This is my favorite Christmas ever!

The Archduke's Motto

Photo of the Day

As part of their gymnastics training these Chinese boys are supposed to hang from the bar for 5 minutes. I'm betting the one 3rd from the right made it.

As long as they're happy

Who are we to judge?

One little thing

that gets under my skin, and it is something I may have chatted about before, is the representation of criminals on tv. I am not the stat guy that my peers are, but I am gonna step way out on a limb and claim that even though the black population is still a minority in this country, they commit majority of the crime. This isn't a secret to anyone. It isn't even news. What bugs me are the way criminals are represented on TV. From commercials to drama shows, whites are shown to be the ones doing most of the crime. I hate beating the old PC horse, but this is silly. It would be like showing a representation of a football game where the team was made up of 80 -90% white guys so as not to hurt my feelings. The positive representation of blacks on TV started a about 40 years ago and I don't disagree with that, but 40 years of positive black representation or the attempt to show black children that they don't have to grow up to be criminals by NOT showing black criminals is NOT working, and if it is working that is even scarier. We have to quit running from the truth as a society to make people feel better. Denying a problem doesn't make it go away in fact, in my opinion, it makes it worse. Of course I have stated that before and yet things haven't changed. I wonder why?

The Vic

1991 CAGE MATCH (Dr. Singer vs Mr. Sagan)

In 1991, on "Nightline", Carl Sagan (noted Martian hunter and catastrophe predictor) debated Dr. Fred Singer (noted atmospheric physicist and man made global warming skeptic) on the enviromental impact of smoke from the Kuwait oil well fires. Mr. Sagan predicted that the smoke would travel to the upper atmosphere, interfere with the monsoon (whatever that means) and cause GLOBAL CATASTROPHE. Dr. Singer said that was ridiculous, that the smoke would go no higher than a few thousand feet and be washed out of the atmosphere by rain. The matter was pretty much dropped 3 DAYS after the debate when black oily rain began to fall on Iran. We can only assume that Dr. Singer then went back to his job INCREASING MANKIND'S KNOWLEDGE and Mr. Sagan went back to his, which was I believe, looking for little green men.

Did you know, that as they were fleeing Kuwait, Saddam's men deliberately pumped 11 million barrels of oil into the Persian Gulf? Or that they deliberately pumped 50 million barrels of oil onto the Kuwaiti countryside creating a lake of crude 1/2 mile long which contained 9 times the oil ACCIDENTALLY spilled by Exxon's Valdez? Of course we all know that they set 753 oilwells ablaze and that these fires were burning 6 million barrels of oil a day. We also know that some environmental "experts" at the U. N. called it the worst man made environmental catastrophe in history and predicted that it would take up to 10 years to put them out. But did you know that a handful of AMERICAN companies like Red Adair Co., Wild Well Control, and Cudd Pressure Control, ET AL, put all the fires out in 8 months? Oh well, it's all old news but I thought it was interesting.

To give or not to give

My eldest, Lady Selfish, has kindly accepted my invitation to submit a guest post here at Defending the Realm. The following is a piece which she recently published on her own site. It came untitled so I took the liberty.
King Selfish

*****

I can't believe this question or Miss Manners' response.

Dear Miss Manners,
I am a 20 year old college student from Boston and I need your advice concerning giving money to those less fortunate. I honestly try to give as much as I can, however, being that I am a poor college student myself, how do I politely turn down someone who asks me for spare change when cash is low without sounding extremely rude or coming off as I'm better than the asker? The last thing I want to do is make their situation worse than it already is! Thank you for making the world a more polite place, one letter at a time.

Gentle Reader,
And Miss Manners thanks you for recognizing that all human beings should be treated with dignity. That is what you need to convey, whether or not you comply with the request. Just look at the person regretfully and say "Sorry," as you pass."

This is so retarded. A strange person is so PRESUMPTUOUS as to STEAL time and attention from someone who owes them nothing and then DEMAND money from them! This person has no dignity and should not be treated with dignity. I can't stand being approached by crackheads who ramble on and tell lies and complain that the world owes them something, and that I owe them something. This college students' sense of guilt makes me want to retch and the correct response to bums is to say "no" unemotionally and keep walking because even then they keep flapping their mouths and being hateful. No matter how much we give, there is ALWAYS someone else waiting with his hands out, accusing us of being selfish just for having something more! That something wasn't given! Are people not allowed to achieve financial autonomy without immediately being expected to pour it down the toilet? If some guy is pressuring a woman for sex (because he is "less fortunate" in getting it), should the woman offer a respectful "sorry," or should it be a firm, unapologetic "no"?
Our political world is full of pushovers.

Secular vs Religious

King Selfish found this article about the secular vs the religious quite interesting and thinks you may as well. Also, King Selfish has discovered that referring to himself in third person makes him feel...let's see...separate, different, in a word, superior. King Selfish says get used to it.

