I Think I'll Have The Boy, Please...

This is disgusting. For $20,000, doctors in the US will perform some work on human eggs and sperm in a laboratory that will let people select whether or not they get a male or female baby.

"Some people spend $50,000 to $70,000 for a BMW car and think nothing of it, but this is a life that's going to be with us forever," said Robert, an Australian who asked that his last name not be used to protect the family's privacy. He and his wife, Joanna, have two boys. Now they want a girl."

I wonder how many of these people will be honest with their kids and let them know how they were "specially selected" because mommy and daddy were vain, shallow, assholes? Maybe someday medical science will come up with a way for babies to select their parents.

Time to flush the toilet...

As if we needed more evidence that it's time to flush the toilet that has become the US Congress, today's fatuous grandstanding and appeals to 'sacred tradition' take the cake. A congressman from Louisiana is caught on tape accepting a bribe from foreign interests, a lawful search of his home turns up nearly $100,000 wrapped up and hidden inside a freezer, and when the FBI executes a lawful search of his congressional office, the House of Representatives has a collective shit fit. I can understand Democrats coming to this sleazeball's defense, but the Republicans?

"House Speaker Dennis Hastert demanded
Wednesday that the FBI surrender documents and other items agents seized on Capitol Hill in what lawmakers said was an unconstitutional raid. "I think those materials ought to be returned," said Hastert, adding that the FBI agents involved "ought to be frozen out of that (case) for the sake of the Constitution."

'Frozen out of that case' is an interesting choice of words considering where the FBI found the congressman's stash of cash, but who the heck does Hastert think he's fooling with his 'sake of the Constitution" mumbo-jumbo? I can't find one word in the Constitution that says elected officials are immune from warranted searches and seizures or that their private offices sacred territory that is off limits to law enforcement. Yes, this may indeed be the first time in 219 years that the police have executed a search warrant on a congressman's office. So? The important question we should be asking is just how corrupt is this congress that the Justice Dept had to take such a dramatic step? I think the FBI probably needs to pay a little visit to the offices of Rep Hastert as well as all the other vain and arrogant politicians who believe the laws of this country are only meant for us schmucks but don't apply to them.

Thomas Jefferson said, "The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered." It's gotten a hold of us. Now what are we going to do to shake it off?

Got Virgins...?

Found this on Wikipedia today. It's a partial list of the folks Zacarias Moussaoui will be sharing prison space with.

• Omar Abdel-Rahman - leader of the New York City landmark bomb plot
• Mahmud Abouhalima - involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
• Ahmad Mohammed Ajaj - involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
• Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali - involved in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings
• Mohammed Ali Hassan Al-Moayad - helped to finance al-Qaeda and Hamas
• Mirssa Araiza-Reyes - drug smuggler and undocumented alien; killed inmate Frank Melendez
• Nidal Ayyad - involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
• Tyler Davis Bingham - Aryan Brotherhood member
• Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso - Lucchese Crime Family figure and killer of at least 35 people
• Ibrahim Elgabrowny - involved in the New York City landmark bomb plot
• Wadih El Hage - involved in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings
• Luis Felipe (a.k.a. King Blood) - Latin Kings gang leader
• Matthew F. Hale - White supremacist, (unsuccessfully) solicited the murder of federal judge Joan Lefkow
• Rodney Hambrick - serving a 68-year sentence on bomb charges
• Clement Rodney Hampton-Ell (a.k.a. Dr. Rashid) - involved in the New York City landmark bomb plot
• Robert Haney - bank robber
• Robert Hanssen- a former FBI agent serving life for spying for the U.S.S.R. for two decades
• Charles Harrelson - Mobster, father of actor Woody Harrelson
• Larry Hoover - Gangster Disciples gang leader
• Eyad Ismoil - involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
• Anthony Jones - Multiple murderer
• Theodore Kaczynski - The Unabomber
• Yu Kikumura - member of the Japanese Red Army
• David Lane - Neo-Nazi leader, racketeering, conspiracy and violating the civil rights of radio talk show host Alan Berg
• Joseph Leissler - robber, murderer
• Raymond Luc Levasseur - American domestic bomber
• Tom Manning - Killed a New Jersey state trooper.
• Joseph Bryant McGee - bank robber
• Barry Byron Mill - Aryan Brotherhood member
• Khalfan Khamis Mohamed - involved in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings
• Dandeny Munoz-Mosquera - chief assassin for Pablo Escobar, responsible for the bombing of Avianca Flight 203
• Abdul Hakim Murad - involved in Operation Bojinka
• Terry Nichols - involved in the Oklahoma City bombing
• El Sayyid Nosair - involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
• Richard Reid - The "Shoe Bomber"
• Ahmed Ressam - serving 23 years for attempting to blow up Los Angeles International Airport
• Omar Mohammed Rezaq - Hijacked an Air Egypt flight in Greece in 1985.
• Oscar Rivera - leader of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, a Puerto Rican terrorist group, for bombing 28 targets in the Chicago area. Received an additional 15-year sentence for an escape attempt (from another prison).
• Eric Robert Rudolph - Olympic Park Bomber
• Mohammed A. Salameh - involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
• Thomas Silverstein -- Bank robber and murderer; killed guard Merle Clutts in another facility.
• Mutulu Shakur- an acupuncturist turned self-professed freedom fighter for the group Republic of New Afrika, sentenced to 60 years for bank robbery, conspiracy and murder (during the robbery, a policeman and two guards were killed.) Stepfather of late rapper Tupac Shakur, brother of Assata Shakur
• Douglas Taylor - Leader of the 88 Skinheads
• Saxon Taylor - Skinhead Leader
• Earnest James Ujaama - tried to develop an al-Qaeda camp in Oregon
• David Vargas - Convicted Of - Drugs & Voluntary Manslaughter.
• Danny Weeks - kidnapper
• Ramzi Ahmed Yousef - terrorist, involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Operation Bojinka

