An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
Archive for November 2007
Absurd - Part 3
‘Teddy bear’ teacher gets 15-day prison term in Sudan
KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) — A Sudanese court found a British teacher guilty of insulting religion and sentenced her to 15 days in prison Thursday for allowing a teddy bear to be named “Mohammed,” British authorities and her lawyer reported.
Gillian Gibbons also faces deportation from Sudan after her prison term, her lawyer told CNN.
He said that he was “very disappointed” with the verdict and that Gibbons planned to appeal.
Gibbons was not convicted of two other charges brought against her — inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, her lawyer said.
Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday after she asked her class of 7-year-olds in Khartoum to name the stuffed animal as part of a school project, the British Foreign Office said. She had faced charges under Article 125 of Sudan’s constitution, the law relating to insulting religion and inciting hatred.
Although there is no ban in the Quran on images of Allah or the Prophet Mohammed, Islam’s founder, likenesses are considered highly offensive by Muslims.
I find the behavior of certain followers of the so called ‘religion of peace’ offensive. So, can we jail and deport anyone I find offensive? Dang, better build more prisons.
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Republican Debate - A Day After
I recorded the debate last night. There’s only so much I can handle of politicians, y’know. So, I’m watching the debate today. My question? Why am I torturing myself?
I gotta admit, I loved the song at the beginning. Pretty cool, and quite creative.
I have to tell ya, what I’ve seen so far, Republicans are screwed. If we could take the best parts of all the candidates (yes, even Ron Paul), roll them all into one, we’d have a really good candidate . At the beginning, I was wondering when someone was going to break into a tap dance. And it seems a few of them can’t even be civil to the others. Pathetic. Those who wouldn’t bother to even look at the other candidates slipped some serious notches, in my esteem.
Here’s what I want, in no particular order:
1) Stop the indiscriminate abortions. A million babies every year have been murdered, advocated by those who are anti military, anti death penalty. Women who should be nurturing are at the front of the pack, selfishly insisting it’s HER body. Pfft. It’s not a breast reduction y’know. I’m very confused on that one.
2) Secure our dadburn borders. Oddly enough, this is part the ‘war on terror’, at least in my mind. There are drug dealers crossing our borders bringing terror to our streets. Why can’t this be addressed?
3) Leave the guns alone. They aren’t yours, they’re mine, and you can’t have them!
4) Taxes. It’s not YOUR money. You can’t spend it better than I can, and I’m pretty good at it. If you want to fund a bike path in your area, hold a fund raiser, don’t ask me to pay for it. I tend to fall off bikes, and am not going to use it.
5) I want to WIN in Iraq. America doesn’t surrender.
There’s more, obviously, but that’s a start. Now, when they give me a candidate who covers, all my criteria, let me know, ok? I’m not looking for a ‘candidate’, I’m looking for a President. A leader. Someone who will not kowtow to a bunch of whiners. Someone who doesn’t back down just because someone doesn’t like us. Boo freakin’ hoo. I don’t care if you don’t like us. We’re great, you’re not, get over it.
Now, tell me what you are REALLY going to do as President. I don’t want the “I promise” b.s. I want results.
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Funny!!
Heh.
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Morning Coffee 11/29/07
Giuliani, Romney Trade Jabs on Immigration
Mr. Giuliani, the front-runner in national polls, accused Mr. Romney of employing illegal immigrants at his home and running a “sanctuary mansion.” The testy personal exchange came after Mr. Romney said Mr. Giuliani had retained New York’s status as a sanctuary city while he was mayor.
I DVR’d the thing. Looks like I’m going to have to actually watch it. Might be quite entertaining, and I can fast forward. 
Dallas Cowboys fans wrestle with $100K price tag on seat rights
Mark Zable expected to pay a pretty price to continue his lifelong devotion to the Dallas Cowboys.
But what he got when he visited the Cowboys this week to hear the team’s sales pitch was severe sticker shock – $100,000 each for two personal seat licenses, a new feature that would allow him to buy tickets at the team’s new $1 billion stadium in Arlington. And those seats near Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ luxury box weren’t even for the priciest seat licenses in the new stadium – those go for $150,000.
“It takes a different kind of fan to afford these seats,” Mr. Zable said.
Gee, run off the ‘riffraff’ who can’t pay the steep prices, and what have ya got? Everybody sitting at home watching the game on their satellite tvs, where they can have many friends enjoy the festivities, have snacks at a reasonable price from the grocery store, and watch that billion dollar stadium empty out. Well, in a REAL world, with reasonable people, that’s what you’d have. Football fanatics don’t seem to live in the real world any more. sigh…. At least I can ‘pause’ the real action watching from home, for the necessary breaks, and ignore all the commercials.
CNN Allows Clinton Backer to Question GOP Candidates in YouTube Debate
A CNN host acknowledged the participation of a retired Army colonel linked to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a televised Republican debate Wednesday.
