The Countertop Chronicles

"Run by a gun zealot who's too blinded by the NRA" - Sam Penney of RaisingKaine.com

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Church Violence

In continuing on my earlier thread about guns in Churches, it appears that there was an actual attack on a local churchgoer in my hometown, McLean, VA on Halloween Weekend. Turns out, two of the scum bags are from David Snyder's peaceful little "non violent" burb.

Here's the police report

Three men were arrested Saturday night for assaulting a victim with a BB gun. On Saturday, October 30, around 11:00 p.m., a 33-year-old man was walking to his parked car at Trinity United Methodist Church, located at 1205 Dolley Madison Boulevard, in the McLean area, when he was struck by a BB pellet. With the assistance of three other witnesses, the victim chased and detained two suspects involved in the incident. While the group was detaining the two suspects, a third suspect appeared and assaulted a 25-year-old man who was assisting the first victim. Police arrived and placed all three suspects under arrest. None of the injuries were life-threatening and noone was transported to the hospital.


None life threatening my ass.

The perpetrators are going straight to hell for sure. Their lucky it wasn't me who they picked on.


Here's their names and links to their pictures (mug shots). Give them hell.

George S. Bashian, 20, of 1101 Pine Hill Road (who lives right across the street).
Matthew C. McMahon, 20, of 7302 Idylwood Road, Falls Church, VA.
Nathaniel R. Fischer, 19, of 2222 Westmoreland Street, Falls Church, VA. His home phone number is 703-533-7562.


What's almost as troubling to me as their actions is what the inept police have decided to charge these assholes with: malicious wounding, conspiracy to commit a felony, and assault by mob. What about Attempted Fucking Murder???

Monday, November 29, 2004

Blogger Problems

Sorry for the lack of posts. I had three I tried putting up (and an update to the Falls Church stabbing post) but for some reason, blogger isn't posting them. I'll try to fix the bug tonight and repost everything once I am home.

I HEART WAL MART

Why????

Because they are sticking it to liberals left and right.

How? By selling guns and ammo online (well, sort of, you can shop online, but you still need to process the paperwork at your local store).

What kind are they selling?

Marlins, Remingtons, Savage Arms, and among others.

Today's featured rifle is the gorgeous
Henry Big Boy in .44 Magnum. Only $568.18

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Where are the crowds??

This post was originally about how I thought GALYANS Trading Company was going the way of K-Mart based, in part, on the utter lack of crowds shopping there this weekend. Here is how it originally read.

As you probably know, major anti RKBA traitor Dick's Sporting Goods has purchased Galyan's, and being the Dick they are, is castrated the formerly venerable Galyan's hunting department to ensure only Brady Approved (TM) firearms. This mean, as we all know, a ban on handguns, and sure enough, the Galyan's handgun stock has been pretty much depleted with about 2 dozen left in the Fairfax, VA store.

Not surprisingly, shoppers seem to be reacting to this change like its becoming K-mart or something. While shopping there today to take advantage of their huge going out of the firearms business sale (Even with the Ammo day purchases, I still needed some more), I was shocked by how few people were in the store. At 1:30 pm on an otherwise overcast day, on the biggest shopping weekend of the year, while they were hosting a 50% off sale, the Galyan's parking lot had all of 2 dozen cars in it.

Beautiful.

I get my cheap ammo, cheap hearing protectors, and a new knife, and Dick's is made to suck the loss of sales hard.


Apparently, the dearth of shoppers is occurring all over. Instapundit has more. I'll just add that as I did some Christmas shopping with the wife and son today we too noticed the lack of crowds. Home Depot was deserted. Lowes had slightly more people there, but still hadn't set up its Christmas ornaments and trees yet. Wal Mart was as crowded as it usually is on a Sunday afternoon - but there were no more crowds than usual. Finally, traffic at Tyson's Corner was light, and Neiman Marcus's crowds and holiday display were both anemic.

I think the internet is playing a big part in all of this . . . . most of my shopping was completed weeks ago, with some final purchases being made late last night and this afternoon over the internet from Cabelas, LL Bean, Lands End, and of course, Amazon.com (and Amazon.uk too!)

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Church Guns

Over at the The High Road, we've been discussing carrying guns to church.

I posted that I generally don't because it was my belief that under Virginia law church was one of those places where it was illegal to carry concealed (and I just didn't want to deal with open carrying around all the secret service guys at my church) but Crucible pointed out that the probibition is not absolute.

I hope to research this further over the weekend, especially in light of this report.
Two men wearing ski masks and carrying a gun barged into a Roman Catholic church Monday, robbing parishioners who were waiting for morning Mass to begin, police said.

The men, one of them armed with a gun, entered St. Anthony's just before 6:30 a.m. as about a dozen parishioners were inside.


Yikes.

In other news, I think my wife is finally going to agree to get a Concealed Carry Permit. Were going gun shopping on Saturday for her, and have gotten a baby sitter so that we can grab dinner and go shooting Satuday night.

Fun! Fun!! Fun!!!

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Crime Free Falls Church

The Washington Post is reporting a bruta, fatal, stabbing at the Eden Center in Falls Church, Virginia.

The Eden Center, of course, is well known as a criminal hotspot and controlled by various Vietnamese gangs. Its also located across the street from the Fall Church Home Depot where the home grown Islamic terrorists John Muhamad and Lee Boyd Malvo shot and killed an FBI agent during their sniping terror spree two years ago.

The Virgnia Citizens Defense League is wondering if this latest attack, taking place in broad daylight, might change Falls Church councilman Dave Snyder's (RINO) views.
Falls Church councilman David Snyder claimed a few months ago that no one has needed a gun in Falls Church since the mid 1800's. Oh yeah? I sure that Kimloan Thi Nguyen would have given anything to have been armed as she was being stabbed to death **in broad daylight** behind a coffee house where she worked. Her ex-husband was also severely wounded and is in the hospital.

Mr. Snyder probably had the Falls Church police out looking for law-abiding gun owners instead of getting violent criminals off the street. (If they ever decide to make a new film based on Lewis Carroll's "Alice through the looking glass," I suggest they film it in Falls Church.)

I am thankful for Virginia's full preemption law, carried by Delegates Cole and Hogan, that has taken away the power of petty politicians to disarm us 'for our own good.' Preemption will always be defended vigorously by VCDL.

Finally, those of you who live in Falls Church might want to ask Mr. Snyder and the City Manager if they still think that no one needs a gun in Falls Church.


The same story also had a report on the arrest of two Mara Salvatrucha 13 gang members and a South Side Locos gang member in Woodbridge.

Luckily, in large part because of Virginia's belief in its citizens protecting themselves, these types of crimes are still fairly rare and mostly limited to gang on gang violence. However, its only a matter of time before innocent bystanders become unwilingly invovled and for that reason alone, I will continue to carry whenever I'm in the area.

WELCOME Alphecca readers. While this post is about a brutal stabbing in Falls Church, VA, its not my post about Church violence. Rather, see this post and this more recent post (I put it up this morning). Since these are all right after one another, I think Jeff just transcribed the wrong link.

