Okay, so I was supposed to post here to keep the site from going stagnant, and the first thing I do in the morning is post up ten to fifteen posts on my own site before realizing I need something unique for here.

Bad me.

You'd think that I'd have a lot to say about Blix, the UN, Iraq, and Bush but the truth is it really doesn't matter what anybody says on the subject...

BLIX: Probably asking Scott Ritter for online dating tips.
THE UN: A waste of perfectly good Manhattan real estate.
IRAQ: If they really loved the kids we're about to starve and bomb, they'd get wise really fast.
BUSH: Life support for Powell.

Hopefully, they do all this during Sweeps Month and mess with all the ratings.

I told you so! Bucs 48, Raiders 21. Most telling statistic: The 'high powered offense' of the Raiders was held to 2 first downs until midway through the third quarter.

(shamelessly stolen from NNP)

I've got to leave town for a week, and will have no time for blogging next week. Laurence Simon has agreed to blogsit for me, so please behave while I'm gone. I'll answer the usual hate mail, bomb threats, and love letters when I return next week.

This is a test post.

I know I'm an idiot because I'm typing for 5 minutes after making a batch of pretzels and I realize the strange feeling in my hands is that I've put my ring back on my right hand instead of my left one.

Blogsitting will begin shortly. Right now the timer's going off to let me know something's burning.

Wow. The Bloggies are really turning into a Soap Opera. I haven't paid any attention until now, but apparently it involves the downfall of a blogger named Jessica, and a war of words between her and her.

My personal recommendation is that we get a big vat of jello and some boxing gloves and let the girls duke it out. (My money is on Michele)

John F. Kerry recently referred to Bush's policy as one of "too often belligerent and myopic unilateralism".

Meanwhile, Sr. VP of DaimlerChrysler, Frank Fountain said that conservative critics of Jesse Jackson have a "myopic view of the world."

As someone who suffers from debilitating myopia that has kept me in eyeglasses since I was two years old, I am horrified at the insensitivity. Myopia sufferers already have to live a lifetime of pinched noses, and eyeglasses that never seem to be clean enough. Not to mention that screws are always coming loose and that gravity is constantly (and perhaps cruelly) tugging spectacles further down on your nose. As if suffering from all that isn't enough, now we have to be on the butt end of liberal analogies.

Sure 'sources' like Miriam-Webster and Heritage say that myopic can mean 'to hold a narrow view'. But in today's day and age, I am upset that liberals, of all people, would spread vicious stereotypes about people with a serious medical condition.

If we aren't allowed to use words like niggardly anymore, I think myopic should be taboo as well.

I'm going on the record in predicting that the Bucs will win the Super Bowl. I think they manhandled Philly, and will overcome all of the hype to beat the Raiders tomorrow.

UPDATE (1/26 22:31): I told you so! Bucs 48, Raiders 21. Most telling statistic: The 'high powered offense' of the Raiders was held to 2 first downs until midway through the third quarter.

ScrappleFace reports that the Raiders might be in trouble with their insensative, non-politically correct, one-eyed logo.

Owen Courreges wants to know why this isn't making the mainstream news.

Rachel points out that the Brits have resorted to begging criminals for mercy. The Fox News report reads:

A British police force announced Friday it has come up with a new measure to combat crime -- a polite letter asking persistent offenders to mend their ways.

This is the most absurd idea I've ever heard, and the police ought to be ashamed for wasting taxpayer resources on something so ludicrous.

If this happened in the USA, the recidivists would probably sue the police for libel, defamation of character, and harassment.

The Register reports that online security at the DoD is so lax that anyone can give themselves admin privileges, register a .mil domain, or even tinker with existing .mil websites.

All you Blogspot users out there should take the plunge to dump the free ad-based accounts for a federally provided .mil domain. You'd better hurry though, at the rate the federal government moves, this security hole should be closed in a mere 12 to 18 months.

It seems like major media outlets take polls every single week. Actually, they pretty much do. This week, the New York Times released an article that claims that Americans agree with Democrats on major issues. To support this claim, they used polling data from a poll they conducted the previous week.

Whether or not media outlets are biased is a matter of much debate, but an objective look at the most recent NY Times poll turns up some shoddy reporting, regardless of motive.

In their article, the New York Times claimed that "more than half the respondents said they opposed a centerpiece of Mr. Bush's tax cut plan, the elimination of a tax on dividends, which Democrats have used to portray Mr. Bush as a friend of the rich."

There were only two questions that mentioned dividends. One was whether or not the subject paid dividends on stock that they owned. The other question was "Do you think stock holders should pay taxes on their stock dividends or not?" Response showed that 52% felt that stock holders "should pay taxes" and 38% felt that stock holders "should not" pay taxes.

Of course, anyone with general accounting knowledge knows that stock holder dividends are already taxed TWICE; first as corporate income, and then again as shareholder income. As a stock holder myself, I don't think I should receive dividends tax free, but that doesn't translate into opposition of President Bush's dividend tax cut. The NY Times assumes that it does.

The NY Times poll was also full of questions without collectively exhaustive or mutually exclusive answers:

If you had to choose, would you prefer reducing the federal budget deficit or cutting taxes?

If you had to choose, would you prefer preserving programs like Social Security and Medicare or cutting taxes?

Which do you think is better way to improve the national economy: cutting taxes or reducing the federal budget deficit?

The questions assume that these are either-or choices, and 'both' is not listed as an answer. In fact, it is possible to reduce the deficit AND cut taxes. It is possible to preserve Social Security/Medicare AND cut taxes.

The Times, however, offers up only two choices, as if they are the only possible answers. When a majority of the people select the answer that they want to hear, they make the claim that "a majority of the poll's respondents - including 49 percent of Republicans - said reducing the deficit would be more likely to revive the economy than would cutting taxes." The Times tries to convey that even Republicans think that a tax cut is a bad idea, when in fact, most conservatives probably want the deficit reduced AND a cut in taxes.

On the foreign policy front, the Times is even more incompetent. They asked "Which of these do you think represents the greater threat to peace and stability -- Iraq, North Korea, or terrorists such as Al Qaeda?" The choices allowed were Iraq, N. Korea, Al Qaeda, All equal, or None. Al Qaeda was the obvious choice for greatest threat, which led the Times to claim that "while the public said they viewed Iraq as a bigger threat to world peace than North Korea, reflecting the White House view, respondents named Al Qaeda as the biggest threat of all." The assumption is that the Al Qaeda organization is mutually exclusive of both Iraq and N. Korea. Since Al Qaeda is a fluid organization with members from numerous countries (including the U.S.), it isn't fair to compare it even-handedly to independent sovereign nations. It would be like asking who is a greater risk, Al Qaeda or the Taliban? Arafat, Hamas, or the Fatah movement? (FYI, Arafat leads the Fatah movement.)

