Blog Break

I'm on an extended blog break. Back whenever. Head over to Bruce's place for fresh posts.

George Carlin on Saving the Planet

One of my favorite routines! He really socks it to the eco-phonies, give this a watch.

"And so are we...for a little while..."

RIP George.

Congratulations Amir Sadollah!

Amir Sadollah has won season 7 of the Ultimate Fighter. He submitted CB Dolloway and got the contract. Congrats, Amir! Awesome job.

I never liked Dolloway anyway. The guy needed a slice of humble pie and Sadollah served him up a huge piece.

All's well that ended well, another great TUF season. Thanks for a satisfying ending, Amir.

Rest in Peace, George Carlin

Thanks for the laughs, rest in peace and my condolences to your family. :(

Green On the Outside, Red on the Inside

Excellent column about the eco-phonies and how dangerous to all of us they truly are. These people scare the hell out of me. They don't care how many people get hurt or killed by their marxist ideology.

Come on President Bush. You still have some time. Stop being enmeshed in Iraq and start focusing on our energy problem and the threat these eco-wackos present to our way of life.

Going green (its real name is sustainable development) has led to Orwellian regulations resulting in the destruction of American businesses and the jobs that go with them, including manufacturing and industry; the locking away of American natural resources like oil, timber and minerals, forcing expensive imports; the near abolishment of private property, the bedrock of any economy’s source of wealth; and massive invasion of the farming industry to assure it is “sustainable,” including the mandated use of corn for the making of ethanol, leading to food shortages and higher prices.

Above all, the “go green” mindset has resulted in a refusal by political leaders and Congress to even consider anything but renewable fuels as a legitimate source of energy. Last year’s Energy bill, supposed to be the guideline for energy policy for coming years, literally made no mention of any kind of energy but alternative fuels like wind power, solar and ethanol. And the American people, buried under an avalanche of environmentally-correct propaganda, have blindly accepted the go green mantra, missing its connection to their economic woes.

At a time when the nation is facing an economic meltdown because of rising gas prices, oil use is ignored in the most important energy policy in the nation. Astonishing. As prices continue to rise, Washington’s response is “there’s nothing we can do.” President Bush says, “I wish I had a magic wand.” John McCain says “prices will continue to rise.” Barack Obama says “tax the oil companies,” as Congress begins a witch hunt on them, pledging the get to the bottom of their “excess profits.” Senator Barbara Boxer says “now is the best time to raise energy prices.” The Democrats want to “sue” OPEC.”

In all of this rhetoric, notice how NO action that includes the drilling of oil is considered. It’s taboo. Off the table. Suffer America, because the wisdom of the day is that oil is out. Alternatives are in. Go green! This, of course, completely ignores the fact that the U.S. uses oil for 85% of its energy needs.

Perverts Having Sex in the Dunes in Provincetown

This is the kind of crap that gives gay men a bad name. I can't imagine how nasty it would be to be walking around, enjoying the beauty of the area and then running into five guys having an orgy in the dunes.

My advice is to hit these guys where it matters: their wallets. For each incident of this stuff that they get caught for, charge them a $5000 fine. You can bet they'll cut the crap after they've been busted a few times.

And no, it's not "homophobic" or "repressive" to disapprove of this behavior or to want to put a stop to it. That area is for everybody not just for the pervs using it for sex. There's no reason they can't take their sexual behavior indoors (imagine that...they must live somewhere so why not take it into their own bedrooms?) and stop forcing other people to have to see it.

If it were a bunch of straight people having an orgy it would be equally distasteful and nasty to anybody who came across it. And the behavior would not be tolerated by them either.

US Supreme Court Drama Queens

Just give us the freaking Heller decision already! They're no doubt holding it until last.

What a bunch of drama queens! Get over yourselves!

Idiot Celtic Fans Riot in Boston

All too typical for these sorts of ball sport freaks in Boston. Yet another reason not to be anywhere near Boston when this kind of "celebration" happens.

I wonder if it occurred to them that the Celtics are just a basketball team and who cares if they win or lose? The ones making the real money are the players and the owners. The "fans" get nothing except to pathetically live in the "reflected" glory of the team.

I'll never understand why people give a damn about a bunch of millionaire basketball (or football or baseball) players who run around throwing and chasing a ball. The people who idolize them really need to get a life.

I'm Back With McCain

After my hissy fit about McCain saying he'd possibly consider Nanny Bloomberg as his VP, I'm back with McCain again.

Four to eight years of Obama flooding the court system with nominees is to frightening to even think about. So I'm planning to hold my nose and vote for the RINO McCain in the feeble hopes that at least a few judges would be better than Obama's.

Who Cares About the Celtics? Screw em'!

Seriously...who cares? I get up this morning and it's all over the news sites I read on the web.