For what its worth, Falls Church describes three seperate entities. First, there is the City of Falls Church where RINO David Snyder (whom I happen to know and generally like as a person) is the former mayor, a former VA House of Delegates candidate, and a current city Councilman. There is also the Falls Church area of Fairfax County which surrounds the City, but is a seperate legal entity controlled by the larger Fairfax County government. Finally, there is The Falls Church itself, one of the oldest Episcopalian church in the country (the current building dates to 1768, but the original building on the spot was erected in 1734. George Washington was elected ot the vestry there in 1863. Go read check their web page out and learn more about the The Falls Church. Its had a fascinating and important role in U.S. history.


UPDATE In the comments, Peter Caress (I am not familiar with him, but I think this is the same guy) disagrees with my description of the Eden Center, stating it is simply a place where immigrant kids hang out. I disagree and provide a long list (over 10) of major national news reports that I believe support my position that activity at the Eden Center has historically been controlled by Asian street gangs and continues to be. Read the discussion and make up your own mind. Once I get blogger back up (and have more time) I am going to put up a larger post on the subject.

Don't Shop Target!

Of course, I don't shop at Tar-jay because Sen. Mark Dayton is little more than a card carrying communist and I don't want to give him any more money. For that matter, I don't shop at Herb Kohl's stores either (though I do use Heinz-Kerry Ketchup because, sadly, nothing else comes close and his incometence insured four more years of Republican rule. Plus, his concession speach was generally graceful and patriotic. I like the "we are all Americans" line.)

Apparantly, there are a whole lot of other reasons to mandate that people Don't Shop Target! including their refusal to allow the Salvation Army to collect holiday donations there.

Bastards!! But, of course, this isn't surprising.

Party of the people my ass.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

I downloaded the new U2 album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, from iTunes last night at about 12:30 am (as soon as it was on-line). Listened to it 2 times (so, ya see, I'm a bit tired).

I haven't done anything like this since college, but have to say, it was well worth it. What a tremendous album.

National Review Online has a great review. Check it out.

The Boys of Summer

It finally looks like its going to happen. Washington, D.C.'s baseball team, the Washington Nationals were introduced to the city yesterday. Our season ticket deposits are in (we are splitting tickets with a group of friends) and we are now eagerly anticipating opening day at RFK - April 14 while the Library of Congress hosts a special exhibit on that other national treasure,
Baseball Songs.

Of course, John Fogerty, of Creedence Clearwater Revival fame, wrote the best baseball song ever.

Centerfield
Words and Music by John Fogerty

Well, beat the drum and hold the phone - the sun came out today!
We’re born again, there’s new grass on the field.
A-roundin’ third, and headed for home, it’s a brown-eyed handsome man;
Anyone can understand the way I feel.

Oh, put me in, coach - I’m ready to play today;
Put me in, coach - I’m ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be centerfield.

Well, I spent some time in the mudville nine, watchin’ it from the bench;
You know I took some lumps when the mighty casey struck out.
So say hey willie, tell ty cobb and joe dimaggio;
Don’t say it ain’t so, you know the time is now.

Oh, put me in, coach - I’m ready to play today;
Put me in, coach - I’m ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be centerfield.

Yeah! I got it, I got it!

Got a beat-up glove, a homemade bat, and brand-new pair of shoes;
You know I think it’s time to give this game a ride.
Just to hit the ball and touch ’em all - a moment in the sun;
(pop) it’s gone and you can tell that one goodbye!

Oh, put me in, coach - I’m ready to play today;
Put me in, coach - I’m ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be centerfield.

Oh, put me in, coach - I’m ready to play today;
Put me in, coach - I’m ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be centerfield.
Yeah!

Monday, November 22, 2004

For your reading pleasure

Blogging is going to continue to be light here this week as I spend most of my time responding to some late breaking environmental developments at my job (ya know, the other one, the one that pays the rent) as well as some mind numbing internal reports the corporate types require (how very Dilbertish).

In the meantime, feel free to check out the last issue of the Virginia Citizen's Defense League newsletter. At 32 pages long, its choc full of great gun reading such as this report on another march of somewhat less than a million moms.
The press conference started shortly after Mayor McCollum arrived in the bright pink Million Mom March gun-banmobile. The Richmond NBC affiliate, Channel 12, had its cameras rolling as the Mayor addressed no one but the staff of the MMM march and 25 children behind him, most of whom looked bored. In fact the only people in front of the mayor were Channel 12 and VCDL! There was not a single adult that wasn’t on the staff of MMM, on the staff of VAHV, or a politician. Six VCDL members were on hand and held up a “Guns Save Lives” banner, directing it towards the press conference.

The deadline for submissions to next quarters newsletter is December 15, so get to work.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Manly Men

Remember when John Kerry fell on the ski hill and blamed secret security? What an asshole.

Bush, on the other hand, goes Mano y Mano with Chilean security forces when they try to take out his security team. Bush is one bad ass. He's in super shape, he's a Texan with a gun, and he doesn't take shit.

Good for him.

My guess is that the respect he enjoys throughout the military will only grow because of this incident. . . . . and he can be pretty sure that if the need arises, his security detail will do what is needed.


Hoodlums

Well, lets just say the fight is another reason not to like basketball. Not that I actually like it, but this just gives me one more reason to really dislike it.

Guns & Revolvers

This is seriously funny stuff.

Velvet Revolver spoofing the Buckethead era Guns N Roses.

Check it out.

Saturday, November 20, 2004

The Ding Dong Song

Is Gunther's Ding Dong Song the funniest every??

I don't know, you.

tell me.

Gilligan's Island

Glenn Reynolds has been blogging a lot lately about the release of Gilligan's Island on DVD, even mentioning a new TBS reality show.

The show looks interesting, and it seems as if they cast really does fit the charecters, especially Ginger, the movie star. She's being covered by Rachel Hunter aka Ms. Rod Stewart aka Stacy's Mom.

Hot!!!

Of course, being a Jersey Boy, I used to go to Fountain's of Wayne every Christmas with my family and friends. What fun!!!

Friday, November 19, 2004

Wi-Fi Survey

Starwood Hotels (Sheraton, et al) is conducting an online survey of their customers Wi-Fi needs.

Its fairly detailed, but at the end of the day, looks like they want to charge an excessive rate for Wi-Fi access.

Take the survey and let them know - the marketplace demands free Wi-Fi!!

Medic Mom's Gunlinks

Medic Mom has posted a great group of gun links though, as some point out, its not nearly complete. For instance, while all the blogs listed do a fine fine job, they fail to include any inside-the-beltway bloggers who are keeping track of all the 2nd Amendment developments in our nation's capitol and throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

I wonder who she could link that would fill that role???

Light Postings

Sorry for the light postings the last couple of days. With Congress back in town, I've been running around trying to finish up some last minute business and ensure the nation stays on course. I know, its a big burden, but someone's got to do it.

Quick highlights - Wednesday's hearing of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy and Environment was hijacked by the craziest and looniest of the moonbat left - Dennis Kucinich, Chris Van Holland, and John Tierney - who decided that instead of discussing OMBs nominations for regulatory reform that they would attack EPA Deputy Administer Stephen Johnson and OIRA head John Graham over the state of the Utility Mercury Rule. As an American, I thought their performance (the idiot moonbats in Congress) was really rather insulting and showed once again why American's continue to reject their deluded liberal world view in ever greater numbers.

What witness did they present to refute the testimony of Stephen Johnson - a 28 year career EPA employee who only recently became a political employee (must punish must punish) and Harvard PhD Dr. Graham???

