Thursday, October 29, 2009

Liberals: America's Termites

From Bert Prelutsky and our buddies at Chronwatch...

Back when I was a kid, the two major fears in America revolved around polio and Communism. Because the first disease was so prevalent and so often fatal prior to the miraculous cures wrought by Dr. Albert Sabin and Dr. Jonas Salk, neither of whom managed to garner a Nobel Prize for their heroic efforts, children were kept out of public swimming pools and were discouraged from having too much physical activity. It’s a wonder that our entire generation didn’t grow up to be hypochondriacs because if you were even slightly fatigued or had an aching back or a stiff neck, anguished parents started measuring you for an iron lung.


The second disease, Communism, created its own form of hysteria. During the late 40s and early 50s, we had A-bomb drills in public schools. We grammar school kids were led to believe that in case the Russians hit Los Angeles with an atomic bomb, we would be safe so long as we dropped to the floor and huddled beneath our desks with our hands clasped tightly behind our necks. As everyone knows, there’s nothing better than tiny hands to ward off the effects of atomic radiation. To this day, I wonder who came up with that particular brainstorm.


On the off-chance that the Russkies elected not to vaporize us, a lot of people were convinced that the plan to prevent tooth decay by introducing fluoride into our reservoirs was a Commie plot. The fluoride, we were warned, would turn our brains to mush and make us easy prey for the Soviet Menace. It’s taken about 60 years, but I am now convinced that the scaremongers were right. How else to explain American liberals except by accepting that the Commies contaminated our water supply?


The fact that most Americans haven’t turned into brain-dead zombies muttering “hope…change…hope…change” like those scary creatures in horror movies only goes to prove that people have different tolerances to tainted water, just as they do to alcohol, various viruses, and Barack Obama’s voice.


I mean, seriously, when Obama, during the campaign, spoke about judging him by the people he surrounded himself with, he pointed to Richard Lugar, Joe Biden, and Warren Buffett, while drawing the curtain on Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and Rashid Khalidi. These days, though, he surrounds himself with such visitors from a strange planet as Van Jones, Jeff Jones, and Cass Sunstein. I’m just wondering if it’s still okay for us to judge him by his associates.


The MSM likened Obama to Abe Lincoln. I guess their confusion was caused by both men being skinny and from Illinois. One major, rather obvious difference, though, is that Lincoln waged a war to preserve the Union. Obama, on the other hand, would go to war to preserve such unions as the SEIU and the UAW.


Liberals get all in a tizzy when they’re accused of hypocrisy, but it’s hard to escape the fact that while arguing for the redistribution of wealth, you never see such kazillionaires as George Soros, Dianne Feinstein, Jay Rockefeller, Charles Schumer, or John Kerry, redistributing any of theirs or even paying a penny more in taxes than is absolutely required.


And, as we discovered when he was putting his administration together, Obama’s friends and colleagues quite often try to avoid paying any taxes at all.


You also don’t see any of his political allies signing up for ObamaCare or trading in their outrageously generous pension plans for Social Security. These phonies are far worse than Marie Antoinette, who allegedly joked that if poor people couldn’t afford bread, they should eat cake. What these creeps would have us eat is nowhere near as tasty or nutritious.


Consider the fact that the late unlamented Ted Kennedy was a hero to the green movement even after he used his considerable clout to make certain that windmills, those essential items that would free us from our dependence on fossil fuels, didn’t interfere with the view from his estate.


To fully appreciate how contemptible the left is, you merely have to note that whenever people oppose any item on Obama’s radical agenda, liberals follow Jimmy Carter’s lead and label them racists. The majority of Americans voted for Obama last November and now, apparently millions of them, according to recent polls, are suffering from buyer’s remorse. Is it really possible that they simply failed to notice on election day that they were voting for a black man?


It reminds me of those various black basketball and football coaches who insist, when they’re fired for not winning enough games, that it’s because of their race, even though the people firing them are the very same people who hired them in the first place.


Recently, some Americans were outraged when movie director Oliver Stone made a laudatory documentary about Hugo Chavez and then showed up with the Communist dictator at the Cannes Film Festival, where they bumped fists and naturally received a standing ovation. It was enough to make me wish that Major Aldo Rayne had been there with his Inglorious Basterds to deal with Stone, Chavez, and the assorted Euro-trash in attendance.


Speaking of Stone and Chavez, there are those who wonder why lefties are so often drawn to tyrants. Why is it, normal people ask, that those on the left looked so fondly on Stalin; why they adorn their walls with Che Guevara posters; why they wore those dopey caps with the red star and carted around Mao’s Little Red Book in the 60s; why Sean Penn went to Iraq to show his solidarity with Saddam Hussein; why, to this day, they will flock to Cuba and kiss Castro’s behind; why they will side with Hamas and Hezbollah, while accusing Israel of crimes against humanity; and why Thomas Friedman of the New York Times will feel free to extol the virtues of one-party autocracies such as China.


