Fish Fear Me

Life Imitates Art

Probably the most shocking line I've heard on broadcast television in recent years was during an episode of "Criminal Minds," when a necrophiliac suspect under interrogation uttered the words, "I'm not the only one who likes to crack open a cold one." Brutal. I think my jaw actually dropped on that one.

Fast forward to today and this:

Egyptian husbands will soon be legally allowed to have sex with their dead wives - for up to six hours after their death.

The controversial new law is part of a raft of measures being introduced by the Islamist-dominated parliament.

It will also see the minimum age of marriage lowered to 14 and the ridding of women's rights of getting education and employment.

What's described in the first paragraph is being dubbed the "farewell intercourse" law. Maybe some further clarification will prove the above to be inaccurate or a misunderstanding of some sort. Even I, with my perpetual gimlet eye towards Islamists, can't believe they are really that depraved.

More serious for the women of Egypt than getting screwed after death is getting screwed while alive. The attacks on women's education and employment rights are the real threat to Egyptian women. The same for marrying girls into a life of submission before they can become women and gain a measure of their self. It's not spring in Egypt, it's fall.

The last week or so I've been reading about how we need to accept that the Islamists have gained more power in the Middle East-North Africa as a result of the "Arab Spring." The only thing to do, apparently, is engage them as the legitimate power that they are and move on with life. That posture reminds me an awful lot of the one the Left in general and "realists" on the Right assumed decades ago regarding the Soviet Union and the police states of Eastern Europe.

Realism is fine of course, right up until it turns into welcoming barbarians as acceptable company and conceding to them their "right" to be totalitarian assholes. And make no mistake about it, the Soviets and their junior monsters in Eastern Europe, as well as the Islamists of today, were/are totalitarian assholes. Certain realities must be respected, but that doesn't mean we have to or should like it.

Don't respect the assholes.

Pick One: Marine, Obama Critic

As much as I might sympathize with the thoughts, an active duty US servicemember cannot be going around mocking or criticizing the President of the United States:

A sergeant will be discharged for criticizing President Barack Obama on Facebook in a case that called into question the Pentagon's policies about social media and its limits on the speech of active duty military personnel, the Marine Corps said Wednesday. 

Sgt. Gary Stein will get an other-than-honorable discharge and lose most of his benefits for violating the policies, the Corps said.

More details here.

This guy has served long enough to understand that being in the military is not just a job. When you volunteer to join you don't lose your rights, but you do agree to make some of them subservient to the reasonable needs of the service branch you are joining. One of those reasonable needs is respect for the chain of command, up to and including the very top spot. And that means that whatever a servicemember might think about their Commander-in-Chief, they need to exercise discretion in what they say, let alone loudly broadcast to the world. This particularly applies to NCOs and officers.

It's sad to see nine years of service end this way, but Sgt. Stein wrote that ending himself. I don't get why he went on this doomed little venture, he's not going to win. Nor should he.

The Highway 100 Medical Exam

This morning I discovered a quick and free method of testing my nerves, heart, and sphincter/bladder control, all at the same time. All I had to do was cruise down the freeway at 60 mph and have the dump truck that was right next to me on my left blow a tire. You pass by:

1. Not passing, if you know what I mean.
2. Not having a massive heart attack.
3. Not having a cerebral hemorrhage.
4. Not freaking out and crashing.

I passed. I mean I didn't pass...okay, I made it to work and I didn't have to change my shorts.

Does this mean I can skip my semi-annual physical this year?

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time we had a political elite on both sides of the aisle that would look in horror at the terrible burden that $9/gallon gas would impose on American citizens and do their best to prevent it. Now we get crapweasel shrugs:

Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that "no one knows" if gasoline prices in the United States will reach $9 per gallon, and acknowledged that the possibility is outside his control.

"I don't think anyone can speculate what will happen with respect to oil prices and gas prices because they are set on the global economy," Salazar told reporters when asked if gas prices could reach $9 per gallon, as they have been in Greece. "Where it will all end, no one knows.

Bullshit. While oil production in the US is up overall, it is down on federal lands as a direct result of Salazar, under orders from Obama, stonewalling and denying new permits for drilling on federal land and offshore waters. 

Yes, there is no absolute guarantee that additional supply of oil will end up in lower gas prices, but it probably would and we should at least try. Can't we at least try?

I guess not with these losers. 

There are a number of reasons I will be voting to throw Obama out in November. His stupid energy policy and his callous indifference to the unnecessary pain it causes are enough by themselves.