Most damning of all, is what the New York Times leaves out. The poll asks "Do you think Iraq probably does or probably does not have weapons of mass destruction that the U.N. weapons inspectors have not found yet?" The results of which were: Does, will find: 37%; Does, will not find: 48%; Does not: 4%; and NA: 11%. Clearly, 85% of Americans think Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Only 4% think they do not, less than the 11% that didn't know or didn't answer the question.

That is a pretty significant figure, but the New York Times didn't even think it was worth mentioning in their article.

Sierra Times reports about H.K. Edgerton, an activist marching across the South to raise awareness for Confederate heritage and issues.

Black Confederate activist and former branch NAACP President, H.K. Edgerton, will finish his 1500+ mile "March Across Dixie" at 11:00 AM Saturday, January 25, at a brief ceremony in front of the Texas Supreme Court Building.

Edgerton should finish his march tomorrow.

For anyone that has a PDA, feel free to read the PDA version of Ravenwood's Universe.

The AP reports that Democrat and former Mayor of Cincinnati is considering running for the U.S. Senate.

Springer realizes that his talk show fame could be a hindrance. "There are pluses and minuses," Springer said. "The plus is that I'm known by everybody. The minus is that I'm known by everybody."

Springer also has a dream of helping rebuild the Democrat Party. "I want to be helpful in rebuilding the party," he said. "Whether I have to be a candidate is a totally separate issue. ... I don't need a job."

What the AP left out is that Springer resigned public office when it was discovered he'd solicited a prostitute, and written her a check. The public was forgiving, however, and he was elected again a few years later.

He should fit right in with the Dems.

Ding, Dong, the bitch is dead!

How long before a state gets a bill like this passed?

BISMARCK - North Dakota House representatives Monday voted overwhelmingly against a bill proposing to ban tobacco sales in the state.
The measure, which would make selling or using tobacco products except for using it for religious purposes misdemeanors, failed by an 88-4 vote.

Is this the first attempt to make tobacco products illegal? Probably. Would this open the door to bootlegging and organized crime? Definitely.

While I'm happy that the ND legislature didn't vote to ban tobacco, part of me wishes they had. It's the same part of me that wanted Oregon to pass their Fascist health care program, just to see it fail miserably.

(link via Kim)

CNN reports that gay 'activists' in Holland are upset about a video game that allows the shooting of "homosexuals, junkies, dogs, and cats."

For quite a long time, homosexuals were kept out of shooting games. The gaming industry was a closed door to homosexuals, while popular games like Quake, Doom, and Wolfenstien concentrated on shooting only heterosexual beasties, baddies, and nazis. Now that gays are finally making some inroads into the gaming community, Dutch activists want to shut it all down.

"Anchorage warmer than NYC. America's northernmost state was sounding like a tropical retreat." -- FOX News, January 23, 2003.

"The low tonight is -1º F! It is 30º right now in Nome, AK. I should go there for a warm winter vacation." -- Ravenwood, January 18, 2003.

So, the libs are coming up with another study to grab headlines, and the LA Times is very happy to lap it all up.

The LA Times headline reads "More Guns in Citizens' Hands Can Worsen Crime, Study Says". Reading the article, I expected to find the 'proof' behind the LA Times inflammatory headline. Instead of proof, all I found was opinionated conjecture about a 'study' that was recently released by the Brookings Institute, a leftist organization that liberals desperately try to sell as 'centrist'.

The 'study' mainly deals with the relationship between concealed carry permits and crime rates, and was conducted by Stanford University law professor John Donohue.

"If somebody had to say which way is the evidence stronger, I'd say that it's probably stronger that the laws are increasing crime, rather than decreasing crime," Donohue said Wednesday in an interview. "But the stronger thing I could say is that I don't see any strong evidence that they are reducing crime."

For his part, Donohue said that right-to-carry laws may deter violent crimes, such as murder or robbery, in some situations, while encouraging them in others.

For example, he said, an attacker may wrest control of a handgun away from a victim, who may be less experienced in handling firearms, and use it against the victim.

Also, otherwise law-abiding citizens may become "emboldened to do bad things, some of them violent" in the heat of the moment, Donohue said.

There was no evidence offered to further Donohue's wildly opinionated claims. Instead, the LA Times unsuccessfully tried debunking John Lott's famous "More Guns, Less Crimes" study.

I find it interesting that the LA Times would take Donohue's word as gospel. Where is the reporting? The leftist media bias is overwhelming. What evidence does Donohue have to support his claim that concealed carry owners can be turned into violent murderers by merely carrying around a firearm? I carried all the time when I was in Georgia, and I never had an urge to knock somebody over the head and demand money from them.

It sounds to me like Donohue is a leftist idiot following the typical leftist play book. They make wild claims and show no evidence to support them. If they repeat the claims enough, they become 'fact' in the mind of the public. The Soviets did it all the time.

This is really quite disturbing.

As a military honor guardsman, Patrick Cubbage had a simple message to the families of deceased veterans at graveside services.

"God bless you and this family, and God bless the United States of America," he would say as he presented a folded flag to them.

Although no families ever complained, Cubbage was fired for his 'politically incorrect' use of the word 'God' at the graveside services.

It's hard to imagine that we've gotten to the point where people aren't allowed to use the word 'God' at a funeral service.

I knew Super Bowl tickets were hard to come by, but I never knew they were this rare!

The SF Gate reports that "more than 60,000 [of the 67,000] tickets are distributed to corporate sponsors, business associates of the NFL, players, ex-players and major television networks."

The Oakland Raiders organization received an allotment of 11,500 tickets. Of that allotment, 2000 went to fans and 9,500 went to the team for its "players, ex-players and corporate friends."

Now, I'm not one to tell the NFL, or the Oakland Raiders how to run their business. But for Super Bowl I, the NFL couldn't give away all of the tickets. Now, attending the Super Bowl is so far removed from the common man, that TV is just about the only option available.

Remember Ronald Dixon? Ronald Dixon is a New Yorker who caught an intruder messing around in the bedroom of his toddler son. His understandable response was to bust a cap off in his ass. Now, New York is prosecuting Dixon for having an unregistered firearm.

The NY Daily News is reporting that although prosecutors have offered Dixon a plea bargain, it still includes time in prison. If I were Dixon, I would hold out for a jury trial. After all, right is right, and I would hope that no jury would convict a man for protecting his family. I sure as hell wouldn't. Under those circumstances, there is absolutely no way on Earth someone could convince me to vote for a conviction.

I first covered Dixon in December, and mentioned him again in early January when a similar incident happened to Mark Freamon.

(link via Rachel)

A Liquor store in Wisconsin adopted a zero tolerance policy for carding patrons. They card everyone, including 76-year old WWII vets like Don Meyer.

"People may not like it, but they understand what we are trying to do. We're just trying to do the right thing," said Robert Mariano, president and chief executive officer of Pick 'n Save's parent company, Roundy's Inc.

