What?! Everyone in the whole damned neighborhood has been planting flowers and stuff that they’ll have to water twice a day or it will be dead inside 3 weeks. Beautification they call it,  I call it a waste of time, money and a great way to suffer hay fever and a sore back.

My solution? I rounded up about a dozen illegally migrant mythical forest creatures and a hand full of fairies, went to Lowes & the Garden Center. I had it all delivered to the gate of the Estate and promised 6 large pizzas, a gallon of Hawaiian Punch for the migrants and a can of Red Bull for each of the faries (it gives them wings!) when the work was completed.

The fairies having no sense of proportion, and hoping for a tip on top of their pay (in the form of additional pizza)  plus already buzzing around at warp speed from the single can of Red Bull I let them share went a little over the top with the flower bed what can I say. I’m not complaining though, the thing waters itself, its down wind so I don’t have to snort the pollen and live on Benadryl constantly. Plus I understand 2 of the illegally migrant Gnomes have taken up residence in it someplace and are paying rent by tending it.

 

 

 

 

Witch of the South
You all remember that in the movie “The Wizard of Oz”, the wicked witch of the East was killed by the falling house, the witch of the West stalked Dorothy and was killed by water, and Glenda, the Witch of the North helped Dorothy get home.  There is no mention of the witch of the South. Here’s what she would probably be like:
CLOTHING –
West: Black hat and cape
North: Pink formal dress
South: Tube top and spandex
NOTABLE FEATURES –
West: Green Nose
North: Flawless Beauty
South: Beehive Hairdo
FAVORITE DRINK –
West: Potions
North: Morning Dew
South: Moonshine/Mint Julep
FOOD –
West: Apples from talking trees
North: Poppies
South: Moon Pies
HOUSE –
West: Large black castle
North: In the sky?
South: Why else would tornados be attracted to mobile homes?
TRANSPORTATION –
West: Broom
North: Bubble
South: Pink Cadillac (That was a yellow bricked ROAD, not a sidewalk)
FRIENDS –
West: Flying Monkeys
North: Munchkins
South: Hound Dogs
DESIRES –
West: The ruby slippers
North: For Dorothy to learn her lesson
South: A full mouth of teeth
FEARS –
West: Water, a house falling on her
North: She’ll mess up her hair
South: Revenuers
WEAPONS –
West: Ball of fire
North: Snow
South: Shot Gun
FAVORITE SAYINGS –
West: I’ll get you, my pretty
North: There’s no place like home
South: Ya’ll ain’t from around here, are ya?
DEALING WITH PROBLEMS –
West: Make Dorothy wait until the sand runs out on the hourglass
North: Make Dorothy run all over Oz looking for the Emerald City
South: Just click them heels, Darlin’, and get yourself home.

 

Bank of America Allegedly Drops McMillan Gun Company For ‘Political’ Reasons

McMillan Group International, a company that manufactures firearms and accessories, is claiming that Bank of America asked them find another bank for “political” reasons.

The company, whose different entities have been doing business with Bank of America for more than twelve years, says it has never made a late payment, and never bounced a check.

On Thursday, the Director of Operations Kelly McMillan explained on McMillan’s Facebook page:

Today Mr. Ray Fox, Senior Vice President, Market Manager, Business Banking, Global Commercial Banking [of Bank of America] came to my office. He scheduled the meeting as an ‘account analysis’ meeting in order to evaluate the two lines of credit we have with them. He spent 5 minutes talking about how McMillan has changed in the last 5 years and have become more of a firearms manufacturer than a supplier of accessories.

At this point I interrupted him and asked, ‘Can I [possibly] save you some time so that you don’t waste your breath?  What you are going to tell me is that because we are in the firearms manufacturing business you no longer what my business.’

‘That is correct’ he [said].

I replied ‘That is okay, we will move our accounts as soon as possible. We can find a 2nd Amendment friendly bank that will be glad to have our business.  You won’t mind if I tell the NRA, SCI and everyone one I know that BofA is not firearms industry friendly?’

‘You have to do what you must’ he said.

‘So you are telling me this is a politically motivated decision, is that right?’

Mr Fox confirmed that it was.  At which point I told him that the meeting was over and there was nothing let for him to say.

The Daily Caller is reporting, in addition, that the bank representative remarked, “We have to assess the risk of doing business with a firearms related industry.”

Many ask, what risk would that be?  Are there really enough people who would refuse to do business with Bank of America over having McMillan as a client that it justifies discontinuing the decade-long relationship?

And when the representative allegedly agreed that the motivation was “political,” did he mean among clients and executives, or government officials?

As a bank that received $20 billion in the bailout, many are outraged that the company seemingly finds constitutional rights a professional liability.

McMillan has thanked the public for its support over Facebook, writing: “I know this is not about McMillan. It’s about the possibility of losing our freedom and right to keep and bear arms. If this had happened to any other company I am sure all of you would have been on their web page shouting your allegiance to the cause.”

The company assures its clients that many competing banks have offered their services, and Kelly McMillan is looking to see whether the company can stop accepting Bank of America cards.

McMillan Group International  [Facebook where announcement was made (you don’t have to sign up or in to see it)] https://www.facebook.com/McMillanGroupInternational/posts/10150946905673368

Bank of America Denies a Small Business for Making Guns?

Kelly McMillan, McMillan Group International director of operations, who claims Bank of America denied doing business with the company because it manufactures guns. http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1618082676001/bofa-denies-a-small-business-for-making-guns

Am I the only one that the irony of a bank calling itself “Bank of America” refusing to do business with a company focus ton helping Americans exercise their Second Amendment rights?

Bank of America is NOT all THAT solvent that it can afford to lose the accounts of 4 million small business owners. I personally use them for my small business as well as my personal banking. That is about to change By the time you read this on Wednesday 05/09/2012 I will already have begun to process of separating myself both bossiness and personally from Bank of American. I will tell them bluntly that I could over look the constant nickel and dime charges and the regular increases in fees but I refuse to overlook them attempting to squash my Second Amendment rights like this for POLITICAL reasons.

Please consider doing likewise. please see that you pass this information along to as many others as possible. Banks understand one thing money and the power it brings and wields.  Lets wield the power of our money and bring it to bare on Bank of Americ and express our displeasure and disgust in their business practices by decimating their bottom line.

 “You can call us rednecks if you want-we’re not offended, because we know what we’re all about. We get up and go to work, we get up and go to church, and we get up and go to war when necessary.” — Jeff Foxworthy

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you know gender is a social construct, but have no idea where electricity comes from.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think the “evil” of Stalinist regimes is overstated and the tyranny of the American regime is never stated enough.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you believe portraying Bush as the Joker is political satire, but portraying Obama as the Joker is racist.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . if you believe Glenn Beck is an extremist because Keith Olbermann told you so.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . if you think America is a cesspool of fat lobotomized WalMart Jesusbots who have the gall to question your patriotism.

Code Pink Activist

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you believe in the separation of Church and State; Mosque and State, not so much.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you believe that hurricanes are caused by people, and that crime is caused by the environment.

U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting Station, Berkeley California

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think that treating all people equally, regardless of race, is racist.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you burn tons of carbon to attend a global warming conference that only sanctions the cleanest nation on Earth.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you believe in having dialog with your opponents, and that they’d better shut up during this dialog.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think everyone would agree with you if they were open minded, and you refuse to listen to any other possibility.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you believe that a mosque should be built at Ground Zero, but Jews shouldn’t build apartments in East Jerusalem.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . if all your political arguments contain the phrase, “It’s Bush’s fault.”

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you believe that Pro-Life violates right of privacy, but you want to tell people they can’t eat french fries.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you believe that immersing a crucifix in urine is fine art, but depicting the prophet Mohammed is insensitive.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think the problem is that Obama is just too darn moderate.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you spend your day telling people that a border fence can’t work, then drive home to your gated community.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think Sarah Palin was too inexperienced to be VP but that Obama had plenty of experience to be President.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think the Right needs to be rounded up in camps to prevent them from acting like Nazis.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think credit card companies are evil when they lend money, and mortgage companies are evil when they don’t.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you believe education is A) the single most critical key to our future, and B) impossible to measure.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think people have too many kids, and that those kids need to pay for your Social Security.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think the Government should be obsessed with race, but no one else should ever mention it.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think banks earning money on interest is wrong, but paying interest to China on the national debt is just peachy.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you think subsidies are an entitlement, tax cuts are a gift, and liberty is a controlled substance.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you totally hate haters, and wish those violent bastards would just die.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you’ve ever worried about the threat of Tea Party violence during a Dick Cheney heart attack thread on Kos.

You might be a liberal if . . .
. . . you are running low on Valium this weekend due to Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally.

 

 

The managing partners of Dewy Cheatum & Howe, (a whole owned subcideary of Pot o’ Gold Ponzi Schemes & Enterprise Worldwide) is proud to announce a new arm of its Specialty Division of Legal Firms:

 

 

 

Who Said That?

Who Said That? This is a fun quiz….Listed below are 10 direct quotes. You have to guess which American politician said it. Your four choices are: Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Former VP Dan Quayle, President Barack Obama, and Former President George W. Bush…

Ready? Here you go!

1)”Let me be absolutely clear…Israel is a strong friend of Israel.”
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

2) “I’ve now been in 57 states I think one left to go.”
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

3) “On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience here today.”
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

4) “What they’ll say is, ‘Well it costs too much money,’ but you know what? It would cost, about. It it it would cost about the same as what we would spend. It. Over the course of 10 years it would cost what it would costs us. (nervous laugh) All right. Okay. We’re going to. It. It would cost us about the same as it would cost for about hold on one second. I can’t hear myself. But I’m glad you’re fired up, though. I’m glad.”
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

5) “The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice , savings and inefficiencies to our health care system.”
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

6) “I bowled a 129. It’s like – it was like the Special Olympics, or something.”
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

7) “Of the many responsibilities granted to a president by our Constitution, few are more serious or more consequential than selecting a Supreme Court just ice . The members of our highest court are granted life tenure, often serving long after the presidents who appointed them. And they are charged with the vital task of applying principles put to paper more than 20 centuries ago to some of the most difficult questions of our time.”
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

8) “Everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma, they end up taking up a hospital bed, it costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early and they got some treatment, and a, a breathalyzer, or inhalator, not a breathalyzer. I haven’t had much sleep in the last 48 hours.”
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

9) “It was interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There’s a lot of, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian, wheeling and dealing.”
A.. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

10) “I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.”
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

Sorry, this was a trick quiz…All of the correct answers are the same person. Each of these quotes are directly from President Barack Obama. And now you know why he brings his teleprompter with him everywhere he goes…even when talking to a 6th grade class.

And some members of the media continue to insist he is, “The smartest man ever elected to the Presidency.” Yeah Right!!!

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Obama administration official says al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden wanted to see President Barack Obama assassinated.

Gee, who would have ever imagined that 31% of Americans or 63 million people (Republicans) would ever have something in common with the most notorious terrorist mastermind of modern history?

The Top 5 Euphemisms for “Breaking Wind”

[Notice how this subject comes right after a reference to Impish then feel free to draw your own conclusions regarding the segue way]

5> Steam-pressing the Calvins
4> Humming the theme from “Mr. Bean”
3> Entering the sphincter chat room
2> Exhuming the dinner corpse

and The Number 1 Euphemism for “Breaking Wind”…

1> Testing in the Levi Wind Tunnel
[ Copyright 2000 by Chris White ] http://www.topfive.com

125,000 Dominoes – Inventions – CDT 2010 (HD/3D)

This breathtaking video has one of the most intricate domino setups you will ever see. With 125,000 dominoes, you’ll be glad you’re not the person who has to clean it up!

 

 

 

Stephen King: Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake!

The iconic writer scolds the superrich (including himself—and Mitt Romney) for not giving back, and warns of a Kingsian apocalyptic scenario if inequality is not addressed in America.

by Stephen King | April 30, 2012 4:45 AM EDT

Chris Christie may be fat, but he ain’t Santa Claus. In fact, he seems unable to decide if he is New Jersey’s governor or its caporegime, and it may be a comment on the coarsening of American discourse that his brash rudeness is often taken for charm. In February, while discussing New Jersey’s newly amended income-tax law, which allows the rich to pay less (proportionally) than the middle class, Christie was asked about Warren Buffett’s observation that he paid less federal income taxes than his personal secretary, and that wasn’t fair. “He should just write a check and shut up,” Christie responded, with his typical verve. “I’m tired of hearing about it. If he wants to give the government more money, he’s got the ability to write a check—go ahead and write it.”

Heard it all before. At a rally in Florida (to support collective bargaining and to express the socialist view that firing teachers with experience was sort of a bad idea), I pointed out that I was paying taxes of roughly 28 percent on my income. My question was, “How come I’m not paying 50?” The governor of New Jersey did not respond to this radical idea, possibly being too busy at the all-you-can-eat cheese buffet at Applebee’s in Jersey City, but plenty of other people of the Christie persuasion did.