Allow me to dissent in the face of what appears to be Celtics mania.

I didn't care about them 22 years ago and I don't care now. Ditto with the Patriots or any other ball sports teams.

So screw' em and their sport. I don't have anything against them but I simply don't care.

I only wish I'd figured out a way to cash in on some of the mania. Talk about easy money!

A Reader Fisks Andrew Sullivan

The email from this reader nails Andrew but also is about as clear an explanation for what we've doing in the middle east as I've ever seen. That about sums it all up pretty well.

"We invaded to liberate, not to control".

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Of course this is about control, and always has been. Oil, Israel, Iran. Remaking the Middle East. Securing Bush's place in history as the Conqueror of the East, the only man man enough to take the recalcitrant desert barbarians by the scruff of the neck and bring them to heel.

Empire? We've been a continental empire (some would say a hemispheric empire) since at least the Mexican-American War, an international empire since the Spanish American War, and a global empire since the end of WWII, with our eastern march at the wall in Berlin and our western march at the DMZ in Korea. Democracies can be empires too. Ask the Athenians (and ask them about the Sicilian Expedition while you're at it).

What do you mean, empire is not in our blood? We ARE the Roman Empire -- at least, the Western Roman Empire. Russia, of course was the Eastern Roman Empire. The Cold War was the contest to see which would prevail. We won. Now we retake the provinces of Judea -- our Holy Land, which we've been trying to re-take for a thousand years -- and Persia and Afghanistan, the farthest extent of our ancient Greco-Roman influence.

I agree with Ferguson: our problem is not empire -- it's incompetence.

No, I have not become a neo-con -- but let's be realistic: beyond the drive to re-take the East, there's all that oil. We need it. They have it. Therefore we must control them. It's that simple. It's not even a moral question, it's just biology: where the energy source is, the strongest will congregate. It's not a matter of "corporate profits" -- although it is that too. It's a matter of survival. Obama will not leave Iraq either. You watch.

Fisking, fisking: one, two, three::

"What I fear is that the Bush administration and many neo-conservatives are claiming one thing, while planning for another..."

What? Hello? Are you serious? This has been going on since September 12, 2001. And explain to me, how is "claiming one thing, while planning for another", not a lie?

"...and after the last eight years, the trust level is low."

Ha, ha. If they'd just found those pesky old corroded WMD stockpiles from 1991, they could have held them up in triumph -- "See? We told you so!" -- but Saddam, that wily old fox, stole a march on them there. And then there was that insurrection thing. And Chalabi didn't turn out so well either. No, the problem is not empire. It's simple competence.

"I fear they want a permanent presence in Iraq to reassure Israel; and to pursue the option of war with Iran."

Is this a joke? Are you pulling my leg? I fear not. You really are just figuring out they always meant to have a permanent presence?

"I fear the bases are there to detain, contain or attack the regional Shiite power, Iran, and to reassure the regional Sunni powers that the US military will protect them."

I'm sorry, i don't mean to be sarcastic, but -- doh! Yes, of course -- Afghanistan to the East, Iraq to the West: we have ancient Persia surrounded. Only one of us can control the ancient East. We've been at war with Iran for that control for decades. What do you think all this has been about? Iraq, Hezbollah, Hamas?

"If this is the agenda, please let us know."

They did. You weren't listening.

"Let the American people examine and debate it."

Sure. Like they debated the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War. Debate all you want. That's not how these things are decided -- if you can even say they're decided at all. (In fact the Vietnam War was the only war we've ever actually "debated" -- or at least struggled over -- and that led to the great Boomer schism you detest so much. See any irony there?)

"Have McCain own this position rather than refer to it as a premise as if we already know what it is."

But we do. We do.

How Hillary Got Screwed by the Sexist Media

Right on, Anne. I totally agree with this article. Hillary did get screwed.

Rather than being congratulated as the most successful woman in American political history, she has been scarified for not leaving the race sooner. In previous contests, second placegetters Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart, Jesse Jackson and Jerry Brown all stayed in the race until the very end, longer than Clinton, but were never subjected to a similar pelting. In fact, the pressure on Clinton to be a good girl and get out of Obama's way started back in March and continued unabated despite her winning nine of the 16 contests since then.

She could not take a trick with a virtually unanimous media putting the most negative spin on her every utterance. She was accused of being manipulative for crying, of "pimping" her daughter by having her on the campaign, for denying her gender by wearing pants suits and of being racist for simply pointing out the fact that millions of white people had voted for her.

She had to endure one male television commentator calling her a "she-devil", another stating she reminded him of "everyone's first wife standing outside probate court"; one who found her "castrating, overbearing and scary" while another fine specimen of the American punditocracy said, "When she comes on television … I involuntarily cross my legs."

