Nom de plume: Rivrdog

Friday potpourri

* Was that Sarkozy's wife's ass Prez Obama and Prez Sarkozy were admiring so obviously yesterday? Apparently not, it was a Brazilian teenager's. Well, at least they're men who realize that marriage doesn't cancel their right to ogle. Nice to have you in the club, Mr. Obama and Monsieur Sarkozy.

* Just out: a (D)onk "soak-the-rich" income tax surcharge is proposed to pay for the freebie ObamaCare. Yawn. Income re-distibution. Yawn. Socialism. Yawn. What part of individual initiative being the backbone of US success does Obama NOT understand? What part of killing off individual initiative does Obama NOT think means US failure?

* The price of solar panels seems to be coming down a bit. Sportsman's Guide is offering several sizes, but a 15-watt, 48"X15" panel can be had for about $108 (a kit of 4 of them for $341). 3 watts per square foot is not the best available, but were one to cover the top of an RV (or were I to cover half the roof of my survival building) with said panels, a silent source of maintaining a battery/inverter power setup is within reach. 60 square feet of these panels would give me a max recharge rate of 15 amps, which would cover about all projected uses of the A/C power system. There might even be some sort of state or Federal rebate involved, also. Hmmmm.

* Super-swimmer Michael Phelps has a sore neck, drops out of the men's 100-meter freestyle at the US Championships. Hmmm...maybe a little ganja would help him get past that pain. Oops, already tried that, got caught.

*Some fool got gored to death by a bull during the idiotic "running of the bulls" event at Pamplona, Spain. Yawn. Let's see, goring, isn't that what bulls do when they are pissed off? Well, it's good to see at least one place where gratuitous violence is celebrated, even if it is IDIOTIC gratituous violence.

Acronym jones

If you were ever in the military, you had to develop an acronym jones. It was required, because the military lives and breathes acronyms.

Take the letters O-B-A-M-A for example....

Kulturny

No apologies necessary to Lynyrd Skynyrd for this.

My bad. Had no idea the Red Army Choir was still performing.

Okay, Okay, I'l post on Paris Hilton

1. The LA County Sheriff pissed off the judge, big time, by letting her out after serving only 3 days of a 23-45 day sentence. Pissed off judges sometimes react the way this one did. The Sheriff is lucky he's not in the pokey himself. You should have heard Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Phoenix, AZ talk about this, and you would have been informed. Maybe Fox will have it in their archives. It's worth looking up.

2. The Hilton-defending pundits are wrong, every one of them. There's plenty of precedent to jug someone who got arrested for DUII, missed two court appearances, drove while suspended and failed probation. As a Court Services Deputy, I saw that happen in my little court system maybe a dozen times. It is NOT about the "usual" sentence for the original offenses, this jail term is about PROBATION VIOLATION. DO YOU HEAR THAT, ALL YOU SCREAMING FUCKTARD TALKING HEADS? 45 days for probation violation is NOT unusual, in fact, may be light. In my old courthouse, where jail overcrowding is as bad if not worse than LA county, the average sentence for Probation Violation is 60 days minimum.

3. If Greta Van Whinerin (of Fox News, I refuse to link her) is a reliable witness, Paris Hilton was "tweaking" in the courtroom. The most likely cause of this is NOT her impending re-incarceration, but the fact that she probably did a healthy dose of methamphetamine as soon as she got home to start her "house arrest". The judge is probably an old hand with tweakers, and immediately recognized the behavior, and the probable drug ingestion which caused it is probably the REAL reason that he re-jugged her, but the "official" reason would be that she declined to appear when summoned. There was also a little party there at her house, the decorations of which could be seen in the paparazzi shots of her house and driveway. In other words, she totally flouted the bond of trust she got as a probationer, and for that alone she deserves the sentence. Prediction: look for her to get even more time if a drug test comes out positive for meth.

