Saturday, December 31, 2005
The countdown begins
As the final day of 2005 progresses, most people will be taking a look back - as most people are wont to do when a major milestone occurs - at the Year in Review.
Since I believe in letting spilt milk lie under the bridge where Jesus flang it, I won’t be doing that. I also won’t be putting up a list of New Year’s Resolutions, since most of them will probably have been either broken, forgotten or ignored by St. Patrick’s Day.
Besides, I don’t drink, I quit smoking more than five years ago, I don’t gamble, I’m in pretty fair shape for someone my age and suffering from my physical limitations, and I can’t think of anything I really need to do to make my self “a better person” (as defined by society), so that tends to eliminate the need for resolutions anyway.
So I’m just gonna wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year, and remind you to party safe tonight, because we here at The Rants want to see you all back here next year.
In the meantime, here’s something that you can use to impress your friends with at midnight - the complete lyrics to Auld Lang Syne (tucked thoughtfully below the fold).
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Damn, all this time
...and nobody stepped up and posted? Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Well, I guess the holidays got the best of them.
Anyhow, I’m back from Vegas, had a great time, dropped a lot of money, and even saw a couple of movies at the big screen - the remakes of ”The Producers” and ”Fun With Dick And Jane”.
Both of them had their funny moments, but of the two, “The Producers” was better. FWDAJ was just a bit too preachy and kept shoving “Gore/Liebermann 2000” posters at odd moments that had nothing to do with the plot, and lots of jabs at the big scandal companies (Enron, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom, etc.). Yes, I know that this was supposed to be set in the year 2000, but all that travelling around, and not a single “Bush/Cheney” bumper sticker to be seen?
Neither here nor there, but I mention it anyway…
Anyhow, I’m glad to be back.
Didja miss me?
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Mega Christmas Sunday Share
I bring to you several choices for this week’s Sunday Share, in the spirit of the Christmas season.
Enjoy!
For a little comic relief, I bring you Steve Martin’s Five Christmas Wishes. (2.73MB)
From The Great White North, I bring you Bob & Doug McKenzie’s cover of Twelve Days of Christmas (10.7MB)
From the Classic Rock files, we have the Kinks’ with Father Christmas (3.41MB)
And my own favorite Christmas duet, Bing Crosby & David Bowie performing Little Drummer Boy (4.03MB)
Merry Christmas to all of you, and I will see you all tomorrow… 
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Heh
That’s all.
Just…
Merry Christmas!
Post of Christmas Past
From the archives, I present a tribute to our military. May they - and you - have a peaceful and joyous Christmas…
Official Endorsement
For thoseshirts.com
I ordered my brother a couple shirts for Christmas on the 16th of December, and on the 23rd, they hadn’t come yet. So, I e-mailed the company at 7:08 PM EST...or 4:08 PM PST (their time). At 11:25 PM EST, Doug Weinberg e-mailed me back personally, tracked down my package, said it was in transit, and basically went above and beyondthe call of duty.
I got my order this morning, and I want to spread the good news everywhere. I am e-mailing Michelle Malkin and Glenn Reynolds, and asking for this to be linked. I am very pleased that Doug took the time to make sure I was taken care of, especially on a day that most people were signed off.
They earned a big-time customer, and I hope everyone that reads this will order something from them.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Nah, there’s no War on Christmas
Because that’s not what they call it in Massachusetts.
Some parents are scratching their heads after school administrators insisted students call a Christmas tree a “magical tree,” the color red was removed from green and red elf hats, and songs from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” were pulled from a winter concert.
“I can see a religious holiday being offensive to those who don’t celebrate it,” said Dale Fingar, whose sixth-grade son brought home 10 red and green elf hats Monday and requested she replace the red fabric with white. “But red and green hats? Come on.”
Handfuls of parents said they were upset with the administration’s handling of “a couple” of complaints from parents who were offended by Christian religious themes in the middle school’s holiday programming.
