Nom de plume: Rivrdog

Will YOU be the 5,000th commenter? No, Rifleslinger is the one!

We're within a dozen comments of a significant milestone for this blog: Five thousand comments (that I've kept, I flush all spam comments and comments from advertisers thinly disguising their ad as a comment).

You WILL get your name in lights here if you are the 5,000th...

Take keyboard under hand and get to it!

*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*

STRIKE UP THE BAND (band plays Hail to the Chief, Rifleslinger deserves the music more than the current CIC, anyway).

CUE THE KLEIG LIGHTS, and they stab the night sky, dancing their  pattern in the summer smoggy night.

BRING OUT THE MC, and with my immortal writer's licence, I resurrect Johnny Carson, the premier MC of my time, anyway....Ed McMahon gravely intones, "annnd, Heer'es Johnny!"

Carson walks to center stage, dressed in a tux and sporting his "Carnac the Magnificent" turban, and carrying the famous unmarked envelope. The crowd goes crazy, screaming, but then chanting in unison, "who is it, who is it, who is it"

Carson raises his hand, quieting the crowd. He puts the blank envelope to his brow, closes his eyes for a second, then speaks softly, "it's number Five Thousand, the five-thousanth commenter on the famous Rivrdog web-log." With a flourish, Carson pops open the envelope, and with the best surprised look that the stage veteran can summon up, "it's...Rifleslinger, a man of great persistance".

#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*

So, what does Rifleslinger win? The Rifleslinger wins a post, to be either written by himself and published here or ghost-written by the Rivrdog editorial staff to be published here. 

Let us know, Rifleslinger.

 

 

 

Conservatives were NOT betrayed

Yesterday, as it began to soak in for conservatives that the “swing vote” on the SCOTUS was Chief Justice Roberts, a keening howl of  “we were betrayed” screeched out of my TeeVee speakers at me. Later, while driving, a conservative talk show or two repeated the screech, winding it all up with print editions of the screech in my various conservative RSS feeds when I got home.

Fine, conservatives are all over what the Obama Press is screeching equally loud as “Victory”.

Coupla things: First, Obama wouldn’t know Victory if she came up and slapped him in the face with her chain-mail gage. Second, I don’t believe that Chief Justice Roberts betrayed the Nation.

Here is the practical effect of what he just did. Note that I say the PRACTICAL effect, not the legal effect: He just set it firmly down in history that the Obama gangster Left lied to the American People all the way through the process of cramming this * “Git yo’ FREE shit” capstone of the Socialist Agenda through the last Congress. In the next few days, those lies will be documented by the conservative press, and they will find their way into Romney commercials. Look for them on your TeeVee soon.

Secondly, what Chief Justice Roberts just did is that he went “all-in” on the Constitution. He not only bet the farm, he bet the dirt below it and the sky above it, that he, and he alone, could wake up this Nation and show it that its present path of supporting the growing entitlement of sloth, of utter laziness, of  *“We be the GOVERNMENT, and we have yo’ FREE SHIT right here” has got to end. He looked at the weak offerings of Romney, who is competent enough to lead us back to the productive path, but lacks the ability to inspire us to greatness, and he saw failure there. So, he did the only thing possible that he could do: he insured that the massively-disliked Obamacare won the day, and in doing that, he handed the battle flag of Western Civilization’s leader, the US of A, to Romney and said, “I’ve stirred them up, sir, now YOU lead them back to the American Way.”

The question for us now is easy: will we wake up and take the field of political battle? If we do, we can win now, because the seminal issue, that of deciding the future of our way of life, is now on the table. It isn’t “about the Economy, stupid.” It’s never really been about the Economy, which is just a side-show advertised with a catch phrase.

It’s all about the very survival of mankind, and if you say it’s not, I know what side YOU are on, now that I’ve taken the field myself. Bring on the IRS if you will, this is now a Romney blog. I’m not a “pundit” any more, I’m for Romney.

*****************************************************************************

*  “We be the GOVERNMENT, come and git yo’ FREE SHIT right here” is NOT a racist statement, it’s a classist statement. Classism is not wrong, and can’t be outlawed as “hate speech”. Learn the difference between racism and classism or you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution. Note that this has ALWAYS been a classist blog, and always will be. I am part of the producing class, and as such, the opposite side, the non-producers, those who demand and take the FREE SHIT, are my opponents.

SCOTUS, tax assessor

In all my study of Government, I do not recall ever reading that the function of the SCOTUS was to assess taxes, but that is just what they have done. By approving the Mandate as a Tax, they have also set their stamp of approval on regressive taxation.

The youngsters will now be taxed to pay for geezer health, not just their own. How about those health-care premiums that YOU can't deduct as a medical expense now? Guess what, tax equity advocates? Since the mandate/penalty/tax has been confirmed as a tax, it will have to be treated as such, and made out as a deduction against personal taxes. At that point, tax equity rules say that the same expense on the private side will have to be deductible. This will blow a huge hole in tax receipts, and make our current, outrageous budget deficit seem small by comparison.

