Monday, May 19, 2008

We About To Go A-huntin' Bear

Not surprisingly, many cops think the law doesn't apply to them. Here's an example from Maryland that should get your blood boiling:
In recent weeks, officers have twice been photographed speeding past a camera and extending a middle finger, an act that police supervisors interpreted as a gesture of defiance.
Gee, ya think!? I wonder how they'd feel if regular motorists extended this "gesture of defiance" back at them?

I'll give credit to the Police Chief, though:
"We are not above the law," Manger said in an interview. "It is imperative that the police department hold itself to the same standards that we're holding the public to."
You, sir, are an honorable man. It's a shame that 99% of the police give the rest a bad name.


PS: Extra credit if you recognize the source of this post's title!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

When Will The Oil Bubble Burst?

The following graph compares the Tech bubble to the Housing bubble and the Oil bubble. There are a lot of assumptions involved here, but if they're right (and it's a big IF), we can look forward to a huge drop in the price of oil.


Graph produced by Bespoke Research.

Pour Some Sugar On Me

The Set America Free Coalition wants to know why we're buying oil duty-free from various foreign dictators when we could be buying sugar-based ethanol from Brazilian bikini babes.

Here's their video, which many will probably find persuasive:

I guess that's one way to frame your argument (and increase blog traffic!).

We've touched on this subject before.

Thing is, we really need to break our addiction to OPEC oil. These third-world dictatorships and terrorist breeding-grounds are only functional in the first place because Americans are paying $4.00 per gallon of gas. It's long past time we pulled that plug.

And subsidizing wealthy corn-ethanol farmers just to secure some Iowa primary votes was the wrong solution. It needlessly drove up the price of food worldwide, and tied food inflation to fuel inflation. In other words, a typical result of inept government meddling in free markets.

Cutting the tariffs on Brazilian sugar ethanol would definitely help with a lot of these problems. In addition, since we're sitting on the largest coal reserves on the planet, we should push to develop clean liquid-coal technology.

It's time to starve the OPEC beast.



PS. I think my post title is really clever.

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Bush's Conviction Makes Obama Uncomfortable

Methinks the Obama campaign must have a guilty conscience or something, because I see no other reason why they would be going nuts over this great quote from President Bush to the Israeli Knesset:
"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is - the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
Maybe they're upset because Obama wants to hold negotiations with the world's dictators. Rather than prevent them snatching food off the table, he prefers to spoon-feed it to them, course by course. Peace for our time!


UPDATE: White House press secretary Dana Perino:
"I understand when you're running for office you sometimes think the world revolves around you. That is not always true. And it is not true in this case."
Burn!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Etiquette For Guys: Delivering the News

Dilemma: You just found out your wife is pregnant. You want to tell your friends, but are concerned that just telling them outright would cost man points. How do you spread the word?

Solution: Fear not, fortunate friends, for RHOG has the answer you seek. And no, it is not "just have your wife call them." Any man points you save would be offset (and then some) by the points you would lose for being a wussbag. Here's what you do. Wait for something cool to happen, or until you see something cool, etc, and call to tell them. Then, while they're on the phone, say "oh, and *wife's name* says to tell you she's pregnant."

Bonus tip: We recommend not using the phrase "my wife got knocked up" in front of your wife.

Here is how such a solution recently played out, between your fearless RHOG overlords:

*phone rings*
Xeno: Dude
Grim: Dude.
Xeno: what's up?
Grim: We're out driving around, and you would not believe what I just saw on the back of some hippie's car.
Xeno: Oh?
Grim: They had a Punisher bumper sticker.
Xeno: Which is pretty cool...
Grim: Yes. But right next to it there was a "give peace a chance." sticker.
Xeno: HIPPIES! And they clearly are unaware of the entire premise of the Punisher character.
Grim: Yes. Oh, and *Mrs. Grim* says to tell you she's pregnant.
Xeno: Was this on purpose?
Grim: I think so
*barely audible* Grim: was it on purpose?
*barely audible* Wife: yes.
Grim: Yes, it was. We're both very happy.
Xeno: Well congratulations then!
Grim: Thank you.

Back to Narnia

Pretty good review of Narnia: Prince Caspian over at Libertas:
With Iron Man I was sure the best film of the summer was already behind us. I do love it when I’m wrong.
Yeah, I'm expecting this summer to get better and better.
This is not some new-age Christian allegory where if you fall to your knees in some sun-dappled field and raise your hands to Jesus all your problems will go away.
Good to hear.
Caspian’s themes of honor, faith, nobility, and self-sacrifice all come to a single point: confronting and destroying an evil that will not be appeased or negotiated with.
I'm sold.