Cut a check and shut up, they said.

If you want to pay more, pay more, they said.

Tired of hearing about it, they said.

Tough shit for you guys, because I’m not tired of talking about it. I’ve known rich people, and why not, since I’m one of them? The majority would rather douse their dicks with lighter fluid, strike a match, and dance around singing “Disco Inferno” than pay one more cent in taxes to Uncle Sugar. It’s true that some rich folks put at least some of their tax savings into charitable contributions. My wife and I give away roughly $4 million a year to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (Jaws of Life tools are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organizations that underwrite the arts. Warren Buffett does the same; so does Bill Gates; so does Steven Spielberg; so do the Koch brothers; so did the late Steve Jobs. All fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough.

What charitable 1 percenters can’t do is assume responsibility—America’s national responsibilities: the care of its sick and its poor, the education of its young, the repair of its failing infrastructure, the repayment of its staggering war debts. Charity from the rich can’t fix global warming or lower the price of gasoline by one single red penny. That kind of salvation does not come from Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Ballmer saying, “OK, I’ll write a $2 million bonus check to the IRS.” That annoying responsibility stuff comes from three words that are anathema to the Tea Partiers: United American citizenry.

Photos: Rich People for Higher Taxes

And hey, why don’t we get real about this? Most rich folks paying 28 percent taxes do not give out another 28 percent of their income to charity. Most rich folks like to keep their dough. They don’t strip their bank accounts and investment portfolios. They keep them and then pass them on to their children, their children’s children. And what they do give away is—like the monies my wife and I donate—totally at their own discretion. That’s the rich-guy philosophy in a nutshell: don’t tell us how to use our money; we’ll tell you.

The Koch brothers are right-wing creepazoids, but they’re giving right-wing creepazoids. Here’s an example: 68 million fine American dollars to Deerfield Academy. Which is great for Deerfield Academy. But it won’t do squat for cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where food fish are now showing up with black lesions. It won’t pay for stronger regulations to keep BP (or some other bunch of dipshit oil drillers) from doing it again. It won’t repair the levees surrounding New Orleans. It won’t improve education in Mississippi or Alabama. But what the hell—them li’l crackers ain’t never going to go to Deerfield Academy anyway. Fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke.

Here’s another crock of fresh bullshit delivered by the right wing of the Republican Party (which has become, so far as I can see, the only wing of the Republican Party): the richer rich people get, the more jobs they create. Really? I have a total payroll of about 60 people, most of them working for the two radio stations I own in Bangor, Maine. If I hit the movie jackpot—as I have, from time to time—and own a piece of a film that grosses $200 million, what am I going to do with it? Buy another radio station? I don’t think so, since I’m losing my shirt on the ones I own already. But suppose I did, and hired on an additional dozen folks. Good for them. Whoopee-ding for the rest of the economy.

Tired of hearing about it, they said. Tough shit for you guys, because I’m not tired of talking about it. I’ve known rich people, and why not, since I’m one of them?

At the risk of repeating myself, here’s what rich folks do when they get richer: they invest. A lot of those investments are overseas, thanks to the anti-American business policies of the last four administrations. Don’t think so? Check the tag on that T-shirt or gimme cap you’re wearing. If it says MADE IN AMERICA, I’ll … well, I won’t say I’ll eat your shorts, because some of that stuff is made here, but not much of it. And what does get made here doesn’t get made by America’s small cadre of polluted bloatocrats; it’s made, for the most part, in barely-gittin’-by factories in the Deep South, where the only unions people believe in are those solemnized at the altar of the local church (as long as they’re from different sexes, that is).

The U.S. senators and representatives who refuse even to consider raising taxes on the rich—they squall like scalded babies (usually on Fox News) every time the subject comes up—are not, by and large, superrich themselves, although many are millionaires and all have had the equivalent of Obamacare for years. They simply idolize the rich. Don’t ask me why; I don’t get it either, since most rich people are as boring as old, dead dog shit. The Mitch McConnells and John Boehners and Eric Cantors just can’t seem to help themselves. These guys and their right-wing supporters regard deep pockets like Christy Walton and Sheldon Adelson the way little girls regard Justin Bieber … which is to say, with wide eyes, slack jaws, and the drool of adoration dripping from their chins. I’ve gotten the same reaction myself, even though I’m only “baby rich” compared with some of these guys, who float serenely over the lives of the struggling middle class like blimps made of thousand-dollar bills.

In America, the rich are hallowed. Even Warren Buffett, who has largely been drummed out of the club for his radical ideas about putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to patriotism, made the front pages when he announced that he had stage-1 prostate cancer. Stage 1, for God’s sake! A hundred clinics can fix him up, and he can put the bill on his American Express black card! But the press made it sound like the pope’s balls had just dropped off and shattered! Because it was cancer? No! Because it was Warren Buffett, he of Berkshire-Hathaway!

I guess some of this mad right-wing love comes from the idea that in America, anyone can become a Rich Guy if he just works hard and saves his pennies. Mitt Romney has said, in effect, “I’m rich and I don’t apologize for it.” Nobody wants you to, Mitt. What some of us want—those who aren’t blinded by a lot of bullshit persiflage thrown up to mask the idea that rich folks want to keep their damn money—is for you to acknowledge that you couldn’t have made it in America without America. That you were fortunate enough to be born in a country where upward mobility is possible (a subject upon which Barack Obama can speak with the authority of experience), but where the channels making such upward mobility possible are being increasingly clogged. That it’s not fair to ask the middle class to assume a disproportionate amount of the tax burden. Not fair? It’s un-fucking-American is what it is. I don’t want you to apologize for being rich; I want you to acknowledge that in America, we all should have to pay our fair share. That our civics classes never taught us that being American means that—sorry, kiddies—you’re on your own. That those who have received much must be obligated to pay—not to give, not to “cut a check and shut up,” in Governor Christie’s words, but to pay—in the same proportion. That’s called stepping up and not whining about it. That’s called patriotism, a word the Tea Partiers love to throw around as long as it doesn’t cost their beloved rich folks any money.

This has to happen if America is to remain strong and true to its ideals. It’s a practical necessity and a moral imperative. Last year during the Occupy movement, the conservatives who oppose tax equality saw the first real ripples of discontent. Their response was either Marie Antoinette (“Let them eat cake”) or Ebenezer Scrooge (“Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?”). Short-sighted, gentlemen. Very short-sighted. If this situation isn’t fairly addressed, last year’s protests will just be the beginning. Scrooge changed his tune after the ghosts visited him. Marie Antoinette, on the other hand, lost her head.

Think about it.

Mr. King is quite right on several points but foremost his last one about Tea Partiers and their intense dislike of anything that dips into their pocket. Some of that dislike from where I sit is not unjustified, a great deal of it however certainly is. It is not permissible or conscionable to place the amassing of personal wealth over the REASONABLE needs of the Government. On the flip side Occupiers have a FEW (very few sadly) valid points. Continuation of the low interest student loans and the expansion of the Federal Education Grant System- {FOR THE DESERVING student with a decent academic track record.] Limits on the amounts Corporations can spend on elections, the return to “sound Money”

However the Tea Party and the Occupiers are about as diametrically opposed as you can possibly get (and likely will become a future teaching example of the concept). We here at DL/LL often mention how we take the middle ground, how we are Concintrists, seeing Pros & Cons in most points of the compass and wanting a Government that practices give and take compromise governing rather that partisan politics trench warfare in the aisles of Congress at the expense of the people they we sent there to represent.

This issue of tax reform is a prime example for our point. The is a very simple middle ground salutation to the problem and issue one that gives relief to the middle class while not overly gouging the upper class so they feel they are being penalized for being successful or rich. A compromise that goes a long way to smoothing out & leveling the tax field. Its called overhauling the fantastically overly complex and loophole ridden tax system and switching to a FlatTtax or Fair Tax.

Definition of ‘Flat Tax’

A system that applies the same tax rate to every taxpayer regardless of income bracket. A flat tax applies the same tax rate to all taxpayers, with no deductions or exemptions allowed. Supporters of a flat tax system propose that it would give taxpayers incentive to earn more because they would not be penalized with a higher tax bracket. In addition, supporters argue that a flat tax system is fairer because it imposed the tax on all taxpayers regardless of income.

 Definition fair tax

Proposed amendment to tax laws that seeks to abolish federal and state income taxes and replace it with a federal retail sales tax. This amendment was introduced under the Fair Tax Act of 2003

This is as opposed to;

Definition of ‘Progressive Tax’

A tax that takes a larger percentage from the income of high-income earners than it does from low-income individuals. The United States income tax is considered progressive: in 2010, individuals who earned up to $8,375 fell into the 10% tax bracket, while individuals earning $373,650 or more fell into the 35% tax bracket. Basically, taxpayers are broken down into categories based on taxable income; the more one earns, the more taxes they will have to pay once they cross the benchmark cut-off points between the different tax bracket levels.

Which is what we operate under now.

HOWEVER before I will happily accept a Flat Tax or Fair Tax ,the tax code needs to be overhauled the loopholes closed. What kind of loopholes you ask? Well, for one how about;

Illegal immigrants are filing tax returns and using a loophole to get back mega bucks in refunds.

Everyone who is employed (illegals too) must report income and pay taxes. Undocumented workers don’t have social security numbers so instead, the IRS supplies them with a ITIN which is an individual taxpayer identification number. This number allows them to file a tax return.

Now here comes the loophole. It is called the Additional Child Tax Credit and it is a fully refundable credit of up to $1,000 per child. It’s purpose is to help working families who have children living at home.

Many of these undocumented workers are filing for children that live in Mexico! The more dependents you have, the more money you get back. It’s like winning the lottery every spring. The whistleblower said that refunds of $10,000 are not at all unusual.  [ Don’t worry we’re going to get WAY deeper into this issue next week. That’s the problem with doing this only once a week, too many really good Parting Shot subjects can happen in any given week!]

Then there’s a few other things aside from the tax code that while not part of the code are from a certain point of view connected to the taxes we all pay.

• No tax deductions for non citizens! If you are a US citizen and live in a foreign country you get HAMMERED in taxes. Why are we giving non citizens the same benefits and breaks as citizens?
• Tax Churches! If religious organizations want to interfere in our governance and politics, lobby for laws to suit their religious doctrines which the rest of us regardless of our religious choices will be forced to obey once they become law. They lobby and contribute heavily to political campaigns to get their candidate elected to further their non secular agendas just as if they were large corporations so why not make them subject to the same rules and regulations as corporations. Their definition of separation of church and state  in one of abuse of the concept which gives them an unreasonable advantage and is certainly NOT what the Founding Fathers had in mind for the principle. I say take the gloves off and level the playing field.
• Reset the compensation packages for Congress to what they were originally intended to be- livable stipends for non permanent jobs. The Founding Fathers never intended for Congress to be a long term career for anyone. Congress has helped itself to our pockets and taxes for long enough. Show me any other profession where you can be a bunch of professional screws ups, keep your jobs and while failing to do the job award yourself a raise any time you want one. Raises  should follow a set Cost of Living Adjustment, Any changes to base salaries should be subject a vote by the populace at election time every 2 years.  You serve 2 years in Congress are a total screw up and off and you can retire with 1005 of you pay for life. However you can spend 20 years in the military, see combat be wounded exist under hardship conditions for months at a time and when you get out you’re LUCKY to retire on 505 and the same congress will be busily eroding your benefits package and your medical will be provided in over crowded disgustingly filthy substandard conditions! I say if its good enough for the men & women of our military its good enough for Congress who in a 20 year career undoubtedly had it much better off.
• Enough already with the Foreign Aid to hostile countries and those countries blowing smoke in our face about their harboring terrorists and their training facilities! You take our money, that comes with expectations & obligations. There is no such thing as free lunch of no strings attached money. Stop throwing our tax dollars into a bottomless money pit from which zero positive results are obtained.

<Whiningly> But Lethal! WE have treaties and International agreements where we are required to give the aid we agreed to!

Yeah? Like the other side of most of those agreements are keeping their ends of the bargains? Screw them all. Declare the treaties and International Agreements in abeyance and forget them. We’ll keep or money you keep your diseased squalor and your 3rd world 18th century way of life. Oh yea if you decide to prey on our citizen over it will use our 21st century technology to find you and make an ugly scorch mark out of you your friends, your family, your relatives, your clan/tribe, your village, province &/or ethnic region. Sorry Schmuck, you had your shot at the sugar cube now you get the lead filled stick.

See from where I sit in the middle of things the solution is easy to see. The bigger problem is the whole tax issue is a two sided coin. On one side how to FAIRLY and Reasonably obtain money form everyone and on the other fixing it so that government can do more with less from each of us.

Good Morning Campers!  Today’s issue is going to be…um…the word “strange” comes to mind. 