Let's not waste any more campaign time debating this issue. It's a done deal: we've just been hammered with a huge tax increase, and the GOP needs to hammer the issue of taxes until Obama cries "uncle".

Obamacare legal(?)

So, SCOTUS says that if the individual mandate is a tax, and they assume that, Obamacare is okay.

PROBLEM IS, the bill did not call it a tax, and there is no structure to treat it as a tax, and Obama himself said it isn't a tax.

Seems simple enought to me, the House has to re-write the law to reflect the new, heavy tax we've all just been saddled with. BTW, that new tax should average $4800/year, so better start salting some away.

In an election year, any bets that THIS tax-writing House will write that law in it's session? Or that THIS tax-approving Senate will approve any such tax law while it's members have a bare Democratic Party majority, and must try to hold on to power for Obama to be able to do anything but play golf in his now-assured second term? Oh, wait...

Obamacare legal(?)

So, SCOTUS says that if the individual mandate is a tax, and they assume that, Obamacare is okay.

PROBLEM IS, the bill did not call it a tax, and there is no structure to treat it as a tax, and Obama himself said it isn't a tax.

Seems simple enought to me, the House has to re-write the law to reflect the new, heavy tax we've all just been saddled with. BTW, that new tax should average $4800/year, so better start salting some away.

In an election year, any bets that THIS tax-writing House will write that law in it's session? Or that THIS tax-approving Senate will approve any such tax law while it's members have a bare Democratic Party majority, and must try to hold on to power for Obama to be able to do anything but play golf in his now-assured second term? Oh, wait...

Not a good sign....

The reaction (so immediate, it had to be planned in advance) of the Obama Regime to the Supreme Court decision which said the AZ law (SB 1070) was OK insofar as local cops may properly check the immigration status of persons they reasonably believe might not be citizens, was an eye-opener. Within minutes of the decision, the regime had announced that no AZ cops would have access to the ICE database anymore.

This is strange, since Missouri has the same rule about cops checking the immigration status of citizens, and in fact, Missouri goes even farther, having voted by Citizen Initiative to make English the official and ONLY language of that State (zero State funds are expended to be bi-lingual), and further passed laws making it illegal to give any State Assistance to a non-citizen and making it illegal to give scholarships or reduced tuition fees for post-secondary higher ed to non-citizens.

Missouri is currently run by the Democratic Party, whereas Arizona is currently run by the GOP.

What partisanship? The idea of the State enforcing immigration doctrine is written into Missouri law, and that is apparently fine with the Obama and the DNC. Here's why it's fine with them: there are few votes at risk. Any illegals in MO before these laws were enacted, starting in 2008, weren't enough in number to swing any elections, so it doesn't matter to the (D)onks, and MO therefore falls off their radar. In AZ, however, there are so many illegals that one HAS to believe that a significant number are voting (illegally), so it matters, especially to local governments in the Phoenix area. Phoenix is actually a liberal city, mainly supported by La Raza types.

Back to the ill-bodings.

In the next two days, the SCOTUS will rule on the Constitutionality of Obamacare. It is widely believed by legal scholars of BOTH parties that the guts of the program will be ripped out by the SCOTUS.

THIS pundit has a short-term forecast: Since the possibility of a re-do of Obamacare does not exist with the GOP in control of the House, Obama will have a planned announcement broadcast immediately after the ruling comes out (and before the ruling can even be read, sort of like how the law was promulgated in the first place) that says that the Regime will ignore the SCOTUS, that the ruling doesn't mean what the Court and all the rest of the legal minds in the Nation says it means, and there will be Executive Orders ready for promulgation to get around the decision.

Obama will then say to anyone who says that the centerpiece work of his Regime was just marked "F" by the SCOTUS and handed back, that the SCOTUS took the words wrong, and if they were taken his way, Obamacare with it's mandate is still legal, and what's more, he will have ordered it to be so.

This sets up a ring-tail Constitutional Crisis, which according to the Cloward-Pliven Policy, is exactly what Obama wants and needs, because it will obfuscate the central issue of the GOP's campaign: that Obama & the (D)onks have screwed the economy up so badly they can't be given a chance to continue.

The Romnoids had better have a plan ready to counter this obfuscation strategy, and particularly, they will need to watch for any further Federal transfers of dollars to sub-projects in the defective Health Care Reform Act. The Regime will continue to make those transfers, and every one of them becomes a legally-definable theft from the taxpayers, and should be announced to the population at large as such. Romney needs to keep on message, and leave the Regime to screw itself further into the mud and slime of dictatorship.

I don't worry about Obama's dictatorship as much as I used to. We have a Second Amendment for the purpose of removing him if he doesn't go quietly when voted out this November.

