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Kneecapping Barack Obama at every opportunity. | ||
In a shocking new story broken by the the Australian, reporters confirm that Rodney King, the victim of 1992's brutal police beating in Los Angeles, was actually killed in that event.
"The police beating also recalled memories of the killing of Rodney King in 1992. Los Angeles erupted in violence after four white officers were acquitted of beating the black motorist to death."
King, who famously asked the world, "Can't we just get along?" in 1993, and who subsequently was arrested for hit-and-run driving and is serving probation until 2003, was shocked to learn of his untimely death in 1992.
"You mean, I'm dead?" asked King incredulously. "They killed me that night?"
In related news, M. Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) has acquired the rights to the chilling story about how King's ghost rose from the dead and started his own rap label.
If you enjoyed this satire by Rip Rowan, you can read more of his work at The Skeptician.
At a certain point, you have to start questioning whether people who are this colossally lacking in common sense are competent enough to run a school. Just read this story and you'll know what I mean...
"A student expelled from Parkway High for a year for having Advil, an over-the-counter pain reliever, will not be allowed to return to the school.
Kelly Herpin and daughter Amanda Stiles, a sophomore, appealed the one-year expulsion to a Bossier Parish School Board committee Thursday night, spending about 10 minutes with the board's administrative committee behind closed doors.
The committee and the full board voted unanimously to uphold an administrative decision that Stiles be expelled to the alternative school.
...Superintendent Ken Kruithof said after the board meeting that the school system is following a state law that requires a one-year expulsion and being consistent in the system's "zero-tolerance" policy.
But another school official said earlier Thursday that having medication on campus doesn't automatically lead to a one-year expulsion. "After an investigation and a hearing then, if necessary, punishment is administered. It could be no punishment," said Betty McCauley, Bossier schools student services director."
In my opinion, if you honestly believe a child should be expelled from school for having an Advil, you're not discerning enough to be involved in the education of children.
I would say, "what's next," but off the top of my head I can't think of anything more ridiculous than kicking a kid out of school because they have an Advil in their purse.
However, I do have a solution to this problem and it's one the mother of this child touched on...
"I'm not really sure at this point what we'll do," Herpin said. "I'm going to have to talk to my husband, and we're going to have to make some plans. I'm not sure we could afford a private school. We've been looking at moving to another area."
She wants to move her child to a private school, but can't afford it huh? Well, let's set-up vouchers and give Kelly Herprin and all the other parents there the option to move their kids to a private school if they so desire. Then the parents who want to risk having their kids kicked out of school for having an Advil can stay on board and the parents who want to get their kids away from the fusspots who run that school can do that as well. It's a win/win situation for the parents and the kids.
If you want to know why Howard Dean would be such a horrible candidate for the Dems in 2004, look no further than the reaction of his campaign manager to a campaign ad run by the Club for Growth (which you can read or watch here).
I really love this ad because it talks about an important issue to the American people, it doesn't overreach in the slightest, and yet it's devastating to Dean. The advertisement slams Dean for wanting to raise taxes and compares him to other Democrats in the past who wanted to take money out of the American people's pockets like McGovern, Mondale, and Dukakis.
So how does Dean's campaign manager Joe Trippi respond to it? Take a look...
"Dean has called for rolling back all of President Bush's tax cuts and using the money to provide health care and to relieve the pressure on state and local taxes. Dean has not indicated he would raise taxes beyond their previous levels, but Americans undoubtedly would see their taxes increased if all Bush's cuts are repealed.
Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi called the ad "absolutely wrong" and a "bald-faced lie" because it characterizes Dean as a tax-and-spend Democrat.
I could point out that the ad didn't characterize Dean as a tax-and-spend Democrat, it just slammed him for wanting to raise taxes, but that's not the most salient point.
What's really noteworthy here is that Dean's campaign manager is denying that he's a tax-and-spend Democrat. Yet, repealing all of Bush's tax cuts and spending the money is one of the core issues that Dean has been campaigning on! For Trippi to deny this, would be like Karl Rove denying that Bush intends to fight the war on terrorism if he's reelected. Anyone with the slightest, barest, tiniest shred of intellectual honesty who has followed the Dean campaign has to admit he is going to raise taxes and then spend the money on new programs.
How can Dean possibly beat George Bush if he's afraid to tell the American people about something he has been running on in the Democratic primaries practically from day one? If anybody thinks Dean is going to get by claiming that he's a "moderate" governor from VERMONT, who's for gun rights, and balancing the budget, while his positions on the war, taxes, and civil unions stay off the radar screen, they've got another think coming.
Los Angeles officials have asked that computer manufacturers, suppliers and contractors to stop using the terms "master" and “slave” on computer equipment, saying such terms are unacceptable and offensive.
The request which has some suppliers furious and others busy re-labeling components came after an unidentified worker spotted a videotape machine carrying devices labeled "master" and "slave" and filed a discrimination complaint with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance.