I know exactly what you’re thinking…you’re thinking: “If Impish says this is going to be a strange issue, in comparison to his normally strange issues, what the hell are we in for?!”

Well, I’ll tell you.  I had pretty much just got this issue started when I was privy to some information that confirmed what we, here at Dragon and Leprechaun Laffs Electronic Media Enterprises, LLP. have been preaching about, pointing out, soap boxing, use whatever synonym you want.  But we’ve been telling you guys this for years.  There’s a damn good reason the United States is still at war and still needs to be on guard against the terrorist horde that want to take our way of life from us.  As we will see throughout today’s issue, those terrorists are not just from the Islamist countries, they are also home grown and some of them even hold political office! 

I know!  Incredible to even consider!

But, let’s go ahead and start today off with a laugh.  I  have a feeling that, by the end of t he issue, we are going to be damn glad that we had a laugh or two to get us through the crap.  Like it says on the mast head:

Hmm, I still think we need a bit more laughter before we are ready to get into the other stuff…

(Click on the article title to be linked to the entire article)

Would you have thought that there were 50?  How many have you heard of?  If you go to the article they enumerate them and you can see exactly what they are talking about.  But, the surprising bit … for me … even with my connections and job was the fact that at least 42 of these could be categorized as “Home-grown Plots”.  Why is it again, Mr. Congressman, that we need NOT dismantle our military? 

