I sure hope democracy is dead

Just to be clear, America is representative republic.  Them tears are sooooo sweet, now to figure out a way to become an evil capitalist and collect & market sweet commie tears.

(update) And yet, Republicans are the violent ones.  

Rock Band Fights Evil: The Rockening

Back in late April,  GI Joe: code name Spreadsheet, book bombed D.J. Butler. 



Today while browsing Amazon, I saw the second book in the series. It's free, gratis, no money spent on obtaining the dead pixel version of this series. 

If you're a fan of Spreadsheet's alter ego, you'll probably like this series.  I'm hooked.    

Monster Hunter Vendetta - A Review

Larry Correia's Monster Hunter Vendetta has been released to the public and I picked up my copy this last Sunday. If you don't know about Larry Correia, he is an accountant with a thing for B grade horror movies and guns.  This shows through in his writing.  For accurate firearms information in a story, Larry gets it right. 


I always love reading the books in the beginning of an author's career. It allows one to chart the progress of how an author develops, and from what I read in Monster Hunter Vendetta, Mr. Correia is maturing quite nicely as an author.The book flows quite nicely without any kind of scenes that slow the plot down. Even when introducing new characters or information about a character, the author makes it so the action moves right along.

Mr, Correia is not afraid to turn accepted fantasy norms on their ear, as witnessed by the trailer park elves introduced in Monster Hunter International. In Vendetta, he has taken a cherished part of fantasy and twisted them in such a way that leaves the reader chuckling. Also, the enigmatic Agent Franks of the Monster Control Bureau is a twist on a famous literary and movie monster. 

I do believe that Larry Correia has written a book, that will satisfy the action palette of the reader.  Especially those that are looking for a fun fall read coming into Halloween season.

Since when is being a Muslim being part of a specific ethnic group?

Recently countering demonstrations were held near the site of the former World Trade Center twin towers, commonly referred to as Ground Zero. Demonstrators in favor of the Ground Zero Mosque were heard chanting, "Muslims are welcome here. We say no to racist fear."

But, a Muslim is an adherent to Islam, a religion. Muslims are not a specific ethnic group.

The only conclusion I can draw is that that word does not mean what the demonstrators in favor of the said mosque think it means.

The original source material can be found here.

 One of my Facebook friends pointed me to this article.   It is written by a pagan and is in response to the tea party.  Let's explore this poor deluded creatures thoughts, shall we?

At this point, as a liberal, I'm right with them. I voted for President Obama and, although I think he has potential, I have been less than pleased with his administration so far. While trying to be positive, the economy isn't looking good, and it's hurting my community. He's perpetuated the previous administration's power grabs and, while I understand the need for the economic stimulus package, the national debt worries me. Not to mention we are still losing American lives in wars overseas and basic rights for detainees still haven't been achieved.

First off, she states who she voted for, President Obama, and she thinks he has potential. Everyone has potential.  What does President Obama have potential for, becoming a disciple of Al "release my Chakra" Gore?  No thanks, I don't want another sex poodle in the White House.   She goes on to say she understand the need for the economic stimulus package, but yet the national debt worries her.  Where does that national debt come from?  Among many parts of the stimulus package was funding for Chinese Prostitutes in China to learn how to drink responsibly.  I guess that is so Al Gore can release his Chakra without the Chinese lady passing out on him.  

 

At this point I diverge from the Tea Party as represented in this poll. I think Obama's choice of Evergreen Chapel as a home church is laudable, I think our best years may be ahead, I'm generally happy with the reform of health insurance company practices, I don't feel there is a racial bias in the White House, I'm cautious about vague terms like "smaller government," and I feel that policies should favor the poor in this time of economic upheaval.

Surprisingly, I agree with the author that our best years are ahead of us.  Although I suspect, not for the same reasons.  I do disagree that there isn't a racial bias in the White House.  It's a class bias, and President Obama feels he's yours and mine better.  How can you be cautious about vague terms like "smaller government?"  But hold onto that thought, I'll address it here in a minute.  Policies should favor the poor?  We've had one hundred plus years of welfare and entitlement programs here in the United States and yet, poverty is more prevalent than ever.   I personally favor policies that put government out of the wealth distribution business. 

So far we're about 50/50. Looking at the Contract from America gives me far more food for thought than expected. Let's look at the article's points one by one, beginning with the preamble:

Individual Liberty: I'm with this 99 percent. I want my freedom of expression, of religion, and of economic choices to be protected. I want to be able to speak, read, and write freely without worrying that the government is invading my privacy; to practice my faith openly without fear; to be able to marry regardless of gender; and to be able to purchase herbs, tarot readings, hemp products, and local edibles without government interference. That said, I do like having food inspectors to make sure I don't buy hamburgers tainted with Mad Cow disease and I think it's reasonable to have a license for gun ownership, as a gun is just as lethal as a car in uneducated hands. So I have no issue with my economic freedoms being limited by basic concern for my safety.