The Reverend Jessie Jackson has been heading up this resistance movement demanding that all peripheral components be set free. He was heard saying that in today’s society it is an abomination that that slavery continues and until we correct this shameful discrimination toaster or telephones could be next.
Jackson is also seeking reparation in the amount of 1.3 billion dollars from firms like IBM, Dell and Apple stating that enslaved hard drives were forced to work against their will and are entitled to American rights and monitory damages for their brutal working conditions.
Jackson swore he would not rest until all peripheral components had equal rights.
If you enjoyed this satire by Scoop Ladleton, you can read more of his work at Broken Newz.
This story is such an obvious abuse of power and it's so antithetical to everything our country stands for that it's hard to believe that it's actually happening in the United States...
"(Norfolk’s Redevelopment and Housing Authority) recently sent Thomas and Stella Musick a letter saying it would like to “buy” their Ocean View house. No mention of money, of course. That comes later.
What if the homeowners don’t want to sell? The housing authority will take it. Then, if history is any predictor, the Musicks and their attorney will go to court, squeeze a little more dough out of the city and start packing.
In a Norfolk nanosecond the modest Musick house will be bulldozed, a bigger one will take its place and a prosperous white-collar family will be ensconced at the address.
Ah, aren’t redevelopment and housing authorities wonderful tools?
Rumors that the city wanted to usher in more Ocean View McMansions in the Musicks’ neighborhood have been rampant for the past decade.
Still, they kept their house up. Why wouldn’t they? It’s been in the family for more than 60 years.
Mr. Musick moved there in 1958 to live with his grandmother after the death of his mother. He bought the house in 1980. Thomas Musick planned to stay in his three-bedroom childhood home with the aqua vinyl siding until they took him out feet-first. No more.
“It’s not a matter of winning now. It’s about getting the most money for it,” Mr. Musick told me when I phoned him at work Monday morning. “The house is probably gone.”
The timing couldn’t be more painful. In another year the house would have been paid off and Thomas Musick, 55, would be in the enviable position of living in a house mortgage-free.
Now, thanks to city-sanctioned bullying, he and his wife could be starting over.
The sturdy little house that weathered the hurricanes of the 1930s, the Ash Wednesday storm and this year’s Isabel may not be able to withstand the unbridled power of Norfolk’s Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
According to a story in Sunday’s paper, plans are afoot for about 100 new houses on a 25-acre parcel between 3rd Bay and 7th Bay streets along Ocean View Avenue."
Welcome to Soviet Norfolkistan, where comrade Musick's private property rights must be sacrificed for the good of the state. Why the very idea that a man should be able to refuse to sell the state his house, it's ridiculous. You'd think Musnick lived in America or something...oh wait, he does. Someone should tell that to the politicos in Norfolk who are so drunk with power that they're acting like members of the Soviet Politboro. What's being done to the Musicks is not only disgraceful, it's unamerican.
Hat tip to Neil Boortz for finding this one.
*** Update #1 ***: The Musicks should send Neil Boortz a Christmas present because he probably saved their house...
"Councilman Barclay C. Winn insisted that the housing authority will not use its condemnation powers to take homes from residents on 6th and 7th Bay who recently were contacted by the NRHA about purchasing their homes.
"We're not going to condemn a house just to build a larger house," Winn said. "If they don't want to sell, we'll build around them."
Yet Winn's pronouncement was too late to prevent the topic from hitting the airwaves. Nationally-syndicated talk-show host Neal Boortz raised the issue on his show Thursday morning and gave out the housing authority's e-mail address. Housing authority spokesperson Nancy Chapman said she had received dozens of e-mails by noon."
Two things. First off, last month was RWN's best month ever traffic wise. I pulled 148,931 daily uniques & 288,796 impressions. That's particularly impressive since I spent an entire week on vacation in November. Just as a point of comparison, I pulled roughly around 130,000 impressions in November of 2002.
Secondly, I have a lot of text ads still available. That isn't entirely surprising since they just debuted this month. The same thing actually happened when the button ads were introduced. It took a couple of months for them to start selling out.
So, here's what I'm going to do in order to induce people to buy more of these ads. Normally, text ads run for a month at a time. But in this case, if you buy a $10 text ad, it will run from the day after you buy the ad until the end of Jan. So for example, if you buy an ad tomorrow, it will run from Dec the 6th until the end of Jan. So for a measly $10, you'd get an ad that runs for FIFTY-SIX DAYS. That's probably a better advertising deal than you're going to find anywhere else on the net.
If you're interested, put the $10 in my Paypal account (which is located in the support section) and send me an email at johnhawkins|removethis|@rightwingnews.com letting me know the page you want advertised. There are a maximum of 20 spots available, so if you want make sure you get one, go ahead and sign up now.
In every contest -- well, unless it's one devised by liberals -- there have to be winners and losers. Of course, that also applies to the The 2003 Warblogger Awards.
While there's no way to mention every deserving blog, I thought it would be worthwhile to list what I consider to be the 25 best blogs that didn't win anything. In my humble yet probably still correct opinion, they are as follows.....