The answer is that they identify with tyrants. They don’t oppose gulags on principle; they simply don’t wish to be sent to one. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t like to run one. They also have a soft spot for dictators because they, themselves, are miserable excuses for human beings who look down on the masses as being ignorant, religious, peons who, in a just world, would exist only to serve as organ donors.


Don’t you ever find yourself wondering why liberals are happy to see Obama expanding the power and influence of the federal government, of appointing three dozen regulatory czars who answer only to him, of gobbling up major industrial and financial entities in a way reminiscent of Stalin and Hitler? I mean, wouldn’t you think they’d dread the thought of a Republican president having all of that authority in the future? After all, we have presidential elections every four years. It’s not as if Obama could rule for 27 years like Mao, for 29 years like Stalin, or for half a century like Castro.


Shouldn’t those on the left be the least bit concerned that a Mitt Romney, a Rick Perry, a Bobby Jindal, or a Sarah Palin could inherit all that power?


After pondering that question, how can you avoid concluding that they simply have no intention of ever allowing that to happen?

Disgust at Richmond, CA Goes Nationwide

Richmond, CA - long known to Bay Area residents as a crime ridden shithole to be avoided at all costs - is now gaining national attention due to the brutal gang rape of a 15-year old girl at a Richmond High homecoming dance.

Security was unusually tight Thursday as four young men made their first court appearance in last weekend's gang rape at Richmond High School, a crime that brought anguish to students and leaders in the city and sent shock waves throughout the nation.

Later Thursday, police arrested a sixth suspect in the case. A fifth suspect was arrested earlier but has not been charged.


Three defendants, all of them juveniles charged as adults, were wearing bulletproof vests when they were led into Superior Court by a corps of Contra Costa County sheriff's deputies. The three - one of whom had a black eye - looked morose and said nothing as relatives wept in the gallery.


Only one, 15-year-old Cody Ray Smith of San Pablo, entered a plea - not guilty - during the brief arraignment in Richmond.


All four were ordered by Judge Peter Berger to come back to court Thursday for more proceedings in the rape of a 15-year-old Richmond High girl, who was attacked after she left the school's homecoming dance Saturday night.


Authorities say the defendants are among as many as 10 young men who raped the girl over two hours in a courtyard on the campus, while others watched and took photos with cell phones.


Richmond police arrested a sixth suspect, Jose Carlos Montano, 18, Thursday afternoon near his San Pablo home. Montano was booked on felony charges of rape, rape in concert with force, penetration with a foreign object. His bail was set at $1.3 million.


Smith and two other defendants, Marcelles James Peter, 17, of Pinole and Ari Abdallah Morales, 16, of San Pablo, are juveniles being charged as adults. They all face felony counts of rape in concert, otherwise known as gang rape, and penetration with a foreign object. Morales also is charged with felony robbery for allegedly stealing the girl's jewelry.


The boys are being held at juvenile hall in Martinez on no bail.


The fourth suspect, 19-year-old Manuel Ortega of Richmond, is charged with rape in concert, robbery and assault causing great bodily injury. He is being held on $1.2 million bail.


All four face potential sentences of life in prison if convicted.


The hearings began at 9:50 a.m., when the three boys were walked into court by an uncharacteristically large contingent of five deputies. The defendants' hands were shackled to their waists, and their chests bulged from the bulletproof vests.


Court officials said the vests were needed because of the potential for vigilante violence.


"This crime was extremely callous and brutal," said Deputy District Attorney Dara Cashman. "We've been getting expressions of outrage from all over the country."


Morales' left eye was blackened, as if he had recently been hit.


Peter's cousin Monquasha Peter of Richmond burst into tears upon seeing him, and her mother, Monica Peter, dabbed her eyes.


Peter's family accused prosecutors of having racial motives. Peter is the only black suspect named in the case. Smith is white, and the other suspects are Latino.


Peter "didn't have anything to do with this," his aunt said. "He said everyone was just walking past, and he just kept moving when he saw something was going on.


"He's a good kid with no criminal record who likes to play soccer," she said. "I am going to prove his innocence.


"My nephew is scared," she added. "He is the one they've arrested who is black, and if they give my nephew a life sentence, I will sue Richmond. There is no way in hell I will see my nephew blamed in this because he is black." (Proving there's never a bad time to play the race card).


Ortega's hearing immediately followed the boys'. His hands were cuffed behind his back, but he wore no bulletproof vest and had just one deputy minding him.


Two female relatives of Ortega's began to cry as he walked in. They declined to comment afterward, other than to say they didn't think he was guilty.


Court records show that in July, Ortega was arrested in San Pablo on misdemeanor charges of possessing a deadly weapon - a dagger - and spraying graffiti on a house and breaking its windows. The case is pending.


A fifth suspect, 21-year-old Salvador Rodriguez of Richmond, has been arrested but has not been charged.