4. The "medical issue". OK, big deal, she doesn't like jail. She's used to having an "entourage" of similarly-airheaded sycophants at her beck and call to relieve her boredom, and the same sycophants fawning over her ALL the time. She was totally unable to handle being alone in her cell 23 hours a day. The reason she is in that cell, instead of the general jail population where she would be able to talk to people 24/7 if she wanted is that she's so "special", a situation of her own making. So she got the Special Management Unit (which used to be known as the "hole").

5. OK, "conspiracy" freaks, here it is: I think one of her producers got to the Sheriff and convinced him (or the responsible  Jail Commander) to release her early. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a palm or two got crossed.

6. Props to Al Sharpton. For once, he is right to rant about her early release, especially if she sniveled her way out of jail as he thinks she did. Of course, I don't buy the race card he played with his statement, but he is spot-on about the fact that almost no one else could have sniveled their way out of jail like she did.

Bottom line: why she was released:

1. She was a PITA to have in the jail, with the staff having to change security ops and answer a bazillion phone calls about her. The Sheriff was desperate to get her out of his system.
2. She actually put herself into a medical emergency. I tend to doubt this, not because it can't be done, it can (by persons trained in the metaphysical arts), and she would have been carted off to the hospital if she was having a real problem. Also, the Special Management Unit is equipped and trained to handle flaky prisoners like her, so this should have been no big deal for them.
3. Palms were crossed.

I give #1 a 65% possibility, #2 a 5% and #3 a 30% chance.

Prediction: How much time will she do?

That will depend on whether they do a drug test and if it's positive. If she just did meth this morning, she will be loaded on it for at least 3 days, which is plenty of time to have a drug test done. Lawyer Geragos won't be able to stop this drug test. If the test comes back hot, look for her to get at least an additional 30 days (for doing drugs while on house arrest). If she didn't do drugs early this morning, and her test is clear, she will do at least a week, probably all of the original 23 day minimum, and maybe the whole 45 days she got today. The judge will not push the Sheriff's discretion too hard, and will compromise on the Sheriff getting her out of the pokey so his people can get some rest.

There's one other possibility. It was suggested on Fox-News today. Geragos may suggest that she would be willing to pay a HUGE fine, well over the statutory maximum (which is probably $5K), and well into six figures, as a restitution for all the PITA she's caused, and she pleads to Probation Violation, gets even more probation, maybe as much as 5 years. She could execute that deal as early as Monday, and get out of jail then. As soon as she's out of the pokey, Geragos files an affidavit of prejudice against the judge, and her case is transferred to a different court.

The impossible happens

There's only one way someone can be removed from the gene pool and still be around to relate the events.

Yep, you guessed it.

Ewwwww!

Darwin Award?

Is this a Darwin Award candidate?

Traffic anarchy

The Oregon Legislature just created traffic anarchy in Oregon cities, aproving a bill which would give pedestrians the right to stop all traffic to cross the street.

All the reportage of the bill, SB 573, seems to say that the peds will now have an absolute hammer on vehicle operators, since there are no provisions requiring the peds to wait for a through signal in the direction that they want to cross in.

So, hello Oregon traffic anarchy: all anyone on foot has to do to make traffic on any thoroughfare stop is stand at a corner and hold up their hand. Failure to see this signal or stop will cost you $360, and one moving violation for your isurance report.

I can't wait to try it out. If I wanted to make a point, say, about a nasty gun control measure, I would simply print it on my jacket and start crossing a 6-lane boulevard, as many times as I wanted. My jacket, of course, would urge the PASSAGE of the gun control bill.

Actually, any of Portland's many anarchist groups could totally tie up traffic by using this method on about 10 key intersections, timing themselves to stop cross traffic as soon as the light changes to permit it's passage. By walking slowly (traffic has to remain stopped the whole time the ped is on the street surface) and watching the lights, one person could freeze all traffic at one intersection, no matter how large. Ten people could completely tie up downtown Portland.

It WILL happen unless the Guv'ner vetoes the bill, which he might, because in another bout of Oregon weirdness, the GOP voted for this bill and most (D)onks voted against it.

If it passes, look for the Black Shirts to exploit right after the New Year.

You read it here first.