Let me tell you about my doctor. He’s very good! If you tell him you want a second opinion, He’ll go out and come in again.
~~~~~
He treated one woman for yellow jaundice for
three years 
Before he realized she was Chinese.
~~~~~
Another time, he gave a patient six months
to live.  At the end of the six months, the patient hadn’t paid his bill, So, the doctor gave him another six months. 
~~~~~
While he was talking to me, his nurse came in and said, “Doctor, there is a man here who thinks he’s invisible.” The doctor said, “Tell him I can’t see him.”
~~~~~
Another time, a man came running in the office and yelled, “ Doctor, doctor! – my son just swallowed a roll of film!” The doctor calmly replied, “Let’s just wait and see what develops.” 
~~~~~
I remember one time I told my doctor I had a ringing in my ears. His advice: 
“Don’t answer it.” 
~~~~~
My doctor sure has his share of nut cases. 
One said to him,“Doctor, I think I’m a bell.” The doctor gave him some pills and said, “Here, take these – 
If they don’t work, give me a ring.”
~~~~~
Another guy told the doctor that he thought
he was a deck of cards. The doctor simply said,
“Go sit over there. I’ll deal with you later.” 
~~~~~
When I told my doctor I broke my leg in two places, He told me to stop going to those places.
~~~~~
You know, doctors can be so frustrating. 
You wait a month and a half for an appointment, 
Then he says, “I wish you had come to me sooner.”

A mysterious image threatening the return to New York of Al Qaeda has appeared on a handful of Arabic websites, prompting the New York police department and federal authorities to investigate.

The chilling graphic, which looks like a poster for an upcoming movie, includes the English-language taunt, “Al Qaeda Coming Soon Again in New York.” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the image appeared in the “artwork and design” section of a murky site used as a forum for terror talk.

“The NYPD Intelligence Division’s cyber unit is investigating the origin and significance of the graphic below which appeared today on few Arabic-language Al Qaeda forums that remain online at the moment,” Browne said.

While city and federal authorities said there is no known threat behind the posting, they are trying to determine who is behind it. An FBI spokesman said the bureau is conducting a probe of its own.

“The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is aware of the posting and investigating its authenticity and origin,” said J. Peter Donald, spokesman for the FBI’s New York Field Office. “The FBI takes all threats seriously and at this time there is no specific or credible threat to New York.”
Anybody think this is just an empty threat?

Take the prospective employees you are trying to place and 
put them in a room with only a table and two chairs. Leave 
them alone for two hours, without any instruction. At the 
end of that time, go back and see what they are doing. 

If they have taken the table apart, put them in Engineering. 

If they are counting the butts in the ashtray, assign them 
to Finance. 

If they are waving their arms and talking out loud, send 
them to Consulting. 

If they are talking to the chairs, Personnel is a good spot 
for them. 

If they are wearing green sunglasses and need a haircut, 
Computer Information Systems is their niche. 

If the room has a sweaty odor, perhaps they’re destined for 
the Help Desk. 

If they mention what a good price we got for the table and 
chairs, put them into Purchasing. 

If they mention that hardwood furniture DOES NOT come from 
rainforests, Public Relations would suit them well. 

If they are sleeping, they are Management material. 

If they are writing up the experience, send them to the 
Technical Documents team. 

If they don’t even look up when you enter the room, assign 
them to Security. 

If they try to tell you it’s not as bad as it looks, send 
them to Marketing. 

Since we seem to be rattling down the road of threats here this morning, here’s another couple of articles you probably didn’t see in your local paper, but were sent to me through different sources.

America’s water and power utilities under daily cyber-attack

America’s water and energy utilities face constant cyber-espionage and denial-of-service attacks against industrial-control systems, according to the team of specialists from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who are called to investigate the worst cyber-related incidents at these utilities. “On a daily basis, the U.S. is being targeted,” said Sanaz Browarny, chief, intelligence and analysis, control systems security program at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as she presented some statistics from fly-away trips taken last year by the ICS emergency response team to utilities, most in the private sector. Out of the 17 fly-away trips taken by the ICS-CERT team to assist in network and forensics analysis, it appeared that seven of the security incidents originated as spear-phishing attacks via e-mail against utility personnel. Browarny said 11 of the 17 incidents were very “sophisticated,” signaling a well-organized “threat actor.” She said DHS believes that in 12 of the 17 cases, if only the compromised utility had been able to practice the most basic type of network security for corporate and industrial control systems, they would likely have detected or fended off the attack. There are three basic types of attacks coming at these utilities today, she said, those being thrill-seeking “garden-variety” hackers that target known vulnerabilities; secondly, the dangerous volley of viruses, worms and botnet attacks; and thirdly, “nation-state actors” that have “unlimited funding available” and conduct espionage as they “establish a covert presence on a sensitive network.”

Full story: http://www.csoonline.com/article/703484/dhs-america-s-water-and-power-utilities-under-daily-cyber-attack?source=CSONLE_nlt_update_2012-04-05

Wow daily attacks?  The article doesn’t go very far into speculating who the attacks are from, but do suggest that they are from a powerful “sophisticated” and “well organized” player.

Al-Qaeda ‘plotting another 9/11’ from Afghanistan

Al-Qaeda fighters have returned to Afghanistan and will use the country as a base to launch September 11-style attacks on Western cities, according to the American ambassador to Kabul. Nato officials believe that up to 100 al-Qaeda fighters have returned to the country, based mainly in the Kunar and Nuristan provinces near the border with Pakistan. Hundreds more are based in Pakistan and could return if circumstances were to change. Mr Crocker, who took up his post in Kabul last year, said al-Qaeda remained a potent threat despite suffering setbacks. ―We have killed all the slow and stupid ones. But that means the ones that are left are totally dedicated,‖ he said. ―We think we’ve won a campaign before our adversaries have even started to fight. They have patience, and they know that we are short on that.‖

Full story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9177408/Al-Qaeda-plotting-another-911-from-Afghanistan.html

By all  means, let’s close some more bases here in the United States and abroad.  Let’s save some money on the military so we can give it to those people who are too damn lazy to get off their asses and work for a living.  People, you have to realize that this shit ain’t over with yet!!!!!!
and then we get these guys who are going to slap us in the face with how much they don’t give a damn whether we know what they are doing or not.  If this next one doesn’t piss you off then you need to pack your bags and get the hell out of our3r country…

Al Qaeda bomb-making expert publishes magazine detailing how to make explosives

Al Qaeda’s many-headed media beast is back at it — a bomb-making expert has published a new e-magazine providing how-to info for would-be terrorists. The first installment to circulate through jihadist online circles is ominously titled Al Qaeda Airlines and features an image of a silhouetted twin-engine airliner climbing into the sunset. The 73-page text was penned by longtime jihadist and explosives guru Abdullah Dhu al-Bajadin, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist Web traffic. The mysterious figure is credited with writing an Internet encyclopedia of terror tradecraft, and once fielded online questions about bomb-making from wanna-be evildoers. The first installment outlines chemistry fundamentals and a recipe for the poisonous anesthetic chloroform.―We chose that because the beginner mujahid can prepare it at home using materials that are available in grocery stores and supermarkets,‖ The Airlines title appeared Saturday on a prominent jihadist forum, which mysteriously went offline along with five others late last month; it reappeared April 4. During the blackouts, another forum featured a graphic depicting the New York skyline with the words ―Al Qaeda coming soon again in New York.‖

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/al-qaeda-bomb-making-expert-publishes-magazine-detailing-explosives-article-1.1058969

The absolute gall and arrogance of this asshole!  He should be hunted down … oh … wait … we are pulling out of the middle east.  We are closing down bases.  We are down-sizing the military.

Does anyone doubt the fact that we need to stay on our guard?  That this battle isn’t even close to being over?

Record-Breaking Rube Goldberg Machine Pops Balloon in 300 Steps

Rube Goldberg machines make accomplishing a simple task — like putting a stamp on an envelope — an over-engineered marathon of moving parts. This year’s Rube Goldberg Machine Contest held at Purdue University featured one of the most complex contraptions yet: The Purdue Society of Professional Engineers created a machine that blew up and popped a balloon in a winding 300 steps, breaking the team’s own Guinness world record for largest Rube Goldberg machine.

Based on the work of famous American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, there’s no shortage of elaborate Rube Goldberg machines. But none are more complex — in terms of total sequenced steps — than the Purdue Society of Professional Engineers’ latest creation. A 14-person team made up of Purdue undergraduates and one graduate student spent some 5,000 hours over six months designing and building the new record-breaking contraption.

 

 

Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake!

I may be schizophrenic,
but at least I have each other.

In Memorium With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed last week. Larry LaPrise, the man who wrote “The Hokey Pokey”,died peacefully at age 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in. And then the trouble started.

 

 

 

I have to ask…what the hell is wrong with our country?  We are going to hell and it sure ain’t in no handbasket!  We’ve got the bullet train to the Abyss running here and it’s out of control!   I mean really!  WHAT THE HELL!!!???

Today is Wednesday, it’s after work and my sensibilities have been thrashed today!  I get sent an article:

MANY BLACKS BEAT WHITE COUPLE, MEDIA BURY ATTACK
or
A beating at Church and Brambleton
(Click on the titles to see the articles)
In a nutshell:
Two reporters from the Pilot, a newspaper in Virginia, were in their car
A large group of black teenagers (the article said about a hundred) were crossing the street in front of their car
One of them threw a stone at the car
The driver, male, got out to confront the rock thrower
The mob beat the crap out of him
The passenger, female, tried to call 911.  Finally got through on the third attempt (all the lines were busy[wtf?])
The mob beat the crap out of her
Cops arrive, do nothing (“that’s what they [the teens] do”)
The Paper (very pro democrat) covers it up for two weeks until called out on it

There’s so much more to this that you have to just read the articles and the comments.  I especially encourage you to read the editor’s comments inserted into the second article.
But my point is, this is becoming more and more prevalent.  A multitude of teenagers, usually brought together by texts or tweets, invade convenience stores, beat people up, whatever.  And even though they get them on tape a lot of the time, they are kids and little more is done than a slap on the wrist and in this case, even the cops are ambivalent towards the situation.
Limited situations?
Doesn’t happen around here?
Here’s another one for you:

Criminal Charges for 13 in Florida A&M Hazing Death
I know, those damn sports teams….no campers!  It was the friggin’ band!!!!Prosecutors said Mr. Champion was beaten, kicked and suffocated by fellow band members during a hazing ritual aboard a bus. Under a tradition known as “Crossing Bus C,” students would walk down the aisle of the bus while classmates punched them. Mr. Champion was found lifeless on the bus and pronounced dead at a hospital.

They were in the band!  And the article goes on to say that members of the school faculty were not only complacent, but participants!  Maybe not in the actual beating and death of this student, but they KNEW what was going on and in some cases ENCOURAGED IT!
How about another couple of quick headlines
Mom Charged With Taking Girl, 5, Into Tanning Booth
Junior Seau commits suicide
1 in 7 people think the world is coming to an end…I don’t doubt it!  The country is going crazy!!!
Do you know what the biggest difference between the destruction of New Orleans from hurricane Katrina and the destruction of Japan from the earthquake and subsequent tidal wave is?
Take a guess.
Can’t figure it out?  Okay, then how about a couple of pictures to help you out…
First Japan:

And Katrina:

And the biggest difference is????
In Japan there was very little, if any, looting, rioting and general stupidity.

We are SUPPOSED to be the mightiest country on earth.  The moral leader.  The country with so much integrity, that we (were) above reproach.

What’s happened to us?

Where has America gone?

Always trust in George to put things in a proper perspective.  ‘Tis a shame he’s gone.  I believe we need his wit and wisdom more now than ever before.

Let get away from the crankiness and contrariness for just a minute and talk about something that might end up being super cool for some of you… Thanks to Lethal for pointing this out in time for all of us to try it out.

Check out the link.  There is a very cool video at the bottom of the page.

Finally, we’ve reached the end.  Didn’t I tell you that it was going to be a wacky ride today?  Lots and lots of things to talk about, to write back to us about.  That’s what the comments section is for, and that’s why you should be reading this blog on line.  If you are only reading this in your email, you are missing out on a huge part of the experience.

So, write to us, comment on us, and I have one additional request.  Call it a homework assignment or whatever you’d like.  I would like for all of you to write to us and let us know what type of things YOU’D like to see in Dragon and Leprechaun Laffs.  Would you like more of a certain thing or less of something else?  No, we aren’t going to stop being political, but if there is a direction or topic you’d like for us to explore, please let us know.

And until Wednesday, when our dear friend and fellow camper Lethal Leprechaun has his say, be safe, be happy and keep laffing!

[Damn that water was cold too!]

 Ok lets settle down shall we before I start cutting the free coffee with decaf! I want to get these remarks over with and get back to my office for a nap. Yesterday was a big day if you’re a legendary Irish creature or keep/honor the old ways. While you know it as May first, we mark it as the Feast of Beltane.

Beltane is a Celtic word which means ‘fires of Bel’ (Bel was a Celtic deity). It is a fire festival that celebrates of the coming of summer and the fertility of the coming year. Beltane is the last of the three spring fertility festivals, the others being Imbolc and Ostara. Beltane is the second principal Celtic festival (the other being Samhain). Celebrated approximately halfway between Vernal (spring) equinox and the midsummer (Summer Solstice). Beltane traditionally marked the arrival if summer in ancient times.

Beltane, and its counterpart Samhain, divide the year into its two primary seasons, winter (Dark Part) and summer (Light Part). As Samhain is about honoring Death, Beltane, its counter part, is about honoring Life. It is the time when the sun is fully released from his bondage of winter and able to rule over summer and life once again.

Beltane, like Samhain, is a time of “no time” when the veils between the two worlds are at their thinnest. No time is when the two worlds intermingle and unite and the magic abounds! It is the time when the Faeries return from their winter respite, carefree and full of faery mischief and faery delight. On the night before Beltane, in times past, folks would place rowan branches at their windows and doors for protection, many otherworldly occurrences could transpire during this time of “no time”. Traditionally on the Isle of Man, the youngest member of the family gathers primroses on the eve before Beltane and throws the flowers at the door of the home for protection. In Ireland it is believed that food left over from May Eve must not be eaten, but rather buried or left as an offering to the faery instead. Much like the tradition of leaving of whatever is not harvested from the fields on Samhain, food on the time of no time is treated with great care.

When the veils are so thin it is an extremely magical time, it is said that the Queen of the Faeries rides out on her white horse. Roving about on Beltane eve She will try to entice people away to the Faeryland. Legend has it that if you sit beneath a tree on Beltane night, you may see the Faery Queen or hear the sound of Her horse’s bells as She rides through the night. Legend says if you hide your face, She will pass you by but if you look at Her, She may choose you.

Celtic festivals often tied in with the needs of the community. In spring time, at the beginning of the farming calendar, everybody would be hoping for a fruitful year for their families and fields.

Beltane is the time of the yearly battle between Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwythur ap Greidawl for Creudylad in Welsh mythology. Gwyn ap Nudd the Wild Huntsman of Wales, he is a God of death and the Annwn. Creudylad is the daughter of Lludd (Nudd) of the Silver Hand (son of Beli). She is the most beautiful maiden of the Island of Mighty. A myth of the battle of winter and summer for the magnificent blossoming earth. Beltane marks that the winter’s journey has passed and summer has begun, it is a festival of rapturous gaiety as it joyfully heralds the arrival of summer in her full garb. Beltane, however, is still a precarious time, the crops are still very young and tender, susceptible to frost and blight.