The federal prison in Florence, Colorado is often referred to as a "Super Max" facility. That means Zac will likely never see daylight or be able to interact with anyone other than the prison staff ever again.

Too bad. It would be interesting to see what's left if you put an Islamic nutjob like Moussaoui in the same room with a Christian nutjob like Eric Rudolph or white supremacist Saxon Taylor.

Oil Idiots...

Didn't take long for the demagogues and mental pygmies in Washington to come up with this:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/03/oil.congress.ap/index.html

"The American people are quite fed up. ... They know gouging when they see it and they're being gouged," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan.

Horse shit. The ones doing the ripping off are the politicians themselves. Federally mandated taxes on petroleum products and fuels coupled with state taxes and assorted fees make up close to 45 cents of the price per gallon we pay at the pumps. Do you know how much "Big Oil" makes per gallon? About 8.5 cents. That's about as much as your local gas station owner makes as well. Have you ever wondered why you can buy just about anything at a typical gas station/quickee mart? Because you'd go broke in a month if all you sold was gasoline. If politicians really cared about the price of fuel and how it affects average people, they'd repeal federal and state taxes.

Your congressmen and senators think you're stupid and will fall for a bait and switch. Instead of doing the hard work of coming up with a rational energy plan, they want to pass useless legistlation and demagogue the issue any way they can to win themselves votes.

"The legislation, receiving broad bipartisan support, passed 389-34, and must now be considered by the Senate. But a proposal aimed at making it easier to expand or build refineries fell short 237-188. It needed two-thirds approval to pass under special House procedures. Democrats said the speed-up in permits might reduce environmental protection and usurp local say over refinery construction."

Come on people, pull your heads out and think for a minute. If you're going to bitch and moan over the high costs of fuel, then do something about it. The solution is right in front of your nose - either stop using so much or increase the supply. The best way to increase the supply is to drill for oil where we know it exists and then build the facilities to refine it.

No? You say you're not willing to do that? Then quit your whining, get a second job, and get ready for $5 a gallon in the next two years.

Tactical change #2...

The illegal aliens marching in the streets demanding 'rights' to which they are not entitled nor deserve have changed their tactics. Apparently the leftist organizers who are promoting these marches realized any sympathy they might have gained for their cause went down the toilet when ordinary Americans saw all those Mexican and Central American flags. Pretty hard to claim you're an American and just want to be treated fairly when you've got a Honduran flag in one hand and a portrait of a Marxist terrorist in the other.