Some idiot Associate Law Professor from the Seattle Law School who looked 18 (and has written, well . . . certainly not extensively), read what amounted to NRDC talking points, and decided she was qualified to discuss not only the science of mercury exposure (as if she were a toxicologist) but also the design and effectiveness of various mercury control technology's in levels most engineers would be frightened to approach. Not surprisingly, she was more or less completely wrong on every point of her testimony. If anyone could be as off as Dennis Kucinich, she certainly qualifies. I'd advise not to look at Seattle if your considering law school.

The other highlight of course was a meeting today at King and Spaulding's Washington, D.C. office.

Gorgeous. Its like walking into one of those Apple Macintosh stores. Everything was a very clean, futuristic white, with beautiful white lights along the baseboards and integrated into the wall panels, as well as long panoramic windows looking out over Pennsylvania Ave. On top of it all was one of the better law firm collections of American art.

After practicing for 6 years - and then escaping - I usually hate to attend meetings at law firms. This time, I felt completely at ease and rather enjoyed the experience. You can thank the interior designers for that. They did a great job and I urge everyone to try and visit King & Spaulding's D.C. office.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Dreams

Early last month, I noted the possibility that the heavens might align and our dreams of Roger Water burying the hatchet and reuniting with Pink Floyd might stand a chance.

Well, some dreams do come true.
Back then Clapton was declared a "guitar God", Ginger Baker was the epitome of the wild-eyed rock drummer and Jack Bruce was the pioneer of a raw, biting tone for the electric bass. Over two years they sold more than 35 million records, producing a new form of "heavy" music that fused hard rock, blues and jazz. But they were unable to survive their ego-powered celebrity.

Today, they are finalizing plans for a series of reunion concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in May. Orbitz has round trip airfares to Heathrow available for only $581.

Strange Brew
Eric Clapton, Gail Collins and Felix Pappalardi


Strange brew -- kill what's inside of you.

She's a witch of trouble in electric blue,
In her own mad mind she's in love with you.
With you.
Now what you gonna do?
Strange brew -- kill what's inside of you.

She's some kind of demon messing in the glue.
If you don't watch out it'll stick to you.
To you.
What kind of fool are you?
Strange brew -- kill what's inside of you.

On a boat in the middle of a raging sea,
She would make a scene for it all to be
Ignored.
And wouldn't you be bored?
Strange brew -- kill what's inside of you.

Strange brew, strange brew, strange brew, strange brew.
Strange brew -- kill what's inside of you.


Did I mention I used to live down the street from Royal Albert Hall, right behind Kennsington Market, and saw Clapton there in March of 1994. Stunning.

Absolutely stunning.

Now, we just need Roger and David to get over their tiff and all in the world will be good. Of course, if John McVie and Mick Fleetwood got their heads out of their asses and reformed the real Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac (and dropped the bad California light rock cheese) then all would be good with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

Condi Rice

The President is introducing her right now.

If I haven't said it before, let me say it right here. Condi Rice is hot.

Smoking hot. In a sexy librarian who turns into a sex kitten when she lets her hair down way.

Super hot.

Smokin', even.

The fact that she's smarter then heck makes her even sexier.

And don't get me started on the heightened sex appeal that comes from the fact that a hot women has a bigger gun than you.

Sweeeet

UPDATE:Apparantly, Peggy Noonan disagrees.
"I think she is extremely ladylike in her bearing and manner," I said. "Soft voice, pastel suits, heels, not a hair out of place."

"Yes," my friend said, "but she doesn't give off any sparks of sexuality."

"That's another thing I like about her", I said. We don't want a secretary of state running around giving off sparks of sexuality, do we. We don't want a secretary of state giving off sparks at all. We want a nice, quiet, calming, competent, sophisticated, even-keeled person to do a good, solid, nonshowy job.
I'm sorry. I think she's sparkles like a kid on the Fourth of July, though FWIW, neither my assistant nor the lady in the next office over from me agree. But their both raving Democrats.

The Shooting Times

First Sporting Clays and now Paintball.

I wonder what's going on at the New York Times.
They must really be desperate to win in 2008.

The Shooting Times

First Sporting Clays and now Paintball.

I wonder what's going on at the New York Times.
They must really be desperate to win in 2008.

Format Problems

In case you haven't noticed, we contiue to have some serious formating problems here. I tried to fix them to no avail last night and decided to just put all the posts back up cause folks should read them . . . especially my letter to Nicholas Kristof.

I spent some time research new skins and may try to fix one up and apply it tonight (if my son goes to sleep on time . . . not something he normally does). Otherwise, the page may stay like this for a couple of days.

Asinine Tax

I rented a car from Avis this weekend (Pontiac Vibe - nice styling, roomy interior, decent gas milage, a bit sluggish but my wife loved it) for a trip to New Jersey to see my ailing grandmother. I have my American Airlines frequent flyer information stored on Avis's computers so that I automatically pick up air miles.

Turns out those miles aren't free and whats more they are a taxable commodity to the tune of 7.5% Now, considering the heavy discounting that goes on in the airline industry, the constant price fluctuations, and the rampant use of miles for the purchase of items other than airfare, how in the heck do they calculate the cost basis of those miles and if I end up using them on a lower priced fare am I eligible for a rebate on the difference??

Of course, the charge is small enough that I am not liekly to put up a big fight - heck it was only $0.06 for a sunday reduced rate rental. However, I imagine this tax could add up quickly if applied to only 75% of rental cars.

I've never seen it before. Have any of you?

Unloaded

NY Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof published a widely read roadmap for the Democratic Party to following on gun control in the future.
Since the Brady Bill took effect in 1994, gun-control efforts have been a catastrophe for Democrats. They have accomplished almost nothing nationally, other than giving a big boost to the Republicans. Mr. Kerry tried to get around the problem by blasting away at small animals, but nervous Red Staters still suspected Democrats of plotting to seize guns.

Moreover, it's clear that in this political climate, further efforts at gun control are a nonstarter. You can talk until you're blue in the face about the 30,000 gun deaths each year, about children who are nine times as likely to die in a gun accident in America as elsewhere in the developed world, about the $17,000 average cost (half directly borne by taxpayers) of treating each gun injury. But nationally, gun control is dead.

So it's time for a fundamentally new approach, emblematic of how Democrats must think in new ways about old issues. The new approach is to accept that handguns are part of the American landscape, but to use a public health approach to try to make them much safer.

The model is automobiles, for a high rate of traffic deaths was once thought to be inevitable. But then we figured out ways to mitigate the harm with seat belts, air bags and collapsible steering columns, and since the 1950's the death rate per mile driven has dropped 80 percent.


He then lists a number of steps to be taken
  • Make guns babyproof and incorporate more safeties to prevent their accidental misuse.

  • Require magazine safties so a gun cannot be fired without one.

  • Smart guns.

  • More triggerlocks

  • National Database


Yeah, right. This is my response to him.