On Beltane eve the Celts would build two large fires, Bel Fires, lit from the nine sacred woods. The Bel Fire is an invocation to Bel (Sun God) to bring His blessings and protection to the tribe. The herds were ritually driven between two needfires (fein cigin), built on a knoll. The herds were driven through to purify, bring luck and protect them as well as to insure their fertility before they were taken to summer grazing lands. An old Gaelic adage: “Eadar da theine Bhealltuinn” – “Between two Beltane fires”.

The Bel fire is a sacred fire with healing and purifying powers. The fires further celebrate the return of life, fruitfulness to the earth and the burning away of winter. The ashes of the Beltane fires were smudged on faces and scattered in the fields. Household fires would be extinguished and re-lit with fresh fire from the Bel Fires.

Celebration includes frolicking throughout the countryside, maypole dancing, leaping over fires to ensure fertility, circling the fire three times (sun-wise) for good luck in the coming year, athletic tournaments feasting, music, drinking, children collecting the May: gathering flowers. children gathering flowers, hobby horses, May birching and folks go a maying”. Flowers, flower wreaths and garlands are typical decorations for this holiday, as well as ribbons and streamers. Flowers are a crucial symbol of Beltane, they signal the victory of Summer over Winter and the blossoming of sensuality in all of nature and the bounty it will bring.

May birching or May boughing, began on Beltane Eve, it is said that young men fastened garland and boughs on the windows and doors of the young maidens upon which their sweet interest laid. Mountain ash leaves and Hawthorne branches meant indicated love whereas thorn meant disdain. This perhaps, is the forerunner of old May Day custom of hanging bouquets hooked on one’s doorknob?

Young men and women wandered into the woods before daybreak of May Day morning with garlands of flowers and/or branches of trees. They would arrive; most rumpled from joyous encounters, in many areas with the maypole for the Beltane celebrations. Pre-Christian society’s thoughts on human sexuality and fertility were not bound up in guilt and sin, but rather joyous in the less restraint expression of human passions. Life was not an exercise but rather a joyful dance, rich in all beauty it can afford.

In ancient Ireland there was a Sacred Tree named Bile, which was the center of the clan, or Tuatha. As the Irish Tree of Life, the Bile Pole, represents the connection between the people and the three worlds of Bith: The Skyworld (heavens), The Middleworld (our world), and The Otherworld. Although no longer the center life, the Bile pole has survived as the Beltane Maypole.

The Maypole is an important element to Beltane festivities, it is a tall pole decorated with long brightly colored ribbons, leaves, flowers and wreaths. Young maidens and lads each hold the end of a ribbon, and dance revolving around the base of the pole, interweaving the ribbons. The circle of dancers should begin, as far out from the pole as the length of ribbon allows, so the ribbons are taut. There should be an even number of boys & girls. Boys should be facing clockwise and girls counterclockwise. They each move in the direction that they are facing, weaving with the next, around to braid the ribbons over-and-under around the pole. Those passing on the inside will have to duck, those passing on the outside raise their ribbons to slide over. As the dances revolve around the pole the ribbons will weave creating a pattern, it is said that the pattern will indicate the abundance of harvest year.

 

News of the Weird

Face Found On Testicular Tumor Ultrasound

Ghoulish Face Made Doctors Do Double Take

 

People see the strangest things in clouds and burnt toast, but this latest sighting can’t be topped — a face on a testicular tumor.

Canadian doctors at Queen’s University were shocked when they found the image in an ultrasound from December 2009, the Toronto Star reported.

“It was very ghoulish, like a man screaming in pain. His mouth was open and it looked like one eye was gouged out,” said Dr. Naji Touma, a professor at Queen’s University Medical School and urologist at Kingston General Hospital.

The image was sent to the journal Urology and recently published under the tongue-in-cheek headline, “The face of testicular pain: A surprising ultrasound finding.”

Luckily for the patient — a 45-year-old paraplegic man who complained of discomfort. — the 2-inch growth was a benign tumor, the result of an infection, and doctors removed the testicle with no complications.

The case was published in a recent issue of the journal Urology under the title, “The Face of Testicular Pain: A Surprising Ultrasound Finding.”

Touma said it was just the way shadows fell in that particular image that created the “face,” which bears a slight resemblance to Edvard Munch’s famous painting, The Scream.

Although the patient was told about the image, Touma said he wasn’t overly anxious to have a look and instead focused on his overall health.

“I think the patient was just relieved it wasn’t cancer, and once I told him (about the face), he wasn’t particularly interested in the details of the ultrasound,” Touma said.

Now I can’t speak for the rest of you lads but I’ve always harbored a suspicion me McGoogles looked like that immediately after each and every time they suffered accidental forceful contact! I’ve even fancied I could here them boys screaming in pain…just like I was!

 

 

Megaupload Trial May Never Happen, Judge Says

A US judge has put a bomb under the Megaupload case by informing the FBI that a trial in the United States may never happen. The cyberlocker was never formally served with the appropriate paperwork by the US authorities, as it is impossible to serve a foreign company with criminal charges.

The US Government accuses Kim Dotcom and the rest of the “Mega Conspiracy” of running a criminal operation.

Charges in the indictment include engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, conspiring to commit money laundering and two substantive counts of criminal copyright infringement.

While the prosecution is hoping to have Megaupload tried in the US, breaking news suggests that this may never happen.

It turns out that the US judge handling the case has serious doubts whether it will ever go to trial due to a procedural error.

“I frankly don’t know that we are ever going to have a trial in this matter,” Judge O’Grady said as reported by the NZ Herald.

Judge O’Grady informed the FBI that Megaupload was never served with criminal charges, which is a requirement to start the trial. The origin of this problem is not merely a matter of oversight. Megaupload’s lawyer Ira Rothken says that unlike people, companies can’t be served outside US jurisdiction.

“My understanding as to why they haven’t done that is because they can’t. We don’t believe Megaupload can be served in a criminal matter because it is not located within the jurisdiction of the United States,” Rothken says.

Megaupload’s lawyer adds that he doesn’t understand why the US authorities weren’t aware of this problem before. As a result Judge O’Grady noted that Megaupload is “kind of hanging out there.”

If this issue indeed prevents Megaupload from being tried in the US, it would be a blunder of epic proportions. And it is not the first “procedural” mistake either.

Last month the New Zealand High Court declared the order used to seize Dotcom’s property “null and void” after it was discovered that the police had acted under a court order that should have never been granted.

The error dates back to January when the police applied for the order granting them permission to seize Dotcom’s property. Rather than applying for an interim restraining order, the Police Commissioner applied for a foreign restraining order instead.

The exact ramifications of the failure to serve will become apparent in the near future.

Kim Dotcom Lashes Out Against “Corrupt” US Government

The US judge handling the Megaupload case noted today that it may never be tried due to a procedural error, a comment that has sparked the anger of Megaupload’s founder. Kim Dotcom is furious with the US Government for destroying his businesses and rendering hundreds of people unemployed. According to Dotcom the case is the result of “corruption on the highest political level, serving the interests of the copyright extremists in Hollywood.”

While some defendants might respond with relief upon hearing such news, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom is only becoming more furious at the people who destroyed his businesses.

“The US government has terminated Megaupload, Megavideo and 10 other subsidiaries, including a company called N1 Limited that was developing a clothing line,” Dotcom told TorrentFreak.

“They destroyed 220 jobs. Millions of legitimate Mega users have no access to their files.”

If Judge O’Grady is to be believed all this damage could very well have been for nothing because the authorities simply can’t serve foreign companies. This could lead one to wonder whether the whole setup was to simply destroy Mega’s businesses.

This is certainly a theory Dotcom subscribes to, and it’s not the only dirty trick Megaupload’s founder believes the US Government is playing. The US is structurally denying Megaupload the chance to put up a fair fight.

“We are refused access to the evidence that clears us, we are refused funds to pay our lawyers, we are refused to pick the lawyers we want to represent us and have any chance for a fair trial,” Dotcom says.

For Megaupload the worst part is that the damage can’t be undone. The site has been completely destroyed as well as the plans to become a publicly traded company.

“We have already been served a death sentence without trial and even if we are found ‘not guilty’ which we will, the damage can never be repaired,” Dotcom says.

And why?

According to Megaupload’s founder it is quite clear that the Mega investigation was a ‘gift’ to Hollywood, facilitated by corrupt forces.

“This Mega takedown was possible because of corruption on the highest political level, serving the interests of the copyright extremists in Hollywood,” he says. “Mega has become a re-election pawn.”

Nevertheless, Dotcom is confident that these forces will eventually be exposed.

“It is just a matter of time until the truth comes out. We are working on that and we are making good progress,” Dotcom concludes.

Related Posts

US: Megaupload’s Hosting Company Might be Sued Next

At a federal court hearing where several parties hoped to get a clear answer on the fate of Megaupload’s user data, the US Government’s attorney slammed hosting company Carpathia. The US says the hosting provider may be partly responsible for the copyright infringements that occurred through Megaupload and said Carpathia may even become the target of a civil lawsuit.

Megaupload Worked on a Multi-Billion Dollar IPO

Before Megaupload was shutdown the company was preparing to go public and enter the US stock market with a multi-billion dollar IPO. While the US authorities were conducting their criminal investigation, Megaupload had discussions with some of the ‘Big Four’ auditors and several of the world’s largest investments banks. The top of the financial world was looking at a huge potential tech IPO with a billion dollar valuation, but these plans ended abruptly in January.

US Govt. Objects To Megaupload Hiring Top Law Firm

Last week it was revealed that Megaupload had retained the services of Andrew Schapiro, the lawyer who led YouTube to a summary judgment in its copyright trial against Viacom. But now the US government has filed papers objecting to Schapiro’s law firm working on Megaupload’s defense, citing conflicts of interest involving Google, YouTube, Disney, Fox and other movie, TV show and software companies.

Initially a law firm called Sidley Austin LLP had been negotiating on Megaupload’s behalf for the return of such assets and funds held in Hong Kong, New Zealand and Canada. Funds were indeed released from Hong Kong in February (to pay Mega employees) and from New Zealand in March (to pay for Kim Dotcom’s living expenses).

At the end of last month, Sidley Austin LLP and Rothken law firm filed a motion in the US to have more funds released to cover Mega’s legal fees. Later Sidley Austin withdrew and a new law firm called Quinn Emanuel Urguhart & Sullivan took their place.

The addition of the Los Angeles-based company to Megaupload’s legal team was widely considered a great asset for Kim Dotcom and his co-defendants to exploit. Andrew Schapiro, a partner at Quinn Emanuel, had previously represented several technology and media companies including Google and YouTube, leading the latter to a summary judgment in its $1 billion lawsuit against Viacom.

In a new court filing the US government complains that Schapiro’s past record in copyright cases, and that of Quinn Emanuel as a whole, present a series of conflicts of interest. 

Quinn Emanuel just responded to the objections in quite an entertaining rebuttal.

Here’s a quote:

“[I]f the Government is to have its way in this case, the only lawyers before the Court will be those representing the Government. If the Government is to have its way, the only evidence available to the Court would be that cherry-picked by the Government, for the Government, from the universe of relevant servers slated to be wiped. If the Government is to have its way, in sum, Megaupload will never get its day in Court and the case will effectively be over before it has even begun.”

 

It’s NOT the meek who inherit…it’s us Geek who inherit trust me!

 

( I almost said Dragon Side but he cries so easily and for so long)

DWI suspect slams into mobile DWI testing van

A suspected drunken driver slammed into the back of Montgomery County’s Blood Alcohol Testing Mobile, or BAT van, about 2 a.m. Sunday, injuring a sheriff’s deputy and damaging other patrol units.

Montgomery County Police Reporter says in a detailed story on its website that Calli Dretke, 25, of Montgomery, was jailed and charged with intoxicated assault on a peace officer.

The incident began on Research Drive with a deputy transporting a prisoner in a patrol car. The prisoner attempted to kick out a window and the deputy called for assistance. The BAT unit was the first to arrive, Police Reporter says, then another patrol unit arrived at the scene, with their emergency lights on at the side of the road.

That’s when, officers say, Dretke slammed into the rear of the BAT Van, and then struck the other patrol cars. One deputy was able to jump on top of his car, Police Reporter says, but another was hit and suffered a broken leg.

Here’s another case of Epic Level Stupidity-

And finally a term to describe it:

Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

The true fact of the matter you Deluded Democrats, Liberal Loons & Occupy Obliviots is : 

Unless you count the brain rattling – eyeball caging – whiplash inducing smack in the back of the head I personally feel you are all entitled to.

You know, if Obama is referring to you Deluded Democrats, Liberal Loons & Occupy Obliviots, he just might be right about that too. As for the rest of us….

Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us. Well we have NO intention of being shamed like that!

 
Are all you Deluded Democrats, Liberal Loons & Occupy Obliviots* getting our message yet? No you STILL don’t understand what we’re saying? Try this then:

*‘Obliviot’ is a contraction (made up by me) of Oblivious Idiots

 

and if that STILL is not clear enough then let me get fist on your face blunt about it for you:  http://youtu.be/q_qgVn-Op7Q?t=1m14s  <<-CLICK IT! Or can’t you Deluded Democrats, Liberal Loons & Occupy Obliviots handle being woke up told what time it is and being handed a big steaming cup of STFU COMMIES- This Is The REAL TRUTH?

 

 

OH HELLS NO YOU CANNOT HAVE ANY IMPISH!

As for the rest of you…What? Did you REALLY think we modern Leprechauns went to ALL that length to protect literal pots of gold located at the Skittles making rainbows when its much safer and easier to use digital funds now a days? We can always lie, cheat, steal and con dragons out of more money but treasures like this are rare indeed!

5 celebs you thought were dead but aren’t

Enduring stars show that age is only a number

Author: Doug Frattallone, Staff writer Published On: Jun 15 2011 09:44:00 AM CDT Updated On: Apr 24 2012 01:00:00 AM CDT

Mark Twain once quipped that reports of his death had been greatly exaggerated. Abe Vigoda, for one, can relate to that sentiment.

The former “Barney Miller” star (not to mention “The Godfather”) has shown good humor in turning premature reports of his death into a running gag over the years.

Take, for instance, the 2010 Snickers ad starring Vigoda and Betty White. In the ad, a hungry pickup football player is portrayed by the former “Golden Girls” actress because he was “playing like Betty White.” The sight of the ageless White being driven to the turf left many a viewer howling in laughter.

The kicker was at the very end, however, when Vigoda got into the bit.

During the commercial’s Super Bowl XLIV debut, one refrain was heard in living rooms across America. Say it with us now: “I didn’t know he was still alive!”

With that phrase in mind, lets take a quick look at five celebrities who, like Vigoda, we simply didn’t realize were still with us.

Phyllis Diller is still alive?

That may seem unbelievable, especially since Diller seemed to be old and cranky when she was a TV staple in the ’60s and ’70s.

But that was her schtick, playing the harried housewife with a loser husband, ungrateful kids and always too much laundry to iron.

But what has she done for us lately?

How about playing an old flame of Denny’s (William Shatner) in a 2007 episode of “Boston Legal”? They apparently had a romantic moment in a foxhole during World War II. Captain Kirk and Phyllis? Beam me to another planet.

Diller is also the current voice of Peter Griffin’s mother, Thelma, on “Family Guy.” Thelma is known for chain smoking and gambling, and even had a short June-December relationship with TV anchor Tom Tucker. Sounds like primo voice work, if you can get it. Diller did.