Personally, I refuse to patronize stores with such a moronic policy. It's the same reason I don't eat at restaurants in Alpharetta, GA.

When I lived in Atlanta, the suburban city of Alpharetta decided to pass a law requiring all restaurants to card everyone, regardless of age. It didn't seem like a big deal, until my 30-something year old friend left her ID, and was denied service. It was then that I realized just how silly zero tolerance could be.

Had this been my 60-something year old father, they would have had to deny him service for not having an ID. Had this been a daily regular customer, the 'Norm Peterson' of Alpharetta, GA, they are still required to ask for ID.

Frankly, it is idiotic, it is a waste of time, and in Alpharetta's case it is a burden on the restaurant industry. So, Mister Meyer, I say give that Pick 'n' Save the finger and shop someplace else. If they don't value you as a customer, that's their problem.

FOX News reports on the dumbing down of today's pop stars. Many of them are just spokespeople for the product with little creative input, so it isn't surprising that they have never heard of David Bowie, Yoko Ono, or Joan Jett.

Another set of verbal mishaps sprung from the lips of Britney Spears. Last year, when Fox 411's Roger Friedman jokingly asked the starlet if she would be the millennium's Yoko Ono - referencing her relationship with 'N Sync's Justin Timberlake - Spears' response was: "Who?"

Fox News doesn't mention it, but perhaps this is part of the reason CD revenues are falling year after year.

Did you hear about the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) posting an 'African-American' dumbed down version of their Parents Resource, but didn't get to see it? Well, when I heard about it yesterday, I captured a screen shot.

Don't you just love socialism? The almighty European Union is now legislating the height of children's swing sets, reports The Sun (UK). Naturally, this has resulted in the closure of many children's swing sets.

A VILLAGE had to get rid of its playground swings because Euro rules say they are too TALL.

The three swings were erected more than 25 years ago.
Kids playing on them have suffered nothing worse than a grazed knee ever since.

But now Brussels bureaucrats have introduced a new maximum height order for swings throughout the UK.

Don't you just love bureaucracy. The EU, helping make Europe a better place by pushing children off of swing sets.

Carnival is at Yourish, right now. You're missing it!

This year should be a banner year for human rights. As the BBC notes, Libya takes over as head of the UN Human Right's Commission.

The Sun (UK) reports that the pleasure police have pushed for famous Beatles posters and album covers to be digitally altered to remove Paul McCartney's cigarette.

(link via Greeblie)

This is a fight I'd like to see. Has the RIAA met it's match in thinking it can push around ISPs like AOL?

CNET reports that Hillary Rosen, Comandant of the RIAA claims full credit for spuring the demand for broadband. Rosen suggested that if it weren't for online music swapping, broadband wouldn't have gotten off the ground.

"We will hold ISPs more accountable," claims Rosen. CNET also reports that "Rosen suggested one possible scenario for recouping lost sales from online piracy would be to impose a type of fee on ISPs that could be passed on to their customers who frequent these file-swapping services."

How can the RIAA impose a fee on ISPs? Well, they do have a few Congressmen in their pocket, but I still think they're in for a hell of a fight. They've already tried bullying the electronics manufacturing industry, by demanding that they build digital rights management into everything with a power cord. Now they intend to piss off the ISPs. Who's next? Computer manufacturers?

(link via Dustbury)

ScrappleFace reports that the NFL has adopted Affirmative Action rules and changed the results of this weekend's playoff games, so it will be a Eagles v. Titans Superbowl instead.

CNS News reports that Russia has decided to adopt the Kyoto treaty. That's good for the environment, right? Wrong.

While environmentalists will undoubtedly tout the Russian acceptance as a validation of their agenda, it actually doesn't help overall pollution. You see, Kyoto requires that nations reduce their carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels. Because Russia's industrial output peaked around 1990, and has plummeted in recent years, they are already back to their 1980 pollution levels. This actually gives them pollution 'credits', which they can sell on the open market to other nations. Therefore by Russia adopting Kyoto, other nations will be able to purchase their pollution credits and actually pollute more than is normally permitted under Kyoto. For Russia, it was really a 'no-brainer' decision. For the environment however, it means more pollution.

When the Fifteenth Amendment was passed in 1870, it guaranteed the right of every man to vote, regardless of race. However, following the passage of the Amendment, many states set up poll taxes and literacy tests in an attempt to intimidate blacks and keep them from voting. It took almost 100 years, and the passage of the 24th Amendment in 1964, to keep states from limiting people's right of suffrage.

In 2003, there is a movement in the People's Republic of California to keep people from exercising their unalienable Second Amendment rights. California has adopted a new state law that amounts to a tax and a literacy test on the individual right to keep and bear arms.

A new state law in California requires handgun buyers to pass a 30-question written test and pay a $25 fee for a Handgun Safety Certificate, which is good for five years. A gun rights group is outraged, saying the new law amounts to a "literacy test" for would-be gun owners.

"It is an outrage that California law now treats gun buyers in much the same way that African-Americans were treated in the South to prevent them from voting," said Alan Gottlieb, the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, in a press release.

"The right to own a firearm is no less important than the right to vote," Gottlieb added. "California is treating gun owners like cracker racists treated black citizens in the South during the days of segregation."

How far will California go to discourage the private ownership of firearms? Today the tax is $25, but before long it could be $200, and the written test could be made more and more difficult.

I get nervous whenever State governments attempt to limit the Bill of Rights. How long before they start charging people for their right to a jury trial, or institute a 'religion tax'?

Senator John F. Kerry, D-MA, like other Democrats, is counting on getting the black vote during his Presidential bid. The Boston Globe reports that Kerry is already trying to shore up the black vote and paint Republicans as inherently racist. "It's important for politicians in my position, white politicians frankly, to show up, to stand up," said Kerry. "I wanted to make clear the unfinished business of the country is race."

The Boston Globe also noted that:

In 1992, [Kerry] said he supported affirmative action but described it as "an inherently limited and divisive program" that "has kept America thinking in racial terms."

Does anyone wonder why race is always an 'unfinished business'? The sad fact is that as long as blacks continue to show overwhelming support for democrats like Kerry, they will continue to be strung along in dependence and subservience.

What many people fail to realize, or refuse to admit, is that liberal Democrats don't have any vested interest in the success of black people, and in fact have everything to gain from the strife of black people. As long as blacks are in need, the liberal Dems know they can count on them for votes simply by making empty promises.

Contrast that co-dependent relationship to the relationship between conservatives and blacks. Conservatives and Republicans almost never get any black votes. Meanwhile, their 'rich' constituency is stuck paying the lions share of taxes that support government programs. Therefore they have every interest in getting people off of government assistance and programs and helping them to become independently successful and wealthy.