Counseling and discussion sessions were held Thursday at Richmond High to let students vent their despair over the crime and the damage they feel it has done to their community's reputation. They and city leaders plan more gatherings in the coming days.


Authorities say the attack on the girl began when a boy who knew her, possibly Smith, called her over to a group in the courtyard as she was walking by to meet her father after leaving the dance.


Smith is a student at Richmond High, and Ortega dropped out in 2007 after his junior year. Around the same time, Morales transferred from Richmond High to a continuation school, authorities say.


The girl joined the young men in drinking hard liquor but refused to have sex with them, authorities say, and then the group attacked her.


Morales' attorney, Ernie Castillo of Oakland, said his client has no convictions on his record.


"This is a horrible tragedy," Castillo said of the gang rape. "It's hard to understand how something like this could happen at an American high school." (look at the names and tell me what's "American" about it).





One of the uncovered aspects of this story is that the victim was most likely white. I don't know this, but I'm basing it on the fact that several of her "friends" who expressed outrage at the lack of security at the school were white, so I'm putting two and two together.


The accused perps were all Latino, with the exception of one black, and one white - a 15-year old who was the only defendant to enter a plea of not guilty.


Often you hear people say things like "what is it going to take before people stand up and do something?" Well, I feel I can safely say that, if this doesn't do it, nothing will. Apparently, the American people's capacity for tolerating and ignoring crimes of the most ghastly brutality is truly unlimited.

America cares? I see no proof of that. None.

On Beyond Stupid: California to Close State Parks

Despite enormous public pressure and assurances that it wouldn't happen, California is going ahead with its absolutely idiotic plan to close its State Parks to save an almost embarrassingly small amount of money.

The California State Parks won't be closed, except during the week and in certain seasons and, really, most of the time, according to a list of cutbacks released today.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decreed last month that no parks would be shuttered, but the $14.2 million he cut out of the state parks budget means many of the 278 parks in California will be open only on weekends and almost all will have to endure partial closures. Most of the closures begin next week.


The list prepared by park superintendents throughout California indicates that park visitors should also be advised not to expect many lifeguards or interpretive programs or parking spots or, for that matter, public restrooms, even in a pinch.


"The headlines last month were: 'The Governor Saves State Parks.' Uh, wait a minute. There is still a $14.2 million hit to the state budget," said Jerry Emory, spokesman for the California State Parks Foundation. "In fact, these service cuts might impact more parks systemwide. Before, we were looking at a list of 100 parks, including partial, full and seasonal closures. Now the plan is just to do that across the entire system."


There will be major cutbacks in the Bay Area, including campground, picnic and parking lot closures on Mount Tamalpais, Angel Island, Mount Diablo, Samuel P. Taylor, Tomales Bay and China Camp state parks. Facilities at Olompali State Historic Park, Candlestick Point State Recreation Area and the Benicia Capital State Historic Park will be closed.


The cuts were part of a deal Schwarzenegger signed in July to erase a $24 billion budget gap. The deal also chopped $22.2 million out of the 2010-11 parks budget.


The governor's plan is to keep the parks open through June 30, 2010, by closing campgrounds and facilities on weekdays, eliminating unfilled seasonal and administrative positions, and cutting back on maintenance and things like restroom cleaning.


Some $12.1 million will be saved this year by eliminating all major equipment purchases, including vehicle replacements.


Roy Stearns, the state parks spokesman, said $2.1 million will be saved by cutting seasonal and operations staffing and by not filling 350 vacant positions.


"What you see here are service reductions, like shutting down electricity, operating expenses, water, bathrooms, reducing the number of seasonal lifeguards, not picking up trash as often," Stearns said. "We're hoping to not lay anybody off, but to instead transfer people around where they are needed."


Mount Tamalpais is among the Bay Area locations most affected. The upper part of the mountain from Pantoll to East Peak and the Bootjack parking lot will be closed on weekdays, except some holidays, between Nov. 1 and June 30, 2010. The Alice Eastwood Group Camp will be closed from Nov. 1 to March 25, and the Frank Valley Horse Camp will be closed from Nov. 1 until June 30.


Some restroom facilities on Angel Island will be closed during the week and only a limited number of interpretive programs will be provided on the island. The Madrone Group Camp and Irving Group Picnic areas in Samuel P. Taylor park will be closed until March 25.


The Shell Beach and Millerton Point parking lots in Tomales Bay will be closed during the week, and all restroom facilities will be indefinitely shuttered.


The Back Ranch Meadows campground at China Campat China Camp will be open only on weekends and holidays through March 25, and the Weber and Buckeye Point recreation areas and the lower China Camp Village parking lot will be closed on weekdays through June 30.


Olompali State Historic Park will be closed Monday through Friday through June 30 as will six picnic areas at Mount Diablo State Park. The Live Oak campground, one of the two camping spots on the mountain, will be shut down until the end of June.


The main parking lot at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area will be closed on Thursdays and Fridays, and the Benicia Capital State Historic Park will be closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.