Phyllis Ada Driver. She was born on July 17, 1917, in Lima, Ohio, and she’s still with us. Right now she’s 94 years old, living in Brentwood, Calif.

Jack Klugman is still alive.

Some of you may know him as Quincy, M.E. (a late-’70s TV series ahead of its time considering all the CSI’s and clones on the airwaves these days), but Mr. Klugman most-famously played the lovable Oscar Madison in the TV sitcom “The Odd Couple.”

Tony Randall (who is not with us), played his neat-freak foil, Felix Unger. Both were perfect for their parts, made famous in the movies by Jack Lemmon (Felix) and Walter Matthau (Oscar).

While some may argue Klugman didn’t have the acting chops of Matthau, he did play the convincing slob/sportswriter. When they showed shots of his sandwich-under-the-pillow-laundry-everywhere bedroom, you always wondered how many people said to themselves, “He lives like me.”

In the ’80s, Klugman was diagnosed with throat cancer, which left his great voice harsh and raspy. Oscar loved his cigarettes and cigars. Quincy would have told him to quit smoking.

Jack Klugman. He was born on April 27, 1922, in Philadelphia, and he’s still with us. Right now he’s 89 years old.

Al Molinaro is still with us.

Who is Al Molinaro? Didn’t you ever watch “Happy Days”? Al owned Arnold’s Drive-In, where Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard), Potsie Weber (Anson Williams), Arthur Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) and the gang hung out.

OK, Mr. Molinaro wasn’t the first Al to push milkshakes in the series. Can you guess the first? Tick. Tick. Tick.

OK, time’s up. It was Pat Morita — Mr. Miyagi from “The Karate Kid” movies — who’s no longer with us. Morita returned to the series after Molinaro bowed out.

After “Happy Days,” Molinaro teamed up with Williams to open a string of Big Al’s diners. Look close, and you can even spot him in the 1994 “Buddy Holly” video by Weezer.

He’s now retired from acting, settling down in Glendale, Calif., where he lives today with his wife, Sidney.

Albert Francis Molinaro. He was born on June 24, 1919, in Kenosha, Wis., making him 92 years old.

Some believe Kirk Douglas will never die. Yep, the father of popular film actor Michael Douglas, is still with us.

He of extremely dimpled chin is in his 90s now, and is the current title holder of Oldest Celebrity Blogger!

You can catch his latest thoughts on his MySpace account. Although wouldn’t it be great if Spartacus tweeted?

In addition to logging the blogs, Douglas has spent some time on the stage recently. In 2009, he starred in a one-man autobiographical show in Culver City, Calif., a four-performance stint that was turned into a 2010 documentary.

No word if he was in his gladiator garb, however. But if someone could pull off that look at his age, it would be Kirk Douglas.

Kirk Douglas (birth name Issur Daneilovitch) was born on Dec. 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, N.Y. He’s 95 years old, and could probably still kick your butt.

Dawn Wells charmed the world by playing Mary Ann in the ’60s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” whipping up coconut cream pie after coconut cream pie.

She was Betty to Ginger’s (Tina Louise) Veronica on that show. To this day, grown men ponder who they would rather be stuck with on a desert island for eternity: Mary Ann or Ginger.

Sure, Ginger had the goods — but Mary Ann wasn’t exactly a warthog, and most important — she could cook! There. Settled that debate.

Besides, Wells was a real-life beauty queen. In 1960 she was Miss Nevada in the Miss America pageant.

Of the “Gilligan’s Island” crew, only Wells, Louise and Russell Johnson (The Professor) are still here. Bob Denver (Gilligan), Alan Hale (The Skipper), Natalie Schafer (Lovie Howell) and Jim Backus (Mr. Howell) have all sailed to the other side.

Dawn Elberta Wells. She was born Oct. 18, 1938, in Reno, Nev. That makes her 73 years old, but no matter how old she gets — she’ll always be everyone’s true island girl.

That one was for all the guys in the house!

 

Out of fear of retaliation- equal time for the ladies

Quote of the day . . .
“Apparently, I’m supposed to be more outraged by what Mitt Romney does with his money than by what Barack Obama does with mine.”

 

“You can call us rednecks if you want-we’re not offended, because we know what we’re all about. We get up and go to work, we get up and go to church, and we get up and go to war when necessary.”  — Jeff Foxworthy

 

Signs You Might Be a Liberal

You might be a liberal if . . .

1. You think Ted Koppel’s Hair is real!

You might be a liberal if . . .

2. You like to give to charities – with other people’s money.

You might be a liberal if . . .

3. You think free love is sheik and still wonder why your third marriage just went down the toilet.

You might be a liberal if . . .

4. Whenever an intern disappears in Washington, you say it’s all about sex.

You might be a liberal if . . .

5. Your father wore flowers and your mother wore army boots in the sixties.

You might be a liberal if . . .

6. You think Al Gore won the election in 2000.

You might be a liberal if . . .

7. You fondly recall Stalin as “Uncle Joe”.

You might be a liberal if . . .

8. You think the second amendment is the right to keep and bear a white flag.

You might be a liberal if . . .

9. Whenever you hear Rush Limbaugh’s name mentioned you foam at the mouth and your knee jerks.

You might be a liberal if . . .

10. When hooligans throw rocks at police, you call it civil disobedience, when Republicans protest a fixed election you call it a riot.

You might be a liberal if . . .

11. If you nod your head and genuflect when Ted Kennedy speaks (or belches) then you might be a liberal.

You might be a liberal if . . .

12. If you went to prep school, got your bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate; you teach in a university, and still imagine that you know all about the real world, then you might be a liberal.

You might be a liberal if . . .

13. If you think evangelical is a dirty word you might be a liberal.

You might be a liberal if . . .

14. If you make sure to invite a lone conservative to your chic (not sheik) party because you want to show people how open-minded you are then you might be a liberal.

You might be a liberal if . . .

15. If you think alcoholics are disabled and deserve Social Security (or should be elected to be the senior senator from Massachusetts) then you might be a liberal.

You might be a liberal if . . .

16. If you eat granola bars for breakfast, salad greens for lunch, quiche for supper and then wake up hungry in the middle of the night and eat a whole quart of ice cream…and still think you are eating healthy, then you might be a liberal.

You might be a liberal if . . .

17. If you think rats, mice and houseflies are people, too, then you might be a liberal.

You might be a liberal if . . .

18. If you buried your dead goldfish in the compost bin because you thought it would be good for the environment then you might be a liberal.

You might be a liberal if . . .

19. If you think the government can solve your personal problems then you might be a liberal.

You might be a liberal if . . .

20. And our favorite: You might be a liberal if your FIVE-YEAR-OLD tells YOU what to do!

You might be a liberal if . . .

21. “You might be a liberal if you give money to the homeless man on the corner of the freeway, but you turn up your nose every time you see a boy scout.”

Look for more signs of potential liberalism next week we’ll be doing this weekly for a while, much to the discomfort and objections of the liberals I’d imagine!

 

[And I mean aside from don’t let a dragon fetch the mail when he hears the truck pull up]

Last week I ran a bit of Tech Advice under our Public Service Banner because I was not quite sure how I felt about the service being offered. While I was shying away from personally recommending it I felt that my personal security & privacy views might be coloring  my view of the service. So I put it up, said my piece and told you to judge for yourselves.

Thursday I got an e-mail from reader Garth, in which  he said in part:

This is one of them sites Ziinga Customer Auction

http://www.ziinga.com/au I have lost $300.00 and they still owe me a nokia phone which I paid for as well. There should be a list or a warning about this kind of site. Pure fraud have a gander for yourself.

Well I did try to have a look see for myself, thing was I didn’t get too far with the looking part. The minute the site came up one of my previously recommended to you security plug ins automatically activated blocking me from this potentially dangerous site and warning me of potential danger.

So I wrote back to Garth: 

Garth Garth Garth <shaking head sadly> Sigh!

Had you only listened to my earlier Tech Talk advice and installed the ‘Web of Trust’ plug in for your browser you might have avoided all this. The second I followed your link, WoT blocked my access with a warning that the page was untrustworthy asking if I really wanted to continue on.

In case you’ve reconsidered following my expert advice now you can find Web of Trust here: https://www.mywot.com/

it covers pretty much all the major browsers, auto detects which browser you are using and installs it self painlessly. It works silently in the back round is unobtrusive and only asserts it self when you go to unsafe sites. Other than that all you ever see are ‘warning lights” next to your search results advising the safety of the pages that have been returned by your search engine of choice.

Lastly if you have no objection may I use this as a reader’s response pointing to why you ignore my sage words of Tech advice (especially when it comes to internet security) at your own peril?

Well being sadder & wiser now- to say nothing of $300 poorer, Garth took my advice the second time around to heart. To wit he replied:

Yes I have put WOT on my computer and YES you may use my letter and thank you for all your help I feel safer now.

Your certainly welcome Garth. Glad I could be of (unfortunately too late) service & thanks for allowing me to illustrate my point with your unfortunate tale of woe.

My point is had Garth but listened the first time when I posted the Web of Trust info and heeded my warning that there exist many other nasties on the web besides malware and viruses looking to do you evil and harm he could have saved himself $300 with which he could have bought some Dragon &/or Leprechaun coffee mugs at our store! Now I’m not talking badly of Garth- I’m sure that 95% of the rest of you ignored my advice too!

I rarely strongly recommend a particular program in Leprechaun Talks Tech. I do not want anything coming back at me if it doesn’t work with what ever other defenses you may or may not have or having someone counting on what I recommend to protect them and thinking they can just abandon safe surfing practices because they downloaded some bit of software, expecting it to absolve them of thinking for themselves. ( <said in a Jeff Foxworthy voice> If that is indeed the case then you might be a liberal)

I have a professional reputation in the Cyber Security Industry to protect and which I count on to keep a roof over my head and food in the cats’  dishes. So when I DO actually come out and post a program, recommend it and strongly suggest you use it, ignore me at your own peril!

Oh! One more thing- DO NOT come looking for free help (Garth did NOT do this) to fix your computer afterwards when you get into trouble. You’ll just get me laughing, snorting hot coffee out my nose (I really hate it when that happens) and telling you I told you so.

Guaranteed to cure that Semi of hanging on your bumper or that idiot beside you of his road rage. Also good for those bimbettes who put makeup on while driving 45 and weave all over and the little old lady doing 30 in the passing lane giving you the bird.

 

NEVER, NEVER, “EVER” Let The Groom Order “The Wedding Cake”

Mon Apr 23 14:44:01 PDT 2012

Austin police: Man beaten to death with guitar

Police have made an arrest in Austin’s ninth homicide of the year. Police say a man was beaten to death with a guitar. view full article

A man in Austin has been arrested, accused of beating his neighbor to death with an electric guitar.

KVUE-TV reports that Austin police responded to an apartment in southeast Austin Sunday morning and found Maurice Leray Eckert, 64, dead.

Peter Andrew Levay, 42, is in jail charged in Eckert’s death.

“The death was believed to be caused by blunt trauma to the head,” said Austin Police Department Detective Brett Bailey.

Levay’s roommate, Lavern Fisher, told KVUE that police found the victim’s bloody clothes in Levay’s closet along with a wallet in the downstairs apartment.

Word has it that the alleged assailants new street name is “El Kabong” and that he has taken to referring to his cellmate as “Bubbalouie”.

 

Well finally (aside from you folks that is) it looks like we might be getting an ally in the state’s rights to protect themselves against illegal immigration and the Federal Do Nothing About Your Problem Because We’re In Charge if Ignoring It Government.  The Supreme Court appears set to rule on the most controversial portion of Arizona’s immigration law- the mediate that Arizona Law Enforcement check the immigration status of people they suspect are in the country illegally. As you can judge from my opening line and tone the ruling is expected to be in Arizona’s favor. The Supreme Court suggested Wednesday it does not agree with the Obama administration’s argument that Arizona exceeded its authority when it made a records check part of a state law aimed at driving illegal immigrants out of the state.

US Supreme Court Reviews Arizona Immigration Law

Published: Thursday, April 26, 2012 By The Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — The United States could see an official about-face in the coming months in how it confronts illegal immigration if the Supreme Court follows through on its suggestion that it would let local police enforce the most controversial part of Arizona’s immigration law.

[I got a good chuckle out the the pony tail saying  he didn’t want local and federal law enforcement co-operating to stop a serious crime. That makes about as much sense Clyde Barrow saying he didn’t want the local cops bringing in the State Police or the Feds when he robbed a bank because it was local money he was taking.  Immigration is like paying taxes? Illegal aliens pay none but use up a disproportional amount of them obtaining the  free “Human Services” that attracted them in the first place! Legal immigrants are required to pay taxes and by & large use fewer of the “Human Services” or at least make tax contributions towards them. Also we DO have a mechanism for checking to see if you paid your Taxes, its called the IRS and if you think they don’t notice the little guy when he doesn’t pay them just try it for a year]

Over the last several years, states frustrated with America’s porous borders, have rejected the long held notion that Washington is responsible for confronting illegal immigration and have passed a flurry of laws to let local police confront illegal immigration. The Supreme Court is poised in the coming months to let the states know whether they haven’t crossed the line.
The justices strongly suggested Wednesday that they are ready to let Arizona enforce the most controversial part of its law, a requirement that police officers check the immigration status of people they suspect are in the country illegally. Such a ruling could codify the type of local enforcement that some local authorities in Arizona have carried out over the last six years and open the door to such enforcement in states with similar laws, such as Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah.

“I think you’ll see more involvement by local police in immigration enforcement, an involvement that hadn’t previously been seen,” Kevin Johnson, law school dean at the University of California-Davis and an expert in immigration law, said of the possibility of Arizona’s law being upheld.

The most controversial parts of the Arizona law were put on hold by a federal judge shortly before they were to take effect in late July 2010, but the statute has encouraged other states to take up similar legislation and — combined with other state immigration laws and an ailing economy — played a part in 170,000 illegal immigrants leaving Arizona since 2007.

“If you want to turn around this invasion, then (you should) do attrition through enforcement,” said former state Sen. Russell Pearce, architect of the 2010 law and the driving force behind other Arizona immigration laws, echoing the stated purpose of the 2010 state law.

Arizona has argued it pays a disproportionate price for illegal immigration because of its 370-mile border with Mexico and its role as the busiest illegal entry point into the country.

The Obama administration, which challenged the law, said the law conflicts with a more nuanced federal immigration policy that seeks to balance national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, human rights and the rights of law-abiding citizens and immigrants. Civil rights groups that back the administration say Arizona’s and the other states’ measures encourage racial profiling and ethnic stereotyping.

A decision in the case is expected in late June.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, whose office has helped defend the law, predicted the Supreme Court will uphold the law because many of its provision mirror existing federal laws and that a year from now the state will see even less illegal immigration. “You won’t see anything that noticeable as far as law enforcement goes,” Horne said. “But you will see less people sneaking across the border.”

The Supreme Court’s comments on the most controversial requirement in Arizona’s law surprised state officials who had supported the law and had thus far lost all major court battles over the law. “I think we’ll win. It’s just how big we win,” Pearce said.

Immigrant rights advocates, who believed the courts would reject attempts by states to grab more law enforcement power, also were surprised and said a validation of the law by the Supreme Court would frighten immigrants further and cause Latinos who are here legally to be asked about their immigration status.