Mr. Kristof,

First, let me congratulate you on being, in my opinion, one of only two New York Times columnist with a shred of credibility left (The other, of course, being Mr. Safire. Sadly Mr. Friedmann, who I used to respect tremendously, transformed into a rabid and illogical partisan over the last few months). While I rarely agree with you on most policy issues, I find your columns for the most part thought provoking and have the sense that your ideas come from deeply held convictions. The convictions are the same ones most "red staters" (why are we red and blue staters and not simply diverse Americans with different views?) fail to find in any of the Democratic party's major national figures. While not nearly as religious as some of my neighbors, I have been especially struck by your columns over the past three or four years on the role of faith in the lives of most Americans and your experiences growing up on a farm and can see the impact of your upbringing and those values in your reports on teenage prostitution in Asia and genocide in Africa.

That said, I wanted to take a moment to respond to this mornings column on gun control.

I agree with you that the Democratic party has suffered terribly because of its deep seated opposition, and its unpersuasive post hac rationalizations for that opposition, to the most important right conveyed by the bill of rights: the individual right of self defense. However, until there is a concerted and very public effort by the party to drive out its most divisive and offensive members in a fashion similar to the Republican party's rejection and ouster of Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston, and Trent Lott, little the Democrats say will have any impact in "fly over land." Some might argue this election was determined months ago when John Kerry returned from the primary campaign trail to cast what might have been his only vote of the year for renewal of the fraudulent and ineffective so called assault weapons ban. The damage Mr. Kerry did to his campaign, when afterward he posed for a photograph of himself and the Democratic party's "murderers row" embracing in a victorious hug, was devestating.

I also agree with you that society should, generally, strive to improve the world around us, including the safety of the products we use. However, I think your suggested course of action will be an unmitigated disaster, both for the democratic party as well as humanity. First, most people will see right through any attempt to regulate the design of firearms, and allowing the Consumer Product Safety Commission oversight over firearms, as nothing short than a backhanded attempt to banning them. The specter of tort liability keeps firearms with fatal design flaws off the market. Even with passage of the Firearms Manufacturers Protection Act (I assume some version of the bill will pass in the coming Congress), tort lawyers will still be able to sue for negligent design flaws. However, current designs are simply not flawed and the 60+ million americans who own firearms are well aware of this fact (though I assume that most New York Times readers are, nor are they firearms owners). Furthermore, your suggestions amount to what I consider the most dangerous design flaw in the 500 year history of firearms. As anyone who has ever had even the slightest bit of firearms training knows, the first and most important rule of gun safety is to assume every gun is loaded. The introduction of any device with the sole purpose of reducing, by even the slightest amount, the awareness of an individual handling a firearm is outrageous. As you are surely aware, if not handled in a safe and careful manner at all times, a firearm has the potential to cause devastating injury. Do you really believe the most prudent course of action is to tell the public that they can forget decades of gun and hunter safety training simply because a mechanical device (which will fail) tells them a weapon is safe?

I urge you to reassess your position on this issue.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Maintenance

Down for maintenance. We'll be back soon.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Virginia Citizen Defense League

The VCDL is in the news again!!

This time with a major Washington Post profile of League President Phil Van Cleave.
"I know the odds are slim that I'll ever have to use this. But you've got one life," he said. "If it got into a life-or-death situation, the person without a gun would take themselves out of the gene pool. And I would carry on."


Now, why aren't you a member?

Marshal Mathers

OK, Eminem is a jerk and I basically can't stand his music.

However, he is one of the most cutting and satirical social commentators of the last 30 years.

Have you seen his latest video, for Just Lose It? My brother told me about it, so I just watched it on iTunes.

The fact that he might actually be a caring parent is readily apparent as he manages to take a serious swipe at a plethora of the least moral modern media icons including Pee Wee Herman, Madonna, Paris Hilton and Michael Jackson (who is particular incensed about the video). This scene, of a nose less Jackson crying as his hair burns and little boys jump on his bed, is particular devastating.



Guess who's back?
Back again
Shady's back
Tell a friend
Whaaaaaaaa

Now everyone report to the dance floor
To the dance floor, to the dance floor
Now everyone report to the dance floor
Alright Stop!.....Pajama time

[Verse 1]
Come here little kiddies, On my lap
Guess who's back with a brand new rap?
And I don't mean rap as in a new case of child investigation accusation
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
No worries, papa's got a brand new bag of toys
What else could I possibly do to make noise?
I done touched on everything, but little boys
That's not a stab at Michael
That's just a metaphor, I'm just psycho
I go a little bit crazy sometimes
I get a little bit out of control with my rhymes
Good God, dip, do a little slide
Bend down, touch your toes and just glide
Up the center of the dance floor
Like TP for my bunghole
And it's cool if you let one go
Nobody's gonna know, who'd hear it?
Give a little "poot poot", it's OK! [Fart Sound]
Oops my cd just skipped
And everyone just heard you let one rip

[Chorus]
Now I'm gonna make you dance
It's your chance
Yeah boy shake that ass
Oops I mean girl girl girl girl
Girl you know you're my world
Alright now lose it
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
Just lose it
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
Go crazy
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
Oh baby
(HA-HA)
Oh baby, baby
(HA-HA)

[Verse 2]
It's Friday and it's my day
Just to party all the way to sunday
Maybe til monday, I dunno what day
Everyday's just a holiday
Crusin' on the freeway
Feelin' kinda breezy
Got the top down, lettin' my hair blow
I dunno where I'm goin'
All I know is when I get there
Someone's gonna "touch my body"

Excuse me miss, I don't mean to sound like a jerk
But I'm feelin' just a little stressed out from work
Could you punch me in the stomach and pull my hair?
Spit on me, maybe gouge my eyes out? (Yeah)
Now, what's your name girl?
What's your sign?
[Dr Dre] "Man, you must be up out your mind"
DRE! (HA-HA)
Beer goggles blind!
I'm just tryna unwind now I'm

[Chorus]
Now I'm gonna make you dance
It's your chance
Yeah boy shake that ass
Oops I mean girl girl girl girl
Girl you know you're my world
Alright now lose it
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
Just lose it
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
Go crazy
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
Oh baby
(HA-HA)
Oh baby, baby
(HA-HA)

[Verse 3]
It's Tuesday and I'm locked up
I'm in jail and I don't know what happend
They say I was running butt naked
Down the street screaming
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
Well I'm sorry, I don't remember
All I know is this much
I'm not guilty
They said, "Save it, boy we gotcha you on tape
yellin' at an old lady 'touch my body!'"

Now this is the part where the rap breaks down
It gets real intense, no one makes a sound
Everything looks like it's 8 Mile now
The beat comes back and everybody lose themselves
Snap back to reality
Look it's B.Rabbit!
Yo you signed me up to battle!?
I'm a grown man!
Chubba chubba chubba chubba chubba chubbie
I don't have any lines to go right here so, chubba teletubbie!
Fella's (WHAT?!) Fella's (WHAT?!)
Grab you left nut, make right one jealous (what?)
Black girls
White girls
Skinny girls
Fat girls
Tall girls
Small girls
I'm callin' all girls
Everyone report to the dance floor
It's your chance for a little romance whore
Butt squeezin' it's the season
Just go (HA-HA-HA-HA)
It's so appeasin'

[Chorus]
Now I'm gonna make you dance
It's your chance
Yeah boy shake that ass
Oops I mean girl girl girl girl
Girl you know you're my world
Alright now lose it
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
Just lose it
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
Go crazy
(HA-HA-HA-HA-HA)
Oh baby
(HA-HA)
Oh baby, baby
(HA-HA)

[Outro]
UmMmMmm touch my body
UmMmMmm touch my body
Ooh boy just touch my body
I mean girl just touch my body




Friday, November 12, 2004

The Marshall Institute

At my day job (what, this isn't my day job???) I do a lot of work with the The Marshall Institute, especially on climate change stuff.