Consider another point of view. The business of all career politicians is to 'attract' votes. That is they want to basically 'buy' votes with promises and political favors. Liberals and Democrats don't really need to attract the 'black vote'; they already have it. Year after year, liberals get support from over 90% of the 'black vote', and thus have little to gain by actually paying off on those political promises. (A similar analogy could be made for Republicans and the 'religious right'.) This explains why people in need today are complaining about the same old problems they've been complaining about for the past 35 years. After all, if they solve some of those problems, will there still be a need for them as 'problem solvers'?

Charles Hill responds to Barbara Boxer's desire to put anti-missile defense systems on commercial airliners.

I think they should just ban missiles. After all, the gun control measures that California has used have done wonders for gun crime in California. Therefore, a 'missile control' campaign should work equally well.

When I recently applied for a position in Kuwait, to work as a civilian contractor assisting the military to build up their operations, people told me that I was crazy. Now the Washington Post reports about an attack on two such Americans. One American was killed.

Still, I am not dissuaded. If offered the chance, I will leave the bosom of my cushy mid-western apartment for a tent city in Kuwait. As for the risk, when it comes to death I take a very realistic point of view. First of all, I realize that we are all going to die. It is really just a question of when, where, and how. Second, I feel that if my number is up, it doesn't matter much whether I'm on a high risk international assignment, or sitting on my own toilet. There are inherent dangers in every aspect of life, and I don't think that traveling abroad is any more dangerous than commuting to and from work on a daily basis. So, it may be a little bit more dangerous, but someone's got to do it, so it might as well be me.

Another reason to love the USA. Jon Lech Johansen of Norway faced criminal charges regarding his DeCSS DVD decryption software. The Norwegian court acquitted Johansen on the grounds that he had not used the DeCSS code to pirate DVDs, rather than to simply play DVDs on a Linux or Unix platform.

Norwegian prosecutors are appealing the acquittal, in the hopes of getting a conviction the second time around. In the U.S. it is called 'double jeopardy' and is unconstitutional. In socialist Europe, it's just a matter of fact part of the process. Prosecutors just keep trying until they finally get a conviction.

In yet another example of political correctness run amok, the Northampton Human Rights Commission (Mass.) is complaining about the proper use of the word "Plantation".

NORTHAMPTON - The name of a 29-home subdivision called "The Plantation at West Farms" being built off Burts Pit Road has sparked complaints of racial insensitivity, but the project developers say they have no intention of changing the name.

Those who object to the name "The Plantation," which appears in large pink script on the subdivision's billboard on Westhampton Road, say the term is inextricably linked to Southern plantations and slavery.

"They used to raise tobacco here, and it was such a large property that it was called the plantation," Wzorek said. "The name had nothing to do with racism or anything like that."

Is it me, or does it seem like these people actively look for things to complain about?

(Link via Foxnews)

San Francisco, the city that until just last year allowed people to deficate on the streets, has banned the Segway. Now that the environmentally friendly human transporters are banned, I guess citizens will either have to huff it up and down the hills of San Francisco on foot, or drive their smog producing, gas guzzling, baby killing, devil incarnate, SUVs.

Big Oil/Big Auto 1
Environmentalists 0

Has this really been going on for 18 weeks? Wow, it seems like only yesterday I attended my first one. This week, Carnival will be hosted at Yourish. Get your entries in by tomorrow.

After being tardy to the last two Carnivals in a row, I made up for it this week by actually getting my entry in early.

Acidman, if you want, I'll send your entry for you this week, so that you don't get left out again. ;-)

Kudos to Anna of Bunny Blog for pointing out this bit of leftist hipocrisy.

Anna notes that these 'friends' of peace, love, and the environment "despoiled a national landmark and departed feeling smug about their contributions to the public good."

The NY Daily News reports that George Clooney, TV's 'Booker' from Roseanne, is quite upset at the Bush Administration for acting too quickly and harshly with Iraq.

"The government itself is running exactly like the Sopranos," claims Clooney. "We go into a war [with Iraq] and kill a lot of innocent people. Are we going to try and talk [to Saddam Hussein] ... without jumping in and killing people first?"

For the record, Clooney profited handsomely from the Gulf War in Iraq, by starring as a U.S. Army Major in the 1999 movie Three Kings, based on the Operation Desert Storm.

In other news, it is rumored that George Clooney also insulted Charlton Heston and poked fun at Alzheimer's Disease while receiving a film award from the National Board of Review. However, Ravenwood's Universe staff writers have been unable to find a mainstream press story corroborating the rumor.

UPDATE: I found a cached version of yesterday's Page Six column by Liz Smith:

George was in town to accept the Special Filmmaking Achievement Award from the National Board of Review. He made history at that event by wisecracking in a politically incorrect manner that "Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer's." When I asked the actor if this was going too far, he said simply, "I don't care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association; he deserves whatever anyone says about him."

Clooney also claimed to be "graphically and fully informed about world events", and said he knows that war with Iraq is imminent. According to Page Six, he wants to know why no one is speaking out against it.

For someone who is supposedly "graphically and fully informed", why didn't Clooney know about Saturday's world wide pro-oppression rally?

Why isn't this being reported in the US?

The teams of UN inspectors sent to investigate Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction arsenal made a stunning breakthrough last week when they uncovered evidence of Iraq's attempts to build an atom bomb.

Once inside they found what one Western official has described as a "highly significant" batch of documents which, on closer inspection, revealed that Saddam's scientists were continuing development work on producing an Iraqi nuclear weapon.

(link from Right Wing News)

As a boy growing up in Virginia, we celebrated Lee-Jackson-King Day. While I think that the imperial Federal government has told the Commonwealth of Virginia that King must have his own day from now on, I still celebrate the multi-holiday as I did back then.

That said, Happy Birthdays to Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. 'Stonewall' Jackson, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The late Leon Scott, 22 of Ville Platte, LA was described by his mom as "very good, never sassy." His sister Gertie described him as being "quiet and respectful." She says, "He wasn't someone who would be (influenced) by others to do something. He had his own mind."

A local newspaper, The Town Talk covers the outpouring of love and emotion over the death of Leon Scott into the 29th paragraph of their story.

If you read carefully between the lines of gushing support and shock over the shooting death of Scott, you might actually find out that Scott was allegedly an armed robber. He and two other men entered a local convenience store, roughed up the owner and his wife, and took a good amount of cash. Officers aren't sure who started shooting first, but when the smoke cleared, Leon Scott, one of the alleged armed robbers was mortally wounded with gunshots to the face and abdomen.

Still, the Scott family insists that it was Leon who was the innocent victim. They claim that he was only armed with a hammer, and could have been shot in the legs or someplace non-fatal. His sister denies it was even a robbery. "He drank and stuff, but rob? Never," claimed Gertie. The Town Talk even calls it a 'homicide'. I'm inclined to agree with them, only in that his partners in crime should be charged with that homicide.