“The crisis here in Arizona would only multiply,” said Carlos Garcia, organizer of an immigration march that drew several hundred people in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday. Authorities said at least nine people were arrested for blocking a street and refusing to move. “It would mean that anyone, as they are leaving their home — whether they are going to work, to church, where ever they are going — could be asked for their documents.”

During arguments Wednesday over the Arizona law, liberal and conservative justices reacted skeptically to the Obama administration’s argument that the state exceeded its authority when it made the records check, and another provision allowing suspected illegal immigrants to be arrested without a warrant, part of the Arizona law aimed at driving illegal immigrants elsewhere.

It was unclear what the court would do with other aspects of the law that have been put on hold by lower federal courts. The other blocked provisions make it a state crime for immigrants not to have immigration registration papers and for illegal immigrants to seek work or hold a job.

Peter Spiro, a Tempe University law professor who specializes in immigration law, predicted the court would uphold the police check of immigration status in Arizona’s law, but said he wouldn’t be surprised if the court threw out a provision making it a crime to be without immigration documents.

Such a ruling would let police question people about their immigration status if they have good reason to do so, but police would have to call federal authorities to see if they would want to pick up anyone found to be in the country illegally. If federal agents decline, officers would have to release the people, unless they were suspected of committing crimes, Spiro said.
If that happened, the law would be mostly symbolic, but would still carry some significance for immigrants, Spiro said.

“It would make it clear that Arizona is unfriendly to undocumented aliens,” Spiro said.

It’s NOT just Arizona that should be unfriendly towards “undocumented aliens” OH HELL! Lets call them what they are and stop pussy footing around the issue in a politically correct touchy feely don’t hurt these economy draining criminals feelings with the Obama bullshit coated euphemisms shall we? Obama’s best hope for reelection voter base.

I MEAN…. (please excuse that outburst- written and graphical of Democrat B.S caused Tourettes) They are ILLEGAL ALIENS WHO HAVE DELIBERATELY AND PREMEDITATEDLY (OFT YOU CAN TOSS IN REPEATEDLY TOO) BROKEN OUR LAWS BY ENTERING THE U.S. ILLEGIALLY AND AT PLACES OTHER THAN PROSCRIBED BORDER CHECK POINTS!

EVERY STATE should be unfriendly to them! The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should be unfriendly to them! The laws already on the books should be upheld and enforced! Help from the local level (because the federal government has stated it lacks the manpower to enforce the immigration laws) SHOULD BE WELCOMED WITH OPEN BIG BROTHER ARMS.

Unless of course you’re a Liberal Socialist in power wanting to get re-elected and knowing the A.C.O.R.N. stunt of 4 years ago isn’t going to work this time around.

If you love us, we thank you and would love to hear your comments. If you don’t, well all I can say from the very depths of my soul as you (hopefully) limp painfully away you Socialist Liberal Illegal Alien Muslim lover is:

Good Morning Campers!
I have to share something with you…this super classy, believable, movie.  Great scenes, fantastic dialog, in-depth characters. It was absolutely amazing!  What m0vie am I talking about?

Half comic book, which is good I guess since the original WAS a comic book…

and half movie…there were an amazing number of “names” in the movie.  Lori Petty, Ice-T, Naomi Watts, Don Harvey, Malcolm McDowell, Ann Cusack, Iggy Pop, James Hong, just to name a few.  Okay, so my tongue is firmly planted in cheek on this one.  (If you can’t already tell) but it was a REALLY slow afternoon on Thursday.  Really an odd movie.  If you get a chance, and you are inebriated or otherwise chemically enhanced, you will probably really enjoy it.
Okay, so here’s just a little taste and we’ll move on to other things!

Yup, senseless, useless and a complete and total waste of time!  I give it 4 thumbs up!!!

Okay, how about we get on with the REAL Laffs?

How to make a TON of money!!!!

Top Ten Reasons Why Men Prefer Guns Over Women

And here we go…

#10 – You can trade an old 44 for a new 22.

#9 – You can keep one gun at home and have another for when you’re on the road.

#8 – If you admire a friend’s gun and tell him so, he will probably let you try it out a few times.

#7 – Your primary gun doesn’t mind if you keep another gun for a backup.

#6 – Your gun will stay with you even if you run out of ammo.

#5 – A gun doesn’t take up a lot of closet space.

#4 – Guns function normally every day of the month.

#3 – A gun doesn’t ask , “Do these new grips make me look fat?”

#2 – A gun doesn’t mind if you go to sleep after you use it.

And the Number One reason
Why Men Prefer Guns over women…..

Biggest Lie Ever Told…

Now THIS is the kind of parking sign that I like to see….

“Have a good day, sir,” replied the trooper.

Doris and Fred had started their retirement years and decided to raise some extra cash by advertising for a lodger in their terrace house.

After a few days, a young attractive woman applied for the room and explained that she was a model working in a near-by city center studio for a few weeks and that she would like the room from Mondays to Thursdays, but would pay for the whole week.

Doris showed her the house and they agreed to start straight away. “There’s just one problem,” explained the model. “Because of my job, I have to have a bath every night, and I notice you don’t have a bath.”

“That’s not a problem,” replied Doris. “We have a tin bath out in the yard and we bring it into the living room in front of the fire and fill it with hot water.”

“What about your husband? asked the model.

“Oh, he plays darts most weekdays, so he will be out in the evenings,” replied Doris.

“Good,” said the model. “Now that that’s been settled, I’ll go to the studio and see you tonight.”

That evening, Fred dutifully went to his darts match while Doris prepared the bath for the model.

After stripping off, the model stepped into the bath. Doris was amazed to see that she had no pubic hair.

The model noticed Doris’ staring eyes, so she smiled and explained that it is part of her job to shave herself, especially when modeling swimmer or underclothes.

Later when Fred returned, Doris related this oddity and he does not believe her.

“It’s true, I tell you!” said Doris.

“Look, if you don’t believe me, tomorrow night I’ll leave the curtains slightly open and you can peek in and see for yourself.”

The next night, Fred left as usual and Doris prepared the bath for the model.

As the model stepped naked into the bath, Doris stood behind her.

Doris looked towards the curtains and pointed towards the model’s naked pubic area.

Then she lifted up her skirt and wearing no panties, pointed to her own hairy mass.

Later Fred returned and they retired to bed.

“Well, do you believe me now?” she asked Fred.

“Yes, he replied. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

But why did you lift up your skirt and show yourself?”

“Just to show you the difference,” answered Doris. “But I guess you’ve seen me millions of times.”

“Yes, said Fred, I have, but the rest of the dart team hadn’t.”

Well, Leprechaun and I spoke extensively last night on what would constitute a good Last Word.   We both agreed that a good Last Word, or in his case, the Parting Shot, would be one that would garner some sort of comments in the comment section.  We also agreed, that for the most part, the political stuff got the most comments, but most of that was derogatory.  So, what does constitute a good ending?  We talked about this stream of an ant colony… 

http://www.ustream.tv/embed/10986567

Stream videos at Ustream

If it works, that is…

He also brought my attention to a guy who had been killed in a fight by having his testicles squeezed http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/26/woman-squeezed-mans-testicles-kills-parking-china_n_1457487.html?ref=mostpopular
and as a male dragon, the thought of that is quite disturbing. 

another one was of a UFO captured in a picture by NASA.  Real object?  Anomaly? Who knows?  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/26/ufo-near-the-sun-or-a-camera-glitch_n_1456380.html?ref=mostpopular 

Or how about the Octomom spending all that welfare money on silly stuff?  http://thestir.cafemom.com/entertainment/136712/octomom_is_using_her_welfare?utm_source=cafemom&utm_medium=cmi&utm_content=sendtofriend&utm_campaign=General&email_id=716298305

What about you guys?  What would you like to see?  What kind of stuff do you feel incited enough to make comments on?  We can be controversial.  I think we’ve proven that time and time again.  We can also do cute and cuddly, although NO ONE has EVER commented on that part of us.  So, pissed off and political it is.  So, in that vein, how about the bullshit going on right now between the Republicans and the Democrats and the student loan percentage rate and paying for it out of a slush fund in the medical arena. 

Neither one of you dumb-asses wanted the others toys until they started playing with them.  The President was going to cut the slush fund himself until the Republicans got on the band wagon and the Republicans were going to close a tax loop hole themselves until the Democrats got interested.  This is total bullshit to create a problem that shouldn’t exist in the first place.  Just like I tell my kids, if you can’t play nice with the neighbor kids, then each of you get your butts back to your own yards and play by yourself.  See how much fun that is!

Okay, so maybe the analogy doesn’t really work well, but you get my point.  I say, get rid of all of them and hire some damn politicians that agree to act like adults!

Okay, I’m done. 

What’s your opinion?  Write to us and let us know!

Well if nothing else 3 straight issues in 7 days has allowed me to put a decent dent in my backlog of Parting Shot worthy subjects! Of course you’re probably getting as tired of seeing & reading me as I am of devoting all my spare time to working on DL/LL issues. Sure will be nice when the Dragon steps back into the harness won’t it?

 

 

A 50-something year old Muslim man arrived at his seat on a crowded flight and immediately didn’t want the seat. The seat was next to an elderly white woman reading her Bible.

Disgusted, the Muslim man immediately summoned the flight attendant and demanded a new seat. The man said “I cannot sit here next to this infidel.” The flight attendant said “Let me see if I can find another seat.”

After checking, the flight attendant returned and stated “There are no more seats in economy, but I will check with the captain and see if there is something in first class.”

About 10 minutes went by and the flight attendant returned and stated “The captain has confirmed that there are no more seats in economy, but there is one in first class. It is our company policy to never move a person from economy to first class, but being that it would be some sort of scandal to force a person to sit next to an UNPLEASANT person, the captain agreed to make the switch to first class.”

Before the irate Muslim man could say anything, the attendant gestured to the elderly woman and said, “Therefore, ma’am, if you would so kindly retrieve your personal items, we would like to move you to the comfort of first class as the captain doesn’t want you to sit next to an unpleasant person.”

Passengers in the seats nearby began to applaud while some gave a standing ovation.

I say, can I get a Damned Skippy to that!

Feel free to pass this one to others!

 

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this service as yet. While I agree it is a potentially useful tool I am a bit leery and concerned about providing a company with an unproven track record the ID and password to my credit card accounts. Before I made a decision I would have to discuss this with my credit card company(s). However seeing as I have only one and they already offer me this service for me personally its a moot point. Some of you however may wish to consider the service after asking your credit card company about your potential exposure risks.

BillGuard: Helps Alert You To Questionable Credit Card Charges

April 16, 2012 By George Gombossy  http://ctwatchdog.com/finance/billguard-helps-alert-you-to-questionable-credit-card-charges

This excellent program will not re-leave you of your responsibility to check your credit card statement for errors or false charges, but www.BillGuard.com is a useful tool to alert you of possible issues.

It is fairly straight forward, you sign up on the site and provide the company with your ID and password to view your credit card account bills. The company says no one from there can charge anything from that information, it is basically the same information you provide to Mint.com to keep track of your finances.

The program then checks your bills against known scams and alerts you.

Last month I tried it out with my American Express bill and it got a clean bill of health.

BillGuard’s co-founder, Yaron Samid, told the New York Times “that the company estimated that the average American consumer lost $300 a year in unnecessary charges. Such charges are often “unwanted” or nuisance charges, like subscriptions people didn’t realize they had signed up for or charges for services they mistakenly thought were free. But “unauthorized” charges may also show up, resulting from misleading marketing or outright fraud.”

“One way BillGuard does this is by scouring the Internet for complaints, looking at sites like the Better Business Bureau, various complaint boards and, of course Twitter. “There is an unbelievable amount of people complaining constantly on Twitter,” he said. Data gleaned from that search, plus feedback provided by its own registered members, helps BillGuard come up with a “reliability rating” for each merchant. When you do business with that merchant, it notifies you — via e-mail — that you may want to scrutinize that particular charge.”

My plan exactly for burying Impish’s cremains, but I plan on using structurally reinforced nuclear containment vessel grade concrete. I’m not taking any chances of him returning for some Dragon version of the Zombie Apocalypse. He spends most of his time shuffling around aimlessly moaning for pie now, I don’t need him moaning “brain pie!” as he shuffles around. Beside the only SURE way to kill a zombie is to blow its brains out, got ANY idea how small a target that is on a Dragon, let alone on Impish?

 

A Few Thoughts The Ground Zero Mosque Debate

Yes I KNOW this one is somewhat of a moldy oldie and behind the times current events wise. What can I say so is the friend that sent it to me! The thing is this is by far the BEST treatment of this subject I have seen so far (and I have seen about 20 of them) and IMO that made it worth posting. Hope you agree.

 

I am truly perplexed that so many people are against a mosque being built at Ground Zero. I think it should be the goal of every American to be tolerant. Thus the Mosque should be allowed, in an effort to promote tolerance.

That is why I also propose that two nightclubs be opened next door to the mosque, thereby promoting tolerance from within the mosque. We could call one of the clubs, “The Turban Cowboy”, which would be gay, and the other a topless bar called “You Mecca Me Hot.”

Next door should be a butcher shop that specializes in pork, and adjacent to that an open-pit barbecue pork restaurant, called ” Iraq o’ Ribs.”

Across the street there could be a lingerie store called “Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret,” with sexy mannequins with short burkas in the window modeling the goods.

Next door to the lingerie shop, a liquor store called “Morehammered.”

All of this would encourage the Muslims to demonstrate the tolerance they demand of us, so the mosque problem would be solved.

If you agree with promoting tolerance, and you think this is a good plan, please pass it on. for the sake of tolerance.

 

That’s why I don’t complain about the number of naps Impish takes anymore!

Damn It! That happens EVERY time I let Impish get the mail! 

Responses to Leprechaun Laughs #137 for 04/18/2012

1. Tom says:

   April 18, 2012 at 06:20

   If picture ID for voting is wrong, then why did I have to show my Illinois driver’s license to vote in the primary this year, and not only that, have a barcode scanner used on the barcode that is on it for that very purpose, to verify that I was to be allowed to vote from the residence I claimed. I should have been able to complain mightily about discrimination or mis-use of power or something, if others don’t have to show ID in order to vote. And I’m sure that a case could be made for racial discrimination if blacks and Hispanics don’t have to do the same since I had to and I’m white.

    

2. lethalleprechaun says:

   April 19, 2012 at 12:59

   Tom, Tom ( I know your cousin Tom-Tom well btw)

   I would have thought you’d have figured out what I did long ago, that in the modern era, from lets say the mid 70′s on up to the present, (unless you’re discussing women possibly) the only discrimination that TRULY exists is Reverse Discrimination!

   Reverse discrimination is a term referring to discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, including the city or state, or in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group. Groups may be defined in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, or other factors. This discrimination may seek to redress social inequalities where minority groups have been denied access to the same privileges of the majority group. In such cases it is intended to remove discrimination that minority groups may already face. Reverse discrimination may also be used to highlight the discrimination inherent in affirmative action programs.

   The issue of reverse discrimination first reached the nation’s highest court in the 1970s, when a student with good grades named Allan Bakke accused a University of California medical school of twice denying him admission because he was white.

   Strict racial quotas were unconstitutional, the court said — affirmative action was not. But that ruling far from decided what many considered the big-picture issue: Does protecting minorities discriminate against the majority?