Bonus: Libertas also offers the Top Five Eastwood Flicks. Not bad, but I think Pale Rider should be in there.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Sorry, Spenn

Jenna Bush is off the market.


Click here for more wedding photos released by the White House.

Ah, Young Love

Are you a young girl with dreams of romance? Are you competing with another girl for a certain boy's affections? Is bomb-making not entirely out of the question? Have you and your crazy friends blown up her street in an effort to take her out?


Here's a tip: TONE IT DOWN. No guy in his right mind is going to want to go out with a girl who might lob a stick of dynamite at him just because he left the toilet seat up, or forget their 4-month anniversary.

(Also note in that story that the victim called the police ten hours earlier to report the girls outside her home, but they never bothered to come around. Typical.)

Friday, May 09, 2008

EXCLUSIVE: RHOG Baby Boom!
Population of Citizen Grim Household to Increase Whopping 50% By Year's End

Surprising even the most optimistic forecasters, the population at my house will increase by roughly one (1) person as early as November, experts say. Quickly, go to Wal-Mart and buy their entire stock of rice, flour and ramen noodles, while you still can!

Believe it or not, the following image actually looks like something to some people. For your convenience, I'll include labels (click to enlarge):


Any promising superpowers have yet to reveal themselves. Stay tuned.

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Friday Finds #17

- The anti-war types in Berkeley are now trying witchcraft to jinx the Marines. This is yet another example of Blair's Law, "the ongoing process by which the world's multiple idiocies are becoming one giant, useless force."

- Which reminds me... in the first three months of 2008, the NRA raised $8,395,284 while the anti-gun Brady Campaign raised a measly $73. I am not kidding.

- Rachel Lucas has finally discovered the wonder that is Firefly.

- Comics just haven't been the same since the demise of The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes, but I have recently been enjoying the twice-weekly Wondermark. Here's some recent ones (click to enlarge):

hooray
rodney kill the violinssssss
- Global warming is not all bad, according to the BBC: "Great tits cope well with warming"

- The New York Times suggests that current inflation numbers might actually be misleadingly high. Plus, some interesting charts.

- Fanboys used to complain about Microsoft products months before they were actually available. Lately, they've been setting their sights on Apple, too.

- More positive reviews for OpenOffice: "Using Word always feels like work. Using OpenOffice just felt like writing. And did I mention it's free?"

- The McCain campaign is finally starting to push back:
"We have all become familiar with Senator Obama's new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is."

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Quote of the Week

Heh:
"So far the Great Depression 2008 is shaping up to be a Great Disappointment. Not so much The Grapes of Wrath as Raisins of Mild Inconvenience."
Read the rest of the article here.

Also, over at Intrade, the expectation that the U.S. will go into recession this year has dropped by two thirds.

I'm still not worried.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

McCain Declines Secret Service Protection

I see no reason why the Onion would make this up:



(h/t: HotAir)

Monday, May 05, 2008

Topsy Tory

Good news from across the pond:

The Conservative Party in the UK picked up 256 additional council seats in this year's elections, while the (liberal) Labor Party lost 331 seats. Perhaps more importantly, the conservative Boris Johnson is now the Mayor of London.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Friday Finds #16

- Sports Illustrated ranks the major league ballparks, according to a variety of categories. (Including the all-important "Food" category, which Milwaukee tops.)

- How Reagan outmaneuvered the Soviets in South America. At one point, they literally parked Air Force One "in the weeds" in Venezuela. Awesome.

- Lesbians sue lesbians over use of the word "Lesbian." No, seriously.

- This book should ruffle some feathers: "The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don't Want You to Know About--Because They Helped Cause Them"

- Soon, you may be allowed to be armed in National Parks & Reserves, assuming you may legally carry in that state.

- Here's more info on the Chicago cougar I mentioned last week. And then this: "There may now be more mountain lions in the West than there were before European settlement." Hm...

- Great photos of Bosnia from Michael Totten. Happily, Tuzla was sniper-free.

- Some people think AIDS is caused by global warming, as opposed to, you know, sleeping around and drug abuse.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

New Food Reviews: Chick Fil A Caramel Mocha Shake

It gave me a brain freeze.

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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Plucky

The brave little nation of Azerbaijan is holding onto a delivery of nuclear equipment headed from Russia to Iran.