Well, why not one hundred percent.  You cannot pick and choose which enumerated rights are enforced and which are ignored.  And even with USDA inspectors, we still have food borne illness.  Here's where I wholeheartedly disagree with you,  and that's a license for gun ownership.  Try this statement on and see how uncomfortable it makes you, "I thinks it's reasonable to have a license to worship pagan gods, as religion is just as lethal as a pen & paper in uneducated hands."  I bet you feel a tad bit upset that I would advocate licensing to practice your religion.  Look at it from a peaceably armed citizen's point of view.  I can't say it any better than Benjamin Franklin, so I'll use his quote to rebut your last statement here, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

  

Limited Government: I do think the government should have a limited presence in our daily lives. They shouldn't be concerned with what I'm reading or what happens in my bedroom between consenting adults. It's none of their business if I burn non-addictive herbs for their scent or for their relaxation properties. However, I recognize that my effect on other people is limited, while corporations, insurance companies, and Wall Street can have a disastrously detrimental effect on society at large if allowed to function unchecked. A corporation's first priority is profits, not the welfare of the society it exists in, so regulation of industry is for the public good.

Ah, so you are for limited, albeit, smaller government. The leviathan has too many heads and needs to be pruned.  I bet every time, Congress has acted to limit business somehow from "trampling over the poor and middle class," business has found a new way around said law.  

Economic Freedom: I think this is a bit redundant, and I've already expressed my thoughts on this.

No, you wanted YOUR economic choices protected.  How about my economic choices or the economic choices of the store where you buy your tarot cards?  

1. Protect the Constitution: I think identifying the Constitutional right of each piece of legislature is a fine idea, as long as it doesn't become a tool to reinforce bizarre interpretations of the Constitution.

Right now, the way the current administration is interpreting the Constitution is pretty bizarre.  Where exactly does it say that I have to buy health insurance, I can't seem to find that clause.  

2. Reject Cap & Trade: I don't think industries should be able to buy and sell emissions allowances. I think giving incentives for companies to reduce their emissions, and take steps to "green" their businesses, would increase domestic jobs.

Hallelujah!! Let's make this a free market solution.  But wait a cotton picking minute!  Give incentives?!?!?!? That national debt you're worried about, well those incentives I bet would take the form of tax breaks.  And who is the business gonna pass their costs along to, that's right, you and me.  

3. Demand a Balanced Budget: County governments in the State of Georgia must have balanced budgets to remain an incorporated government entity in the state. I think it's reasonable to ask our government to be fiscally responsible in this manner.

Sorry, can't do that with that Economic Stimulus Package you see the need for.  

4. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform: I am in favor of the general principal of tax reform, but I advocate a simple graduated income tax over a flat-rate or so-called "fair tax" scheme. That could be another article entirely.

How about we raise taxes on imports into this country and do away with the income tax.  A national sales tax would also work better, as people are consumers and boy do we ever consume.  

5. Restore Fiscal Responsibility and Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington: Creating an "Internal Services" to police the Constitutionality and efficiency of government offices sounds like a disaster, quite frankly. Aside from the irony of creating a new far-reaching government entity to ensure the government stays small, one of the biggest areas of waste in the federal government is the military. How would this task force handle that while protecting national security? How Constitutional is the war in Iraq, and what is the exact total of money, arms, and lives that could be saved there with greater fiscal and moral responsibility at all levels of the federal government?

You ask how the war in Iraq is Constitutional, and yet you don't ask if anything else the government is doing nowadays is Constitutional.  EVERY. SINGLE. PIECE. OF. LEGISLATION.  needs to & must be scrutinized by the constituency of Congress and the President.  We the People are the ones responsible to correct and direct our elected leaders into a more responsible course of action.  

6. End Runaway Government Spending: Capping spending by inflation and population growth may sound good at first, but I'm skeptical on the wisdom of such a scheme. I would rather the government have flexibility to adapt to contingencies rather than be bound and financially strapped for cash in an emergency. That said, I don't have any better ideas.

How about Congress takes each 'emergency' on a case by case basis?  Otherwise, everything becomes an 'emergency."

 

7. Defund, Repeal and Replace Government-run Healthcare: I've already stated I'm in favor of the health care reforms enacted by the current administration, but this section of the Contract is worded broadly enough to do away with Medicare and Medicaid, which would be a disaster to millions of our elderly.