Back At It

This wonderfully sunny Monday finds the week-long battle against my head cold all but over. The critical day was Thursday, when I was able to beat back its attempt to settle in my chest. Yesterday was the somewhat ghastly clearing of the sinuses and today I have just a few sniffles left. It's good to be able to smell the spring air again. Now if I could only get used to this daily shaving thing.

We've had good rainfall here that last few weeks and after our extremely dry winter that's good news. The timing hasn't been the greatest though. This weekend was once again pretty much a washout for getting stuff done in the yard. I should be able to get a few hours in this evening and tomorrow before the rains return.

John Huntsman(Sore Loser-Utah) is whining about the GOP again. After losing the GOP base with the brilliant strategy of disagreeing while being disagreeable, the ever arrogant and entitled-feeling Huntsman is shocked, shocked!, that the GOP shunned him for calling for a third party to go against, at least in part, the GOP. The man is so self-absorbed that he cannot even grasp the consequences of his own actions. 

And Huntsman can spare us the regurgitation of this stupid meme that's going around that Ronald Reagan couldn't get the GOP nomination today. If he truly believes that, he can start by showing me the page in Reagan's playbook where he wins the nomination by telling the base essentially to "shut up you stupid gits." Then he can show us how Reagan would love a federal government that feels entitled to dictate to us even to the point of telling us the kinds of light bulbs we can or cannot buy. Good luck with that. Finally, Reagan would be horrified at a Democratic party that has gone far beyond assuring a societal safety net and now openly espouses redistribution of wealth. He would be pounding Democrats with that far harder than Romney or Huntsman ever will. Don't kid yourself otherwise.

Over the weekend I read this depressing piece on the Trayvon Martin case from a man named Mansfield Frazier(via Bob Owens). Apparently Frazier has convicted George Zimmerman in the court of his mind and now, "The paramount concern has to be to avert a large-scale racial calamity." Frazier goes on to urge Zimmerman's attorney to arrange a plea bargain that would see Zimmerman back on the street within eight years. Otherwise:

"America can only dodge so many racial bullets, and a not-guilty verdict in this case could very easily turn the racial cold war into a very hot one."

Given Frazier's mention of the Rodney King riots it's not difficult to see what he means here. Anything less than jail time for Zimmerman at this point means rioting in the streets. Is that just an accurate reading of the situation or a threat? I don't know. It may be both. I've seen enough threats of violence on the web not to discount it.

This spring has already seen a small group of black young people attack passersby(white?) half a dozen times in downtown Minneapolis, culminating in some arrests after increased police patrols. So called "flash mobs" have also been on the rise across the country. My gut tells me that our urban black underclass was getting primed to explode even before the Martin killing. I can't believe that has made things any better.

Regardless, it's depressing to see someone like Frazier warn of a mob and then declare it must be appeased, or else. Whether Zimmerman decides to take a plea, is found guilty, or is acquitted, it is no matter to me as long as the system is allowed to work without threats of violence.

The Twins return home tonight against Boston. They managed a 2-2 split in New York and avoided a sweep in Tampa Bay over the weekend. Not bad as far as I'm concerned. I figured they had a good chance of going 0-7. And since I've been ragging on the $23 million/year man for his pathetic 2011 effort, it's only fair to note that Joe Mauer has played in all 16 games so far this season. He's not putting up $23 million/year numbers just yet, but the first step is just being there. Credit where due.

A just missed weekend for Gopher baseball on the road at Michigan State. They went 1-2 with both losses coming in extra innings. The series win earned Michigan St. a tie with the Gophers for second in the Big Ten. 

Forgive Me

I normally don't steal photos, but this one is simply too good to pass up:

Run, Bo, run!

Great Moments In "Yeah, That Makes A Difference"(eye roll edition)

Sure, you keep plucking that chicken, girl:

One of the escort girls, Diana, told The New York Times that she met an agent at a nightclub in Cartagena and, after a night of drinking, the pair agreed the agent would pay her $US800 ($774) for sex at the hotel. The next morning, when the hotel's front desk called because the woman hadn't left, the pair argued over the price.

"I tell him, 'Baby, my cash money'," the woman told The Times. She said the two argued after the agent initially offered to pay her about $US30 and the situation escalated, eventually ending with Colombian law enforcement involved. She said she was eventually paid about $US225.

She also denied she was a prostitute, preferring the term escort. "It's the same, but it's different,” she told the Times. "It's like when you buy a fine rum or a BlackBerry or an iPhone. They have a different price."

Next up: The "But honey, she was just an escort, not a prostitute!" justifiable homicide file.

"Journalists" Suck (continued)

Defenders of our current mainstream journalism, please defend this from CNN:

Martin's family believes Zimmerman, 28, racially profiled their 17-year-old son, who was walking back from a convenience store, and unjustly killed him after disregarding a police dispatcher's request not to follow the unarmed teen.