Keith Kerr of Santa Rosa, Calif., who revealed himself as gay, challenged the eight candidates via video message and on stage at the CNN/YouTube debate in Florida on the right of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military.
The broadcast, however, failed to mention that Kerr, who served as a brigadier general in the reserves, is a member of a gay and lesbian steering committee for Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
So, the Hildebeast is now planting questions for her opposition? Sheesh. I don’t care if the guy is gay, I appreciate his service to the country. This agenda pushing, however, is getting a bit tiresome.
IRS finds many faulty conservation easements
“The IRS has been working on said audits in Colorado for over two years now with no apparent end in sight,” Allard, a Loveland Republican, wrote Brown. “While I support investigation and enforcement of legitimate fraud, we must not unfairly target honest taxpayers, and Colorado’s reputation should not be tarnished.”
Hmmm….I wonder how much all this investigating is costing the taxpayers?
Former Illinois Rep. Hyde Dies
Former Rep. Henry Hyde, the Illinois Republican who steered the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton and championed government restrictions on the funding of abortions, died Thursday. He was 83.
The death of the Illinois Republican was announced by House Minority Leader John Boehner’s office on Capitol Hill.
Mary Ann Schultz, a spokeswoman for Rush University Medical Center, said Hyde died Thursday at 3 a.m. CST at that hospital. There was no immediate word on the cause of his death, although Hyde underwent open-heart surgery in July.
Rest in peace. Prayers with the family.
Panel calls for easing law on open meetings
The new proposal, adopted Wednesday by a study committee formed by the General Assembly, allows up to three members to deliberate in private as long as they do not constitute a majority of whatever body they serve on. The proposal does not affect the General Assembly, which is exempt from the provisions.
Sen. Joe Haynes, a Goodlettsville Democrat, proposed the change, saying the current law is “not practical.”
He noted that a previous proposal would have allowed up to a quorum of members to meet in private. Depending on the size of the body, that could have been a dozen members or more.
When any politician wants to take public business behind closed doors, I tend to get a tad suspicious.
Is the net tightening on Nazi ‘Dr Death’?
If he is still alive, former SS medical officer Aribert Heim is 93 years old, but his age will not protect the alleged Nazi war criminal from justice, vows Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff.
I thought Mengele was ‘Dr. Death’. Why has South America been protecting these animals for so long anyway?
Man, 72, Fights Off Would-Be Robber
A 72-year-old man fought off a would-be robber who brandished a gun, wrecked his Christmas decorations, and allegedly had been sent by his nephew in search of jewelry and cash, police said.
“I don’t know how I got the power,” said the victim, Reinaldo Herrera.
Herrera was working on his outdoor Christmas light display Tuesday afternoon when Santos Zelaya, 21, followed him into his suburban home on Long Island and confronted him with what turned out to be a pellet gun, police said. Herrera believed it was a real firearm.
Way to go! Kick some thug butt!
Gay nuptials could bring tax gain to Md.
A booming wedding industry could swell Maryland’s budget by millions if gays were permitted to wed, according to a university report released yesterday.
The study, by UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, estimates that spending on gay nuptials could top $280 million the first three years, generating $14 million in tax revenue during that time.
Oh sure. Gain a few mil, and lose something priceless. What a trade off.
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Connection to Lott’s Resignation?
Richard Scruggs Indicted By Federal Grand Jury
FAST FACTS:
* Scruggs, his son and partners indicted on efforts to bribe judge
* Multiple counts filed
* Scruggs and his son are at federal building in Oxford, MS(Oxford, MS 11/28) Oxford attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs has been indicted by a federal grand jury.
Scruggs, his son and a partner have been indicted in an effort to bribe a judge. According to court documents Scruggs, his son and law partner Zach Scruggs and three other lawyers of conspiring to bribe state Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey with more than $40,000 in cash.
Lackey was overseeing a lawsuit against Scruggs. Scruggs was being sued over the division of $26.5 million in attorneys’ fees. Over a period of six months, three payments equaling $40,000 were made to the judge who was secretly working with prosecutors.
The indictment also allegs Richard Scruggs tried to cover the money trail by creating false documents.
FBI agents searched a law office owned by Scruggs Tuesday and removed several boxes. On Monday Senator Trent Lott, brother-in-law of Scruggs, announced he will retire early. Lott is not mentioned in the indictment against Scruggs.
Curiouser and curiouser.
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Heh!
Perfect questions for the umpteenth political debate….for either side!
A snippet:
“I have a hypothetical question for John McCain: if you knew that I was going to eat this baby at midnight, would you approve waterboarding Ernie if that was the only way to figure out where on Sesame Street I was hiding? If not, why not? Don’t you like babies?”
