MaxRedline

It's Just The Way Of The Weasel

Over in the U.K., a couple who got flooded out of their home are not being permitted to return - because the great crested newt apparently got there first. The three-inch-long amphibians may have been brought into the home with floodwaters, but actually, nobody knows whether or not any happen to be present.  Because government officials suspect that the newts may now be there, the couple have been banned from their home, pending the outcome of an anticipated three-month survey to look for any newts.  That survey will not begin until June.

The survey cannot start immediately because the newts might be breeding and birds in hedges and trees along the ditch might be sitting on eggs.

Tut-tut, 'twouldn't be proper to disturb them during this critical time, old chap.

Meanwhile, government in Sweden has enacted new pet rules...

Among other things, the 15 pages of new guidelines set specifications for how often dogs and cats receive food and exercise, the size and design of their living quarters, as well as the quality of the air Swedish pets breathe.  These are just a couple of things that serve to illustrate why the USA should adhere to the principle of limited government, rather than caving to the Leftist idiots who view the "European model" as somehow better.

If Americans had gone with the "European model" a couple of hundred years ago, we'd have kings.

Big Wheels Keep On Turnin'

Mrs. Bill Clinton is sporting the lowest personal ratings of the campaign. Moreover, her 37 percent positive rating is the lowest the NBC/WSJ poll has recorded since March 2001, two months after she was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York.  When you consider that she entered the presidential campaign with a 50% negative rating, it seems clear that The Little Missus isn't doing at all well.   

No matter how they try to spin it, the latest news doesn't look all that promising for her.  While she's hunkering down and digging trenches, even the most ardent Leftists are counting her out:

Hillary Clinton is as good as dead. This became the consensus over the past week, when the media awoke en masse to the dual reality that 1) Clinton can't close the pledged-delegate gap and 2) Obama has her beat in the popular vote. But the Clinton campaign shows no signs of slowing—she said herself she's prepared to compete for at least three more months. So the question now is not just "How dead is she?" but "When will she realize it?"

That sounds bad.  But among the many great failings of the Left is their complete inability to recognize the Clintons for what they are.   The Left demonizes Bush as a matter of routine; characterizing him as having the intellect of a retarded chimpanzee while simultaneously crediting him with unspeakably evil, conniving, and dictatorial tendencies.

Let me say this about that:  Nobody in the Bush administration has ever been found dead of an impossible-to-commit "suicide".

The Left fails to recognize what most of the rest of us have known for years:  the Clintons live for power.  Mrs. Bill Clinton's carpet-bagger move toward the U.S. Senate was never intended as anything more than keeping a warm chair with an eye toward regaining the White House.  And nothing is going to stand in their way.

Obama claims to be able to unite America.  For starters, he should demonstrate that ability by uniting Democrats.  And that's something he absolutely cannot do.  The Clintons don't buy that unity stuff - unless it can be used to get them back into the White House. 

Smile! You're On Candid Camera!

Well, that'd be the case if ComCast gets its way.  The senior VP of user experience said the cable company is experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your room.  The idea is that when you hit the remote, the camera system would recognize you and the system would "help" you make selections for viewing based upon your profile of past habits.  Additionally, the technology would allow for the "tailoring" of ad content to match your specific interests.  It's all about consumer benefit.  Because of course, we all know that spying would be bad, and so they don't want to do that. 

The Grassy Knoll, Part Two

It's widely accepted that a dishwasher named Sirhan Sirhan fatally shot Robert F. Kennedy; indeed, Sirhan remains in jail for that crime.  However, forensic evidence indicates that he could not have killed the man.  So who did the killing?  At least two people, one of whom was likely a Kennedy security guard.  Or so they say.  And it does seem credible.

Must Be Something In The Water

Tampa, where hot middle-school teacher Debra Lafave got busted around four years ago for having sex with a 14-year-old boy multiple times in multiple locations, has seen the arrest of three more teachers in the past two weeks on similar charges.  The three, ranging in age between 28 and 45, have been charged in offenses with boys ranging in age from 14 to 17.

You've got to wonder what's going on down there.  Is it just a localized phenomenon, or are they simply in a state of heightened awareness as a result of press reports?  Or are there ancillary issues involved, as well?