Zimmerman contends he acted in self-defense. His family says he did not profile Martin.

The bolded text in the first paragraph above is false. There is no question about it. Here is the relevant exchange with the 911 operator, information that has been available for weeks now:

911 operator: "Are you following him?"

Zimmerman: "Yeah."

911 operator: "Okay, we don't need you to do that."

Clearly there was no "request" for Zimmerman to stop following Martin. The operator merely informed Zimmerman that he didn't need to do that. I think it is reasonable to question Zimmerman on the wisdom of following Martin, but claiming that he disregarded the 911 operator's request is false.

It's possible to read that first paragraph as straight reporting about what the Martin family believes. They believe that Zimmerman racially profiled their son and they believe he disregarded the 911 operator's request not to follow Trayvon. If that's the case though, why did they give space for the Zimmerman family's position on the first point in the next paragraph, and stay silent about the second point? The first point is debatable and contentious at this stage. The second point is not. So why not make it clear to the reader what the facts are?

Or is it that the reporters, Phil Gast, Vivian Kuo and Jessica Thill, are the ones who believe that Zimmerman disregarded the 911 operator's request? Could they actually be so astoundingly wrong about an important fact of the case? Or, to be cynical, do they just want you to be astoundingly ill-informed?

Journalism has hit a new low with the Trayvon Martin case. In some instances it has been so bad that even massive incompetence cannot seem to account for the incredible falsehoods that have been published and are obviously still being published today. It seems to me that some of this has do be done with malicious intent.

I truly hate to say that. I think journalists can, and in some cases still, do tremendous good for the public. But they can do, and are doing, tremendous harm right now by spreading false information in this case and far too many others. It has gotten so bad and is so blatant that I think it is time for blanket condemnation of every journalist who works at some our largest news media companies. 

I understand that may seem unfair to the "good" journalists who work in those organizations, but what are they doing to correct the falsehoods their "news" companies spew every day? Where are their protests over the corruption of news into the propaganda of one group over another? All I hear is silence from them. 

So fuck them too.

Stupid Gets What Stupid Gives

Sammy the Wonder Dog and I drove to northern Minnesota many times in her twelve years. Most of the time she sat in the passenger seat of my pickup and watched the miles go by. On some occasions though, we were blessed with companionship of the human female kind. Now, I may not be the brightest bulb when it comes to women, but I had absolutely no trouble determining who was going to be sitting in the passenger seat and who would be riding in the bed of the pickup. Man did some of those women complain about the wind. 

I kid, I kid. I dragged Sammy's portable kennel up from the basement of course, and she would ride out the trip in that in the bed of the pickup. I know she really wanted to be in the cab with us, but it wasn't practical and besides, the only other option would be to leave her behind, and I know she wouldn't like that.

So for a few months now I've rolled my eyes at the whole "Romney drove with his dog on the roof" thing. It's not appreciably different than what I safely did with Sammy more than a few times. I also very much understand the space issues that led to Romney's decision. For many years, Mom and Dad packed themselves and six kids, and all of our luggage, into and on top of a station wagon for our summer vacation. So the whole anti-Romney shtick about the dog on the roof has struck me as stupid and somewhat annoying.

Enter "What goes around, comes around".

It seems that President Obama himself wrote about eating dog when he was a kid in Indonesia. Hmmm, put a dog in a kennel on a car roof, or eat it. Which is worse? I'm pretty sure I know how Sammy would vote if she could.

I get it, the explosion of conservative humor about this at Obama's expense is somewhat unfair and juvenile...and absolutely freakin' delicious. I'm sorry, I can't help it. It's just hilarious. And it's not just the "Obama eats dogs" jokes that are funny. There's also the scowls and stamping feet of the Obama supporters who drove the election bus into the stupid dog story ditch in the first place. That's pure non-canine gravy goodness. 

The Obama dog jokes have been a small comfort as I struggle through this miserable cold, but I would be perfectly happy to see the election bus get back on the road and talk about the real issues. What Obama promised and what he delivered. His disastrous economic and energy policies. His often foolish perspective about the world. I would be perfectly happy to debate those issues instead.

But I don't think he wants that.

News You Can Use

So I shave my beard off and the next day I wake up with a head cold. Coincidence? I think not.

Naturally I turned to that tried and true home doctoring method, some soup. Without further ado, the news you can use: My review of Healthy Choice Bean and Ham soup.

Blech.

Hold on, maybe I should double-check that.

Blech.

Not much else to say, except it can't be fattening if you don't eat it.