Makes you wonder though - who do they think they're fooling? The issue isn't about immigration. It's about border security and dealing with free loaders who believe they can cross borders with impunity. If you cross the border and stay in the country illegally, you are a criminal. Nothing more, nothing less. You are not "America", you are not an "undocumented worker", and you sure as heck don't have rights. You want rights? Get in line with the Haitians, Italians, Irish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Bosnians, and wait your turn.

Hey kid! Legal immigrants are indeed fighting and dying right now. Illegal aliens are not. They can't enlist in the US military.

Yes, many Americans are immigrants. Illegal aliens who cross the border and squat without doing the relatively simple steps necessary to stay here are not.

What part of "illegal" do you not understand?

Something's missing in all this hoopla about proposed immigration changes. I've been watching the news and seeing crowds of protestors in cities around the country. Many are carrying signs that say things like "We want Immigrant Rights". OK, I'm cool with that. I don't want to see anyone in this country denied their rights. Women, gays, blacks, and immigrants all have the same rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The question I have is that nowhere in this discussion have I heard exactly which rights some immigrants think they're being denied. Are immigrants not allowed to vote? Are they denied access to jobs, college, or medical care? Are they not allowed to drive cars or eat at the same restaurants as everyone else? They are? So what's the big deal?!?

The big deal is how some people in this country define the term immigrant. Much of my family came to this country in the early to middle 1800's. Another batch came in the early 1900's. They jumped off the ship, signed whatever forms they needed to sign, and became American citizens. They are what you call "legal immigrants". The people who are marching in the streets today are what you call "illegal immigrants". Many have come to this country for legitimate reasons I'm sure, but somehow have failed to take the necessary steps needed to reside here legally. Why they don't do this I don't understand, but it seems to me that you shouldn't be allowed to make a conscious decision to defy the rules and then whine when you don't get all the goodies everyone else does.

Maybe we should revise immigration policies and streamline the process. I don't doubt for a minute that the process of applying for a visa, work permit, or naturalization status sucks. This is government after all. It takes hours to renew a driver's license. I can only imagine how tedious it is to apply for citizenship. But that's not the point. The point is unless you follow the rules and become a citizen, you ARE NOT and NEVER WILL BE entitled to the same rights and privileges as everyone else. I'm sorry if that seems harsh, but that's the way it works.

So you might as well pack up your Che Guevara banners, Down with Bush placards, and other junk and shove them where the sun does not shine. Legal immigrants have rights in this country. Illegal immigrants do not.

You missed a couple...

Wait a minute. Didn't a coalition of forces from around the world go into Aghanistan back in 2001 to oust a thug government who regularly did this sort of thing? Looks like they missed a few.

Hundreds protest reports Afghan convert to be freed

Monday, March 27, 2006; Posted: 5:09 a.m. EST (10:09 GMT)

A source close to the case says that Christian convert Abdul Rahman "could be released soon."

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Hundreds of people protested in a northern Afghan city following reports that a man who faced a possible death penalty for converting to Christianity would be released, officials said.

About 700 Muslim clerics and others chanted "Death to Bush" and other anti-Western slogans in Mazar-e-Sharif on Monday, officials told The Associated Press. Clerics have called for protests across Afghanistan against both the government and the West, which had pressured President Hamid Karzai's administration to drop the case against Abdul Rahman.

Kangaroo Kourts...

How hard is it for the judge to tell Saddam to sit down and STFU?!? If he refuses, shove a sock in his mouth and restrain him with duct tape.

Justice delayed is justice denied. Bad enough the kangaroo court at The Haque let Milosevic's shenanigans stall his trial for over four years. It looks like the Iraqi's are going to let Saddam get away with the very same thing. At least Milosevic died a painful and undignified death alone and clutching his chest in a prison cell. It wouldn't be too hard for The Butcher of Baghdad to have a little "accident" in his cell, I'm betting.






Now the Israelis know how to put people on trial. Stick them in a glass booth and give them headphones so they can listen to the proceedings. The moment they get out of line or try to harangue the court, the guards give them a little reminder that they are no longer in control.

Easier yet, give Saddam the Coucescou treatment - a firing squad in the alley behind the courthouse.

Please don't bash my head in!

Speaking of hypocrites, how about we bash their heads in and leave the baby seals alone?

There are few things more annoying than pampered celebrities who have more money than god and can choose to eat whatever they like telling people who have to scrape together a living what they should or should not do. Please find the nearest ice shelf and jump off of it.