   More than 30 years, and scores of lawsuits later, the question remains unanswered. Meanwhile, more Americans came to believe that affirmation action is no longer necessary, and that instead of leveling the playfield for minorities, it unfairly punishes whites.

   The law in some countries, such as the UK, draws a distinction between Equality of Provision and Equality of Outcome, recognizing that identical treatment may sometimes act to preserve inequality rather than eliminate it. We could damned well take a page from them on the issue IMO.

   Just what constitutes reverse discrimination? In a 2009 case known as Ricci v. DeStefano, a group of white firefighters presented the U.S. Supreme Court with a case that challenges conventional notions of bigotry. They argued that the city of New Haven, Conn., discriminated against them in 2003 when it threw out a test that white firefighters passed at a 50% greater rate than blacks. Because performance on the test was the basis for promotion, none of the blacks in the department would have advanced had the city accepted the results.

   To avoid discriminating against black firefighters, New Haven discarded the test. By making that move, however, the city prevented the white firefighters eligible for promotion from advancing to captain and lieutenant rank.

   In April 2009, counsel for the firefighters argued before the Supreme Court in Ricci v. DeStefano that New Haven could have proven that the test directly related to work duties; instead, the city prematurely declared the exam unfit. During the hearing, Chief Justice John Roberts doubted that New Haven would have chosen to discard the test had the outcomes by race been reversed.

   “So, can you assure me that…if…black applicants…scored highest on this test in disproportionate numbers, and the city said…we think there should be more whites on the fire department, and so we’re going to throw the test out? The government of United States would adopt the same position?” Roberts asked.

   But the New Haven attorney failed to give a direct and coherent response to Roberts’ question, prompting the judge to remark that the city would not have discarded the test had blacks scored well and whites not. If New Haven only did away with the test because it disapproved of the racial makeup of those who excelled on it, the white firefighters in question were no doubt victims of discrimination. Title VII not only prohibits “disparate impact” but also discrimination based on race in any aspect of employment, including promotion.

   The liberals and PC Posse have made sure that they have gone over board in the opposite direction to prove there exists no race based bias and appease their voter base to the point they and legislated white middle class into an unfair second class position! Not only that, but you have people like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Jeremiah Wright agitating and pushing for further disadvantages for whites and to elevate Minorities above all others. We have things like Black Entertainment Television (BET), the ( National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), United Negro College Fund, Black History Month, the Southern Poverty Law Center. Can you imagine what would be said and the ruckus raised over WET, NAAWP. United Anglo-Saxon College Fund or White History Month? They’re ready to lynch a Latino in Sanford Florida because he shot a black. Can you see the same thing happening if the Black shot the Latino? How about if the Black shot a White? Can you in your wildest LSD fueled dreams conceive of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Jeremiah Wright crying out for the rights of a white for a nanosecond? NO? Then why aren’t they branded as racist instead of activist?

   IMO, HALF to the problems we have with violent crime, drugs & welfare fraud as due largely to these over the top more than level the playing field before someone points a finger and accuses us of racism or discrimination policies. Those benefiting from such policies have learned to exploit the system in their favor, they are taught early on they do not have to work or learn to achieve it will be handed to them because of their skin color/country of birth or native language and quickly learn how to use this to their advantage in every aspect of everyday life to not only pervert the intentions of those laws but to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions. Worse yet from where I sit we have people like Sharpton, Jackson & Wright agitating for MORE opportunities for these people to do this and encouraging them to pervert the law in their favor while in at least the case of one of those 3 actively preaching violence against whites.

   Does reverse racism exist? Not according to the antiracist definition of racism. This definition includes institutional power and not just the prejudices of a lone individual. As institutions which have historically benefited whites attempt to diversify, however, they sometimes favor ethnic minorities over whites. Their purpose in doing so is to right the wrongs of the past and the present against minority groups. But as institutions embrace multiculturalism, they are still forbidden by the 14th Amendment from directly discriminating against any racial group, including whites. Thus, while institutions engage in minority outreach, they must do so in a way that doesn’t unjustly penalize whites for their skin color alone.

   However if you ask me the minute you take one step out side of definitions, theory and liberal Kool-Aid induced fantasy into the real world and yes Tom, reverse discrimination not only exists its thriving and strangling American society.

 

His Kung Fu was strong!

 

Ladies Man

On the way home from a party, his wife said to her husband Impish Dragon: “Have I ever told you how sexy and irresistible to women you are?”

“I don’t believe you have dear,” Impish replied thinking he was being flattered.

“Then what ever gave you that idea at the party?”

 

An elderly lady was walking on the golf course on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. She slipped and fell.

Obama, who by chance was behind, helped her to get up promptly. She thanked him and he answered – “It was a pleasure to help you. Don’t you recognize me? I am your president. Are you going to vote for me in the next election?”

The elderly woman laughed and replied: ”You know … I fell on my ass, not on my head……”

 

 

  

Hundreds of thousands may lose Internet in July

LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Updated 06:02 p.m., Friday, April 20, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) — For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer.

Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down.

The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, http://www.dcwg.org , that will inform them whether they’re infected and explain how to fix the problem. After July 9, infected users won’t be able to connect to the Internet.

This undated handout image provided by The DNS Changer Working Group (DCWG) shows the webpage. It will only take a few clicks of the mouse. But for hundreds of thousands of computer users, those clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing their connections this July. Photo: DNC Changer Working Group / AP

Most victims don’t even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.

Last November, the FBI and other authorities were preparing to take down a hacker ring that had been running an Internet ad scam on a massive network of infected computers.

“We started to realize that we might have a little bit of a problem on our hands because … if we just pulled the plug on their criminal infrastructure and threw everybody in jail, the victims of this were going to be without Internet service,” said Tom Grasso, an FBI supervisory special agent. “The average user would open up Internet Explorer and get ‘page not found’ and think the Internet is broken.”

On the night of the arrests, the agency brought in Paul Vixie, chairman and founder of Internet Systems Consortium, to install two Internet servers to take the place of the truckload of impounded rogue servers that infected computers were using. Federal officials planned to keep their servers online until March, giving everyone opportunity to clean their computers. But it wasn’t enough time. A federal judge in New York extended the deadline until July.

Now, said Grasso, “the full court press is on to get people to address this problem.” And it’s up to computer users to check their PCs.

This is what happened:

Hackers infected a network of probably more than 570,000 computers worldwide. They took advantage of vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system to install malicious software on the victim computers. This turned off antivirus updates and changed the way the computers reconcile website addresses behind the scenes on the Internet’s domain name system.

The DNS system is a network of servers that translates a web address — such as www.ap.org — into the numerical addresses that computers use. Victim computers were reprogrammed to use rogue DNS servers owned by the attackers. This allowed the attackers to redirect computers to fraudulent versions of any website.

The hackers earned profits from advertisements that appeared on websites that victims were tricked into visiting. The scam netted the hackers at least $14 million, according to the FBI. It also made thousands of computers reliant on the rogue servers for their Internet browsing.

When the FBI and others arrested six Estonians last November, the agency replaced the rogue servers with Vixie’s clean ones. Installing and running the two substitute servers for eight months is costing the federal government about $87,000.

The number of victims is hard to pinpoint, but the FBI believes that on the day of the arrests, at least 568,000 unique Internet addresses were using the rogue servers. Five months later, FBI estimates that the number is down to at least 360,000. The U.S. has the most, about 85,000, federal authorities said. Other countries with more than 20,000 each include Italy, India, England and Germany. Smaller numbers are online in Spain, France, Canada, China and Mexico.

Vixie said most of the victims are probably individual home users, rather than corporations that have technology staffs who routinely check the computers.

FBI officials said they organized an unusual system to avoid any appearance of government intrusion into the Internet or private computers. And while this is the first time the FBI used it, it won’t be the last.

“This is the future of what we will be doing,” said Eric Strom, a unit chief in the FBI’s Cyber Division. “Until there is a change in legal system, both inside and outside the United States, to get up to speed with the cyber problem, we will have to go down these paths, trail-blazing if you will, on these types of investigations.”

Now, he said, every time the agency gets near the end of a cyber case, “we get to the point where we say, how are we going to do this, how are we going to clean the system” without creating a bigger mess than before.

 

An engineer dies and reports to the Pearly Gates.

Saint Peter checks his dossier and, not seeing his name there, accidentally sends him to Hell.

It doesn’t take long before the engineer becomes rather dissatisfied with the level of comfort in Hell.

He soon begins to design and build improvements. Shortly thereafter, Hell has air conditioning, flush toilets and escalators.

Needless to say, the engineer is a pretty popular guy.

One day, God calls Satan and says with a sneer: So, how are things in Hell?

Satan replies: Hey, things are going great. We’ve got air conditioning, flush toilets, and escalators.

And there’s no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next.

What! God exclaims: You’ve got an engineer?

That’s a mistake, he should never have been sent to Hell. Send him to me.

Not a chance, Satan replies: I like having an engineer on the staff, and I’m keeping him!

God insists: Send him back or I’ll sue!

Satan laughs uproariously and answers: Yeah, right. And where are you going to get a lawyer?

Just imagine what all Impish had to remove to board his flights! WAIT! YOU BETTER NOT! Brain bleaching post imagining might be required!

 

One of our readers introduced me the the site of fellow blogger BreakfastPops over on Hubpages. I found Pops to be a kindred spirit in our views of politics and what is wrong with this country and read her offerings regularly. In fact I recently did a stint as an award presenter (not the good kind of award either) on her blog: http://breakfastpop.hubpages.com/hub/A-Cherry-Temple-and-the-PIP-POP-Awards

Recently BreakfatPops posted this absolutely brilliant spot on open letter to Obama with regard to his hypocrisy regarding “transparency in the political process” as a result of his shot at the heir presumptive to the Republican Presidential Candidacy, Mitt Romney and his failure to release his tax returns as yet.

I confess I am just a wee bit jealous that she wrote this and I didn’t. I want to share it here with you now

To President Obama,

You have been been pushing Mitt Romney to release several years of his tax returns to the public. You want to spotlight his wealth and make an issue of it to the voters. You pointed out that you, all in the name of transparency, released your tax returns for the last 12 years.

You made the following statement which I would like to repeat now. “I think it’s important for any candidate to be as transparent as possible, to let people know who we are, what we stand for, and you know, I think that this is just carrying on a tradition that has existed throughout the modern presidency.”

With all due respect, Mr. President, I wonder how, in good conscience, you could have made that statement. If transparency is so important to you why did it take you so long to produce your birth certificate? Why are there still questions about it’s authenticity and why do you refuse to address them? In the name of transparency why did you ignore all of us who were truly confused about your place of birth. Your grandmother vividly recalls your birth in Kenya. You say you were born in Hawaii. The Governor of Hawaii couldn’t seem to find your birth certificate. Suddenly, a certificate appears. Many, many people weren’t quite comfortable with this entire scenario. There really was nothing transparent about your response to legitimate concerns.

In the name of transparency, which you value, I think you should immediately produce your college transcripts. I think you should be prepared to answer questions about your college years. Who were your friends? Why is it no one seems to remember you?

What troubles me and so many others is the fact that you would rather keep us all in the dark than address these legitimate concerns. If you value transparency, sir, why would you continue to be so secretive about your past. It just doesn’t make sense, does it?

One more thing, Mr. President, if you don’t mind. Would you please face the nation and once and for all explain how you could have sat in a church for over 20 years and never heard Rev. Wright say one disparaging word about this country. Rev. Wright married you, Rev. Wright was your mentor and yet you don’t recall one word of his sermons. I for one would really like to hear you explain this. I am sure there are many others who feel the same way.

While you are at it, it would be helpful to hear you talk about others in your life who clearly influenced you and espoused radical points of view. Personally, I would like to hear you discuss why you returned the bust of Churchill to Great Britain. That move was insulting and unprecedented and I would like to understand why it happened.

In the name of transparency, Mr. President, would you do all of the above? There are so many more things I would like to know about, but let’s consider this the first step on the road to truth and understanding.

Thanking you in advance for your candid response, I am,

Very truly yours,

Breakfastpop

Thank YOU, Breakfastpop for such a wonderful letter, it’s just too bad it’s falling on deaf Democratic socialistic ears!

I too once again I’m detecting the stench of hypocrisy and suprise suprise, that reek appears to be emanating from Congress. Congress charged Roger Clements with perjury after if turned out that maybe he was not entirely truthful and forth coming in his testimony before Congress. Of course it didn’t matter that there was no legally valid and compelling reason for a Congressional Inquiry into pro-sports doping seeing as Congress has ZERO oversight of ANY pro-sport what so ever but certainly had other more serious and pressing matters they could have been devoting their time and our tax dollars to.

The comes along the 2 Federal Prosecutors that make a rookie lawyer Law 101 mistake by introducing tainted evidence that was inadmissible causing a mistrial after only the second day. More tax dollars lost.

Now were back for another swing at it and this time these blithering idiots AND the defense get overheard on open court mikes in the pressroom and the press gleefully publishes said conversation making Prosecutors again look like a couple of banjo playing schnooks of the first order. We won’t even mention the number of times the entire proceedings for jeered as irrelevant and inappropriate BY THE JURY POOL (who are the ONLY people in that court room exhibiting any signs of appropriateness or intelligence when it comes to the proceedings.

Basically my hypocrisy problem is this, Congress can lie to get elected, lie about the source of the funds they used to do it, not pay &/or cheat on their taxes bounce checks like the Harlem Globetrotters dribble basketballs, lie to us and each other while in Congress and before their own ethics (an oxymoron when used in relation to Congress) review panels, Presidents can and routinely lie before Congress as does the CIA, NSA (when you can get them to talk) the DoJ, FBI and well as the JCS and just about every Department head that comes before them to testify. HOWEVER they expect the regular folk, non Politicians that they drag before them to stick their hoping for a televised sound bite increase in vote noses into things they have no preview over to tell them the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth or they will be punished for it?

Anyone else smelling the same farcical stench of Democratic and Politics in general brands of hypocrisy Breakfastpop & I are now?

 

OK let’s all get the heck out of here for now before the barnyard stench of politics as usual in Washington overcomes us.