John Lynch and His "No Taxes" Pledge

Could anything be more hollow at this point than Lynch promising no income or sales taxes? So what, governor, you've raised every other tax/toll/fee you could possibly get your hands on and increased spending by 18%.

And remember that if Lynch gets a veto-proof Democratic majority this time around, they will simply pass an income/sales tax over his veto and he will say "well I tried to stop them." Like it or not, the only thing standing between us and an income/sales tax is the Republican party.

Vote Republican in November at the state level or you help the Democrats get the very veto-proof majority that they've been desperately hoping for.

Young Hospice Volunteers

It's a beautiful thing that these folks are doing. God bless them for doing it. I bet it makes a big difference to the people that are suffering and need companionship.

"You look very pretty today," Rachel Kunkler sings out cheerily to 93-year-old Esther Goldman as she enters her room in a nursing home.

Goldman does not react, at least outwardly. She sits in a wheelchair, her head against a white pillow, her right elbow propped on a red cushion. Her diagnosis - dementia and what doctors call "a decline in health" - qualifies her for hospice care. Kunkler, a 20-year-old student at Boston University, perches on a bed next to her, doing her best to bring some light into Goldman's eyes through sheer youthful ebullience and force of personality.

"It's really nice outside," she informs the older woman, but then concedes it's a bit chilly. Goldman says wearily: "I wouldn't go outside in this weather." But Kunkler has a ready, joshing reply: "We had to go outside to come see you!"

There was a time when Kunkler would not have fit the typical profile for a hospice volunteer. But that profile is changing, as young people who saw what it did for their grandparents or other relatives step up to do what they can to ease the final days of other dying patients. There are other factors, of course, including Internet-savvy outreach by the hospices (which advertise on websites like Craigslist) and community-service requirements at colleges and high schools.

At Charlestown-based Beacon Hospice, the largest hospice organization in New England, the number of volunteers in their teens or 20s has increased by nearly 80 percent in the past year, according to Rob Buckel, vice president of volunteer services. Of 750 volunteers at Beacon Hospice, 150 are now in that age group. At Care Alternatives, a Marlborough-based hospice that serves a wide geographic swath of Eastern and Central Massachusetts, the number of volunteers in their teens or 20s has jumped by 60 percent in the past year, according to volunteer coordinator Ericka Falvo. Of the 85 volunteers at Care Alternatives, 23 of them are aged 18 to 29.

Deer Overrunning Massachusetts Suburbs

Well big freaking surprise...not.

The deer population on the South Shore has more than doubled in the past decade, wildlife officials say, and it is showing up in nibbled shrubs, chewed-up vegetable gardens and more close calls and collisions for motorists.

Blue holly and Japanese yew rank high on the “great eats” list for deer, but garden experts say there is practically nothing the animal won’t eat.

“We get it all the time,” said Philip Wyman, owner of Wyman’s Nursery in Hanson. “People come in with the branch of a shrub that’s obviously been eaten by a deer. They say, ‘I don’t have deer in my yard. I don’t live in the woods.’ But that’s what it is.”

The state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife would like to see a deer population of 15 to 20 deer per square mile in Bristol and Plymouth counties. That’s the stated goal of the agency’s wildlife management plan.

But estimates from the 2007 hunting season place the area’s deer population at between 20 and 25 deer per square mile, with some areas as high as 30 per square mile. Hanover, Scituate, Cohasset, Hingham, Duxbury and Pembroke are all on the higher end of that range, said Tom O’Shea, assistant director for wildlife at the state agency.

Overall, deer populations are down from the all-time highs reached in 2005, state officials say, but development, fewer hunters and more restrictions on hunting are keeping the number of deer up in many local communities.

William Hart, Pembroke’s animal control officer and a hunter, said firearm laws have hampered hunting.

“People hear a gunshot and they panic,” he said. “That’s understandable, but there are a lot of deer and if no one has a chance to harvest them, you’re going to have a problem.”

Hart said there are far fewer licensed gun owners and hunters than there were just a decade ago.

“It’s sometimes more trouble than it’s worth to hunt around here, and to me, it’s a straight line between that and the deer problem.”

This is what you get when you demonize guns and hunters in popular culture, raise hunting license fees and prohibit Sunday hunting. Why would any hunter waste his or her time hunting deer in Taxachusetts? Screw the idiots down there. They voted to persecute, malign and abuse gun owners and hunters and now they're getting exactly what they deserve.

However, I will consider going down there and maybe doing some bow hunting for deer. But only if Massachusetts pays me. Not only would I require the payment of an hourly fee (at least as much as a cop gets down there for traffic detail), I would also require gas mileage to be covered and I would also demand a written thank you from each citizen that lived in the area I was hunting in.

If my demands are not met, then MA can swim in deer until they drown in them.