Feeding the addiction.

I finally stepped up to the plate and signed up for Xbox live.  Now that I’ve foisted that tidbit of knowledge on you, it’s apparent why there haven’t been any posts in a while.  Because I’m f*cking addicted.  This is what almost six years without gaming will do to a person. 

Of course, with the passage of that much time, there’s been a small degradation of my skills….which means I pretty much got my ass handed to me on a silver platter in my first TDM since sometime in 2003.  It’s started to come back to me though, although getting used to the controller is a little harder than the old mouse and adsw routine I was used to.

I definitely have been enjoying it though, and I might even add to this post or come up with another one…after I go play some more CoD.  See ya.

Meeboliteracy

 

Do Not Refrash.

Cat Abuser Gets His Ass Pwned.

An animal abuse story that has sparked outrage across the country has Comanche County Sheriff Kenny Stradley saying that two local boys are responsible. The teen was filmed beating and torturing a cat, and uploaded it to YouTube over the weekend. It was viewed about 30,000 times.

KSWO, Lawton, OK- Wichita Falls, TX: News, Weather, Sports. ABC, 24/7, Telemundo - UPDATE: Lawton teen films himself abusing cat, posts on YouTube

I hope this sick son of a bitch gets a taste of his own medicine in Juvi.  I saw the first ten seconds of that video thinking there's no way someone would really do that....that it had to be a joke.  It made me ill.

Welcome to the Future

This is some seriously cool stuff.

"Forensic Science is about to take a startling new turn – reconstructing facial features and skin tone simply by reading your DNA...The process, “forensic molecular photofitting” relies on mapping genes that are linked to skin pigmentation and in its more complex form, to groups of genes that control facial structure..."

Source: Irish Times

Brits Ban Bank Bonuses

Common sense prevails in the UK:

The government yesterday publicly hardened its position on bank executive bonuses saying it will be "very, very robust" in clamping down on bonuses for 2008 in banks in which it holds shares. It will only allow modest payments for clerks earning around £20,000 a year…it came as David Cameron said he would cap all 2008 bonuses at £2,000 for staff in banks owned or partly owned by the government. He also said the government should be willing to sue any bank executive who insisted their contract entitled them to a large bonus for the year.

Iran Wants Nukes? Who’d Have Thought?

Little more than a year after U.S. spy agencies concluded that Iran had halted work on a nuclear weapon, the Obama administration has made it clear that it believes there is no question that Tehran is seeking the bomb...Senior U.S. officials now discount a National Intelligence Estimate issued in November 2007 that was instrumental in derailing U.S. and European efforts to pressure Iran to shut down its nuclear program.

No shit. A little late to the ballgame aren't we?

Where the Wild Things Are

I’ve come to the conclusion that I live across the street from either a medical experiment in hybridization gone horribly wrong, or a mafia enforcer with the worst taste in clothes I’ve ever seen. (Or lack thereof.)

Not to be an asshole here, but you know, sometimes you really should either take a good long look in the mirror before you step outside your door…or…spend some of that well earned mafia money on Jenny Craig and some plastic surgery.

Case in point: What the hell is this thing?

Behold: Beauty or Beast?

Not only does it look like something out of a b-grade horror flick, it kind of quacks like a duck when it talks. It does so often. Loudly.  I’m also pretty sure I saw either a loaf of bread or a small child fall out from under its gut when it stood up too.

And to think I used to have such faith in humanity.

They're Coming For Your Guns.

Your daily dose of change and hope:

[HR45] will make it illegal to own a firearm unless it is registered with the database in Washington D.C. As a gun owner you will have to be finger printed, you will be required to provide your DL#, SS#, you must maintain a valid address at all times, submit to mental and physical health records being put on file, you will also be required to file any address changes and any ownership changes even if a private sale. Each update will cost $25 and if you fail to comply you will lose your right to own firearms. This bill and its language mirror almost completely one defeated last year in the House of Representatives by soon to be Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Will we the citizenry be as lucky this time?

Pass this on to everyone who believes in strict Constitutionalism and remember that laws only apply to those who obey them. Criminals by definition and nature do not abide by laws. New laws and restrictions only apply to the law abiding citizen and are not written with the criminal in mind. With guns, it is not about having laws on the books to prosecute individuals, it is about taking guns away from the people so that no one has them in the first place.

Credit: One Man's Thoughts

Death Masks of Awesomeness.