To celebrate their 20th anniversary, they sent me a great 20 minute DVD video on their history. . . .which traces the history of NASA and nuclear weapons development and the amazing role both Robert Jastrow and Frederick Seitz played in both. The experience of these two individuals in dealing with the various government agencies, and their displeasure in how badly the government routinely misinterpreted the data before it, led them to form the George Marshall Institute with the goal of improving the use of science in public policy.

Of course, the enviro's don't really care for them since they routinely blow holes the size of Rhode Island in environmentalist claims of anthropogenic climate change.

Party Boy

I could tell you that you want to party with this guy. But then you might be turned off by how much fun he makes chemistry sound.

I Love Mickey Ds

Yep.

It's the truth.

The whole big mac thing . . . .

I just wish they dumped the American Ronald McDonald for the Japanese version.

60 Minutes On Clinton

I can't believe this is going to run on 60 Minutes this weekend, but if it does, it basically blames the Clinton Administration for all the problems we face today.
As the head of the CIA unit charged with tracking bin Laden from 1996 to 1999, Scheuer says he never had enough people to do the job right. He blames former CIA Director George Tenet. "One of the questions that should have been asked of Mr. Tenet was why were there always enough people for the public relations office, for the academic outreach office, for the diversity and multi-cultural office? All those things are admirable and necessary but none of them are protecting the American people from a foreign threat," says Scheuer.
Read Drudge's entire, frightening, report.

Question Authority

This is a must read as are the comments. In fact, tonight, I change the masthead from Reagan's quote to Paul Burgess's
Who Will Question the Authority of Those Who Question Authority?


Hat Tip to Dave Kopel and the Volokh Folks.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Orgy of Linking Delight

So, I get an instalanche today for my post on Specter.

Traffic wise, thats about as good as you can hope for short of Glenn giving you simply the Heh!/I'd Say treatment, and in the blogsphere, not much else can match his traffic power.

Not much else, except the Virtual Bartender which has given me, oh . . . . I don't know but almost as many hit today compliments of bloglines.

It's a veritable traffic orgy here at the Countertop Chronicles.

Wooo Hooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: According to my site meter referral logs (and the most visited web page log) the bar lady has brought in twice as much traffic as the instapundit link. Cool. Of course, the biggest traffic generator ever for this site remains Glenn's link to my Cherry Blossom post last spring.

The Pigs In our Back Yard

The great thing about blogging is the ability to showcase the real time developments of various bloggers positions. As I've stated a couple of times here, I am opposed to Arlen Specter assuming the Chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee.

However, I think Arlen has played the rabid conservative wing of the party to his benefit on this issue and is now in a position to extract real demands out of the Administration.

Why?? Because as Hugh Hewitt keeps arguing, and Glenn Reynolds continues to agree, pro baby conservatives are not the be all and end all of the Republican party.

In fact, Hugh's latest, where he draws comparisons between the debate over Specter to Zell Miller's departure from the democratic party is the most convincing argument put forth so far on Specter's behalf. It has convinced me that we should back off the efforts.

Of course, this is probably in line with my long standing prior position, my hard and fast rule of political and life survival, Pigs Get Slaughtered. Conservatives should take a breather and learn a lesson from gay rights activists, who probably regret filing that Massachusetts lawsuit right now.

Conservatives, as I said earlier, be careful what you wish for. Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor.

UPDATE: Instalanche!!!! Welcome and feel free to take a look around.

UPDATE: Instapundit reader Paul Stukel thinks the fight is not over abortion but whether Specter believes in a broad spectrum of moderate and right wing constitutional thought, especially concerning a living constitution. While I agree with him on this issue, I think the debate has been effectively framed as a fight over abortion. Hence, my comment above that Specter has played the conservatives to his benefit. Of course, as Glenn points out, The Corner has been largely treating this from the begining as a debate over whether we will continue to kill our children or not. Sadly, I think Specter's been able to marshal that into very favorable press coverage. My feeling is the White House isn't gonna touch this with a 10 foot pole.

Dead Scumbags

Whether he died yesterday, or earlier this week, or even last week, makes no difference. The Scumbag is dead.

John Tant, as usual, has a thoughful post on the subject and clearly outclasses me in describing his feelings.

His post does raise some interesting moral issues though. In it, he says
Far from beatifying him, he should be roundly condemned and buried in a potter's field with no marker.
While I understand his sentiments, to do so would deny folks to ability to ensure the grave they were pissing on was actually Arafat's.

Perhaps we could mark it in some other fashion, without a formal marker, but still with some indication of were his body lies while his soul rots eternally in a pot of boiling pig fat. I suggest a memorial pig sty under which we can bury his body.

How 'bout that!

I thought the liberals said there were no WMD??

Then how come we've found Sarin nerve gas in Fallujah???

For that matter, if there were no weapons of mass destruction, why was John Kerry complaining about those missing explosives and how they could be used to detonate a nuclear device a week before the election???

Ammo Day/Week

While the official holiday is not for another week or so, in recent years the patriotic and joyful splendor of Ammo Day has been expanded into a week long celebration. That celebration gets underway in two days.

In its honor, the wife and I have reserved a babysitter, made reservations at a very nice, and very RKBA restaurant, before he embark on our date to the NRA HQ Range.

What will you do????

To make your celebration as effortless as possible, I officially endorse the following sellers of high quality ordinance.

May you shop to your hearts content.



Happy shooting

We Shall Be Heard

In a fascinating LA Times article the other day (for me at least) on environmental policy, James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, discussed how much the administration is indebted to gun owners and sportsmans groups and that in the coming term there will be lots of action undertaken on their behalf.

Connaughton is the top environmental official in the Executive Office of the President. Both EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt and Interior Secretary Gail Norton report to him (well, in Norton's case, coordinate with him) and it is through his office that the president ensures the officials in those agencies understand what policies are important.

While environmental groups have enjoyed little access or influence during Bush's first four years in office, hunting, fishing and gun owner organizations fared better.

Gun owners voted by a 2 to 1 ratio to reelect Bush, but only after the president addressed their concerns that his policies were endangering wetlands and streams and turning prime big game habitat into massive drilling fields. In December, the president dropped plans to remove Clean Water Act protections for many streams and wetlands, and in October, he shelved a plan to drill in Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, which is prized by anglers and hunters for its spectacular scenery and abundant game and fish.

Connaughton said those groups have "played a very strong role" in establishing policies on wetlands and oil and gas development in areas that are home to wildlife. He predicted they would be "strong and lasting partners" whose influence will not dim now that their votes have been cast.

Jim Range, president of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, an umbrella organization of hunting and fishing groups, said he believes administration officials will continue to respond to sportsmen's interests.

"He wants to help us where it's the responsible thing to do, and he and the folks at the White House have gotten that message out to the folks in the agencies."


I think your going to see an expansion of the CRP program for farmers (eeer, more pork) which has the benefit of expanding wetland acreage and helping hunters. Your also going to see (well, actually you probably won't see it till its done) a concerted effort to drop the prohibition (or at least amend it to allow CCW holders) on firearms in National Parks. I believe Connaughton is in a position to dictate, through a regulatory course, the end of the D.C. Gun Ban (D.C. itself is part of the National Parks system which falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Interior and hence Connaughton's office in the White House.

