not whether the federal government should be telling private businesses they can't engage in race discrimination. The question is whether federal civil rights laws should prevent any discrimination other than race discrimination."

Gee, Ann; don't ya know that no MATTER WHAT is actually going down, mention "civil rights" to a liberal and he cries, CRIES, I say, for all of those poor black slaves that the democrats fought hard to KEEP enslaved. 

And forget about the Yellowstream Media reporting upon the facts. How in all hells would they please those liberal constituents who DEMAND lies, the whole lies, and nothing but the lies.

80-Year-Old Chicago Man Kills Armed Home Invader

An 80-year-old Chicago man shot and killed an armed man who broke into his two-story house in a pre-dawn home invasion Wednesday on the city's West Side.

At about 5:20 a.m., the homeowner and his wife, also in her 80s, discovered the intruder entering their home through a back door. The homeowner, who had a gun, confronted and killed the burglar on the doorstep, police said. Cops said the intruder also fired his gun during the struggle.

"It's a good thing they had a gun, or they might be dead," said Curtis Thompson, who lives next door to the couple, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Neighbors described the elderly couple, who both walk with canes, as pillars of the community in Garfield Park, where home invasions have been all too frequent.

Relatives of the couple told the Sun Times that the man is an Army veteran, his wife a former nurse. Police said neither the man nor the woman was injured in the attack.

No charges have been filed against the homeowner, but Chicago currently has a statute outlawing the possession of handguns. Its legality is currently being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A high-profile Chicago attorney has already stepped forward offering to represent the man pro bono if he faces charges for possessing a weapon.

"Self-defense isn't just a right, it's a duty," said attorney Joel Brodsky. "If this man is prosecuted for saving his own life it's not just a travesty, it's justice turned inside out."

Well isn't that Chicago itself?

Justice turned inside-out?

If everyone was allowed to have handguns then the police would be scared shitless fer chrissake. Let's face it, the Constitution never envisioned the sort of folk that live here, ever living here without supervision, and to make matters worse the lefties went and ruined an entire race of Americans by telling them they were SO different as to require special treatment and all.

So now, thinking the thought of millions of "special people" armed and unprepared as to how to conduct themselves amongst the civilized folk, well SURE the lefties are against gun ownership. Can't speak the truth and say WHY, mind you, because they're nothing more than craven manipulators, so all of America must abide the destruction of their natural rights.

Cuz the phony ones got seriously out of hand, mmkay.

Oh and good on ya, Gramps. Nice shooting.

Wednesday's Funny: In The Battle For Who Hates America Most...

...Barry STILL Stands Jug-Headed And Girly Shoulders Above The Rest...

NYPD furious at 'don't-kill' bill

"City cops are livid over a legislative proposal that could handcuff the brave officers involved in life-and-death confrontations every day -- requiring them to shoot gun-wielding suspects in the arm or leg rather than shoot to kill, The Post has learned.

The "minimum force" bill, which surfaced in the Assembly last week, seeks to amend the state penal codes' "justification" clause that allows an officer the right to kill a thug if he feels his life or someone else's is in imminent danger.

The bill -- drafted in the wake of Sean Bell's controversial police shooting death -- would force officers to use their weapons "with the intent to stop, rather than kill" a suspect. They would be mandated to "shoot a suspect in the arm or the leg."

Now, I don't for a moment believe that this legislation has a snowballs chance in hell of actually passing. Just like I thought Barack Obama to be virtually unelectable. 

NOBODY can be that dumb, thought I, and was once again rebuked by the leftwing idiots who've no core system of beliefs to see them through the night.

It's gotta be hell being them. Sometimes. Make that most of the times. The problem with NYC cops shooting up the neighborhood whenever an ice cream truck operator drops his change machine and the impact sounds, to the nervous boys in blue, like a dozen Russian/space alien/drug cartel machineguns going off all at once, is at least twofold. One, they are surrounded by animals, and B, they can only hit two things with any degree of accuracy; the sky, and the ground.

And neither reality is changing anytime soon. 

Certain ranks among the citizenry are not suddenly achieving even a degree of humanity no matter how many marches Al Sharpton leads down Broadway, and, in the heat of battle, drawing and shooting at someone's gun hand only happens when the Lone Ranger is in town. And so what if one DOES happen to impact the offending anatomy? There's a good reason even damned good cops learn to shoot center of mass with great force and rapidity.