Death masks are just cool.  Check 'em out.

Veto Corleone: The 7 Creepiest Death Masks From American Political History

The Line In The Sand, Part Two.

The so-called 'stimulus package' being rammed through the legislative branch is not only wasteful, pork-laden garbage that our great-great-great grandchildren's grandchildren will be paying off, it's dangerous.

I'm talking about more than a simple danger to the economy. I'm talking about to the American way of life, and more specifically to American lives. I'm going to put this in a way that everyone should be able to understand, so read it twice if you have to.

If this package passes, some Americans WILL die.

"..no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle...One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective."

Yes, you read that right. We're being asked to suspend disbelief here and imagine for a second that the Federal Government can actually find its own ass with both hands, a map and a GPS, AND do so in a way that doesn't cost a lot of money. Sure.

It gets better, read on.

"Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties. “Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time...

What penalties will deter your doctor from going beyond the electronically delivered protocols when your condition is atypical or you need an experimental treatment? The vagueness is intentional."

It's a power-grab. Plain and simple. But wait:

"The goal... is to slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs. [Daschle] praises Europeans for being more willing to accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” and he chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system.

This guy is unreal. Of course Europeans give up easily...they took their lessons from the French. You can't tell me that things are so bad that it's necessary to tell our senior citizens to just suck it up and accept imminent and unavoidable death. Americans don't give up without a fight, it's part of what defines us as a country. Daschle and the Democrats apparently don't see things the same way.

I wonder if Daschle has called Ted Kennedy and advised him to stop treatments for his brain cancer because he's expecting too much from the health-care system. Has he told Kennedy to just man up and die?

Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.

Is this what America has become? Is this what we must become in order to 'survive?' An America where we tell our seniors to go piss off and die because it costs too much to treat them? Where we just give up?

Congratulations America. This is what you voted for. Here's your change.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Democrats: Want Money? Give up God.

Gateway Pundit: Unreal!... Dems Ban Religious Expression On College Campuses In Stimulus Bill

Rules of Democratic Engagement:

1) Don't question Barack.

2) Don't pay taxes

3) Want some bailout money? Check your faith at the door.

Too bad there's a little hitch:

This funding restriction is unconstitutional. In the 2001 Good News Club v. Milford Central School Supreme Court decision, the court ruled that restricting religious speech within the context of public shared-use facilities (or schools) is unconstitutional...This is now an ACLU stimulus designed to trigger lawsuits designed to intimidate religious organizations across the nation. This language is so vague, it’s not clear if students can even pray in a dorm room renovated with this funding since that is a form of ‘religious worship.’ If this provision remains in the bill, it will have a chilling effect on students of faith in America.

So it begins.

Another One Bites The Dust

Another day, another Obaminee falls flat on her face.

A Senate committee today abruptly canceled a session to consider President Obama's nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis to be labor secretary in the wake of a report saying that her husband yesterday paid about $6,400 to settle tax liens against his business -- including liens that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years.

Washington Post

Obama Caves to EU Threats

The European Union warned the US yesterday against plunging the world into depression by adopting a planned “Buy American” policy, intensifying fears of a trade war.

Maybe I'm reading the news on different websites than everyone else, but it seems like the world is doing a pretty good job of throwing itself into depression as it is.

The EU threatened to retaliate if the US Congress went ahead with sweeping measures in its $800 billion (£554 billion) stimulus plan to restrict spending to American goods and services.

I think it would be a mistake, though, at a time when worldwide trade is declining, for us to start sending a message that somehow we’re just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade.”

God forbid we lookout for ourselves first.

Class Warfare, Hot Off the Presses...Come and Get It!

Are the other 99 percent of us supposed to feel bad for these people or what?

The Obama administration is expected to impose a cap of $500,000 for top executives at companies that receive large amounts of bailout money, according to people familiar with the plan.

“That is pretty draconian — $500,000 is not a lot of money, particularly if there is no bonus,” said James F. Reda, founder and managing director of James F. Reda & Associates, a compensation consulting firm. “And you know these companies that are in trouble are not going to pay much of an annual dividend.”

“It would be really tough to get people to staff” companies that are forced to impose these limits, he said. “I don’t think this will work.”

And this kind of greedy bullshit is the reason companies are dropping like frat-boys' pants in Tijuana.