Ok, then, lets start with Specter first.

Virtual Bartender

If your not reading Says Uncle, your missing your chance to interact with the Virtual Bartender.

Go ahead, try it.

Why not ask her to jump, dance, bend over, pour, light, strip, kick, FIGHT!!!, cartwheel, math SHOOT, stretch, box, kung fu, spread, suck, KISS, show some skin, tickle, handstand, tap, ORGASM, shirt, bra, belly, eat a banana, do jumping jacks, dog, BUTT, beer, JUMPING JACKS, sleep, or jiggle

Let me know if you can come up with other commands.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

One Shot One Kill

I'm glad to see that at least our sharpshooters are being properly outfitted for one shot stops



The overwhelming reliance on the poodleshooter is troubling, especially when we still have access to the wonderous and booming in our arsenal.

UPDATE: Fixed bad code on the image

Greed

Guess which party has both the wealthiest and greediest base.

Heh!

Party of the people my ass.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Bernie Mac .45

I always liked Bernie Mac. Maybe this is partly why:
BURGLARS, beware: It may be hazardous to your health to try to break into Bernie Mac's house. The funnyman tells Playboy his favorite hobby is collecting guns. "I have Glocks, .45s, Be rettas, over-unders, Remingtons," he says. "I like the marksmanship and the discipline that it takes to be a gun owner. I like the machinery, breaking it down. Being able to take it out, clean it and put the spring back in is even more fascinating than hav ing the gun."

Good deal!!

Ding Dong The Scum Bags Dead.

We thought the Terror King had died before. He didn't

Well, it looks like the scourge of Palestine has finally kicked the bucket.

As I've stated before, may he spend eternity rotting in a hell of boiling pig fat.

The Journal Joins the Fight

The Wall Street Journal is joining the fight to keep that crotchety liberal wanker Arlen Specter out of the judiciary committee's chairmanship.
A Judiciary chairman's job is not to pretend that he's the second President but to facilitate a hearing in committee and a vote on the floor. If Mr. Specter wants to vote against a nominee, so be it. But in his institutional role he owes it to his party, and to the President who saved him from political oblivion in the Pennsylvania primary this year, to guarantee every nominee an expeditious floor vote. If Mr. Specter can't make that promise to his colleagues when they organize the new Senate, he doesn't deserve the job.
Good for them.

Monday, November 08, 2004

Wait a minute . . . . .

I thought you couldn't use an eeevil assault weapon for hunting. It's certainly not on the VPC approved list of fine youth sporting arms. And didn't John Kerry tell me that these things were never used for hunting???

I guess someone must have forgotten to tell this handsome young man. . . . .



Did I mention he was 10????

Go Get 'Em son.

Head on over to The High Road congratulate him on his nice deer and impressive choice of hunting rifle.

Bullshit Alert

The Commie News Network is reporting that Kerry will return to the Senate as a strong democrat leader.

Like many presidential candidates before him, John Kerry must now decide what to do with the rest of his political life.

While he relaxed at his Boston home on Friday, elsewhere friends, colleagues and presidential historians said they didn't see the Democrat fading into political obscurity like the last Massachusetts politician who ran and lost, Michael Dukakis in 1988.

Instead, they said he would probably take the road less traveled by recent senators who tried and failed to take the White House, and remain a strong voice in Congress on issues he cared about.


The problem with this is that had he been a strong voice at any time, on any issue, during his 20 years in Congress, he may well be president-elect now. To suggest he will remain a strong voice is, well, just pointing out how futile the Democrat party has become over the last 20 years.

As they say, Ok, then. . . .

Another one bites the . . . . .

Oh, nevermind.

Jim McGreevy says he is a changed man.

He changed from tuna fish to weiner schnitzel.

Thats all. Everything else is as corrupt as ever.

Pathetic

This is sad and pathetic on all sorts of levels.

Comments

In case you didn't notice, I've fixed the commenting problem.

Please feel free to criticize - or gloat - to your hearts content.

Knoxville, Center of the Universe

We already know that East Tennessee and the Knoxville area itself are the 800 pound gorillas of the blogsphere.

Now it seems, that one dumb call in the Volunteers loss to Notre Dame might have a tremendous long term impact not only on this years national championship, but on college footballs future for years to come.
It's hardly a stretch to suggest that Ainge's injury cost Tennessee the game and, with it, any hopes of a BCS at-large berth. If those were the only consequences, it would be big enough. But why stop there? Join me as we take a trip through imagination to examine how a single, meaningless play in a single game could potentially alter the entire college football universe.

By the time all is said and done, it could wind up ...

  • Allowing Georgia to reach the SEC championship game.

  • Sending Auburn to the Orange Bowl.

  • Keeping another school from getting future Heisman contending QB Brent Schaeffer.

  • Saving Tyrone Willingham's Notre Dame job.

  • Help Florida land its dream coach (other than Spurrier) of the future.


Ugh. Why didn't they take a knee????

.gif tabulous!!!!

This
and many other delightful election 2004 graphics are up over at The-Crease.

Thanks JLB!!

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Can You Smell It???

It's in the air



Can you smell it?

Free the heel, Free the mind.

Tom Brokaw Is An Ass

As if you needed it, big city coastal liberal anchorman Tom Brokaw really likes to be an asshole.

Now, the Big City anchorman wants to stop the owners of land next to his ranch in Montana from hunting on their own land. Of course, he's probably not willing to pay them for the land. No, he simply thinks the idea of his neighbors guiding hunts on their land is frightening and they might let someone get shot. Not that were talking about one or two acres, this is a 2,500 acre track of land.

Of course, Mr. Brokaw is willing to compromise and allow archery. What an ass. Guess thats just one more newscaster I won't watch.

Ethics

Jim Swan has a great column on ESPN's web page about the ethics of outdoorsman.

It revolves around Aldo Leapold's land ethic.
A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it does otherwise.
Read it, you might learn something.

Hungarian Goulash

More Recipe Blogging, this time with a great goulash for those cold winter nights

3 lbs boneless beef chuck or 3 1/2 lbs bone in chuck
3 large onions, cut in wedge shapes (about 7 cups)
1 TBLSPN Salt
1/2 TSP black pepper
2 TBLSPN hungarian paprika (see comments) (I use 2 though perhaps I'll add more in the future).
carrots
parsley
cooked noodles
sour cream

Cut the meat into 1 inch cubes, discarding excess fat & bone if you want to be healthy, or leaving it in if you like flavor


Put meat, onions, salt & pepper and 2 TBLSPNS paprika in a large kettle

cook slowly over medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring often.
Simmer, covered, for 2 hours occasionally

uncover and continue simmering until liquid cooks down to gravy like consistency

Garnish with parsley and serve over noodles with generous dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of paprika.

Makes about 6 servings (depending on your appetite)

UPDATE: Clarified that paprika should be of the Hungarian variety. See the discussion in the comments for more information.

UPDATE: Welcome to everyone from the Carnival of the Recipes. Please feel free to browse around. There is a whole variety of things to read and see. If your looking for a nice drink to enjoy after finishing the goulash, might I suggest this wonderful java delight.