I would like to go on record and warn any of my friends or family members. If you are caught or killed while committing an armed robbery, don't expect such an outpouring of emotion from me. If I'm angry at anyone, it's going to be at your stupid ass for going and getting yourself kilt. Anyone who walks into a store with a hammer or otherwise, demanding money deserves a sucking chest wound.

When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. While Canada has recently outlawed unregistered guns, they are reluctant to arrest the newly created outlaws.

TORONTO -- Oscar Lacombe hoped to be the first person charged with possessing an unregistered rifle under Canada's controversial firearms law. But after presenting himself to police in Edmonton, Alberta, Monday, he was finally told to go home.

Lacombe, 70, has spent his life on the right side of the law. A Korean War veteran, former sergeant-at-arms of the Alberta Legislature, and former bodyguard to Alberta's provincial premier, Lacombe is now willing to fight the gun law to Canada's Supreme Court.

Lacombe pleaded with the legislature on New Year's Day to arrest him. He called the law "unjust and dangerous".

While police have remanded the case to prosecutors, there is no telling if they will file charges against Lacombe. Perhaps it is fear of submitting the law to a Constitutional challenge that keeps Canadian lawmakers from enforcing it.

In typical political fashion, the costs of the Canadian registry that had originally been estimated to be a mere $1.3 million have ballooned to over $550 million (only off by 42307%). This has led to eight of Canada's ten provinces to call for a suspension of the registry. Despite the criticism, the imperial Canadian government is holding firm, and warns scofflaws that the unofficial moratorium on enforcement was not going to last much longer.

While I am no flaggot, I don't see the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism either. Still, there are a lot of people out there that would like to paint the image that way.

That said, and with all your knowledge and stereotypes of government politics, please take a look at this photo, and try to answer the following question.

Which party is Mike Snow from, and who paid for this advertisement?

1. Democrats
2. Republicans

If you said Republican, you'd be wrong. A Republican running ads like this would yield cries of racism from the left. Mike would be the next Trent Lott, and be asked to resign. No, Mike is a Democrat, so there is no problem if he supports and displays the St. Andrews Cross.

It must be nice for Dems to be able to have their cake and eat it too. Not only do Democrats get more than 90% of the black vote year after year, but they can support issues like the St. Andrews Cross without being branded as a racist.

Am I the only one that notices that both Superbowl contenders have a pirate logo?

A march in support of fanatical despot and genocidal murderer Saddam Hussein, commonly called a 'Peace Protest' by the left, turned into a riot that included vandalism and graffiti yesterday in San Francisco. Only, to read the SF Indymedia, you'd never know it.

They describe the riot as a 'march.' Events such as attacking the SF Chronicle, British Consulate, Citicorp Center and INS building were described using terms like 'covered in a graffiti mural', and 'descended on the Citicorp Center'. One vandal was described as having 'phrased her message', and damage to the INS building was described as 'redecorating'.

Of course, there is no lack of adjectives to describe the police reaction to the violence. (emphasis mine)

After the march left the INS building, plainclothes policemen who had infiltrated it tackled, brutalized, and hauled off at least two activists. The police became more and more aggressive, and organizers worried as the march began to be hemmed in.

Isn't it interesting that police are always described as being 'in riot gear' and the ones who were 'aggressive', while the 'protesters' were simply trying to go about their 'march'.

This was obviously no spontaneous outburst of civil disobedience either. These buildings were deliberately targeted. Organizers even deemed the riot to be successful.

Organizers of the march expressed gratitude to all who participated and made the event a great success. Organizers also dismissed the preliminary media reports of violence saying, " Our march did not confront a single individual human being with violence. The only people looking for a fight today were the police."

See. If only the police would have left them alone to destroy private property. It is all the fault of the police.

I can only hope that some of these rioters were beaten down by overzealous police officers. I also hope that they are sufficiently gang raped in jail. Rioters who would intentionally destroy property, and then evade or even attack the police who are trying to arrest them deserve what they get.

(link via Michele)

Ravenwood's Universe goes over 1 Billion hits! ()

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Misha, with your measly 150,000.

I expect I'll be getting praise from Simon any time now too.

I have to start reading Dean's World more often. Dean notes that the police in the UK are no longer investigating such trivial crimes as home invasion, burglary, and assault. This is the same government that confiscated firearms from the citizens and made it illegal for people to defend themselves.

Try to guess who wrote this:

"If guns are outlawed," an American bumper sticker warns, "only outlaws will have guns." With gun crime in Britain soaring in the face of the strictest gun control laws of any democracy, the UK seems about to prove that warning prophetic.

1) the NRA
2) some Libertarian weblogger on the war path
3) pro-gun citizens of the UK
4) a liberal UK media outlet

Surprisingly, the answer is 4. While the first three have been saying it for years, now the BBC has gone on record in calling for a loosening of the UK's restrictive gun control laws.

The BBC pulls out every argument that Libertarians and pro-gun advocates have been using for the past decade:

A study found American burglars fear armed home-owners more than the police. As a result burglaries are much rarer and only 13% occur when people are at home, in contrast to 53% in England.

The failure of this general disarmament to stem, or even slow, armed and violent crime could not be more blatant.

Still, in reading reaction to the editorial, it is clear that some citizens of the UK are still not convinced. RK Bulmer of the UK takes the illogical argument:

With around 30,000 gun deaths a year, I think we should look elsewhere than the US for ideas on this subject. More legally-owned guns means more chances for accidental deaths in the home from guns, more teenagers finding their parents' guns and playing with them, more chances for legal guns to be stolen by criminals to be used by criminals.

Accidental deaths from firearms are negligible, and rank right up there with getting run over by your own lawn mower. Besides, you cannot legislate responsible parenting.

Sean Aaron, however, just refuses to see the facts as they've been laid out on the table:

I find this notion ludicrous. We do not need a nation of armed vigilantes (potential or otherwise) to ensure the peace, but rather active citizens who are willing to stand together against crime in their neighborhoods and cooperate with local authorities to apprehend criminals. This is the way to reduce crime. To draw a link between gun ownership and an overall drop in crime in the US is spurious and the article does not have enough evidence to point to a causative relationship between the two.

While Sean's utopian dream world sounds like a nice place to live, I'm not so sure I have faith in standing together in front of the firing squad.. er... against crime? Dreamers like Sean would have us host a big 'love-in', to wash away crime with our good intentions.

Some of the other comments range from the fearful to the downright loony. Mike K apparently sets his TV on his front porch before he goes to bed, while J... well, I don't know what the hell J is talking about.