-- Allah Is In The House
-- Betsy's Page
-- Cold Fury
-- The Corner
-- Cox & Forkum
-- Curmudgeonly & Skeptical
-- Cut On The Bias
-- Daily Pundit
-- Daimnation
-- DANEgerus Weblog
-- The Edge of England's Sword
-- Electric Venom
-- Gut Rumbles
-- HobbsOnline AM
-- Jihad Watch
-- Joanne Jacobs
-- JunkYardBlog
-- Pejmanesque
-- Stephen Pollard
-- Power Line
-- Sgt. Stryker's Daily Briefing
-- Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
-- QandO
-- Ravenwood's Universe
-- Tongue Tied
** As per usual, do keep in mind that my choices for these sorts of lists change -- sometimes quite a bit -- over time. **
American military morale hit an all-time low this week in the wake of revelations that President George Bush didn't serve a display turkey to hungry troops during his surprise visit to Baghdad last week. Political experts have already dubbed the episode 'turkeygate', and predict that the effect of this latest Bush administration scandal will be even more devastating than the outing of Valerie Plame.
"When I went home after dinner that night, I wrote a letter to my wife about how proud I was to fight for liberty," said an unnamed Army staff sergeant, "but when I learned that not a single soldier ate the display turkey, even though the president was photographed holding it, my faith in democracy was shattered."
Another soldier added, "We suddenly realized that we're risking our lives to defend a lie. He mocked us with the pretty bird, then served us the common steamtable turkey. What good is freedom, if you can't trust your leaders?"
If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can read more of his work at Scrappleface.
A few things I wanted to mention that I didn't think merited their own posts...
-- This excerpt from a Howard Kurtz article about Joseph Wilson, who has long claimed that his wife would be put in danger if her identity was revealed, is so funny that you'd think it was satire if it wasn't in the WAPO....
"In October, As Vanity Fair Notes, (Plame) Was At The National Press Club -- Wearing A "Sharp Cream Pantsuit" -- While Her Husband Received A Truth-Telling Award. Wilson Wept From The Podium, Saying, "If I Could Give You Back Your Anonymity . . ." And Then Introduced Plame, Who Also Teared Up."
Yes, there's no better place to hide your "secret" than at the National Press Club...
-- Some people have asked how Instapundit could be both the ranked the best overall blog and the most overrated blog in the The 2003 Warblogger Awards.
Well, you have to be rated to be overrated and since almost no one is higher rated than Glenn Reynolds, it's understandable that a lot of people think he is overrated too. I think of it as the "Britney Spears Effect". The more popular you are, the more people you annoy.
-- I also thought it was worth noting how incredibly dominant Mark Steyn was against incredibly stiff competition. In fact if you take out Jonah Goldberg's votes (since he was ineligible), Mark Steyn beats the next 10 columnists COMBINED. That's Mark Steyn (96) Vs. Victor Davis Hanson, Christopher Hitchens, Charles Krauthammer, Peggy Noonan, William Safire, Thomas Sowell, Ann Coulter, Walter Williams, George Will, & Kathleen Parker (93). Now you tell me why Mark Steyn isn't being syndicated in every newspaper in America?
-- The story of the 37 linguists who were kicked out of the military for being gay under "don't ask, don't tell" has been floating around for quite a while and has been used to bash the policy. However many of these linguists were trainees and a large percentage of trainees flunk out of the program. On top of that, not all of them were studying Arabic, so it's not as if their loss was that big of a deal. Besides, are they supposed to get a free pass on the rules that everyone else in the military has to live by just because they're linguists? They knew the rules (which are more lenient than the military would prefer by the way) before they joined up and if they couldn't abide by them, they shouldn't have gotten into the military in the first place.
-- I think it's notable that not all that much has been made out of Howard Dean's latest gaffe on Hardball. He talked about getting the "Soviet Union" involved in dealing with the problem we're having with Iran, not just once but FOUR TIMES. That's obviously a boneheaded error, so why isn't Dean hearing the same shrill cries of "you're stupid" that Bush gets?
It's because the Democrats and the press set up little memes for the candidates and then bend over backwards to confirm the judgement they've already made. So once that they decided that Reagan, Quayle, & now Bush were "stupid," (notice that only Republicans are ever characterized that way by the mainstream press) they looked for anything that supported their little theory and emphasized it to the hilt while ignoring all contrary evidence. Trust me, if Dean, Gore, Clinton, Carter, etc, were treated the same way Bush, the same sort of ignorant people who believe Bush is "stupid" could be convinced that they were "stupid" too.
This is political correctness taken to an mind-blowing extreme...
"A prison officer was sacked for making an allegedly insulting remark about Osama bin Laden two months after the September 11 attacks, an employment tribunal heard yesterday.
Colin Rose, 53, was told he had to go because, although he did not know it, three Muslim visitors could have heard his "insensitive" comment about the world's most reviled terrorist.
...The Norwich hearing was told that on Nov 15, 2001, he threw some keys into a metal chute at the prison gatehouse. When someone said it sounded as if he had thrown them so hard that they were going through the tray at the bottom of the chute, Mr Rose said: "There's a photo of Osama bin Laden there."