Idiot! I said in my last post that I wasn't a big fan of Schwarzenegger, because the guy has shown he is not above the sort of brain farts that regularly afflict our Legislature.


Here's how this will play out... areas now patrolled in remote areas will become pot farms and homeless encampments, while those in suburban areas will become magnets for crime. One untended campfire, one shoddy meth lab, one deranged homeless psycho with a lighter and BOOM - there goes what little money you would have saved just fighting the fires!

And they know this. This isn't about the money. It's about politics. This is a TINY amount of money that will almost assuredly be lost in emergency maintenance costs. But do these assholes care? No. Despite the massive opposition on behalf of environmental groups and the people, barely a peep is heard from the Legislature - they need their funding for welfare bums and illegal aliens too much to complain.

In one last, sad bit of supreme irony, The National Park Trust is giving Arnie a fucking award!

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is heading to the nation's capital this week to receive a national award from a park advocacy group, an honor that is being criticized by some park supporters in California.

The National Park Trust will honor the Republican governor Thursday with its Bruce F. Vento Public Service Award. The Rockville, Md.-based organization says it recognized Schwarzenegger for protecting thousands of acres of ranch land, creating the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, promoting youth fitness and addressing climate change.


In May, Schwarzenegger proposed saving $70 million by closing 220 of California's 279 state parks. He later moderated his proposal before eventually working out a deal with lawmakers to keep parks open by cutting spending elsewhere in the park department budget.


On Tuesday, he announced a list of service cuts and reduced operating hours that will remain in effect through at least June. Over the summer, Schwarzenegger opposed funding parks with a $15 surcharge on vehicle registrations, saying it amounted to a new tax.


"We think the governor has actually left the park system more vulnerable," said Traci Verardo-Torres, vice president of government affairs at the California State Parks Foundation.


"We would prefer that people not honor the governor under the guise of park protection until we see a real effort toward park protection by this administration."


State Sen. Mark Leno, a Democrat from San Francisco who sits on a committee overseeing state parks, called the timing of the award a "tragic irony." He said he hoped the award will encourage Schwarzenegger to do better.


Welcome to California. The Fast Lane to Hell.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Tommy Girl versus The Terminator!

A lovely bit of political theater here, first exposed by the establishment-alternative paper the SF Bay Guardian.

The flap is about a memo sent to failed comedian-turned-failed legislator Tom Ammiano from the Governtor's office regarding the veto of Ammiano's Port of SF financing bill. Here is the memo...



So what you say?

Ummm... take the first letter of every line, and then read them down...

What??? Did Arnold Scwarzenegger just say "fuck you" to Tom Ammiano???

Jeez... why would he do a thing like that?

I don't suppose it might have anything to do with Arnold's treatment at the hands of Ammiano at a meeting of San Francisco's Gay Mafia, er, I mean, the Democratic County Central Committee... a group even most San Franciscans consider a bunch of extremist nutjobs.

For a recap of the event, click here.

To make a long and dreadfully dull story short, Arnold was verbally abused by the put-upon leftists who took great umbrage to the presence of a REAL MAN in their midst, and Ammiano famously yelled - among other things - "kiss my gay ass!" - though I doubt any perceived crime would be worth that punishment!

The Governor's Office is insisting it's just a coincidence (wink, wink), but it's a hell of a coincidence, ain't it?

Needless to say, the local humorless leftists are not amused (they never are...)


Let's not forget -- there was a substantive bill here that would have helped San Francisco. So the gov is not just telling the entire Legislature Fuck You, he's also saying it to the city and county of SF.


What an asshole. No wonder it's hard to get anything done in Sacramento; the gov's office is full of frat boys spending hours (and it would have taken hours to get this exactly right) making stupid little-boy jokes.


Yeah... that's the reason!

Now, the ever-whiny Tim Redmond does have a point here... which is that a piece of legislation was sacrificed in this tit-for-tat between Tommy Girl and the Terminator. But the Governor had threatened to veto piles of legislation anyway (his reasoning being that the mountain of bills were all being passed while the state was in budget meltdown), so it's a fair bet that things wouldn't have turned out differently even if Ammiano hadn't had his hissy fit.

I'm not a big fan of the Governor by any means, but its nice to see a douchebag like Ammiano get a bit of his own medicine. I certainly have no love at all for the architect of San Francisco's illegal alien ID program.

In fact, I'd like to say something to Mr. Ammiano... but the Governor beat me to it!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Be Here Mao



via: netrightnation



Silence of the Lambs by Meghan Cox Gurdon



It’s proving harder than I expected to shake off the image of White House Communications Director Anita Dunn praising Mao Zedong at a commencement speech in June.


The videotape of her evoking one of her “favorite political philosophers” before an audience of graduating teenagers and their parents has a blandly sinister quality that’s all the more gripping for its echoing, tinny sound — a consequence of the soaring architecture of the National Cathedral, where Dunn gave the speech.



