The first day of a less liberal Seattle media

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Phil Kadath

As you probably read elsewhere, yesterday was the last day of the print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Certain leftist bloggers seem to believe that the other major paper in Seattle, the Seattle Times, should now become “more liberal” to “fill the vacuum” or something.

That is one of the stupidest things I have read in a long, long time. The only reason the Times seemed “less liberal” than the PI was because the PI was so far to the left in their editorial decisions and statements. It is also believed by a large number of folks I’ve spoken to, not all of them fiscally conservative or libertarians or “right-leaning” or even “middle of the road” and a decent percentage of them Teamsters, that the demise of the PI was more than partly because of its leftist tinting of the issues.

So I say good riddance to bad birdcage liners and now we can move forward without their influence in the discussion.

Posted in Too Stupid to Live | 4 Comments

I don’t know that they’ve thought this through

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Phil Kadath

First, an update in the DOD brass scraping plan: It is DOA. We, apparently did a good job in talking to our representatives and ammo remanufacturers did good in pointing out they’d have to stop shipments to police departments.
But now comes word that there are going to be some big defense cuts arriving very soon.

Two defense officials who were not authorized to speak publicly said Gates will announce up to a half-dozen major weapons cancellations later this month. Candidates include a new Navy destroyer, the Air Force’s F-22 fighter jet, and Army ground-combat vehicles, the officials said.

More cuts are planned for later this year after a review that could lead to reductions in programs such as aircraft carriers and nuclear arms, the officials said.

The Obamatons at the CrooksandLiars blog really need to really think about their enthusiasm for this idea, as evidenced in the comments section.

Who builds the aircraft, the ships, the vehicles and the electronics that go in all of them: Unionized workers.

$787 Billion to pork barrel projects that will only create a small number of jobs was rushed through Congress.

And to pay for it, hundreds of billions of dollars are going to be cut from defense cotnractors, increasing the unemployment rolls and making the country less safe.

Posted in Useful Idiots | 5 Comments

Know your audience

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Phil Kadath

They wouldn’t send an anti-Big Government book to a grade school in Fairfax, Virginia.

But apparently, sending a book that calls their parents murderers of the earth to Oregon was hunky dory.

Loggers made a dramatic transition from tree-killing litterers to kindhearted animal lovers in a “Help the Forest” textbook for first-graders at Grants Pass schools.

An eight-page book was replaced with a decidedly rosier version after the original copy generated criticism for its negative portrayal of loggers.

Parents objected to a spread in the book that showed loggers chopping down trees and various bits of litter on the ground. The text on page 6 read: “These people do not take care of the forest. They cut down huge trees. They drop trash on the ground.” That was followed by a tearjerker page 7: “The trees are gone. The birds cannot find homes. The animals cannot find food.”

After news broke that the book had been pulled from classrooms, the publisher sent the district 108 new copies with a different take on loggers: “These people take care of huge forests. They put out fires. They cut down sick trees. Then new trees can be planted. Animals will still have homes. They will still find food.”

And stupid little lie-filled ideologically driven books get printed and sold for a profit.

Speaking of logging towns, for those of you who may be watching the History Channel’s “Ax Men” (aka: Average guys made to look like drama queens with chainsaws by the producers Show), the S&S Aqua Logging guys probably won’t be back next season.

It seems that they’ve been “aqua logging” without the proper permits.

Sure, to you and I it looks like they’re doing fishermen and boaters a service while making a tidy profit. But to the state Department of Natural Resources, they’re “wrecking and ecosystem”.

I’d like to see the DNR out there rescuing people whose boat sink because it runs into one of those logs. But I never will. They’ll be at home, toes up, watching the rescue on the nightly news.

Posted in Freaks, Mutants, and Morons | 1 Comment

RNS Quote of the Day: 03/18/09

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Phil Kadath

Leave aside the fact that they’re both wrong

I think we need to re-institute the assault weapons ban in the United States.  If people want machine guns, let them join the military.  We got em!  But for public and personal use, absolutely not.  That’s how they are getting across the border, and what the Mexican Government has asked of us is, “Please, cut off the flow of machine guns coming from the United States into Mexico.”