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"Allowing an unimportant mistake to pass without comment is a wonderful social grace." Miss Manners

Renaissance Man

It seems I can't escape being reminded of just how big a loser I am. While channel surfing the other night, I came across a tribute to a man who by the time of his death at the age of 51 had accomplished more than I could hope to if I lived to be a hundred. Here was a man who counted among his friends those in the literary, political, and entertainment worlds. Here was a man who was a five time Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Here was a man who was an author of eleven books. Here was a man who was an advocate of inner-city youth. Here was a man who those at his memorial were vowing to remember, to honor, to emulate. Here was a man who brutally murdered four innocent people in two separate robberies for a grand total of $280. Here was a man who according to those singing his praises was executed by the state of California for no other reason than it was time to sacrifice another black man to the "death dealers". Here was a man named Tookie Williams. I curse him and his memory. I curse those who fought to save his wretched life. I curse those who, with their promises to never let this puke's memory die, continue to spit on his victims and their families. I am King Selfish and I approve these curses.

Great American Hero

How do you doo

Wanna know who I don't get? Someone who takes their dog to a well used public space with the express purpose of encouraging it to loosen its bowels, that's who. Over the last fifteen years or so I have logged hundreds of miles on the track that you see in the photo above. In that time there is no telling how many seemingly nice, normal people I have seen walk their little poo-maker from somewhere in the neighborhood onto the track or football field so it could unleash a steaming pile of canine goodness right where folks are walking and kids are playing. What makes the whole thing so irritating is that there are a couple of acres just east of the track which the school has clearly designated for just such occasions. Click the photo to see for yourself.

Energy Incongruity

We are all aware of the importance of energy independence. Politicians of every stripe are constantly braying about America's need to wean herself off of foreign oil. To that end the government is willing to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to develop inefficient fuels like ethanol. Soon we'll all be burning staggeringly expensive ethanol in our unbelievably expensive, plastic shitbox cars. The bad news is that these vehicles will be structurally unsafe, the good news is that they will lack the necessary power to pull a sick whore off a pisspot. But I digress.

There are currently 1828 land based drilling rigs working in these United States, 872 of which are in Texas alone. Everybody knows that Texas is a large oil and gas rich state, but what you may not be aware of is that Alaska is over TWICE the size of Texas. That's right, if you cut Alaska in half then Texas would be the THIRD largest state. Keeping in mind that the density and distribution of Alaska's mineral resources are AT LEAST equivalent to Texas', we can extrapolate that Alaska has at least twice as much oil and gas as Texas. Based on this information we can assume that there are approximatly 1750 drilling rigs working in Alaska. Close, there are 10. Lets recap, 872 rigs drilling in Texas, 201 rigs drilling in Oklahoma, 117 rigs drilling in Colorado, 10 rigs drilling in Alaska. At the risk of showing my stupidity, I pose this question. Instead of wasting time and money on silly solutions like ethanol, wind farms, and $10 light bulbs, why not just go get the oil and gas that we already own? The answer to my question is so obvious and simple that it can't possibly be correct, but for an in depth explanation of just how wrong it is you'll probably need to ask the fine folks over at greenpeace or the sierra club.

No guns allowed

I just read where the mall in which the Omaha Kid slaughtered 8 people was a gun free zone. Too bad he didn't see the signs.

They went and done it

US Senate Panel Approves Bill To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
By Deborah Tate Washington 06 December 2007

A U.S. Senate committee has passed landmark legislation aimed at combating global warming by limiting carbon dioxide emissions. The vote was timed to coincide with the U.N. conference on climate change taking place in Bali, Indonesia. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

The bill would set caps on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from electric utility, transportation and manufacturing industries beginning in 2012 with the goal of cutting emissions 60 percent by 2050. It would create an incentive system that would give credits to industries that cut pollution. Industries that failed to reduce emissions would be forced to buy credits from others.

The Democratic-led Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 11 to eight, largely along party lines, to send the measure to the full Senate for what supporters hope will be action early next year.

"We are facing a crisis that will hit our children and our grandchildren the hardest if we do not act now. Not to act would be wrong, cowardly, and irresponsible," said Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, chairwoman of the committee.

Senator Boxer, who is expected to travel to Bali as part of a U.S. congressional delegation next week, said committee approval of the bill sends a signal to the rest of the world that the United States is serious about reducing global warming.

But many Republicans oppose the legislation, saying it would increase energy costs and lead to job losses. They argue the measure does not ensure that other nations, particularly China and India, will cut emissions.

"China's emission will continue to accelerate as it builds coal plants and imports jobs from the United States. This will be enormously expensive to households within seven years as electricity prices skyrocket by 35 to 65 percent," said Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the top Republican on the committee.

But co-sponsor Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia, who broke with many in his party to support the measure, offered a different view: "If we do not act, China and India will hide behind America's skirts of inaction and take no steps of their own. Therefore we simply have to lead," he said.

( King Selfish here. How idiotic is that quote from Warner? China is going to follow the U.S. into the world of reduced emissions? uh-huh )

The House of Representatives has yet to draft its own version of the legislation.

Open Letter to the True Believers

Dear Believer in Man-Made Global Warming,

We've never met, but I'd like to think that if we did we could develop a deep, mutual hatred.

Just kidding. Seriously though, I think you're an idiot.