The discovery that a member of the Obama administration expressed admiration for the thinking of a collectivist tyrant is, while disappointing, not so surprising. Dunn is hardly the first acolyte of the president to publicly esteem foreigners with extremely bad ideas (see: Ayers, William).


It’s also true that we can all agree with Hitler and Stalin that two plus two equals four. We might even agree with Mao and Dunn that each man should fight his own war, if only in the lightest, most metaphorical way.


No, what’s so disconcerting is the thought of all those upturned faces, row upon row, in the cathedral’s great interior that day — all those impressionable young people, hearing an avatar of the Obama administration talk sympathetically about how, in 1947, Mao was being challenged from within his own party about his plan to take over China. (I know, right? What odds! What a guy!)


All those parents, listening to the speaker evoke one of the past century’s most accomplished mass murderers. The whole earnest, hopeful audience, tittering when Dunn infelicitously used the word “coupled” in juxtaposing Chairman Mao with one of her other favorite political philosophers, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.


One burst of nervous mirth, then quiescence. That’s what I can’t shake: The silence of all those people, trapped in the glare of the moment and unable if only from sheer politeness to express any discomfiture at the deeply unpleasant choices made by the woman brought in to mark their child’s great milestone.


Imagine if you are there. Your child is graduating and some dame from the Obama White House has turned up to give the main speech. It’s exciting! And you’re nodding and beaming proudly and glancing toward the young person for whom you’d leap in front of a train for, for whom you have groaned under the weight of private school tuition (that’s the audience Dunn was addressing), when suddenly the speaker’s voice starts talking about Chairman Mao.


Chairman Mao, you think? The 70-million-dead Mao? Re-education camp Mao? Totalitarian, one-child policy, political-power-grows-out-of-the-barrel-of-a-gun Mao?


And what can you do? Hiss? Turn to the person next to you and complain loudly? Of course you don’t, because it would be rude. And in any case, you’re done — the kid is graduating and there’s no point stirring things up, or identifying yourself as one of Those Parents who cause a fuss, who draw looks and careful questioning at the reception afterward, whose wheel is altogether too squeaky.


We live, so our children tell us, in a free country. You would not know it from observing many, many school events. You would think that, when the librarian uses a Thanksgiving read-aloud as an excuse to promote vegetarianism, a parent would speak out right away. She won’t.


You would think that when the music class performs a ballad to Obama, some parent will object loudly. Unlikely. You would think when elementary school students are given Shepard Fairey portraits of the president to color, some parent will complain. Nope.


This week, one parent talked about how it felt to be addressed by Mao-admiring Dunn.


“My heart kind of sunk is really what it was,” the man told Fox News’ Glenn Beck. “And it was mixed emotions of, you know, being really proud of my son who is getting out of high school and moving on to bigger and better things, and just wanting to enjoy that day to the max, you know, with family and friends, all of that, and then — but having this sunken heart feeling of, you know, why did she go there?”


The father who so bravely “spoke out” on Fox did so only after the network agreed to disguise his voice and shield his face. His son has graduated. He isn’t saying anything very dramatic or critical. Yet, he’s still afraid. In the Age of Obama, that ought to haunt everyone.

Be Here Mao



via: netrightnation

Monday, October 19, 2009

Good News! NASCAR and EA to Part Ways!

EA Sports - which had an exclusivity deal with NASCAR to be the sole provider of branded games for consoles - has announced that there will be no NASCAR game next year.

Two words: THANK GOD!


NASCAR fans hoping for the full-fledged return for the series to console videogames will have to look in directions other than at EA Sports. Speaking with GameSpot News today, EA Sports president Peter Moore confirmed that the sports game developer has "no plans" for a new NASCAR racing game. From the news story:


"There are no plans right now for NASCAR from EA," Moore said. "We had a great relationship over the years that I thoroughly enjoyed when I first got here. Unfortunately…we had to make some tough trade-offs. We've had to redeploy some of those folks. A number of the NASCAR team has moved over now to EA Sports MMA, which will be shipping next year. [We're] still a huge fan of NASCAR, but no plans right now to develop any further games for NASCAR from
EA Sports."


(snip)


As for EA Sports, it seems that organized motorsports videogames have been a tough fit for the company of late, something Peter Moore admitted to me back in March:


"So organized motorsports is a challenge. You know, we've been a huge licensee of NASCAR for many years. It's been challenging the last few years. I think a lot of it is the fact that we put out a game maybe every year, and there's not a lot of changes in NASCAR. I guess, [Dale Earnhardt Jr.] going from number 8 to number 88 and changing teams, is about the biggest thing that happened recently. But we've got to step back and figure out how we bring, whether it's NASCAR or any of the organized motorsports to life in a different way in the world of video games."


Yeah... that's the biggest thing that's happened. Not a complete switchover to an entirely different car, not the advent of Toyota, nope... Dale Jr. switching numbers was the biggest thing.