Peter McKinnon, another prison officer, told him to be quiet because two Asian women wearing headscarves and an Asian man were at the window of the gatehouse.
The investigation never discovered whether the visitors heard the comment.
Andrew Rogers, the assistant governor, told the tribunal: "I am not sure whether Mr Rose saw the visitors.
"I took offence at the comment. If the visitors had heard the comment, they might have taken offence, too." When Mr Rose was carpeted the next day, he said it was only a throwaway remark. But a few days later, while he was off with a recurrence of a back injury he suffered when suppressing a violent inmate, the investigation was ordered."
This is just....INSANE, on so many levels. It was a pretty minor insult, nobody at the gatehouse actually complained, and most importantly; anybody who is offended by an insult aimed at Osama Bin Laden of all people deserves the scorn of all decent human beings.
I am actually amazed that Andrew Rogers, the assistant governor says that he "took offence at the comment". Why is that? Does he admire terrorists who murder Americans? The fact that a man who may be a terrorist sympathizer still has a job and the guy who made the crack about Bin Laden got fired really makes you wonder if there is something terribly wrong at that prison.
Last but not least, if you think about it, this is really a huge affront to those Muslims who were at the gatehouse. It's like calling Hitler a "monster" in front of a bunch of Germans and then thinking that they're going to be upset about it. What an amazingly low opinion these people must have of the average Muslim to believe that they'd be hurt by an attack on Osama Bin Laden.
It's just a bizarre situation all the way around...
Hat tip to Tongue Tied for finding this one.
You know, at a certain point, some of the mindless cliches the anti-war left mouths go from simply being vacuous & incorrect, to being offensive. Here's a perfect example of what I mean from John Kerry...
"The war on terrorism is not just an American cause; it is a global conflict against a hidden and deadly enemy with many faces in many places," Kerry said. "No matter how much power we have, we cannot prevail single-handedly."
Kerry backed the president's war resolution against Iraq, then struggled for months to explain the stance to Democratic voters angry with the pre-emptive strike. While saying in the address that he supported holding Saddam Hussein accountable, Kerry asserted that Bush "did it in the worst possible way -- without the United Nations, without our allies and without a plan to win the peace."
I really have gotten sick and tired of this sort of idiocy. We went to the UN and after a ridiculous amount of jaw-jawing, we got a unanimous resolution. Then when it came time to enforce that resolution, the UN just refused to put any muscle behind their words...again. How long were we supposed to sit around twiddling our thumbs trying to get Germany, France, Russia, Syria, and company to do what they said were going to do? Another year? Five years? Ten years? There was absolutely nothing to be gained by continuing to wait for approval that everybody who's honest about the situation has to admit was NEVER GOING TO COME.
Then there's this idea that there's "no plan to win the peace". That's just a bald faced lie and John Kerry knows it. The Bush administration has been spending massive amounts of money to try to get Iraq back on it's feet, we're setting a date to turn power over to the Iraqis, we're aggressively attacking the insurgents & terrorists, all while we're rapidly building up the Iraqi military and police force. To claim that there is "no plan" is an insult the intelligence of everyone who hears Kerry's comments. Maybe Kerry doesn't agree with Bush's plan, but only an idiot could believe that there isn't one.
Last but not least, the claim that we went in "without our allies" is callous snobbery of the worst sort. When we went in, Britain, Poland, and Australia put their blood and treasure on the line with us. How can a man who wants to be President just pretend that never happened?
Furthermore, since the war has been over, brave men and women from Britain, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Ukraine, & Denmark have all lost their lives helping us bring Democracy to Iraq. How dare John Kerry sneer at the sacrifices they made just so he can take a banal cheap shot at President Bush?
Let me tell you something about our REAL allies; they're not Frenchmen sitting around sipping wine and complaining about America in some French cafe while their grand-fathers die of heat stroke in sweltering apartments with air-conditioning and they're not German commies who hate Americans and idiolize Marx. All of America's real allies are standing shoulder to shoulder with us and laying it on the line in Iraq. John Kerry's haughty dismissal of their support is nothing less than contemptible.
Lagos, Nigeria - Crying foul play and accusing the judges of accepting bribes, members of the Nigerian Parliament expressed dismay today that upstart Bangladesh has upset Nigeria to win the coveted “Most Corrupt Nation” title.
“How could this be?” demanded George Bungaloo, chairman of Nigerians United for Corruption, the leading organization of Nigerian bribers, flim-flam artists, embezzlers and internet con artists. “Nigerians dominate the world of corruption. Corruption is a daily way of life for our proud country. And Nigeria is the world’s leading exporter of corruption. And it was Nigeria that first realized the immense corruption potential of the internet. When you think e-corruption you think Nigeria.”
In Bangladesh, however, the mood was openly festive as all Bangladeshi who could afford the appropriate bribes took off work early for celebratory parades that culminated in the sacking of the headquarters of the United Nations Food Relief Agency. Later in the day 86% of the country was flooded and approximately 200,000 people were drowned. But that didn’t stop the party atmosphere in Bangladesh as federal officials accepted bribes in order to restore power and water supplies.