Man's weekend

The weekend started well-enough with the birth of my grandson at 2303 Friday evening. Night man, yeah. He had decided to resist the process, so he flipped into the breech-birth position, requiring the birthing bay at Oregon Health & Sciences University to convert suddenly to a caesaraen section birth, but when the OB surgeon made the incision, reached in to grab the leg he saw closest, but not counting on the Rivr survival instinct, the wee lad kicked and just burrowed himself deeper into the womb, necessitating a second grab. By the time I got down to see him 13 hours later, he had adjusted well to the outside world, and having 4 grandparents, two parents and a "big"sister in the room with him did not faze him. He napped, crapped and sucked the teat just like he had been doing it for a while.

I was too pumped at this to go to bed at the usual midnight hour, so I stayed up to watch the NASCAR Nationwide Series race-replay at Road America, elkart Lake, WI. I was impressed with #7 Danica Patrick's driving on the unusual-for-NASCAR road course. She hung in the front for 199.5 of the 200 miles, staying between first place and sixth, until she was bumped off the course on the last lap when she let her guard down just a bit and gave the car behind her a small opening for a pass, which the more experienced driver jumped on and passed by bumping her into a gravel pan. She skillfully drove out of the gravel, but lost position from 4th to 12th as she crossed the finish line. It was her best driving performance ever, in both open-wheel & NASCAR. I think she might be better off in the rapidly-growing Grand Am circuit, the most recent addition to the constellation of big-time auto racing groups.

Five hours of good sleep for me, then some gustatorial delights to report on. For you aged cheese lovers, you can save money and get as good an aged Parmesano as the benchmark Parmesano Regiano, which sells now for almost $20/#, by substituting American Grana parmesano (WI) by Bel Gioioso. Kroger outlets have it in the fine cheese section. It sells for $14/#.

Some prepper news: Last week I opened a package of World Kitchens Traditional Beef jerky and have nibbled on it all week without ill effect. So what, you say. Here's what: the package is FIVE+ years past it's pull date, has been stored at garage temperature (my garage contains the furnace & A/C, so the temperature extremes are moderate, between 35 winter and 90 summer). Five years! That be impressive curing!

Now, I'm finishing the weekend on my couch, watching more NASCAR road racing, this race being a 350-mile road race at Sonoma, CA. After the race, I'll drive out to my boat and take in the sunset with a cocktail in hand.

Yep, a Man's Weekend.

On the trail of a new medical scam

....just heard on Fox News: if you are bitten by the Lone Star tick,which ranges over the Southeast and East Coast, you could suddenly become allergic to Red Meat!

All my BeeEss warning systems went off at once.

Why just RED meat? Why MEAT only? The human body assimilates meat protein and meat fat the same whether it is red or "white", fish or fowl, or even eggs. It's all animal fat and animal protein.

The foreign doctor interviewed didn't say anything about the mechanism of the allergic reactions involved, just said they would be horrible and they would prohibit one from eating RED MEAT.

The good Doctor wouldn't happen to be a PETA darling, would he?

ABC News did a piece on it yesterday, and their piece is full of doubts expressed by the original researchers. Of note: ABC did mention the "war on meat" in their first sentence. Excuse the ad-laden links.

Fast & Furious gets worse

....and now it's the GOP screwing the pooch. All of this weekend's talking-head blather so far has hidden behind the family of the slain Border Patrol agent. Cut this crap out, GOP, this is all about POLITICAL CORRUPTION, and now it seems, by your effort to hide behind the aggrieved family, you are trying to minimize the corruption of the political establishment.

Fast & Furious happened because of political corruption, and that particular piece of political corruption happened because there is a climate in Washintoon which supports corruption as "business as usual". Both parties are involved in that corruption.

If any true remedial action is to be taken, it must cut across political lines and address the venality present in both parties.

The GOP just showed it's colors here, and they are ugly colors. I've heard those family members speak, and they seem hesitant to put party labels on the gross errors which killed their son. That's correct. I don't think this problem is just related to the Democrats, either. It is related to a disregard of the letter AND spirit of our Constitution, a disregard that is the basic failing of our modern society.

We fail to get back to our Constitution at our own peril, and if we continue to fail, that peril will be our downfall as a nation AND as the idea that sparks democracy across the species of man all over the planet.

Standing by for the new Rivr generation...Update! He's Heeeeeere!

DIL in hosp now, birthing my first grandSON!

No seegars in stock, but will definitely broach a decent bottle of Scotch upon the good news.

***************************************************

UPDATE! At some point before or after midnight, can't tell, Papa is sleeping it off this ayem, Victor was born. He arrived by aid of the surgeon, due to his flipping over into a breech-birth position just prior to a natural delivery, necessitating a caesearian-section birth. He weighed 7# 10oz (53,375-gr in bullet weight) and is 19.75 inches long (decent size for a defense shotgun barrel).

Birth photo:

Note the genetic Rivr squint: everything WILL be properly evaluated before action is taken...