Sixth-graders were scheduled to perform portions of several songs from the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar,” in the holiday concert today. Last week, Middle School Principal Joanne Senier-LaBarre wrote parents a letter explaining those songs had been cut from the performance.
But that’s not a War on Christmas, any more than arresting drug dealers is a War on Drugs. Right? 
Thursday, December 22, 2005
It’s beginning to look a lot like…
Well, maybe for you poor folks back East and up North, anyway.
As I type this, my little digital indoor/outdoor thermometer displays:
(UPDATE: To save space and bandwidth, I moved the pictures below the fold...)
From the ‘Well, it’s about time!’ Dept.
Judge Richard Suhrheinrich, part of a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Cincinnati, has finally announced publicly that the ACLU is (and I quote) “tiresome” and “does not embody the reasonable person.”
Further rulings expected to announce that the Sun is hot and water is wet.
I thought marijuana was illegal in Nevada?
Because as sure as Yahweh made little black yarmulkes, Harry Reid is on something. He is the senior Senator from Nevada, just reelected to his 4th consecutive 6-year term last fall. He is the Senate Minority Leader and one of the Elite Eight (Congressional Leadership, consisting of Majority and Minority Leaders and their deputies from both Chambers). He is routinely interviewed as to the Democratic point of view on Senate issues, simply because of his position.
But he clearly has either no knowledge of how things actually work, or no interest.
He was recently whining about Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) attaching a rider to the Defense Bill to allow for drilling in ANWR, in response to Senator Frist’s explanation (that because a majority of senators have voted for drilling in the past, attaching it to another bill is justified), and said, “We’ve become like the House of Commons. Whoever has the most votes wins. It hasn’t worked that way in 216 years.” (Emphasis mine.)
Um, yeah, Harry, it has. That’s called “Democracy”, which is a fun little concept you should really look into.
And the train wreck continues apace. Who wants fresh popcorn?
Link (If you want to bypass their free registration, use one of these.)
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
My Head…..is EXPLODING…..
Over THIS:
”Republicans in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to muster enough votes to keep a measure to allow oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a $453 billion defense spending bill.
The House of Representatives earlier this week passed the defense budget bill with the oil drilling provision.
However, with the Senate unable to end the filibuster by Democrats and a few moderate Republicans, the provision to give oil companies access to the refuge could be dropped.”
MMMMRRRRRAAARRRGGH!
Oh. My. GOD! What is wrong with this? Is this not our F-ING OIL? is this not part of the %^$&* DEFENSE BILL? I mean, what are the Democrats doing? and those WORTHLESS RINO’s that are helping them F-UP THE WHOLE DEAL?
Isn’t it clear that the drilling there will EASE OUR F-ING DEPENDANCE ON FOREIGN OIL? Isn’t it clear that this is not just an environmental concern (a minimal one that that, mind you), but a F-ING STRATEGIC CONCERN AS WELL?
The vote was 56 for ending the fillibuster, and they needed 60. Here are the RINO’s that voted against:
Chafee (R-RI), DeWine (R-OH)
Frist voted against it because he needed to...a procedural vote that allows him to call for the vote again. The Democrats that voted for cloture are Akaka (D-HI), Landrieu (D-LA), Nelson (D-NE), and Inouye (D-HI).
Why is a F-ING senator from OHIO voting against drilling for oil in A-FARGING-LASKA? Just to piss me off, that’s why!
So....we have Polipundit with the score and Michelle Malkin with her exacting commentary and pointed “Sighs”
I need a drink. I need Alaskan Crude more, but I’ll live with a drink.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
A Fox in the Hen House
Apparently Mexico’s president Vincente Fox is more than just a little bit angry about the fact that we have decided to man-up and build a giant fence to keep what seems to be the remaining population of Mexico out of the United States. As it stands right now, we have a huge problem with illegal immigration - just run a search on this blog to read about my various rants on the topic. Needless to say, you can’t really blame the Mexicans for hopping the border. Unless you’re well connected, a drug dealer, or a combination of the two, you’re stuck working for pennies a day in Mexico. Despite what protest you might see down on Alvarado this week, until the corruption in Mexico is taken care of, that isn’t going to change. Mexico will be dirt poor, and will continue to be a country-sized trash can for many years to come.