“The Nigerians lost this year because they got lazy,” said Mohammed ibn Suliyman, CEO of Bribes Bangladesh, the national union of corrupt public officials and businessmen. “The Nigerians thought that they could automate corruption by sending out billions of emails promoting bunko and pyramid schemes. But in Bangladesh there are only four working phones in the entire country, so we have to rely on good old-fashioned grass roots corruption. It’s person-to-person cheating and flim-flamming that has gotten Bangladesh where it is today, namely, the envy of third-world kleptocracies.”
If you enjoyed this satire by William Grim, you can read more of his work at Broken Newz.
In order to recognize the excellent work some of our fellow bloggers have been doing, RWN has put together the "2nd Annual Warblogger Awards". More than 150 bloggers were invited to vote for their favorite blog in 16 different categories including...
-- Most Annoying Left-Of-Center Blogger
-- Favorite Columnist Who's Not A Blogger
-- Most Overrated Blog
-- The Best Blog Overall
You can see all the results by clicking here.
If you're looking for a Christmas stocking stuffer, why not pick up one of G. Gordon Liddy's "Stacked & Packed" calenders? You can support one of RWN's advertisers & the G-Man while checking out a bunch of hot women handling firearms. What's not to love?
Wesley Pruden is the latest columnist to weigh in on "Bush Hatred". This topic has been hit from almost every angle over the last few months. Comparisons between Bush hatred and Clinton hatred, trying to figure out why the left hates Bush, lefties reveling in Bush hatred, etc, etc, etc.
I've already chipped in my two cents on this topic before, but I'd like to add something and that's my "Hawkins theory of political hatred" which goes as follows...
"People who hate their political opponents almost always end up turning off so many non-partisan voters that they do more damage to themselves than their adversaries."
I say that because when you loathe your opponent, you tend to make a lot of mistakes. You don't correctly analyze their reasons for doing things, you have trouble understanding why other people don't share your views, and you become so overly critical that others who aren't as partisan as you are simply stop paying attention tbecause they believe you're "crying wolf" about your opponent's faults.
So what happens then? Scandals -- even one's that have some "there there," get no traction, the voters tune you out, and they also begin to believe there's a problem with YOU, not your opponents.
That's exactly what happened to the GOP during the Clinton years and I have been pleased to see the Democrats making the same mistake. In the end, I suspect their hatred will help us at the ballot box in 2004...
***Update #1***: In the comments section, Steve_in_Corona says in part, "John, not sure I follow you here. Clinton hatred led to the most dramatic electoral turnaround in probably the entire 20th century - the 1994 elections. Talk about your motivated voter! ".
I respectfully disagree. I think the GOP's success in 1994 elections had much more to do with Newt Gingrich's brilliant "Contract With America" which nationalized congressional elections and gave voters issues to rally around, rather than Clinton's scandals. It's also worth noting that Clinton left office with a 66% approval rating.
IMO, the country has been slowly but surely moving to the right since Reagan came into office and the Clinton hating actually slowed down our progress, not aided it as some people think.
Donald Rumsfeld has won something called the "Foot in Mouth" award for bad English from someone called "the Plain English Campaign".
"The award singles out what judges believe to be the most baffling statement made by a public figure in the past year."
Here's the statement that won the award for Donald Rumsfeld...
"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me because, as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know.
"We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know."
It's interesting to me that they found this to be "baffling," because it's actually a quite profound statement that Rummy has bought up before. They also left off a key part of the quote that helps explain what he means. Here's that last paragraph with the next sentence added...
"We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones."
What Rummy is saying here is that it's the huge surprises, the things that catch us completely off guard, that we don't expect, that tend to be the most dangerous.
For example, let's say we know Iran is building nuclear weapons and we know they're going to be ready in August of 2004, we can do whatever it takes to stop them by that date. If we know Iran is building nukes, but we're not sure when they'll be completed, let's say it could be anywhere from a month to five years, it's much tougher to know if we need to make a move yet. But, if Iran is building nukes and we have no idea they're doing it, we're in deep trouble because we're unaware that the problem even exists.
Now if that "baffles" you...well, let's just say it shouldn't anymore.
An embarrassed Senator John McCain, R-AZ, today apologized to members of the U.S. Navy's version of Alcoholics Anonymous for comparing Congressional spending to that of "a drunken sailor."
"It was a mean, insensitive remark," said Mr. McCain. "A drunken sailor could never spend as much money as Congress has, with that kind of speed. My analogy was also wrong because a drunken sailor usually spends his own paycheck."
In related news, Mr. McCain, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, said he hopes that Americans enjoy the pre-Christmas shopping season.
"Everyone should get out to the stores and malls and spend money like an incumbent legislator," he said.
If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can see more of his work at Scrappleface.