Clayton Moore notwithstanding, it is one of the surefire manners in which to end a threat. Head shots are of course even more desirable, but that is another story for another day.

Scientists Create Synthetic Life in Lab

WASHINGTON -- Scientists announced a bold step Thursday in the enduring quest to create artificial life. They've produced a living cell powered by manmade DNA.

While such work can evoke images of Frankenstein-like scientific tinkering, it also is exciting hopes that it could eventually lead to new fuels, better ways to clean polluted water, faster vaccine production and more.

But some researchers are balking at the idea that man-made life forms could possibly be as well made, as attractive as it were, as natural ones.

"Look," Professor Ian Stein told a group of reporters covering the story, "We know the thing is ugly and you do too. There isn't anyone who'd choose this Frankenstein-ian abomination over the real deal, and for those who've yet to witness the ugliest thing on the planet, we've got pictures."

(Following photograph of the creature provided by Professor Stein)

George Will On: Political Theater of the Absurd

WASHINGTON -- "The candidate who on Tuesday won the special election in a Pennsylvania congressional district is right-to-life and pro-gun. He accused his opponent of wanting heavier taxes. He said he would have voted against Barack Obama's health care plan and promised to vote against cap-and-trade legislation, which is a tax increase supposedly somehow related to turning down the planet's thermostat. This candidate, Mark Critz, is a Democrat.

And that just about exhausts the good news for Democrats on a surreal Tuesday when their presumptive candidate for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut -- the state's attorney general, Richard Blumenthal -- chose to hold a news conference at a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall to discuss why he had falsely said he fought in a foreign war. National Democrats may try to find a less damaged candidate for Connecticut, but first they may have to do that in Illinois..."

Okay stop the music...

Here's a way to fix this for the foreseeable...meaning democrats lying about their participation in a war ala John Kerry and a host of other liberal wannabees so it is gonna continue...future.

If he served as a combat Marine, as Richard Blumenthal says he did*, merely ask this of him or any other candidate: Were you awarded the Combat Action Ribbon?

The CAR means precisely what it says. The holder was fired upon, and returned fire upon those doing the firing upon.

None of this "Vietnam Era" bullswaddle. If you actually fought in a war the Marines bestow the CAR.

*Seeing as how Mr. Blumenthal repeatedly lied about being an active duty Marine and serving in Vietnam...apparently he was a Reservist for a time...I hereby officially drum Tricky Dicky from the rolls of honor, and bestow upon him the derogative sobriquet of EX-MARINE.

Not "FORMER", nor even a nod towards "INACTIVE".

X

As An Apology For The Last Post...

Here's a real woman.

Carmen Electra.

Hookers At White House State Dinner For Mehico?

Whew. No, not really. Just an ugly woman dressed like one.

Sung to the music of Paul McCartney, so let's all join in:

Mee-schell, my belle

You are just as ug-ly as all hell

My Mee-schell...

More Dirty Old Mo...

bah_humbug  
My rendition of the most peaceful, most tolerant, most barbaric pedophile savage 'prophet' - Mohammed.

Everybody Draw Dirty Old Mo Day Has Arrived...

Courtesy of Marvin and worthy of inclusion...

Obama may personally greet each graduate

Kalamazoo Central seniors to fill out paperwork for Secret Service

KALAMAZOO — The White House appears to be laying the groundwork for President Barack Obama to shake the hand of each senior at Kalamazoo Central High School’s commencement ceremony next month.

Seniors are being asked to provide their birthdates, Social Security numbers and citizen status to the Secret Service so background checks could be performed. Such a check is required for anyone who gets within an arm’s length of the president, students were told at their senior breakfast Friday."

So then.

When push comes to shove, its okay to sneak into America, rape, steal and murder your way across the country as you damned well please...BUT...

Get anywhere NEAR his LOWNESS and you'd better be a LEGAL citizen.

Doesn't get much lower than our first-ever affirmative action president, now does it.

Reminder: "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" Is Nearly Upon Us

Tomorrow, May 20th, is of course everybody draw dirty old Mo day, and if you've any homemade toons of the creepy bastard then email me and I'll show them here.

But its the thought that counts. I cannot draw worth a lick but will be looking for appropriately sillyass stuff to poke fun at the cult leader of all cult leaders.