The greatest source of income for Mexico just happens to be the United States. The illegal’s who end up washing dishes, picking up yard waste, and providing the work crews for tons of builders send a ton of money back to Mexico, which gets recycled into their economy and not ours. Vincente Fox knows that, which is one reason that he went on a tirade and let loose with this little gem. “The disgraceful and shameful construction of walls, the increasing enforcement of security systems and increasing violation of human rights and labor rights will not protect the economy of the United States...” Actually it will, Vincente.
With the building of the wall (or fence, whatever you feel like calling it), at least 700 miles of the 2,200 open miles of the border will be sealed. The 700 mile region is a high traffic area, meaning that tens of thousands of illegal’s cross there on a monthly basis. We’re now closing the spigot, which means Mexico is going to take a big hit on the amount of money coming into the country. If I were Fox, I’d be mighty angry as well.
But then again, it might be in Fox’s best interest to drop the fight against the fence and try to use some of the money he’s gaffled from us over the years to stop the widespread corruption in Mexico. Until we see an end to that, and until Fox is willing to protect the Mexico-California border as well as he protects the Mexico-Guatemala border, it’s game-on.
Have we talked about Iran before?
I think we have. Well, I’d like to talk more about it.
Since we’ve talked about the Quietist Sh’ia, and their leader Sistani, we know that the leadership of the Sh’ia in Iraq are not clamoring for velayat-i-faqih. They are not looking for the Wahabbists to take over, nor are they looking for the fundamentalists from Iran to do so (their Iraqi allies are the Sadrites). They are a pluralistic country, and are moving towards a pluralist, democratic state.
Of course, this does not bode well for the Iranians.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Please Excuse My Ignorance
I put up with month after month of the Valerie Plame ordeal, and it was undoubtedly one of the biggest non-stories of the year. In summary, a non-covert CIA agent was outed by an unnamed source, and the supposed source was the Bush administration. In fact, according to the liberalsphere, President Bush, Dick Cheney, a few special assistants, a number of handlers, the entire US Army, most of the Salvation Army, portions of WalMart, and their (collective) dog Spot all had a part in it. Day after day, I listened to the story until it was beat into my head that all of the aforementioned people actually did what was alleged, although there was absolutely no evidence to prove it. In the end, a guy named after a 3-wheeled bike took the hit, and that was it. Case closed.
Enter the newest front page story: The NSA leak. Someone thought it was a great idea to leak information on a top-secret operation the NSA was performing that involved wire taps being placed on incoming phone calls from terrorist enablers, supporters, and perpetrators themselves. The liberalsphere is calling for the administration to cease and desist, and the ACLU has stepped in claiming all sorts of civil rights violations.
Here’s a funny fact for you guys: In the same way that the CIA spies on people outside of the country, it is the job of the NSA to track information coming into the country. No laws are being broken, and there’s no right to privacy if you happen to be calling from Osama’s aunt’s house to a fertilizer factory in North Dakota.
My question of the night is this: where are the cries from the liberalsphere about who leaked a matter of national security to the New York Times? Call me crazy, but I think the shouts for someone’s head to appear on a stick should be a heck of a lot louder now that the entire terrorist community knows that we’re playing operator with their calls. The entire news media, also known as the Democratic Party, declared an act of treason because Plame’s name was leaked. When compared to mentioning a non-covert agent was mentioned by name, I think that selling out an entire country is a tad bit more of a devious crime.
Worst. Job. EVER.
No nudity, but NSFW (if you have your speakers turned up loud enough for your neighbors/boss to hear).