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Ann Slaps Down The Times
NYT: An Undocumented Newspaper
Last week, in an article titled “Walking a Tightrope on Immigration,” The New York Times made the fact-defying claim that the illegal immigration issue poses a risk for Republicans who appeal to voters “angry” about illegal immigration. (This is as opposed to voters “angry” that they spent good money buying a copy of The New York Times.)
In support of this assertion, the Times was required not only to ignore the stunning defeat of this year’s amnesty bill, but also to proffer provably absurd evidence. I dearly hope Democratic politicians continue to look to the Times as an accurate barometer of voter sentiment.
In addition to secret polls showing that “the majority of Americans” support “a path to citizenship for immigrants here illegally,” the Times cited election results from 1994 and 2006 that directly contradict this thesis.
First, the Times raised former California Gov. Pete Wilson’s “precipitous slide” in the polls after he supported Proposition 187 in 1994, which denied most taxpayer-supported services to illegal immigrants.
The problem with this example is that Proposition 187 was wildly popular with California voters.
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Now THAT’S Entertainment!
Have you ever watched the British Parliament on C-Span? I was snooping through the channels, and came across politicians doing what politicians do….jabber….a lot! Unlike our House and Senate, they are all actually in the same room, talking to each other, asking questions, making complaints, etc. This is the most entertained I’ve been when it comes to listening to said politicians jabber. They sure don’t pull any punches, metaphorically speaking, do they? Heh.
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The Idea Makes My Skin Crawl!
Jimmy Carter:Â Man From Plains
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One Smart Cookie
If you were up early enough last Friday, you would have seen the colossal stream of hunters leaving their homes before the sun came up to search for their prey. These hunters had spent the previous evening dreaming about the hunt and researching their target. Of course I am talking about those hunters who kicked off the unofficial opening day of the Christmas season by elbowing their way into the retail wilderness in search of a trophy bargain.
The bad news for Wisconsin’s shoppers is that for many items they will not get as good a deal on many of their purchases as their fellow shoppers in other states. Wisconsin law forbids it.
A relic of Wisconsin’s socialist past actually forbids retailers from selling their goods below a specific profit margin. Specifically, the Unfair Sales Act, also known as the minimum markup law or the mandatory profit law, begins, “The practice of selling certain items of merchandise below cost in order to attract patronage is generally a form of deceptive advertising and an unfair method of competition in commerce.”
You read that right. A retailer who wants to bring customers to her store by offering a fantastic bargain will have Wisconsin’s government enforcers on her like white on rice for being unfair to her competition.
This is the reason why people in other states are able to buy generic prescription medications at Wal-Mart pharmacies for $4, but not in Wisconsin. This is the reason that gasoline is required to be sold at a minimum profit of 9.18 percent in Wisconsin while consumers in other states can buy gasoline for less. This is the reason that Sportsman’s Warehouse can’t sell sabot shotgun shells for below cost in the hope that hunters will also buy the rest of their hunting gear there.
Wisconsinites pay more for many things because their government requires it.
The justification for the mandatory profit law is rooted in a manifest distrust of the free market. The supporters of the law are fearful that a retailer like Wal-Mart will sell gasoline, for example, at below cost in order to bring consumers into the store. This, they contend, will drive smaller gasoline retailers out of business and then Wal-Mart will hike its gasoline prices through the roof.
The problem with that thought process is that in every state without a mandatory profit law it has not happened. No company can continually sell products at a loss and if they increase their prices too high, other competitors will enter the market.
History has shown that the free market and the competition it fosters is the best system for bringing goods and services of the highest quality to consumers and for the lowest cost. We are better served by putting our trust in the people of Wisconsin than in the arbitrary market controls of government.
Realizing that government-mandated profit was more than a bad idea but also an abridgement of our liberty, in October the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin ruled the Unfair Sales Act unconstitutional. The law, however, is still on the books and is still being enforced. The good news is that someone is paying attention over in the Wisconsin Assembly.
Reps. Leah Vukmir and Bill Kramer have begun circulating a bill that would repeal the Unfair Sales Act and replace it with the Competitive Marketplace Act. It will state, in part, “The proper functioning of a free market necessarily requires competitive rivalries where each competitor leverages strategic pricing and innovative practices intended to obtain a larger share of the market from other competitors. Such practices, while potentially injurious to less efficient competitors are beneficial to consumers and serve the public interest of fostering a robust free market.”
Gov. Jim Doyle has already called for the repeal of the Unfair Sales Act and free marketers everywhere agree, but groups like the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers and Conven-ience Store Association and others who like to have their profits guaranteed by law are going to fight tooth and nail to keep the law in place.
The minimum markup law is a law that should have never been passed, has been ruled unconstitutional and is costing Wisconsinites millions of dollars. It’s time to repeal it and bring Wisconsin into the 21st century.
Ya know what Owen’s problem is? He’s using common sense where previously, none has existed.
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