Allowing homeowners to arm themselves will simply encourage potential burglars to arm themselves, and I don't particularly want to get into a gunfight for a colour television.
Mike K, UK

This is like saying that raising the speed limit in built-up areas will cut pedestrian deaths since cars will spend less time passing through.
J, UK

Meanwhile, J. Canning from the UK and Gordon from Canada play on the irrational idea that guns actually corrupt otherwise law-abiding people:

More availability of firearms in the UK would bring us more Dunblanes and perhaps a Columbine.
J.Canning, UK

Can you imagine the number of mistakes, accidents, acts of temporary insanity, etc. that would result from having guns freely available? I wonder what the police think of this crazy idea - what policeman would dare to investigate a "domestic quarrel" call, not knowing what firepower he might face?
Gordon, Canada

The lack of logic and rational thought of those that support gun control never ceases to amaze me. These gun grabbers clearly have an irrational fear of an inanimate object. They have personified firearms, they have demonized firearms, and clearly they fear firearms. These are the same minded people that march on Washington in support of tyrannical despots like Saddam Hussein. They'd rather trust the thugs of the world to behave or leave them alone than to trust their neighbors with a firearm. It's a recipe for disaster, and I only hope that I'm not there to see it.

(link shamelessly stolen from Dean's World)

Ravenwood's Universe reader, Ray, asks a question that is nearly impossible to answer correctly.

Question: Who is considered the best/smartest general of all time?

That is a big question. First of all, any attempt to pin down a specific General or Admiral would be futile. Patton for instance was very good tactically, but not politically. Ike on the other hand was much more political. Omar Bradley is perhaps one of our smartest Generals of all time, but to most, he's a relative unknown. Despite the painful difficulties, I have put together the following lists. Feel free to flog me in the comments.

Ten Best American Generals/Admirals:

10. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant - While Grant is probably under-rated among American Generals, he was mediocre at best. His late comeupance in the Civil War illustrates just how desparate the North was to find a good General. Still, you must admit that winning the Civil War required some good strategery.

9. Gen. George C. Marshall - Marshall served as Chief of Staff from 1939 to 1945, and was "American's foremost soldier" in World War II. As the highest ranking Army officer, Marshall was responsible for training and building an army of several million soldiers. As Secretary of State after the war, Marshall developed the 'Marshall Plan'. It was an unprecedented plan of rebuilding Europe after the war and providing economic and military aid.¹

8. Gen. Douglas MacArthur - "You couldn't shrug your shoulders at Douglas MacArthur," observes historian David McCullough. "There was nothing bland about him, nothing passive about him, nothing dull about him. There's no question about his patriotism, there's no question about his courage, and there's no question, it seems to me, about his importance as one of the protagonist of the 20th century."²

7. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower - Ike was the Supreme Allied Commander during WWII, a great political general, and the principle architect of the allied invasion of Europe.

6. Gen. Omar Bradley - Bradley "earned a reputation as an eminent tactician and as a "soldier's soldier, a general with whom lower ranks could readily identify." ³

5. Adm. Chester Nimtz - After Pearl Harbor was attacked, Nimitz accepted the promotion to CINCPAC (Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet). He led the Pacific Fleet to numerous spectacular victories including Midway and Layte Gulf.

4. Gen. George Washington - A capable commander who took ill-trained and badly equipped troops and led them to victory and independence over the British.

3. Gen. Robert E. Lee - Probably the best American commander of all time. Without Lee, the Confederacy wouldn't have lasted nearly as long as it did. On the battlefield, Lee was good tactically, and able to get his troops out of some tough situations. Still, Lee was sometimes faulted for issuing unprecise orders, and putting himself at unnecessary risks.⁴

2. Gen. Stonewall Jackson - Probably the best battlefield commander of all time, with brilliant battlefied execution. His "leadership and unrelenting will made Union generals shudder and Confederates feel that they had a chance to win the war."⁵ Had he not died an untimely death in 1863, (accidentally shot by his own troops) the South may just have won the Civil War.

1. Gen. George S. Patton - Probably the best battlefield strategist of modern times. Perhaps Patton's finest hour was the Battle of the Bulge. Despite having greatly fatigued and unrested troops, and facing severe winter weather, Patton pulled out of a battle, and marched his troops over 100 miles in less than 48 hours. Then, with no rest, he engaged and defeated the Germans, sliced through their flank, and helped relieve the men stranded in Bastogne. Patton's biggest vice was his mouth, which frequently got him into trouble.

Five Best Foreign Generals/Admirals:

5. Joan of Ark - She is by far, France's best 'general' of all time. She led her armies to several victories over superior British troops, and brought France back from the edge of collapse; all at the age of 17. Not to mention she was probably battling severe schizophrenia.⁶

4. Gen. Julius Caesar - A General, writer and politician who was credited with changing Rome's government from a republic to a monarchy. While some view Caesar as a ruthless dictator, it's hard to argue that he wasn't a good General.⁷

3. Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto - Yamamoto orchestrated the attack on Pearl Harbor, and held naval superiority in the Pacific until the Battle of Midway in 1942.

2. F.M. Erwin Rommel - The 'Desert Fox' frustrated American and British troops all over North Africa.

1. Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery - Britain's own primmadonna.

Honorable Mentions:

Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf - Stormin' Norman liberated Kuwait.
Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte - Conquered Spain.
Gen. Nathaniel Bedford Forrest - A good calvalryman.
Gen. Benjamin Franklin Cheatam - Another hard fighting Confederate.
Alexander the Great - Tactically, Alexander was not much of a General. He already had excellent troops, and was using proven methods. While his armies were very efficient at slaughtering the enemy, there was very little creativity to his leadership, which keeps him out of the Top 10.⁸
Phillip II - Macedonian King and father to Alexander the Great. Phillip was largely responsible for putting together the army that Alexander used for his conquests.
Gen. William Sherman - A Union General who burned, looted, and pillaged Atlanta and much of the south.
F.M. Alexander Suvarov - A Russian Field Marshal who commanded during the Napoleonic wars.

Those are my lists. You'll notice the lists are heavily Anglo-centric. I guess that is a product of my Anglo-centric education. Also it consists of mostly 19th and 20th century military leaders. I'm sure there are plenty of good African, Asian, and South American generals which should have been mentioned or listed. Feel free to add to or flame the lists in the comments.

1-src 2-src 3-src 4-src 5-src 6-src 7-src 8-src

The low tonight is -1º F!

Sadly, it is 30º right now in Nome, AK. I should go there for a warm winter vacation.

Pro-enslavement rallies were staged in cities all across the nation today, supporting tyrannical despot Saddam Hussein. Hussein, whose notable achievements include murder, rape, gassing his own people, and numerous other human rights abuses, could not be reached for comment. (UPDATE: Saddam was finally able to be reached for comment.)

King Kong's girlfriend, Jessica Lange, accuses President Bush of having a 'Son of Kong' mentality. "Was this born out of some vendetta mentality? A son trying to absolve the sins of the father?" Lange continued, "What I am saying to you, Mr. Bush: we do not want these sins visited upon the heads of our children."

Not to be upstaged, Rev. Jesse "The Sloganmaster" Jackson complains about Bush hogging the remote control. "It does not stand to reason to have an unfinished confrontation with al Qaeda, ignore the Middle East and then fast forward to Iraq." You have to imagine the inflection that Jesse would give such a speech. 'It does not stand to reee-zun...'