Confiscating Your Property

 by John Stossel

"In America, we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Life, liberty and property can't be taken from you unless you're convicted of a crime.

Your life and liberty may still be safe, but have you ever gone to a government surplus auction? Consumer reporters like me tell people, correctly, that they are great places to find bargains. People can buy bikes for $10, cars for $500.

But where did the government get that stuff? 

Some is abandoned property.

But some I would just call loot. The cops grabbed it.

Zaher El-Ali has repaired and sold cars in Houston for 30 years. One day, he sold a truck to a man on credit. Ali was holding the title to the car until he was paid, but before he got his money the buyer was arrested for drunk driving. The cops then seized Ali's truck and kept it, planning to sell it.

Ali can't believe it

"I own that truck. That truck done nothing."

The police say they can keep it under forfeiture law because the person driving the car that day broke the law. It doesn't matter that the driver wasn't the owner. It's as if the truck committed the crime.

"I have never seen a truck drive," Ali said. I don't think it's the fault of the truck. And they know better."

Something has gone wrong when the police can seize the property of innocent people.

"Under this bizarre legal fiction called civil forfeiture, the government can take your property, including your home, your car, your cash, regardless of whether or not you are convicted of a crime. It's led to horrible abuses," says Scott Bullock of the Institute for Justice, the libertarian law firm."

Ah yes; abuse thy name is law enforcement. 

What many of us have known for a while is the fact that many practitioners of modern LE are nothing more than fancy-uniformed thugs with a license to steal. From speed traps to sobriety checkpoints to no-knock search warrants, the constabulary is assuming an us-versus-them mentality, and to hell with the oaths they took to defend the Constitution.

Because make no mistake; none of the above could possibly happen without the WILLING assistance of killers for hire. Your property could not be "legally" forfeited, your automobile could not be speed-taxed, and after your front door was mistakenly knocked from its hinges by an errant address snafu you'd be able to have it replaced without petitioning the White House itself.

And this is part of what drives me crazy about the fuss made over the new immigration law in Arizona. For no GENUINE probable cause, cops can decide to cavity search each and every last one of us with nothing more than a whim to guide them. ALL patriotic American citizens are ALWAYS a cop's bad hair day away from being stolen from, beaten, humiliated, and even downright murdered

But the illegal spanish-speakers want a free ride after committing serious crimes.

And some folks agree with all that.

Boggles.

Jackson comments on Arizona law trigger protest

"Several dozen people waving signs and American flags gathered outside Staples Center before the Lakers-Phoenix Suns game in a protest over Lakers coach Phil Jackson 's refusal to criticize Arizona's new anti-immigration law, Los Angeles police said Monday."

Okay enough is enough.

What if these same dumbass fans were turned away at the gate because, well gee, several thousand illegal ticket-holders showed up and oops... there's no room.

And hows about these retarded owners?

Think they'd ALLOW hordes of non-paying customers sneaking into their games? And getting FREEBIES at the concession stands? Then murdering, raping, and mugging the LEGITIMATE ticket holders?

Hell no they would not.

And hell no WE won't allow it either. Not when we have the means to prevent such felonious goings on.

Here's yet another salute to Arizona.

Monday Peek At Swimsuitery...Starring Brooklyn Decker

Now seriously; ever met a gal named "Brooklyn"?

Whaty'a think the second choice was?

Chinatown?

McChrystal Sees Progress, but 'Nobody Is Winning' Afghan War Yet

In a blunt assessment of the war in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal declared in a TV interview Thursday that "nobody is winning," though he also pointed to progress in stopping the momentum of insurgents.

The assessment by McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, comes a day after President Obama, while hosting Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the White House, predicted the war will get worse before it gets better.

First off, Michael Yon is saying that creepy McChrystal is actually losing the war, and normally I'd be reluctant to agree, because Yon, while performing a vital service, can at times be a tad reactionary. Then there's the dearth of chatter. Someone or some thing is coming down heavy on the fella's who usually pass the word along as to how the battle's are going, because my email sitreps have slowed to a standstill.

From the getgo, McChrystal has creeped me out. One of the things I learned was how to judge high ranking commanders in a snap, and while certainly not infallible, my bad-officer radar gets pegged red whenever I listen to the guy. Here's hoping both Yon and I are way off base.

The Return Of Cookie

After battling the new Haloscam...currently referred to as ECHO, along with curing a rampant virus on his PC, it appears that the cookman is back in business.