Saturday, November 06, 2004

A little something for the holidays

Cowboy Bob was looking for a recipe like this, and I hadn't posted anything for the Carnival of Recipes in awhile.

With the holidays coming, I thought this might be appropriate.

Enjoy

Mike's Kahlua Coffee Liquor


2 cups strong coffee.
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 cups vodka (brand doesn't matter - use wino vodka if you want, make sure its 100-120 proof)
1 vanilla bean

Make a fresh pot of joe. Don't use Folgers or Maxwell House. Use something good and strong. I've got a Portuguese coffee I use (I don't disclose everything about my recipe), but any French or Italian type roast should do. The Coffee they sell at Ikea works well too.

Add the sugar. You can vary it according to your preference.

After brewing, let the coffee cool and then split the vanilla bean in two and add vodka. Again, you can adjust the vodka/coffee mix as your tastebuds warrant. 50/50 works very well though.

Transfer to a bottle.

After 2-4 weeks strain, remove the vanilla bean and transfer to a new bottle.

Its ready to drink

Cool

I am Indiana Jones. Can't expect to score better than that.
Test Results: ""

Friday, November 05, 2004

Freedom Fighter's Everywhere

As we gear up to take down Fallujah, lets not forget about the brave soldiers still helping terrorists make their appointment with hell like this hero from B Company,1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, covering his squad’s movement while on a rocket patrol in Ganjgal, Afghanistan, on Oct. 16.

Which leads me to ask the question, what kind of gun is this???


Spc. Harold Fields / U.S. Army


Thanks to Army Times for the picture.


Stop Specter

Not Specter. Not now. Not ever.

Pigs Get Slaughtered

Two bloggers with vastly different views on the issue of gay marriage both make the argument I've made for many years, Pigs Get Slaughtered. It's an important lesson, in fact I believe its the most important item I learned in law school (along with not letting your client get caught holding the bag).

Jeff Soyer, the gay gun nut blogger from the Upper Valley of Vermont where I went to law school has a great post on why democrats don't get it, and what the left's greed has gotten them.

My fellow Virginian and glock nut buddy John Tant of the Crease has a post on what the election means and the dangers of pushing too hard in one direction. He even refers to this principle of pigs getting slaughtered.

You can read my two main posts from earlier this year on the subject here and here.

Pigs get slaughtered. Its a good lesson and as we look at Bush's agenda over the next four years, one I hope he heeds, for the sake of the Republican party.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

The Looney Left

South Knox Bubba basically admits that he is a looney.
Fuck all y'all. Save your steaming pile of 'sore loser' bullshit and your condescending pantload of self-righteous 'pity' and pious 'condolences' and 'compassionate' concern for my well being. Nothing I've said here in the last couple of days hasn't been said here before. You're just seeing it in a different light because it doesn't worry you any more.

You think I'm bitter? Damn right. And for good reason. What am I supposed to do? I spent thousands of dollars and countless hours trying to advance progressive ideas and candidates with facts and logic. We lost. Sometimes you need a good ass-whipping to clarify the mind. We just got one. Now we're supposed to just roll over and be 'good sports' and go along to get along? Fuck that. It's on.


As he likes to say . . . .


OK, then.

The Specter of Specter

National Review has been leading the charge today on efforts to ensure Arlen Specter doesn't get the chairmanship of the judiciary committee. The recommended course of action, contacting Bill Frist.

Someone even gave them a list of phone and fax numbers and the names of the proper Frist staffers, though they left the names out. I wonder who that reader might be???

Arafat Dead?

Reports are coming in that Arafat has died. Of course, the French are denying it.

In either case, may he spend eternity rotting in a hell of boiling pig fat.

Ha Ha Ha Ha

Ed Gillespie and Terry McCaulife are getting together today to discuss the implications of Tuesday's vote at the National Press Club. Its going to be carried live by C-Span. Should be entertaining television. I hope Ed make Terry eat a big 'ol plate of crow.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Hollywood

Did they learn their lesson?

Will they shut the hell up from now on??

Victory is sweet

Thank You Mr. President.

Instapundit

I meant to mention this before, but over the last couple of weeks Instapundit has transformed itself once again. Its now, far and away, the the best group blog on the internet.

I realize Glen will probably take Instapundit back to only his postings, but I hope he at least considers inviting Michael and Anne and Megan back on a regular basis, if not even giving them some sort of regular full time position.

The synergy between them works well and the writing is seemless. In any case, Megan's already in my blogroll (but, who the heck is Jane Galt??) and I'll be adding Michael and Anne tonight, I suggest you do the same.

Electing Predictions

So, I'm asking myself, how did I do with my election predictions?

Hmm, I said a big electoral landslide or a close loss with Bush winning the popular vote by 2-3% and losing the electoral college.

I'll give myself 3/4 credit. I got the Bush margin of victory nationally right, and while Bush didn't quite meet my electoral college prediction, he did have a pretty convincing electoral college victory. If you've got a problem with this, lets take it out back.

The House didn't fall . . . . got that right too!!

How bout the Senate?

We don't know the result in Alaska yet, but Lisa Murkowski is declaring victory and the Washington Post has her up by 10,000 votes with 98% of precincts reporting.
I was wrong, but happily so. BTW, she is an NRA endorsed candidate.

California - Boxer wins. Thats too bad and I would have gladly gotten this one wrong.

Colorado - Seems I was wrong about Pete Coors. Oh well, thats too bad. I'll go have a Coors at lunch today to help console him.

Florida is pretty close, but the Washington Post is calling it for Mel Martinez 49-48. Chalk that up as a correct pick.

Georgia - nailed it, and Isakson is another NRA endorsed candidate.

Illinois - nailed it and both my wife and I were impressed by Barak Obama's acceptance speech and his seemingly first among Democrat's call for Kerry to concede.

Louisiana - got it wrong, but thats ok, I'll take another Republican in the Senate any day.

North Carolina - nailed it.

Oklahoma - called this one too, and not many people seemed to have faith in Coburn.

Pennsylvania - I was corret, but either way we lost with this one. Is there any way to keep this jerk off of the Judiciary Committee?? Surprisingly, to me at least, he was an NRA endorsed candidate.

South Carolina - Picked it. Jim DeMint is a good guy. I look forward to working with him.

South Dakota - George Allen just said this was the equivilent to picking up three more Democratic seats. I hope so, and that may be the case in the short term, but somehow I doubt it. In either case, I picked it.

Washington - unfortunately, I was correct about Osama Bin Laden's friend and supporters re-election. Haven't ever been to Seattle, and don't imagine I have any desire to visit in the near future.

Wisconsin - I went out on a limb here but at the end of the day Tim Michels couldn't pull off the upset (heck, it wasn't even close).

Thank You Michael Moore

and Howard Dean too.

I think they deserve a large heap of praise for helping to foster the most overwhelming Republican election sweep of a generation.

January 20th

Living in D.C., an emailer asks what electoral balls I am going to attend.

Hmm, don't know. . . . probably won't go to any, though I will be at the Texas State Society's Black Ties and Boots ball the night before.

I worked at the last innauguration (ended up on the Capitol Stairs, 50 feet from the president with no one between me and him) and don't imagine I could have better seating this time. I'll probably go skiing . . . make a long weekend out of it.

Kerry Concedes

Kerry Concedes.