After all, people from Portland are generally referred to as Portlanders.  People from Chicago are referred to as Chicagoans.  Seattle residents, Seattlites.  Tampa residents are called...what?  Tampons? 

A Dashing Display Of Bravado

Mrs. Bill Clinton faced down incredible odds during her harrowing trip to Bosnia, despite what you may have seen or heard in the media.

Obama, Son Of God

Yes, Barack Obama, the Great Unifier.  He'll unify the country, because he advocates Change - and Hope.  Didn't we already have a President from Hope?  Wasn't he promising us "the most ethical administration in the history of the country"?

And if Obama is the Great Unifier, then why are the Democrats in such disarray?

Dang. Just When You Thought All Problems Were Solved

Well, we've been noting for some time that biofuel is really biofool.  Here comes more of the science.

Professor Bob Watson, the chief scientific adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said it would be wrong to introduce compulsory quotas for the use of biofuels in petrol and diesel before their effects had been properly assessed.

"If one started to use biofuels ... and in reality that policy led to an increase in greenhouse gases rather than a decrease, that would obviously be insane," Watson said. "It would certainly be a perverse outcome."

John Beddington, the government's current chief scientific adviser, has already expressed scepticism about biofuels. At a speech in Westminster this month he said demand for biofuels from the US had delivered a "major shock" to world agriculture, which was raising food prices globally. "There are real problems with the unsustainability of biofuels," he said, adding that cutting down rainforest to grow the crops was "profoundly stupid".

Some folks just refuse to get it.  We talk and talk, we buy them books and scientific papers, and all they do is eat the covers.  If you live in Oregon, you're getting about 20% less gas mileage per gallon because good ol' snoozy Ted Kulongoski decided that your gas should have ethanol in it to "fight global warming".  It's a great deal: you pay for more gas to go the same distance, the state gets more gas-tax revenue, and the prices of everything from tortillas to milk shoots up.

That's your government at work. 

The Portland Tradition Continues

Sho (me the money) Dozono has decided to continue his run for Portland Mayor despite being cut off from feeding at the public trough just now.  He can't be awarded free money to run his campaign, so in order to get his shot at the trough, he's going to have to wiggle in and get private donations like all the other piggies do.  Perhaps the most perplexing question is:  why is this guy running for mayor?  Sure, without him in there to make it sort of a race, then Sam "the Tram" Adams would simply be coronated - sort of like what Mrs. Bill Clinton was anticipating at the start of her campaign.

But when you get right down to it, there's not a whole lot of difference between The Little Missus and her upstart competitor, BO.  And likewise, in a Sam Adams/Sho Dozono "race", it really doesn't matter which one you vote for - because they're clones.  Both want to continue full speed ahead with social engineering projects that simply waste billions of public dollars while accomplishing little more than pushing crime from place to place.  No matter which guy you vote for, all you get is more of the same.

My grandma may have had precisely this in mind when she once opined "I never vote; it just encourages them".

Meanwhile, there's more trouble a-brewing in - the Engineering giant Siemens is under investigation in Europe, the US, and China on suspicion of paying up to $2 billion in bribes to win foreign contracts.

Hmm...Siemens...where have we heard that name before?  Artificial insemination in cattle?  No...that'd be semens.  Wait...

Oh yeah!  The giant German engineering firm that builds light rail!  Sure, those are the folks that always seem to get a big chunk of the contract whenever David Bragdon, over at Metro, and Sam Adams and other cronies decide to stuff another light rail line down your throat.

And the firm's under investigation for bribery in order to win contracts?  Well, that's interesting - although surely coincidental.

Coming Soon To Willamette University

Gender-neutral housing on campus!  This will remove a bunch of old stereotypes by allowing men and women to room together.  It turns out that some of the kids may feel uncomfortable with the whole thing of sharing a room with somebody of the same gender, according to their Dean of Campus Life (whoa, what a cushy - and doubtless high-paid - little "job").  "The driver here is to create an environment for all of our students that supports their academic work," he said.

WU biology majors threw their caps in the air and high-fived one another, then headed out to score a stash of Rohypnol.