Crapblogging...

Really...

In China, workers were mucking out an apartment block's sewage tank when a woman fell from a sixth floor balcony into their pile of shit. The poop broke her fall, so I guess

(you know it's coming, wait for it)

She fell into a pile of shit and came out smelling like a rose!

Quitcher snivelin'

Don't want to hear any more winter snivels. This Lake Effect snow regime happened one other time in my lifetime, back in the '60's. All this snow fell in 5 days.

That could be YOU having to shovel a dozen tons of snow off your roof. Notice how the shoveler is running out of places to put the snow and he has just started?

So, GuyK, no more snivels about your 'maters freezing in FL, or the Analog Kid having to deal with five inches of snow. I wager the shoveler in the picture will run out of schnapps long before he runs out of snow.

Oh, I forgot to tell you: they had a day off, but it's snowing again. If you want to see more local snow pictures, look here.

Light blogging for the rest of the weekend. Going up north tomorrow to look at a camper (possible SHTF vehicle) and then have my 30th wedding anniversary on Sunday (and also the NASCAR Daytona 500 qualifications). Fortunately, the gudwife is a BIG NASCAR FAN. She'll root for everything the "Cat in the Hat" wheels out, and I'll root for #24. Only one boo-hiss per comment, please.

Meme, eh?

So PawPaw has tagged me with a "meme".

I'm supposed to relate 5 hitherto unknown and weird things about myself.

1. I'm retired Air Force Reserve, grade of Major (04), and have the retired pay stubs to prove it, but I spent the last nine years of my Reserve committment in the OR ANG, as an enlisted heavy vehicle mechanic. How's that again? I was trained as an Air Navigator. Starting in 1975, "black boxes" started to replace most Air Navigators. When I got off of Extended Active Duty in 1984, I had 12 years of Active Reserve and Active Duty as a commissioned officer, but when I tried to find a commissioned job to keep my Reserve career going, I couldn't. There were literally thousands of surplus Air Navigators. I enlisted, and got E-5 (Staff Sergeant) due to my previous rank as E-5 during OCS in 1967. It turned out (by testing) that I was a fair mechanic, so I got a position as one in the OR ANG, repairing Heavy Base Vehicles (which is anything, actually, from light sedans to fire engines). Overall, I enjoyed my enlisted career far more than my commissioned career.

2. I didn't come by my appreciation of riflery by accident. I took Riflery as a school-sponsored Club hobby in High School, achieving the highest NRA level: Junior Indoor Distinguished Rifleman. This is a minor sport which is denied most of our youth today (except it still flourishes in various shooting clubs, mine included). I stayed with the sport in college, for two years, shooting for the University of Missouri (all 3 teams, the JayVee, Varsity and Army ROTC).

3. I prefer tea to coffee. I detest Green teas, and don't drink teas for their "anti-oxidant" properties. I carry tea, not coffee as part of my personal survival kit. My current everyday tea is Red Rose, a good Black tea, made in Canada (where they still follow most of the Brit tea traditions). Whenever I get to Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, I always go to Murchie's and stock up on decent teas.

4. I espouse a few very leftist ideas. Not many, but I am especially viperous about the way energy companies control our lives. I don't campaign vigorously for smaller government only to have government's worst roles taken up by rapacious energy companies. Don't give me supply-side economics to defend energy company policy with: energy companies INVENTED cooking the supply-side books. You don't remember Billy Sol Estes, but I do.

5. I deeply appreciate my Judeo-Christian heritage, and the culture which brought it to me. That said, I think we conservatives are terribly wrong to put our trust in religious figures to keep our culture going. I think it should be easy to separate Judeo-Christian culture from canon law, but every time it's tried, whoever tries it drops the football. I wish I could be appointed a Cultural Protector in charge of the Separation Clause. I would NOT find it hard to separate the religion out of religious thinking, and be left with just the thinking, which should be constantly used to refresh our culture.

That's my Five Answers to the meme.

I don't do many of these, but when I do, I pass the meme along. I'm working on my list.....