EA has created some of the most consistently ugly, shitty racing games ever, and really hasn't done anything at all innovative from a gameplay standpoint since NASCAR 2000 for the Playstation 1!


For 5 long years NASCAR fans have had to suffer from awful, ugly, clunky games written by people who have absolutely no fucking idea of what they are doing, have no idea what NASCAR is or how it works, and genuinely don't seem to have the slightest fucking clue about how to make a racing game in even the most basic fashion. The fact that most of the people are now going to work on a fucking wresting game shows how little EA put into this series.


If you ever want to give your kids an advanced economics lesson without sending them to business school, you can teach them that monopolies and exclusive licenses are bad and stifle creativity and innovation by just having them play any NASCAR game EA has crapped out in the last 7 years. They'll understand.

One name being batted around to pick up the ball is Codemasters - whose "Dirt to Daytona" was (and still is) light years ahead of anything EA did - and there will also be NASCAR cars and tracks incorporated into Gran Turismo 5.

So long EA and fuck off!


Thursday, October 15, 2009

GRINGOS MUTHAFUCKAS!!!

YOU'RE WELCOME, HONDURAS!




The United States of Motherfuckin' America pulled off a beautiful last minute equalizing goal against Costa Rica to put themselves through to South Africa as the top seed in the CONCACAF division.

People weren't exactly dancing in the streets here in the USA, but it was a very different story in Honduras...




This video, from La Gringa's Blogicito, is amazing... check out towards the end, when the revelers are chanting "Gringo Gringo Gringo" and "USA USA USA!"

How did this happen? Costa Rica, who had been very good through the first part of qualifying, needed only to beat the United States to gain an automatic birth into the 2010 WC Finals in South Africa, regardless of what Honduras did in their match in El Salvador. The Honduran team did their part by winning 1-0, and so all Costa Rica needed to do was hold on to their 2-1 lead going into stoppage time.

And they blew it.

Over 6 minutes of stoppage time was added on to the second half, mostly because of the concerted time-wasting tactics of the Ticos. Capping this was a truly bizarre scene on the sidelines in which Costa Rica coach Rene Simoes was red carded and forcefully escorted from the field by Washington D.C. police! This only added more time to the end, which proved to be the Ticos' undoing.

The USA's last minute goal allowed Honduras to finish third in the group, and forced Costa Rica into a playoff against the 5th place team in the South American division (that would be Uruguay) for the remaining spot from the Americas.

Perhaps this is a little bit of karmic payback for the way Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has handled the Honduran crisis. Maybe not... but we can hope.

More celebration from Honduras...






Saturday, October 10, 2009

Are You Fucking Kidding Me???

Well, well, well.

I heard that our illustrious President joined the ranks of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson today when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

I was with a group of people, and all of us - regardless of our political views - said, "for what???"

It's too late and I'm too tired to do a whole post on it, but it's fairly clear that the left-leaning Nobel committee was not so much honoring Obama as slamming Bush. It was a nice bit of political meddling - the Obama left have not many (any?) victories so the global Socialists decided to give the left a boost.

But it may not work. Many people - myself included - consider this award to be a thinly veiled slap in the face to American sovereignty and self-determination, and this whole thing does nothing to allay the sneaking suspicion that Obama's uncritical supporters are perhaps slightly deranged.


Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said as much. "Some people say, and I understand it, isn't it premature? Too early?" he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Well, I'd say then that it could be too late to respond three years from now. It is now that we have the opportunity to respond — all of us."


Obama certainly understands his challenges are too steep to resolve quickly. "It's not going to be easy," the president often says as he sets tasks for the United States.


And what would happen three years from now? Oh... the very real possibility that he'll be voted out of office. For not helping his country. Which is what a President of the United States is SUPPOSED to do, not drag his own country down to appease global Socialist critics.


But Obama doesn't see himself as something as mundane as the leader of the greatest country on Earth. Nope... his aspirations are global. And so, apparently, are his fawning disciples.


Hate to break it to ya, Thor-ba-jorn, but WE decide who our President is, not you. We decide how our country runs, not you. Stop meddling in our politics. Your giving the Nobel Peace Prize to a man who has done NOTHING to deserve it just shows your desperation and total lack of honor.


If Obama had any smarts, he'd decline the prize and tell you to give it to someone who deserves it.


btw: the guy in the YouTube at top is not me!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Crime and (No) Punishment in San Francisco

You'd think I'd be used to this by now. And I probably would get used to it if it didn't seem to be getting worse every day...

A San Francisco murder suspect's attorney sought assurances Wednesday that he would not be arrested for arranging what prosecutors called a "blatant act of witness intimidation" involving eight suspected gang members who stood up during a witness' testimony.

The defendant, Charles "Cheese" Heard, 25, was ordered to stand trial Wednesday on murder, attempted robbery and weapons charges linked to the slaying of Richard Barrett, 29, outside a Broadway nightclub in November 2008. Prosecutors say that Heard was after Barrett's gem-encrusted pendant of the Flintstones' Bamm-Bamm character.