Ironically, the most common-sense thing I've heard from a world leader comes from China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

China’s Prime Minister launched an excoriating attack yesterday on “greedy” executives receiving “astronomical” salaries who should take the blame for the global recession.

In Davos on Wednesday Mr Wen blamed China’s economic woes on US-led Western financial institutions, criticising “a lack of self-discipline” and “blind pursuit of profit”.

The Golden Ticket

Would you too like to join the ranks of change and hope? Want a cushy job in the Obama administration? Simple! Don't pay taxes. It certainly seems like that would put you on the fast track to getting a nomination at least. As of now, 1 in 3 tax cheats nominated to the adminstration actually make it in. In case you're keeping score:

Tim Geithner - Got away with it and still got the job.

Tom Daschle - You mean I was supposed to pay taxes??

Nancky Killifer - Wait, I was supposed to pay them too?

Just try getting off this easy in the private sector.

The Stimulus Plan.

Think about this for a minute. Here's the Stimulus Plan in a nutshell.




Credit: SuitablyFlip.com

Stay Glassy

My Desktop.

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

More Ecopaths Against Kids!

Will the idiocy never end?

“Most young girls dream of marriage and babies. But Sarah dreamed of helping the environment - and as she agonised over the perils of climate change, the loss of animal species and destruction of wilderness, she came to the extraordinary decision never to have a child.”

And her fiancé Mark adds: “Sarah and I live as green a life a possible. We don’t have a car, cycle everywhere instead, and we never fly. We recycle, use low-energy light bulbs and eat only organic, locally produced food. In short, we do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint. But all this would be undone if we had a child. That’s why I had a vasectomy. It would be morally wrong for me to add to climate change and the destruction of Earth.”

Pal, I hate to break it to you but you're too stupid to break wind, let alone the Earth.  Where do they find these people?

God bless the UK for keeping me entertained though.

If it's Good Enough for Britain...

In the UK:

Peers who avoid tax or have criminal convictions - such as Lord Archer and Lord Black - are to be expelled from the House of Lords in the wake of the lords for hire scandal.

Seems like a logical move, so why can't we do it here?

A guy who can’t figure out his own taxes is supposed to fix the economy? This is the absurd rationale being offered by media figures such as Andrea Mitchell of NBC News for confirming Timothy Geithner as Obama’s Treasury Secretary after it was disclosed that he was a serial tax evader.

Does anybody care?  Or are we all hung up on the Super Bowl and American Idol?

This is the line in the sand.

There's a famous quote: "Those who stand for nothing fall for anything."  I'm reminded of this constantly these days, be it unwavering, unflinching, and most of all unquestioning support for the new President or some other foolish escapade.

By the same token, I am all for supporting a real 'cause' if there is no doubt a need exists to support the cause and if the mode of support is, to paraphrase the mission statement of Google, 'not evil.'

Within the context of any cause, it is imperative to answer one question honestly, truthfully and with one hundred percent certainty.  Does the end justify the means?

Environmentalists have just tossed this argument out the window and spat on it.  This time, an environmentalist nutjob has said publicly what probably a fair number of environmentalists think but don't have the guts to say.  It's disturbing in so many ways I'd be an old man if I sat here long enough to list them. 

Couples who have more than two children are being “irresponsible” by creating an unbearable burden on the environment, the government’s green adviser has warned.

Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the government’s Sustainable Development Commission, says curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming.

Abort a pregnancy to save a tree?  Is this jackass so deluded from years of either reclusive academic study or societal dysfunction that the best solution he can propose to a problem that has not yet even been scientifically confirmed to exist is to increase the number of abortions?

What kind of sick asshole comes up with something like that? I'm not even scraping the surface of the prolife vs. pro-choice debate here; nor do I intend to.  I'm merely contesting the fact that this sick bastard thinks that whereas some people make a choice to recycle, drive hybrids, etc., that some others should just decide to terminate a pregnancy.  For the environment.

While we're at it, let's just shut down all the power plants, outlaw cars, and toss old people into the sea.

What is wrong with people anymore?  Is there no respect at all left for the dignity of life?  Have we replaced that respect with some pseudo-religious movement that worships empty suits in government and bows before trees?   It's not even that there's a lack of respect for life alone; it seems there's a lack of common sense powering this selfish, misguided excuse for a society we live in. 

Some days I'm just disgusted with how stupid, vile and despicable some people really are.