Former General Wesley Clark – on Geraldo

He doesn’t like scary looking guns because they chipped the paint on his tanks before they went and burned 82 men, women and children alive.

Found via Snowflakes in  Hell

Posted in Quote of the Day | 3 Comments

Dear Leader

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Phil Kadath

Has given new substance to his people

It has taken almost 10 years of work, but North Korea has acquired the technology to launch a project very dear to its leader’s heart – the nation’s first “authentic” Italian pizzeria.

The launch of Pyongyang’s first Italian restaurant meanwhile brings to fruition a ten-year effort by Kim Jong-il – a renowned gourmand and lover of western food – to create the perfect pizza and pasta in his homeland.

Last year a delegation of local chefs was sent by Kim to Naples and Rome to learn the proper Italian techniques after their homegrown efforts to mimic Italian cuisine were found by Kim to contain “errors”.

“Errors” which probably cost the chef’s their lives.

So Kim Jong Il has people digging up roots to eat so they won’t starve to death and he’s searching for the perfect pie.

Sounds a little bit like the U.S. Congress.

Found via RTftLC

Posted in Evil walks the earth | 3 Comments

Am I becoming too cynical?

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Phil Kadath

I read this headline

Fewer teens sniffing inhalants, study says

And my first thought was “That’s because they’re getting high off The Obamessiah.”

Posted in Color me confused | Leave a comment

Some Timely Green Accessories

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Alaska

h/t: Breda.

Posted in By Ourselves, For Ourselves, Have Gun, Will Travel | 4 Comments

Good St. Patrick’s Day to You

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Phil Kadath

Welcome to today’s edition of RNS, where we’re always wearing the green.

Even when we’re seeing red.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Registration is ALWAYS the first step

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Phil Kadath

After all, they have to have information in order to abuse it.

They’re getting some.

Anyone departing the UK by land, sea or air will have their trip recorded and stored on a database for a decade.

Passengers leaving every international sea port, station or airport will have to supply detailed personal information as well as their travel plans. So-called “booze crusiers” who cross the Channel for a couple of hours to stock up on wine, beer and cigarettes will be subject to the rules.

In addition, weekend sailors and sea fishermen will be caught by the system if they plan to travel to another country – or face the possibility of criminal prosecution.

The owners of light aircraft will also be brought under the system, known as e-borders, which will eventually track 250 million journeys annually.

Even swimmers attempting to cross the Channel and their support teams will be subject to the rules which will require the provision of travellers’ personal information such as passport and credit card details, home and email addresses and exact travel plans.

Walls are supposed to be used to keep people out, not in.

Did living within a day’s travel by car of one of the most notorious walls in history for nearly five decades teach the people running the UK government nothing?

Or everything?

Posted in Order of the imperial upraised middle finger. | 1 Comment

CCW Reform in CA

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Phil Kadath

Please let it be so

California’s laws on Concealed Carry licenses are about as shady and corrupt as it gets. The majority of US states have laws akin to drivers licenses in that a person must meet a defined set of guidelines (such as required training, background checks, etc) before they can be issued a license to carry a weapon. CA’s laws are a little different in that they place the decision not on a set of specific requirements but on the personal whim of the Chief of Police or Sheriff. This practice breeds inequality and abuse by giving people who live in some parts of the state more state-wide rights than others and placing an insane amount of power in a single person’s hands. And since individuals have different motives, the policy from one county to another is vastly different. Is it any shock that people who have contributed to the campaigns for many of these people have a much higher chance of receiving one of these permits?

Luckily CA Assembly Member Knight is aware of this abuse and wants to stop it. He’s introduced a bill called AB 357 [PDF link to the bill] which removes the authority of the individual Sheriffs & Police Chiefs in favor of a clear set of statewide guidelines.

Whomever wants to be the next Governor of California had better get behind this. I can think of no greater civil rights decision currently facing California lawmakers.

Hopefully, this time they will choose to free the residents who elected them instead of their normal practice of attaching another set of chains.

Here is the link residents of the PRC will need.

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | 1 Comment