During the first day of the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, just as a star witness was asked whether she recognized anyone as responsible for Barrett's shooting, eight reputed gang members stood up in unison, crossed their arms and stared at the witness.


The witness - a Texas woman who was in San Francisco for a conference and with friends when she saw the 1 a.m. shooting - nonetheless identified Heard as the gunman.


Prosecutor Michael Swart vociferously objected that the eight men who stood up amounted to "blatant witness intimidation."


After the hearing, the eight men were arrested on suspicion of gang-related witness intimidation. It is not clear who ordered the arrests. No decision has been made as yet on whether the men will be formally charged.


Heard's attorney, Eric Safire, acknowledged Wednesday that he arranged the incident to possibly confuse the identification by the witness.


Safire then sought assurances from Judge Wallace Douglass and the prosecutor that he would be immune from prosecution. "Before I continue, I want a representation from the district attorney's office that I'm not going to be arrested," Safire said, adding that the men were "here at my request - I motioned for them to stand up."


He said the men's arrest created a "chilling effect on my ability to represent my client." He threatened to withdraw from the case.


"I don't want to get arrested," the defense attorney explained later. "If (the eight men arrested Tuesday) intimidated the witness, you know what my cross examination would do to her?"


I know what you're thinking... what a punk! Oops... he's a scumbag lawyer and I might get sued!


Aw, fuck it... FUCK YOU ERIC SAFIRE!


Anywho... so you'd think that this blatant case of witness intimidation would be enough to get even the criminal-loving S.F. D.A.'s office off it's butt and protect those who put murderers away.

Think again...


Seven suspected gang members arrested in San Francisco for allegedly intimidating a courtroom witness were freed Thursday, as prosecutors said they needed more time to decide whether to file charges.

The men had been held for two days stemming from the incident Tuesday during a preliminary hearing for Charles "Cheese" Heard, 25, accused of murdering Richard Barrett in November 2008.

The seven men stood up with arms folded just as the prosecution's star witness was asked whether she saw the killer in the courtroom.


Heard's attorney, Eric Safire, says he orchestrated the display as a way to ensure the woman's identification was fair. The seven men in the audience, he said, all had gold grills on their teeth, as did Heard.


The men were arrested as they left the courtroom.


Prosecutors offered no specifics Thursday for why they were not filing charges. They said only that the probe remains "open and active" and that they will make a decision once the investigation is complete.


Safire welcomed the men's release. He noted that Superior Court Judge Wallace Douglass, who was presiding over the hearing for Heard, said their display had not amounted to witness intimidation.


"There was nothing illegal about what I attempted to do," Safire said.


Again... you would think I'd be used to this by now... the bald-faced lying, the caving in to criminals, the failing to protect the people who are trying to do the right thing.


It's a damn good thing this woman lives in Texas. Bad things happen to people when they count on the D.A.'s office to protect them.


And while I admire the woman's courage in standing up to the thugs... I wonder if it's worth it?


Maybe she should just go back to Texas and forget the whole thing happened. One thug kills another in a town that doesn't give a fuck about right and wrong. Really, who fucking cares?


The "cross-armed 7" will all probably be dead in a few years anyway, along with their homeboy who will spend the rest of his life (which, in Cali means 15 to 'whenever everyone forgets about it') in the pen.


All in a town with enough human sewage to keep dirtbag lawyers like Eric Safire rolling in dough.


Go Texas lady... live life, be happy. And don't give a passing thought to us. We don't deserve it.


Monday, October 5, 2009

A Simple Question

The Japanese Stock Market took a tumble today...

TOKYO — Japanese stocks fell to an 11-week low Monday, pressured by a strong yen and fresh worries over a slow global economic recovery following a worse-than-expected U.S. job report.


The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average lost 57.38 points, or 0.6 percent, to 9,674.49, down for a third straight trading day. It marked the lowest close since July 21 when the key stock index finished at 9,652.02.


The broader Topix index declined 0.8 percent to 867.28.


"Investors were disappointed by the worse-than-expected U.S. report. It was yet another somber indicator that a U.S. economic recovery is very fragile," said Masatoshi Sato, market analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. Ltd.


The Labor Department said Friday U.S. employers cut 263,000 jobs in September, which was more than the 201,000 cut in August and worse than expected. The U.S. jobless rate notched up from 9.7 percent to a new 26-year high of 9.8 percent.


So here's a simple question, does it make any sense at all - when the U.S. is losing over 200,000 jobs a month - that we are still importing 150,000 foreign workers a month (and that many in Congress are pushing for more)?

Is there any argument at all that can justify this?

I'm waiting.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

And The Illegal Alien Criminal Coddling Never Ends...

San Francisco just simply won't stop stepping up to the plate for it's most protected class: illegal alien criminals.