The U.S. protests were coordinated to coincide with international pro-enslavement demonstrations in several different nations; most fitting, the Communist Party protests in Russia and San Francisco. In the Syrian capital of Damascus, the protesters were at least honest about who Saddam is. Their protest included support for Iraq and shouts of "Our beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv."

While I have no problem with people standing up for what they believe in, I do have a problem with what they choose to believe. Saddam is a ruthless dictator that has committed horrific crimes against humanity. To me it is an issue of right and wrong, and Saddam is most definitely wrong. And, if you support Saddam, you are wrong too.

These pinko peaceniks need to understand that peace is not obtained through marches are demonstrations. Just ask anyone lucky enough to survive the Tiananmen Square massacre. Peace is obtained through force and/or the threat of force; for it is force that keeps monsters like Saddam from subjugating others.

Check out some of the concepts from the 2003 Auto Show in Detroit.

Best in Show was the Cadillac Sixteen:

(click to supersize)

It is called Sixteen, because it sports a 13.6 liter V-16, that produces 1000 ft-lbs of torque and 1000 hp. It has 24 inch wheels, and no B-pillar. (The pillar that usually separates the front and rear doors.) What is most remarkable is that the massive V-16 is all aluminum and actually weighs less than their standard V-8 in production today.

My favorite was the new Mustang concept:

(click to supersize)

It sports a supercharged 400 HP 4.6 liter V-8. One look at the front, and you'll immediately recognize the retro 60s grill which will have Mustang enthusiasts (like me) drooling. Unlike the Cadillac, this Mustang is actually slated for production. While the production vehicle will have some differences, the concept is very close to what will be available at the dealerships in about 18 months. (Look for Ravenwood to be in the market for one of these when they finally scrap the ugly post 1998 body style)

I saw a story about the Maricopa County (AZ) prison on TLC this week, and just had to write about it. A web search turned up this very old CNN story about the prison.

The prison is probably the most unconventional prison in the U.S. Unconventional in one sense, old fashioned in another.

First of all, prisoners are kept in non-air conditioned tents, and not structures. The 'Tent City' was erected to save taxpayer money, and the County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, feels that pinching pennies is more important than coddling felons.

Inmates also must pay about $1 per day for their meals, which consist only of bologna sandwiches. Coffee was taken away to save $150,000 a year, and the only TV they get is the Disney Channel and the Weather Channel. Inmates wear old fashioned black and white stripes, and pink underwear. (White underwear was frequently stolen and sold on the black market. Changing to pink underwear nipped that in the bud.)

Arpaio also has an old fashioned 'chain gang' for off site work crews. In contrast to the infamous southern chain gangs, Arpaio's chain gangs are voluntary. They usually consist of work in high profile urban areas, to serve as quite a deterrence to those thinking of a life of crime. It is considered a privilege to work on the chain gang, and to get to leave the tent city for a short period of time.

While the prison has drawn the ire of organizations like the ACLU, the sheriff's 3+ million constituents are happy with the changes he's made. The changes are a direct result of criticisms of the modern penal system. The system that has long been accused of coddling felons, and making life on the inside better than life on the outside. I'm inclined to agree with them.

How many votes do they want? Canada, New Zealand, and other wishy washy panty waste countries want us to get another UN vote before we act on Iraq.

I say to hell with them. Sure, it's nice to have moral support, but do we really need 600 troops from Canada, or either of New Zealand's tanks?

For some reason, anti-war protesters make me feel intellectually superior.

Whenever I hear of people marching on Washington, the words 'idiot' and 'moron' come to mind. Hopefully they've changed a little since the 60's, and are at least shaving and bathing now.

I wonder how they feel about beheading?

Currently, absentee ballots of dead people are tossed out in Louisiana. However, if a few State Senators have their way, soon even those votes will count.

As if losing a loved one wasn't bad enough, now families of the DC sniper have become pawns for the gun lobby.

The fact that the plaintiffs are represented by the Brady Campaign illustrates that the purpose of the lawsuit is simply to try to punish the firearm's industry. The case need not even be proveable or based on factual evidence, as long as it drives up costs for the gun industry. This is a good argument for a loser pays legal system.

"I hope ultimately there will be control over who obtains firearms," said Vickie Snyder of Rockville, the sister of one of the victims.

Dennis Henigan, legal director of the Brady Center, says "This assault rifle, which served the snipers' deadly purposes so well, did not fall from the sky into their hands."

At least Snyder admits her gun control motives. Henigan, meanwhile, clearly blames the gun, and the people who manufactured it. I presume he'd also sue GM and the dealership for the Buick that accidentally ran over his grandmother. After all, that Buick didn't just fall out of the sky.

I'm taking a short overnight business trip today, so there probably won't be any more blogging until at least tomorrow evening, when I return.

Everyone have a good weekend, and if you need to get your blogging fix, feel free to check out some of the categories on the left. Amendment of the Day, Drunk Story of the Day, or even Liberal for a Day are all pretty good reads. Granted they aren't Required Reading, but then again, nothing on this web page is required.

(Don't tell Michele, but I'm pretty much against required reading. In High School, the best way to ensure students didn't read something was to 'require' it.)

As a member of the clergy, I was originally excited to see this offer. That is, until I saw they were prejudging the clergy as gay. Their sign advertises, "No need to mail order. Gay videos in stock. Clergy discount. Have good sex. Hallelujah!"

For the record, not all clergy are gay. In my circle of friends that are men of the cloth, not a single one is gay. In fact, most of them are married with children. Sure, we had those naked drunk nights every once in a while, but that doesn't mean we're gay.

While nobody ever said armed robbers are very smart, did they say anything about funny? The AP reports of a masked robber, Edward Blaine, who robbed a Virginia bank. His getaway included classic slapstick comedy maneuvers such as:

1. Dropping half the money on the way out.
2. Locking his keys in the car.
3. Abandoning said car after angry townspeople give chase.
4. And an old favorite, trying to shoot said angry townspeople and inadvertently shooting himself in the leg.

Blaine, who had previously served 20 years after an armed bank robbery conviction in 1963, will undoubtedly be returned to the bosom of the Virginia penal system.

After weeks of hype and anticipation, Michele's Required Reading for 2002 is starting to make an appearance.

It looks like she has a lot of stuff posted, but she says there is more to come. It looks like a lot of good stuff on there, so go check it out.

Sheryl Crow says all we need to do is 'not have enemies'. This philosophy is known as appeasement. While I originally wrote about appeasement back in September, I think there is a need to repost it.

-----------------

Although history has shown that appeasement doesn't work with a fanatical despot, there remains to be a sizeable movement for appeasement of Saddam Hussein.

What is appeasement, you ask? How do we know it won't work, you ask? The Godfather of modern appeasement is Neville Chamberlain. Chamberlain became the British Prime Minister in 1937, and his foreign policy of pacifying Adolf Hitler and the rising German tensions became known as appeasement.