Prepare yourself, because after I show you some excerpts from this "sob story" from the Contra Costa Times that's supposed to make you feel sorry for a couple of welfare queens, I'm going to go on a decidedly non-PC rant that's going to make all you "compassionate conservatives" out there cringe. Here's the story of Shannon Oberg, one of the women the article is trying to elicit sympathy for...
"The dark days clung to Shannon Oberg, devouring her self-esteem and sapping her desire to get off welfare.
Her part-time job at a car repair shop paid a few bills, but fell way short of covering the expenses she and her 8-year-old daughter accumulated .
The Pleasant Hill woman imagined there was something better, but life kept battering her down. She had been through an emotional wringer, from an unfaithful boyfriend to a sister's murder by a neighbor. Depression burrowed its way in.
She stuck with the familiar to get by, leaning on financial aid.
A knock at the door from a Contra Costa County worker put an end to all that. The news cast an even bleaker shadow over her future: The government would boot her off welfare in March. "It was very scary when I was told that my time was about to run out," the 26-year-old said.
Like many California welfare recipients this year, Oberg ran up against the new reality of five-year limits for financial assistance. Congress adopted the caps in 1996 to prod recipients into the work force.
The law took effect in California in 1998, making 2003 the first year when recipients began to fall off the welfare rolls.
Children still receive aid regardless of a parent's status. The average family in California loses $131 when an adult goes off welfare. Parents with one child stand to lose the most -- $212 -- if they're receiving the maximum aid.
The amount seems small but the impact can be huge. Eighty percent of the "timing out" adults are women.
Oberg landed a full-time job with benefits in Richmond and is now making $12.50 an hour. That's higher than the $7.05 average for timed-out families. The county covers most of her $117-per-week child-care costs.
"I feel it was a positive move at some point because it got me to do something to take care of me and my daughter," she said.
The hardships continue, and unanticipated costs can broadside Oberg's budget. Expenses are rising, but her paycheck isn't. She bought a reliable car mainly for work, but the $336 monthly payment drains her bank balance. Fortunately, her landlord is understanding when her $995 rent check arrives late.
Her relatives fill in the gaps. During the holiday, her mom will buy a few gifts for her granddaughter and put Oberg's name on them.
Every so often, that dark cloud of depression moves in, threatening to send her into a tailspin. She ignores it as best she can."
Yes, you're reading that right, she has been on welfare for FIVE WHOLE YEARS. However, that makes her the more ambitious of the two women featured in the article since the other woman who was discussed just got kicked off of welfare after TWENTY YEARS.
But let's go back to Shannon Oberg. You'll notice that they don't mention a husband, they talk about an "unfaithful boyfriend". Now of course, were I to point out that maybe a single woman should have refrained from having sex if she wasn't capable of taking care of a child or even that she should have waited until she got married to screw around, I'd be verbally flogged for being a puritanical, prudish, scold. Then people would rant that it's "people like me who drive voters away from the GOP" because they don't want to be told what to do with their lives.
You know what I say to that? Fair enough. While I will tell you that in my opinion you're better off waiting until you get married to have sex and waiting at least until you get out of college to get married, I'm not going to sneer at you if don't do that. I'm not a social conservative. I don't wave my finger in any of my friend's faces if they tell me they sleep around. As far as I'm concerned that's their business and I'm not going to criticize them for it.
But on the other hand, if you get pregnant by an "unfaithful boyfriend" and end up turning into Shannon Oberg, a 26-year-old who has been expecting the state to be her "baby daddy" for five years, then yeah, I do have a big problem with you. That's because it's not everyone else's responsibility to do YOUR JOB and support your children -- especially not for FIVE YEARS.
The problem is that people like Shannon Oberg want a consequence free lifestyle. They want to have their fun & they don't want hear some bunch of "moralizers" warn them about consequences or tell them they should be more responsible while they're doing it. But then, when just what they got warned about over and over actually happens, suddenly the world owes them a living as far as they're concerned.
Back when I was a kid and lived in Stoneville NC, out in the country, we described people like Shannon Oberg as "sorry" and "good for nothing" and you know what? That still fits...
Yes, this photo of Dick Gephardt isn't photoshopped. It's straight off of Yahoo...
Someone call California gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey, I think she has a co-star for her next film =D
Thanks to Michele Catalano from A Small Victory for finding this one.
Our first quote of day comes from Bob Dole who apparently can't stand Howard Dean. How else can you explain a man who generally comes off as a grandfatherly statesman saying this about George McGovern, ehr..I mean Jimmy Carter, oh shoot, I mean Howard Dean (sorry, you can barely tell the three of them apart when it comes to foreign policy).
"I thank God F.D.R. was my commander in chief in WWII. Had it been Howard Dean we would have not participated. This would have saved lives and none of us would have been wounded. Just one little problem: we would have lost our liberty and freedom."
OUCH! That has got to hurt. But if you thought that was brutal, wait until you read this quote about Hillary's visit to Iraq from the American Prowler (it is from an unnamed source so take it with a grain a salt)....