Supe David Campos will introduce today yet another piece of shit - er, legislation - designed to protect illegal alien criminals...


Supervisor Chris Daly is standing strong behind immigration legislation by Supervisor David Campos that has sparked one of the fiercest political debates this year.

Campos' legislation would prevent city officials from turning over juveniles who are illegal immigrants and charged with felonies to federal immigration law enforcement for deportation. The City would only be able to turn them over once they are convicted.

The punches thrown so far include letters sent by the local Republican Party to supervisors and other elected officials condemning the proposal and Mayor Gavin Newsom authorizing the leaking of a confidential memo regarding the proposal to reveal the city's legal risk.

"Right now, San Francisco is at the forefront of the (ILLEGAL) immigrant rights struggle. Last month, Supervisor David Campos, together with (ILLEGAL) immigrant rights advocates, introduced a proposal to provide juveniles who are undocumented (read: ILLEGAL) due process," Daly said in an opinion piece posted on a local news Web site.

"SF progressives should redouble our efforts on this issue and build the next generation of activists, as we engage."

Douchebag.

S.F.'s Republican Party has apparently finally grown a pair on the issue, releasing a statement condemning the proposal...

...San Francisco’s Republican Party is not too keen on The City’s practice of protecting illegal immigrants from possible deportation after they’ve had run-ins with the law, saying it ignores state and federal laws on the subject. So saying the local GOP is against Campos’ idea is hardly a bombshell.

But here’s a brief insight into their argument: Numerous state and federal laws clearly require local law enforcement to report foreign nationals suspected of criminal activity regardless of their immigration status or age. U.S. Constitution is “even clearer” in that the feds, not cities, dictate immigration policy.

Said Ed Sheppard, an executive with the local GOP: “I can envision charges for those arrested for a felony being reduced to a misdemeanor just to avoid alerting ICE about the arrest, even if a felony charge is warranted. That will make San Francisco unsafe.”

Sheppard makes an excellent point. Illegal alien criminals are now a protected class in San Francisco, and Kamala Harris - who never passes up an opportunity to reduce charges on any criminal let alone an illegal alien - will no doubt do just this. She'll get the "conviction," the illegal alien criminal will get off lightly and be allowed to stay in the country. It's a win-win, right?

Mayor Newsom - in a rare display of common sense - leaked a memo from the City Attorney's office that said that Campos' legislation could open up the City to lawsuits...

Earlier this week, the City Attorney’s office sent the mayor a "privileged and confidential" memo warning that the proposed legislation could lead to a host of legal troubles for The City. The mayor then made the memo not-so-confidential by forwarding it to a San Francisco newspaper.


That didn’t make Campos a happy camper.


"I am an attorney and I have never heard of the chief executive of a city releasing a memo that provides a roadmap for suing that city to any potential litigant," he told The Examiner Friday night at the City Hall swearing in ceremony for George Gascon.


Newsom, who was also at the event, said he had no choice but to warn the public, saying that proposing the legislation is "like playing with fire" and would "put the entire sanctuary city policy at risk."


"People have an obligation to know this, not just a right," he said.


Expect more stories like this one, though as everyone who lives here - including numbskulls like Campos and Daly - knows, it's already pretty much a daily occurrence...



Having their car stolen in San Francisco turned out to be just the start of the wild ride for out-of-towners Patrick McDonald and Linda Rogers.

It started back in mid-August, when the couple - he's from San Jose and she's from Auburn (Placer County) - stepped out of Mel's Diner on Van Ness Avenue to find their 2004 Toyota 4Runner was gone, along with thousands of dollars worth of bikes and other gear they were using in triathlon training.


A couple of weeks later, police found the SUV parked on a city street - but because McDonald and Rogers couldn't make the 15-minute deadline to pick it up, the cops had it towed to a storage yard.


After shelling out $380 for the towing, storage and processing, the couple found that their bikes and other equipment were gone. In their place were 20 empty purses, backpacks, credit cards, drug paraphernalia, burglary tools and DVDs on how to pick locks - plus the Canadian immigration ID card of the woman who may have stolen the car, and phone numbers for her relatives.


McDonald and Rogers phoned police, only to be told that the cops wouldn't investigate because the evidence was too circumstantial and, "anyway, the D.A. won't prosecute."


So, the couple called us and we phoned Police Chief George Gascón, who promised a swift investigation.


Fast forward to Sept. 23, when police arrested 39-year-old Melissa Small of Canada on suspicion of car theft and possession of stolen property. It turns out she was also wanted in Placer County, and that she was in the country illegally and under orders from immigration to wear a tracking bracelet on her ankle while awaiting deportation.


But here's the real capper.


When police went to arrest her at immigration offices in the federal high-rise at 630 Sansome
St., they emptied her purse and discovered a pair of knives, a sharp metal file and a couple of drug syringes. All of which she had gotten past the building's metal detectors.


Crazy? Not here. This is normal.