Chamberlain began to ask "Why do they hate us?" He felt that the Germans had been mistreated after the first World War, and that agreeing to the demands of Hitler and Mussolini would stave off another European war. This included the unification of Austria and Germany, a violation of the Treaty of Versailles, as well as turning over the Sudetenland, part of Czechoslovakia, with the signing of the Munich Agreement. It should be noted that the Czechoslovakia's head of State not only didn't sign the Munich Agreement, but he wasn't even invited to the meeting.

About six months after receiving the Sudetenland, Hitler seized the rest of Czechoslovakia, breaking the Munich Agreement he had signed. Oops. I bet Chamberlain didn't think he'd do that.

Chamberlain gave up appeasement, and with the invasion of Poland, Britain finally declared war on Germany. A short time later, Chamberlain resigned.

Compare this to Saddam Hussein. Some say Iraq has been mistreated after the Gulf War. UN sanctions have wreaked havoc on the country, and appeasement might make Saddam come around. If we meet a few of his demands, like lifting UN sanctions, we may stave off another Gulf War.

Or, he may 're-unify' with Kuwait, or seize Saudi Arabia. He may build up an arsenal filled with weapons of mass destruction, while deflecting our attention with weapons inspectors and broken UN resolutions. If we wait until he 'does something', it just may be too late. src

The University of Nebraska plans on taking drastic measures to improve their football program.

"I think war is based in greed and there are huge karmic retributions that will follow. I think war is never the answer to solving any problems. The best way to solve problems is to not have enemies." -- Sheryl Crow

Really, it's that easy.

(link shamelessly stolen from Rachel)

Greeblie has all the action today. Lately, Dave's had trouble with a certain someone hotlinking his images.

(brief lesson on hotlinking)
Hotlinking is when someone links to an image on your server, so that it shows up on their web site. Since the image resides on your server, every time someone views their site, it is costing you bandwidth. Now, anyone who has ever hosted a website knows that bandwidth isn't free, nor is online storage space for that matter. So, effectively, not only are the 'leeching' your images, but they are actively stealing your bandwidth and storage space.

The neat thing about hotlinking, is that since the image is hosted on your server, all you need to do is change the image or rename it. But even with the images gone, if the hotlink remains, they are still eating up some of your bandwidth by merely hitting your site looking for the image.

The most effective way to get them to remove the link is to change the image to something really nasty. (like this) That way, viewers see your nasty image instead of the original image the author intended them to see.

When I discovered a hot linker about a week ago, this particularly nasty little baby, had them removing their hotlink within a matter of hours.

(Kudos to Michele for reminding me that as the hoster of the image, I had the power)

Thanks to Greeblie for pointing this one out.

For some reason, I see Acidman having one of these.

I hate to sound like a 'flaggot', or like I'm beating a dead horse with the whole Confederate flag issue.

But can anyone tell me why the Georgia flag is any less 'offensive' than it was two years ago? After all, it still contains an image of the Confederate flag, it's just much smaller. It sounds to me like the 'offense' is simply a smoke and mirrors ploy to further a politically correct agenda.

This DUI arrest is brought to you by Budweiser.

This would have worked in West Virginia.

Anyone who smokes cigars knows that Tampa, specifically Ybor City, is world renown for their import and manufacture of cigars. Even today, you can go down to the Tampa shops and see authentic cigar makers hand rolling their products.

However, a new Florida Constitutional Amendment that bans smoking in any place where people work puts the entire cigar industry in jeopardy.

Importing and manufacturing of cigars naturally requires testing the product. This is now banned under the Florida Constitution, after November's passage of Amendment 6.

Cigar manufacturers are suing the state of Florida, Governor Bush, and several others over the Amendment, mainly because they had no other choice. While the Amendment was crafted to exclude tobacco retailers, cigar importers and manufacturers were left out of the exclusions. That leaves them with few legal options, other than the lawsuit. Personally, I wish them the best. The Amendment is a slap in the face to property rights and business owners everywhere.

On a related note, given that retailers are exempt, I wonder how easy an exemption would be to obtain. Restaurants and bars which are likely to be hurt the most, sometimes sell premium cigars. Does that classify them as a tobacco retailer? Could they gain an exemption, simply by selling a certain amount of tobacco each month? Hmm?

"My own personal feeling is that the Confederate flag no longer has a place flying any time, anywhere in our great nation," says Dick 'Gebhardt', D-MO. Well, my own personal feeling is that dickheads like Gebhardt need to keep their fucking hands off my pay check. But something tells me that won't happen.

It's bad enough that there is a huge historical revisionist movement out there, but now idiots like Gebhardt and former Georgia Governor, Roy Barnes are using the issues for political gain. The big issue now is Confederate flags, but later it will turn to Confederate monuments, holidays, and possibly even burial sites.

Despite what they would have you believe, Lincoln was no saint, and the Civil War was not about slavery. While slavery was a divisive issue, it was not at the core of what the Civil War was about. Southern states fled the union because they felt under-represented in Congress, and oppressed by the industrious northern states. Northern states had the power in Washington, and southern issues were not being properly addressed. Slavery obviously was an issue, mainly because the southern economy depended on it. However, it was this polarization and industry vs. farming mentality that was responsible for the secession. It was also largely what caused the Commonwealth of Virginia to separate into two states.

The southern states naturally felt that seceding from the Union and forming their own nation, the Confederate States of America, was the right thing to do. After all, this was pretty much what the American Colonies did to England less than 100 years earlier. Lincoln however, vowed to preserve the Union, and invaded the southern states. In doing so, he plunged the nation into a Civil War that cost over 600,000 American lives.

Whether or not the Civil War was about slavery is still debated even today. To many northerners, it was about slavery. However to most southerners, it was about defending your land from an oppressive government.

This is best illustrated by the fact that very few southerners owned slaves. Some figures put it at 45,000 southern planters owning more than half of the nation's slave population. Given this fact, it is difficult to believe that a call to arms simply to preserve slavery would have been answered by very many people.

While Lincoln's role in freeing the slaves was instrumental, it is not as grandiose as many scholars would lead you to believe. What Lincoln did was use the issue of slavery to help end the war. His motivations were not moral so much as they were calculated. In fact, Lincoln didn't really free the slaves so much as they freed themselves. When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, he only freed Confederate slaves. Those slaves owned by slave states that remained in the Union were deliberately left out of the Proclamation.

The Proclamation was largely symbolic for two reasons. First, Congress had already written legislation prior to the 1863 Proclamation that 'freed' the Confederate slaves. However, neither the Emancipation Proclamation, nor the Congressional legislation legally applied due to the fact that the Confederacy was an independent sovereignty, and technically no longer part of the Union. The laws applied to the Confederacy no more than the U.S. Constitution applies to Canada.

What Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did do, was