 Again, I point to my rebuttal of point five; Why aren't we seriously looking at the constitutionality of health care reform?  

8. Pass an "All-of-the-Above" Energy Policy: I agree that we need to take a fresh look at our energy options in the U.S., but I also think that means we need to seriously promote alternative energy options. The oil spill in the Gulf has hurt the livelihood of the men and women living along the coast, from fishermen, to shrimpers, to folks in the tourist industry. We need to make sure our energy investments going forward are responsible, clean, and fiscally sound. Ranchers can harvest wind energy in the same pastures they run their cows. That's the kind of solution that helps the American farmer and works toward solving our energy issues.

Does this mean that you don't mind if we drill in the ANR?  Or in shallow waters off the coast of California?  Recently,  I took a trip to Wisconsin and saw hundred's of Wind Turbines.  I can truly understand the Not In My Backyard mentality of the Kennedy's.  Huge pylons with three bladed props turning did nothing to improve the natural beauty of an otherwise pristine landscape.

 

9. Stop the Pork: I think limiting the use of earmarks is a good thing. If government organizations don't have their funds micro-managed by Congress then they have the flexibility they need to be efficient and effective, and perhaps this will reduce the special favors granted to lobbyists.

Me too, however, let's also, do away with some government organizations, like the Dept. of Education, Energy and the ATF.   While we're at it, let's get rid of the EPA.  After all, they are the ones that will enforce Cap & Trade.  

 

10. Stop the Tax Hikes: I dislike paying taxes as much as the next guy, but I honestly believe that since we aren't going to reduce the over-abundant coffers of the military and that BP will not bear the cost of cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico effectively, adding in the fact that we've had an ongoing deficit that the current economic slump has deepened, the money has to come from somewhere. It's sad but we need to do what we can to improve our future. 

 
Yes, I'd rather have the extra cash in my pocket, but I'm also thankful for the unemployment extensions and tax cuts that have helped so many through this recession. It sucks, but if the government honestly reduces the deficit, it's worth it to me. Sure, we could pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and use those funds to pay down the debt while saving the lives of our service members, but we all know that won't happen. We could repeal all the extravagant tax cuts for the oil companies. We could legalize marijuana and tax it. We could legalize prostitution and tax it. We're not going to do those things, though. It will come out of our pockets and it's the price we pay to keep from sinking into an economic Depression as bad as or worse than that our grandparents and great-grandparents lived through.

How about we stop extending jobless benefits and give people some incentive to find work or create new business'?  It seems to me that the government told BP to set up a $20 billion dollar fund to help clean up.  Wait, let me guess, the government is wise enough to know that $20 billion is enough to clean everything up.  No, well then what is the magic number?

We've had national debt for decades, long before it started to climb out of control in the ‘80s. What people tend to forget is that our national debt went way out of control during the ‘40s, when our national debt equated to 120 percent of our GDP. It took us until the ‘70s to bring that back down to a reasonable level. Right now, our national debt equates to approximately 80-90 percent of our GDP. Is it scary? Of course it is, but we have been here before. We handled it then and we can handle it now.

Maybe there is some small truth in Tim's assertion that liberals don't like white, male, 45- year-old Republicans. I think it's the median age we don't like: 45. While their parents survived the Great Depression and a World War, the folks currently in their mid-to-late 40s and early 50s had to survive Abba, the Berlin Wall collapsing, the flourishing economy of the late ‘80s and the ‘90s, a President's getting nookie on the side, and the amazing advances of the tech industry. They had the limited Gulf War but haven't had their generation swept up in the aimless morass of Vietnam, Afghanistan, or the current Iraqi war. It has nothing to do with their being white, male, or Republican; it has to do with their sense of entitlement and jaded pessimism.

As a liberal Pagan, I think I have enough in common with the Tea Party Movement to engage in respectful, serious, and practical dialogue about how to solve the problems facing our nation. Our civic pride and values are very similar. We love liberty, America, and a strong economy. We simply don't always agree with how to preserve those things.

What do I really think about the Tea Party Movement? I think they have interesting ideas, ones that need to be discussed, debated, and taken seriously nationwide. The Tea Party is a corrective action taken against the lack of public discourse about the direction of our country. Politics was once the dinner table conversation of America. Now, we so readily accept all "news" as entertainment that we bypass those posing as objective reporters and go straight to the clown-pundits: Coulter, Colbert, Beck, and Stewart.

I sympathize with the problems the Tea Party has had with the media, with fringe elements, and with being taken seriously. Pagans have been dealing with those issues since the ‘60s and could offer a few pointers, if they'd care to listen. The Modern Pagan Movement is grappling with how to form loose unions in which to promote the interests of our very different autonomous Pagan groups without infringing on their liberties or imposing values on them from the outside. We as a religious movement are deeply engaged in the same issues as the Republic in which we stand. We like tea, we like parties, and we could learn from each other. We should talk.