I like their style.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

An Armed Society Is A Polite Society

Believe it or not, this is from the BBC:
Despite the fact there are more than 200 million guns in circulation, there is a certain tranquility and civility about American life.
Indeed. It helps if you shoot out the window sometimes, though, to make the neighbors think you might have a few screws loose.
I have met incredulous British tourists who have been shocked to the core by the peacefulness of the place, the lack of the violent undercurrent so ubiquitous in British cities, even British market towns.
They're probably also surprised at our "ubiquitous" dental hygiene. (Cheap shot, I know, but I couldn't resist.)
What surprises the British tourists is that, in areas of the US that look and feel like suburban Britain, there is simply less crime and much less violent crime.
Yeah, violent crime is a pretty hazardous occupation here. Maybe they should unionize.

Friday, April 25, 2008

This Just In

As it turns out, a combination of forgetting all your hats back in Indiana and shaving your head just might result in the top of your head getting burned on the golf course.

Today, I'm getting a hat first, THEN golfing.

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Friday Finds #15

- Police shoot a cougar on the loose in Chicago's North Side. Read the comments at the links about how people cried themselves to sleep over the death of such a "majestic" animal. Survival of the fittest, baby. I guess the cougars should have thought of that before they failed to evolve bulletproof hides.

- Elsewhere in Chicago, a clueless congressional candidate (aren't they all?) was invited to give a speech to the "Nationalist Socialist Workers Party." Apparently he wasn't aware of their more common name: Nazis.

- "Notre Dame Vs. the Klan" would make a great movie.

- Liberals are reluctant to accept genetically modified crops, so I wonder what they'll think of meat grown in factories. Animal rights activists should be happy, and if it gets rid of PETA, I'm all for it.

- The AFP makes a ridiculous claim that 10 percent of Americans (30 million people) are in prison. This would be larger than the population of every state except California. Actually, the number is 2.3 million (which is 0.75 percent).

- The U.S. has the opportunity to be energy independent, but does it have the will? Don't hold your breath.

- Others think the oil bubble will eventually burst. Faster, please.

- Still others aren't concerned either way, pointing to the fact that life has gotten better, easier, and cheaper down through history. It's the end of the car as we know it, and I feel fine.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Truth Hurts

So some thin skinned crybabies are trying to sue CNN for $1.3 billion, because one of their commentators insulted China.

The insults were delivered by a guy named Jack Cafferty, who I had never heard of, but now kinda like (unless he backs down).
Cafferty said the United States imported Chinese-made "junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food" and added: "They're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years".
What exactly was wrong with what he said? Let's break this down.

Fact: We imported over a million toys for children that China had coated with lead paint.

Fact: Pet food imported from China that was laced with rat poison was responsible for a rash of dead pets.

Was it that Mr. Cafferty forgot to mention the tainted toothpaste? And the tainted blood thinner that killed a number of people just recently?
(google these if you want, the articles are easy enough to find that I'm not bothering to provide links).

As to the "goons and thugs" comments, we're talking about a government that crushes any opposition from its citizens. They aren't allowed to hear what really happened at Tiananmen Square, where the government literally went in and started killing hundreds of protesting students. You can barely browse the internet over there without running into sites that the government has banned - and God help you if you post anything that portrays the government in a less than favorable light. Taiwan and Tibet are also banned topics. To make way for the new Olympic stadium, they displaced literally millions of people and tore down their houses with little advance notice, and arrested those who argued.

They counterfeit American products with impunity, government hackers break into sensitive US networks and steal data all the time, and oh yeah, their beloved Chairman Mao killed what, 40 million people?

Look, many of the Chinese people are good people. You know that, I know that, Jack Cafferty knows that. The Chinese government, on the other hand, which is what he was talking about, is a bunch of goons and thugs.

Seriously though, even if he came out and personally insulted every single person in China (which would take forever), and then went and insulted every single person in America - who cares? How often is the US government ripped on by places like Venezuela or Iran (or Congress). Whoop de freaking do. I'm not getting all upset because some talking head on tv said I smelled like poo. I hope the judge that gets this laughs them out of court.

Reflections: On Environmentalism

Is the planet really in peril? Is the climate really about to come crashing down around us? How should we be treating the earth? As Christians, what should our attitude be towards the planet? As conservatives, how should we approach the environment?

It's all too easy to take Bible verses out of context to get them to say what we want, but lately, some people take it a step further, by completely making up verses and quoting them as if they are real. Here's one Nancy Pelosi has been quoting for several years now:
"The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, 'To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.' On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children's children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature."
The only problem is that the Bible doesn't say that. Anywhere. She has suggested that it's from somewhere in Isaiah, but even if she's paraphrasing, there's no verse in the Bible that comes close to saying what she suggests: that we should "minister" to the environment's "needs," as if it is some sort of extension of God Himself.

To be fair, there are some verses in the Bible that address man's relationship to the earth. Why don't these people just quote real verses? Part of the problem may be because the Bible doesn't say quite what they want it to...

Continue reading this post...


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