"In fact so few U.S. military personnel volunteered to meet and sit with (Hillary), that military leaders in Baghdad had to designate enlisted personnel and junior officers to spend time with the New York senator.
"The meetings with [Iraqi administrator Paul] Bremer went fine, but we weren't finding a lot of takers on meeting with Clinton and [Rhode Island Democratic senator Jack] Reed," says an American staffer in Baghdad. "Maybe there weren't a lot of New Yorkers in the area."
You mean the fine men and women risking their lives for our freedom over in Iraq don't want to have anything to do with Hillary? Why, who'd of thunk it? =D
I received the following piece of hate mail this week-end and I thought it merited a response...
Hi John,
My name is Sarah-Jayne, i'm 17 years old and ilive in tasmania Australia. I've been reading some of your editorials on the right wings news website and . As i said I am 17 but i believe that even I, with little life experience, have a more open mind than you do. You fail to understand what is being said and to comprehend that there are other opinions in hte world, you compare to tings that are dead and irrelevant. A prime example is your editorial regarding Ken Livingstons comment; "I actually think that Bush is the greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen. The policies he is initiating will doom us to extinction."
I agree with Mayor Livingston, not only has bush endangered the lives on innocent men women and children in iraq, but also in his allied countries! In fact he went against the wishes of several differnt coun tries and with the backing of only a few (one of which i am, unfortunatly, ashamed to live in) You may laugh at this and think "oh another bloody hippy" But i'm not, i'm a normal girl, i wear jeans and t-shirt, i go out with my friends... i don't regualarly attend protests.. i believe they are a waste of time but i was recently inspired to go to one and that was George Bushes recent.. but brief (isn't it nice to know we're worth his time) visit to australia. He has been branded a killer, a liar and a dictator and i beleive he is, he won his election by an accident and funnily enough the only state that seemed to have a major problem was the one run by his brother in australia.. that never would ahve happened! I am glad I'm not american because if i were i wold be ashamed of my country and the people like you who live in it. I can see from your editorials that you're old fashioned and senile.
Feel free to chuckle at me behind the safety of your computer desk beca use i can't hear it and i'll never meet, you of which i am glad because i know that it would be one less idiot that i would meet.
Your Sincerly (and trust it's all very sincere)
Sarah-Jayne
Sarah-Jayne, Sarah-Jayne, Sarah-Jane, you dear deluded sheila you! Like Paul Hogan, the charming yet ignorant Aussie from Crocodile Dundee, you're charming, yet appallingly ignorant at the same time. However, since you're only 17, you have plenty of time to stop being a koala bear in the zoo of political bewilderment.
For example, do you really, truly understand what life was like in Iraq before we invaded? State sanctioned rape and torture were everyday things, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were slaughtered, there was no political freedom, freedom of speech was non-existent, it was a totalitarian nightmare state -- one of the worst places on earth. Yet, you're worried that Bush went "against the wishes of several differnt coun tries" and "endangered the lives on innocent men women and children in iraq"? Trust me kiddo, having the US invade Iraq and stay to build a Democracy was the best thing that has EVER happened to the Iraqi people. People like Ken Livingstone would acknowledge that if say, France, Germany, and Belgium had been running the show, but they're so blinded with hate for America that they'd prefer to see 25 million Iraqis in chains and mass graves than have them freed by Americans.
Also, I know it's probably a waste of time to tell you that you should be proud that your country is one of the few Western nations that has the guts to still fight for freedom, but it's true. You may be "ashamed" that Australia backed America in Afghanistan and Iraq, but what's to be ashamed of? That brave Australians risked their lives to free almost 50 million people from tyrants? That your country struck a blow at the same sort of terrorist animals who murdered so many Australians in Bali? If you're "ashamed" of that, I'd hate to hear what you feel "proud" of.
Even if you care for nothing beyond whatever "jeans and t-shirt" you can buy at the mall, have you ever considered the risks YOUR country faces now and over the next decade or two? You're a tiny nation of 20 million people. Have you ever wondered what might happen down a road a bit if some of your neighbors, say Indonesia which is 10 times your size or maybe even China at 50+ times your size were to modernize their militaries, particularly their navies and decide that they fancied your country? Do you really think Europe would come to your aid? Ask Czechoslovakia or more recently Bosnia and Kosovo, about that sometime. Let's just say your country would be left to twist in the wind unless America decided to intervene. John Howard understands that and I suspect that he looks down the road a few years and sees, as I do by the way, a much more isolationist America that will come to know and appreciate the meaning of the word "schadenfreude," at least when it applies to nations that didn't help our country in the war on terrorism. Remember dear girl, one day in the future, the only thing keeping some Chinese soldier from burning down your mothers house or an Indonesian mullah from forcing you to wear a veil, may be a strategically located American Battle Group protecting your coastline. Poo-poo that if you will, but trust me when I say that if that day comes, it won't be international law, the UN, or the opinion of Europe that protects you.