Been there done that. Viruses galore at one time or another, and ECHO absolutely sucks in comparison to Haloscam. Some days it works just fine, others it is the comment program from hell.

Anyhoot, welcome back, Cookie.

Tuesday's Cartoonish Goings On

All Hands

Under normal circumstances I wouldn't be announcing this.

Dammitall but I've reached the big 6-0 today and am admittedly somewhat overwhelmed.

And of course, I would have taken far better care of myself if knowing I'd become ancient.

Still and all, it's gone rather well all things considered. And that smile still slays 'em.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

To mine and Lisa's and all the wonderful Mom's the world over.

Saturday Morning Peek At Some Manly Presidents At Work...

NYC's Bloomberg First Take On The Times Square Bomber?

Oh yeah...Hadda be a teapartier or some other "homegrown person"...

"Bloomberg ... told CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric that the suspect behind the bombing attempt could be a domestic terrorist angry at the government who acted alone.

"If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that. Homegrown, or maybe a mentally deranged person, or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything," he said.

"There is no evidence here of a conspiracy, there is no evidence that it's tied into anything else. It looks like an amateurish job done by at least one person," he told Couric."

See, this is how liberals work their lame ass mojo. First and foremost, and without ANY proof whatsoever, blame a Conservative for what ails us.

Forget the fact that the deadliest enemy attack upon American soil was perpetrated by Barack Obama's kinfolk, old Bloomie thought otherwise this time around.

Lowlives just don't come any lower than this monstrosity masquerading as a human being.

Ann Says: OBAMA NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY: HOPE THEIR BOMBS DON'T WORK

"It took Faisal Shahzad trying to set a car bomb in Times Square to get President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to finally use the word "terrorism." (And not referring to Tea Party activists!)

This is a major policy shift for a president who spent a month telling Americans not to "jump to conclusions" after Army doctor Nidal Malik Hasan reportedly jumped on a desk, shouted "Allahu Akbar!" and began shooting up Fort Hood.

After last weekend, now Obama is even threatening to pronounce it "Pack-i-stan" instead of "Pahk-i-stahn." We know Obama is taking terrorism seriously because he took a break from his "Hope, Change & Chuckles" tour on the comedy circuit to denounce terrorists.

In a bit of macho posturing this week, Obama declared that -- contrary to the terrorists' wishes -- Americans "will not be terrorized, we will not cower in fear, we will not be intimidated."

First of all, having the Transportation Security Administration wanding infants, taking applesauce away from 93-year-old dementia patients, and forcing all Americans to produce their shoes, computers and containers with up to 3 ounces of liquid in Ziploc bags for special screening pretty much blows that "not intimidated" look Obama wants America to adopt.

"Intimidated"? How about "absolutely terrified"?

Second, it would be a little easier for the rest of us not to live in fear if the president's entire national security strategy didn't depend on average citizens happening to notice a smoldering SUV in Times Square or smoke coming from a fellow airline passenger's crotch.

But after the car bomber and the diaper bomber, it has become increasingly clear that Obama's only national defense strategy is: Let's hope their bombs don't work!

If only Dr. Hasan's gun had jammed at Fort Hood, that could have been another huge foreign policy success for Obama."

The events of 9/11 were nothing short of miraculous...and aided and abetted by the airlines longstanding credo of "SIT THE HELL DOWN AND DON 'T YOU DARE MOVE A MUSCLE WITHOUT THE STEWARDESS SAY SO!"...

...but ever since then folks have been rather proactive in spotting and even foiling terrorist plots, which is more than can be said for His Lowness, aka Emperor Barry The First.

Despite what certain theatrical presentations would have you think (CBS's "Criminal Minds" among the plethora of make-believe-idiocies), terrorists do not simply descend from liberal nirvana with state-of-the-art technologies and enough attending masters of mayhem to destroy civilization as we know it. That's what we have liberal presidents for.

By and large, law enforcement owes its successful-incarceration rates (if 50-50 is your idea of successful, that is), to simple stupidity, such as this latest bozo forgetting to remove the VIN info from the engine of his boom-boom-mobile.

BUT...and this is a but as large as the first lady's prominent derriere...since a broken watch is correct at least twice a day and shit simply happens, sooner or later this dog & pony show masquerading as a presidency is going to screw up, and bigtime at that.