As Spoons said, you didn't hear it it first. I'd like to say he did it because its the honorable thing, but I suspect he did it more because of the pressure placed upon him by Democrats hoping to win in 2008. Regardless, I look forward to his official concession speech. Maybe he will actually be sincere.

I asked how long till James Socas moves back to California. Now I wonder how long till Teresa is hunting for her next presidential candidate.

Morning In America

As we all know, its a bright and beautiful morning in American today.

While the traitorous lout seems intent on continuing his harmful attacks on America, the infighting amongst his party cohorts, desperate to protect any shred of dignity and respect with the American people they still posses, will pull the plug on his campaign sometime today.

So, what do we have to look forward to over the next four years?

With the spanking the Democrats recieved today, their liberal agenda is in flames. We will see four new Supreme Court justices, and don't think Bush will make the mistake his father did by appointing a liberal like Souter. We can also expect to see Bush defeat many of the filibusters over his current nominees to the Federal Courts of Appeal.

Beyond that, I expect we will get an energy bill, that in addition to providing incentives to energy producers, will also alleviate many of the burdens to energy production placed on the U.S. economy such as lack of natural gas and natural gas drilling opportunities. Look also for a push to pass Clear Skies soon . . . and alleviate the immininent problems EPAs lack of alignment between current air regulation deadlines will cause, and for further improvements to the New Source Review program. These simple regulatory changes will improve our economy, and reverse the tide of outsourcing, more dramatically than almost any other action the president can take short of major tax cuts.

On my pet issues, I expect to see a nationwide concealed carry program adopted, lifting the restriction on weapons in national parks, abolishment of the DC Gun Ban (possibly before christmas), protection for gun manufacturers (and tort lawsuit reform generally), as well as an eventual Supreme Court decision verifying once and for all that the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right vested in each individual american.

In the meantime, I do have some work to get done.

0-8

Thank you Bob Shrum.

Flight Schedule

John Tant works for liberals.

Heh! Heh! Heh!

Real Hunters Free Hunters

Not a photo op. Heh! Heh!

MegaRokor

Heh!

Bush Victory???

No one else is calling them yet, but I see no reason to not place Ohio and Florida in W's column. On my count, that gives the President 269 vote at midnight with Nevda, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Hawaii, and the upper rust belt/upper Mississippi still in play. Certainly Bush can pick up one of these.

Its been a long day, but I go to sleep content that the terrorists and traitors lost this battle in the war for civilization

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Election Results

I am not blogging the election, but since I blogged a bit about my precinct work earlier, I thought I would post the results.

John Kerry - 837
George Bush - 756
Michael Peroutka - 3
Michael Badnarik - 8
Ralph Nader - 7 (write in)
Tim Buch - 1 (write in)
Peter C. - 1 (write in)

This is stunning news. Last time out, Al Gore carried this precinct by almost 200 votes. The democrats were sure dejected. I hope this is an indication of how well things go, nationally and according to the report I got from friends at Bush HQ it is an indication of how well actual voting in Florida is going.

In the Congressional Race the results were

James Socas - 684
Frank Wolf - 892
Gary Deter - 2 (write in)

Socas spent a fortune in Northern Virginia, and employed reprehensible tactics, trying to beat Wolf. he deserved to get spanked in the 2nd most heavily democrat precinct and if TV reports are any indication, will get less than 25% of the total vote. The big question then is how soon till he moves back to San Francisco . . . . he voted in the recall and has rented his apartment for less than 10 months.

Of course, the Democrat supported bond measures all passed overwhelmingly with none getting less than 70% and some gathering over 80% of the votes cast (which should give you an idea of how liberal my precinct is).

Voting

Just got after voting. Actually, as a local precinct captain, I did much more than voting with my day starting at 5:00 a.m.

After a quick shower and cup of coffee, I was loading the car and to the polls by 5:30 a.m. There was already a line and the Democrats were hard at work - my usual adversary who's been working my precinct for 30 years as well as a 80 year old retired WWII vet on a respirator. He sat at their table, she was handing out sample ballots.

I quickly set my table up, took a couple of minutes to put my signs up, and began handing out sample ballots. At 5:50 a.m. my poll watcher arrived and I had her in place inside. By 6:00 a.m. when the polls opened, we estimated a 45 minute wait to vote. By 6:10 a.m. it was up to 90 minutes and stayed that way until about 8:00 when they reconfigured the lines inside to move more people through. Newt Gingrich and his wife were dropped off by their car (Black Lincoln) around 8:15 and we spent a good 20 minutes talking and joking about the election. He is a shrewed politician, waiting along with everyone else, and chatting everyone on line up. He was gracious to everyone, Democrat and Republican, and asked for a Democrat sample ballot to use on TV later today. If you see him on TV holding up sample Virginia ballots, I gave him the green one.

My replacement, a doctor, showed up at 8:30 as well as the replacement for the inside poll watcher. Both appeared professional. The democrats shift change brought a 30 something year old guy who looked homeless as well as a charming Indian (as in the India sub continent) who was voting for Kerry because, well, I don't really know.

I got on line about 9:00 and it took me 35 minutes to walk through and vote. How did I vote - pretty much the same as
John Tant, who explains his decisions with regard to every issue (national and local) with far more elequence than I could. I'll just adopt his explanaitions.. My wife's votes were identical to mine.

I've got some work to do here in the office, so blogging will be light, and plan to return to my poll post by 4:00 for the evening rush hour. I'll post more tonight - if I get out at a reasonable hour. If they keep us there till 10:00 pm, then well, I'll post in the morning.

Bernstein for President

If your still undecided, contemplating the choice between Bush and Badnarik and leaning towards the liberatarian . . . . smell the coffee and wake up. The fate of civilization may hang on this election.

If, you still think you might vote for Badnarik as some sort of protest, and their is no chance of bringing you to your senses, let me make another suggestion, vote for Bernstein and Bernstein.

Sounds like a law firm, doesn't it?
I promise, you'll like the service better than Kerry Edwards P.C.

Monday, November 01, 2004

Electing Predictions

So, we are less than 15 hours away from polls opening here in the D.C. area and just got out of the last staff meeting our division will be holding before election day. After reviewing ALL polls available (we get everyones numbers here) the consensus seems to be pretty clear, at least at the D.C. Policy juggernaut I work in, that Kerry's gonna win this one. In fact, only one person foresaw a clear Bush victory and I predicted either Bush's 320-209 victory (which I made here) or that Bush would win the popular vote by 2-3% but lose the electoral college.

Did I tell you we were a pretty conservative, but non partisan, organization??

Of course, the opinions expressed at the meeting don't really matter much . . . . but its still interesting nonetheless.

Glass Houses

File this under Don't Throw Rocks If You Live in a Glass House.

It seems that Teresa Heinz Kerry's 31 year old son thinks President Bush is nothing by a cokehead.

Hmm, well, I think Heinz is full of himself, and his brother is a flake.

Like You and I, Just Better

Un-fricking-believable.

Fiarfax County Virginia County Supervisor Gerald "Vote for Me, I'm Gonna Raise Your Taxes" Connolly (D) has been acquitted on of a hit and run charge stemming from an accident last year.

The reason ?
Johnston, in issuing his not guilty ruling, said Connolly's "position and his duties have caused him to be oblivious to what is going on in his car."
Folks, you can't make this crap up.