Last but not least, I too am glad we'll "never meet" since your country is overloaded with dangerous snakes, spiders, and apparently something called drop bears and you might try to slip one into my luggage. While most Australians I've met are fine folks, I do keep in mind that you're descended from criminals and you might have great-great-great-grandma's "stabbin genes".
So all the best from over here in American Sarah-Jayne. Oh...and don't get so distracted by reading this that you let a dingo steal your baby. I understand you Aussies have a real problem with that. Probably because you try to deliberately irritate them like that Steve Irwin fellow. Leave irritating the wild life to the professionals Sarah-Jayne...
PS: Stop reading Margo Kingston and John Pilger, they're leftist chuckleheads!
At a Beacon Hill press conference this morning, Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry denounced the robust American economy as a Republican dirty trick.
“Don’t Americans realize that economic growth and job creation come with enormous costs—like a loss of all that free time that comes from good old-fashioned unemployment?” asked Kerry from the sitting room of his $12 million townhouse that he shares with his latest wife, the heiress of the Heinz food fortune. “I speak for the little man when I say that full employment at good paying jobs with low taxes is a dirty trick being perpetrated by the Republicans to make Americans forget about the degradation of their lifestyles.”
Kerry then announced that he is going on a hunger strike until the unemployment rate goes up to the “socially just” level of 18% and taxes for rich people—which he defines as those earning more than $6,000 a year—are raised to the “economically just” level of 93%. “I only want what is just for the American people,” said Kerry as he sipped Perrier water and nibbled on petit fours before handcuffing himself to a Louis Quatorze settee at the beginning of his hunger strike. “Of course, my proposal does include a 100% tax abatement for progressive politicians and gigolos, so I figure I’m covered both ways.”
If you enjoyed this satire by William Grim, you can read more of his work at Broken Newz.
I took some more Patton pics while I was on vacation and I must say, I have the coolest dog in the entire blogopshere by far. Just check this picture out...
It's almost as if he's saying, "Am I not the most adorable dog in the entire blogosphere? Only an idiot or a Commie could say no. It's almost like I'm SMILING AT YOU. Can your dog do that, you hippy? Oh? Then get it on film...no, no, go ahead, I'll just sit here and wait while you get your effeminate French Poodle who'd probably vote for Al Sharpton if he were human and try to teach him to smile. I'm waiting...la, la, la, la, la...oh, it does get tiresome having my belly scratched and chasing toys while you try to get a cute shot of "Poochy" or "Socks" or whatever you've named your third rate mongrel who doesn't measure up to me -- oh -- did I say that out loud? Besides, it's probably just a fluke shot; I could never do it again...
Oops, I did it again! How did I manage that? So how's that pic of "Ratty the Chihuahua" coming? Too busy scratching himself to take a cute pic, eh? Let's face facts; shall we? Howard Dean has a better chance of beating President Bush than your dog has of taking a better pic than me...and take my word for it, I plan to be eating filet mignon and playing with my favorite squeaky toy when George Bush does the same thing to Howard Dean that I'm doing to this toy...
I mean, we're friends here; I can be honest with you; right? I COULD beat Howard Dean! My campaign commercial would open up with this pic...
The announcer says, "Hey Patton, what do you think of taxes?"
GRRRRR!
"What about deficit spending, boy? What do you think about politicians who fritter away the American people's hard earned money on pork barrel spending?"
GRRRRR!
"But can we trust you to defend our national security? What do you want to do to terrorists, boy?"
GRRRRRRRRRR!!! ROWF!!! ROWF!!! GRRRRRRRRR!!! ROWF!!!! ROWF!!!!
"Vote Patton; he'll keep spending down, won't raise your taxes, and he'll take a bite out of terrorism! Sure he may be a dog, but come on...Howard Dean? You've gotta be kidding me!"
President Patton...that has a nice ring to it. I'll have to think about that tomorrow while I'm chewing on my pig nose and playing fetch! Rowf!
I'm back from my lazy, week-long vacation. I caught Halle Berry's "Gothika" (which I liked) & read a few books...
-- Heinlein's 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' (Which I found to be vastly overrated)
-- Victor Davis Hanson's "Mexifornia"
-- The Complete Idiot's Guide to the U.S. Special Ops Forces (Not particularly enjoyable)
Next up for me is Friedman's "Capitalism & Freedom" & Horowitz's "Radical Son".
I also did my part to improve the economy by buying an incredibly cool massage chair for $119 w/ a $40 mail in rebate. I cannot say enough good things about this chair. It's so awesome and feels so good that I'm tempted to take it back and forth to work each day so I can be massaged all day and night. I only wish I would have bought this 6 months ago.
On the downside, I was supposed to have the "2nd Annual Warblogger Awards" for you to start the day with, but that didn't happen. Unfortunately, tallying up the categories is taking MUCH longer than I anticipated. That means the "Warblogger Awards" will be out on Wed (instead of today) and the "Most Annoying Liberals for 2003" won't be out until next Monday (instead of Thursday). That's the breaks.
But in any case, I'm back and RWN will be updated normally again...well, at least until I take half-a-week off for Christmas. Until then, RWN is back...
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