His timidity has obviously emboldened the fiends of islam, and our enemies are bound to score one for their Gipper.

I Won't Do It...I WON'T DO IT...Ah Hell

 Nigger Says Teabaggers Running The GOP

The term "tea-bagger" is like uttering the "n" word, some say. Though he aspires to promote civility, evidence has surfaced that President Obama has added "tea-bagger" to his public lexicon, though it's considered a cheap and tawdry insult by "tea party" activists.

The only way to treat a man who'd use a tawdry, slimy, dirty old homosexual epithet to describe decent people, is with a dose of his own medicine. Teabagging, according to our gay brethren, is when one man positions his genitals atop the face and mouth of another man and slowly lowers to...dip the bag in.

And yeah, I know that Obama is half Irish, so I'll change my headline to Dumbass Mick...if the hue and cry warrants it.

Weather Report...

The temps are once again topping 90 here in the Gunshine State, and Saturday saw the therm-o-meter reach 98 as a matter of fact. As proof, here's a shot of Kelly Bensimon. If you look really really closely you can see just the tip of my head in the whitewater behind her.

Tuesday's Cartoonish Goings On

Earth Versus The Flying Saucers...As Told By Stephen Hawking

  WASHINGTON (AP) - Stephen Hawking says it is too risky to try to talk to space aliens.

Oops. Too late.

NASA and others have already beamed several messages into deep space, trying to phone E.T.

The U.S. space agency, which two years ago broadcast the Beatles song "Across the Universe" into the cosmos, on Wednesday discussed its latest search strategy for life beyond Earth.

"The search for life is really central to what we should be doing next in the exploration of the solar system," said Cornell University planetary scientist Steve Squyres, chairman of a special National Academy of Sciences panel advising NASA on future missions.

The academy panel is looking at 28 possible missions - from Mars to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. And NASA is focused mostly on looking for simple life like bacteria in our solar system rather than fretting about potential alien overlords coming here.

Just days ago, Hawking said on his new TV show that a visit by extraterrestrials to Earth would be like Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas, "which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans."

The famous British physicist speculated that while most extraterrestrial life will be similar to microbes, advanced life forms would likely be "nomads, looking to conquer and colonize."

Now, ya see this is what ticks me off.

Well one of 'em. Respecting Hawking's intellect is one thing but asking the guy to comment upon something he has not a damned clue about, is quite another.

The chances of intelligent life with technology superior to ours has been thrashed around by people who actually DO have a clue, going back to the famous remark by Fermi in the late 1940's. If the universe is almost 14 billion years old, and earth has only been around for a bit over 4 billion years itself, then the older fellas should have been here a loooooooooong time ago. 

Its called doing-the-math. A 10 billion year head start means that were a spacefaring species to travel about at only half the speed of light...something WE could actually do if need be...they'd have traversed 5 billion light years doing the hither and yon thang. The nearest ones most certainly would have heard our older radio transmissions by now then replied in turn, so the fact that all we hear are intergalactic crickets speaks volumes.

So.......

#1), Hawking is Brit, and that means frightened of his own shadow enough to make any groundhog proud, and B.) obviously hasn't taken the time to really give this a full frontal mental going-over. 

With ALL of the universe at their beck and call, why in all hells WOULD so super-dee-duper a techno force want to take on ANY middling technology like our own? Aside from the science fiction ramifications, but of course.

Throughout time, relatively higher tech races on earth have FOREVER displaced inferior ones, so Hawkins mentioning the American Indian is laughable.  But maybe the guy didn't major in History. No one knows everything, so he would get a pass if he left it at that. Worrying about the Beatles arousing the Universal Bad Guys more so than Amos & Andy, every last one of The Big Bands, Bob Hope, The Shadow, Fibber McGee and Molly, and half a scazillion old vaudeville stars looking to cash in on the new thing called radio, is more ridiculous than can be explained, unless Hawking is beginning to circle the bowl. 

Whatever. At least now the Brits have a real reason to not even begin their own space programs.

Pissing off an intergalactic Hitler would truly be the last straw.

And, as a post script, perhaps Hawking's intergalactic gangbangers have heard of The Little Big Horn. Or that the Hawaiians killed Captain Cook. Anyone asked the Romans lately if they've found that Lost Legion yet?


Doesn't matter what technological advances one brings to the table, because you're going to get scuffed up should the WOGS fight back.