Sounds good to me, how about over a cup of tea?

 

How did I miss this?

Apparently it's Zombie Awareness Month. It is kind of hard to tell nowadays with all the Obamoids running around out there. Be careful, double tapping the undead is one thing, putting two in the kisser of someone still alive is murder.

h/t to Alan

Not enough time to barely contemplate a bucket list

But should the zombcopalypse come and I become bitten. It would take me this long to become infected.

Created by Oatmeal

Hopefully good egg Taupe of the Chain would just end my misery and put me out of his.

Indifferent Rage

I try really hard not to go off into rants about the little things that are society's curveballs. And I really work hard not to sweat the small stuff. Today is different, there's a lot of bad energy, general ill will, or karma in the air. That being said, you've been forewarned.

Quincy,

When I walk up to you as you the cashier, I expect, Hi, Hello, Greetings, How are you this evening, day, morning, Friday whatever. Did your parents miss out on your basic social skills skillset? I mean come on man, looking at me like I've got the three foot growth of fungal toenail coming out of my forehead is not conducive to our coming exchange. Please is another word, it goes back to your obvious lack of social skills. In your favor, you were able to speak clearly the total I owed, $11.42. Easy enough. Which brings me to my next point. When I hand you $20.47, I don't want the two damned pennies back. Two from seven is five. So, $20.47 minus $11.42 is $9.05. I want the freakin nickel. I don't want three more pennies to add to my collection of the two I tried to give you. I blame your teacher for this for two things. First, learn to count change and count it back. It's a lost art and you'll impress the old ladies with it. Second, go back to school and slap the dumb idiot who made sure you weren't left behind. If you can't solve two from seven then they FAILED you and you FAIL for letting them do it to you.
Finally, thank you is the appropriate ending of our transaction, thanks in a casual kind of way. Just some sort of gracious acknowledgement of our fidicious exchange.

Regards,

TotC

Blogroll additions

I've been remiss in not formally announcing these blogroll additions.

My newest addition is Gun Geek Rants. He walks where hoplophobes fear to tread. Guns and airplanes are two of my favorite subjects.


On the subject of zombies, the first is Zombaritaville. Popular songs with zombie related lyrics. It's a good chuckle. If you know anything about Zombies, they'll freeze in extreme cold. This poses a unique challenge for folks in the southern states. In Texas, KTZF should have a target rich environment.

New Jovian Thunderbolt is another blogger you should check out. He's ready to defend against both mindless communist and zombie hordes. God help us if we have to defend against communist zombie hordes though.

Local to St. Louis is The Dana Show Dana has the coolest bumper music and is a major part of the St. Louis Tea Party.

Quit being a whiny little bitch

Not that my regular readers are by any stretch of the imagination.
For your daily dose of rant go read this.
I wouldn't want that lady pissed at me.

Also, check out the Zombie Defense Coalition links. I'm always up for zombie related links, so if you got em, send em my way.

Ride Fast & Shoot Straight does the math

On surviving a zombie outbreak. Check it out here.

The hoops one must jump through

To hunt zombies in The Land of Lincoln.

From the CZ Forum Site;

I live in Illinois so the Zombie abatement referendum ZAR-56 rules require that any Zombie that forcefully breaks into my home must be actively attempting to bite myself or one of my family members before any type of action is taken which might cause harm to the Zombie.

I must say in a loud clear voice "Leave now Zombie, I understand that you are underprivileged and only looking for food but you have invaded the quarters of a private citizen and I ask you now that you please leave our humble abode" this must be repeated three times.

If after the 3rd warning the Zombie has not retreated I may then fire a warning shot. If after 5 seconds the warning shot has not deterred the Zombies advances I may fire to wound the Zombie in one of it's appendages limited to either one hand, not to be the predominate hand the Zombie uses to write checks to the democratic party election fund or in either shin no less then 3 inches above one foot but no closer then 15" below the knee. I must then wait for a minute to see if the wounding shot has taken any effect.

If after a minute the Zombie persists I may then take a killing shot provided I fill out form A-325 sections 3 through 47 in triplicate, have said forms notarized before 2 witnesses one of which must be a Zombie unrelated the Zombie that is involved in the altercation, mail 2 copies of form A-325 off to Springfield and wait for my Zombie termination license to arrive at which time the license must be approved by the local police department.

So, yeah, I got that going for me, which is nice.

This is full of WIN covered in AWESOMESAUCE!!!