For politicians, scientists, and the media to push the man-made global warming hysteria is understandable, they've got a vested interest. Politicians crave power and influence, scientists want the money that the politicians control, and the media is a bunch of whores who know fear-mongering is the easiest way to grab an audience. No doubt there are true believers among them but they don't interest me.

I'm interested only in you, the true believer, who with no aim toward personal gain adheres to the idea that the earth is warming, humans are causing it, and catastrophe awaits. I have to admit, you make me a little crazy.

For all I know the earth may be experiencing a warming trend. And I am confident that the human race, if it lasts long enough, will eventually be threatened by atmospheric and climatic changes. So? Things change, people adjust or die, always have. What I want to know is how you reconcile your belief that man is the cause of whatever climate changes may now be occurring with all the periods of warming and cooling the earth experienced long before man could have been a factor.

The illustration above shows the extent of glaciation in North America during the last ice age, which ended 10 or 15 thousand years ago. Check out the Laurentide ice sheet. According to the experts it reached a thickness of 2 miles at its center, and at its southern edge New York and Chicago sat under a mile of ice. Think about that for a second. As recently as 15 thousand years ago all of Canada and a significant portion of the U.S. were frozen under a solid sheet of ice. And now, except for a few scattered glaciers, it's all gone. What happened?

After studying the scientific literature I think I have the answer. The most recent ice age, like every one before it, ended due to the warming of the earth's climate, with no influence from human activity. Now that was easy, wasn't it? That's right, according to the science there are many factors that go into the warming and cooling of our planet, but they all add up to the Sun and the earth's relationship to it.

Not convinced? Maybe this brief paragraph from NASA will help -- No one is certain what caused the lower temperatures of the Ice Ages, and several different causes probably worked together. The 100,000 year long cycle is likely caused by variations in the Earth's orbit and tilt that change the amount of heat reaching Earth from the Sun. A small change can make the few degrees difference between a temperate climate and ice. Also, the Sun's total output of heat may vary a little.

To that I say, duh!

Listen, I have to go. All I'm saying is that it won't hurt you to open your mind a little and consider the possibility that the earth and it's climate are doing now what they've always done and that man is just along for the ride.

Yours, King Selfish


P.S. Here are a few links for further study.

No matter how you slice it the first major ice age was a mother.

Life in the Midwest 16,000 years ago.

What causes ice ages?

Anticipation

I can hardly wait to see who the geniuses of the BCS pick to play in the National Championship. I know they will get it right because they always do, never mind the fact that 9 times this year their #1 and #2 picks have been beaten. Keeping in mind that the football Gods don't speak to me directly (like they do for BCS voters) and I don't have giant super computers secreted in underground vaults being fed esoteric mathmatical data that would confound even Einstien and Oppenhiemer, I still think that my team has a case.

By the time game 13 rolled around, the BCS in all its wisdom had chosen 1 loss Missouri as the #1 team in the land. To whom did they lose, you ask? Why that would be my Sooners. Interesting. Game 13 being the week of the Big 12 Championship, who is #1 Missouri's next victim, you ask? Why that would be my #9 Sooners. Even more interesting. Now you might think that the numerical ranking assigned, by the BCS, to each team would give some indication of who would would be expected to win. Not so.
As it turns out the #9 Sooners are favored over the #1 Tigers. How can that be, you ask? Beats the hell out of me. And should the Sooners prevail FOR THE SECOND TIME over the last week's #1 team, wouldn't that make the Sooners the #1 team you ask? The fact that you ask all these infantile questions shows that you lack the sophistication of thought needed to understand BCS logic.

As you know the Sooners not only prevailed, they SPANKED the #1 Missouri Tigers, but NOW, after the fact, that previous #1 ranking means almost nothing and the best my Sooners can hope for is #4 or #5.

In closing I would like to suggest that if we can't have a playoff system then let's at the very least compare the historical records of the odds makers (who choose the favored team) with the BCS rankers (who assign the arbitrary numerical rankings) and let the winner of that contest decide who plays in the National Championship.

Meet Eunice Carter

Author's note: This post is much longer than I intended. Good luck.

Sometimes Republicans can't keep up with all the evil that needs doing. With so many kittens to torture, children to starve, and homosexuals to euthanize, they are often forced to temporarily abandon their well intentioned schemes of misery. In fact, as ludicrous as it sounds, Republicans occasionally get spread so thin committing acts of unspeakable cruelty that truly important heinous deeds, like the proper abuse of black folks, must be postponed indefinitely. Over the years the frustration caused by this inability to mete out wickedness on all fronts at once has resulted in Republicans temporarily losing their immoral bearings.

The best known example of the Grand Old Party losing its way occurred during the War Between the States. Almost exactly 100 years before Al Gore's father voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Republican President Abraham Lincoln was engaged in an heroic battle to hold the Union together so future Republicans would have access to more people to oppress and more land to rape, pillage, and pollute. It was during this distraction that Lincoln made the grievous error of freeing the slaves. Even men possessed of an obscene capacity for viciousness can only do so much. Unfortunately, once the slaves were freed, black people were able to insinuate themselves into American society in such a way that they were able to take advantage whenever Republicans faltered. That brings us to Eunice Carter.

Little Eunice was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1899. When she grew big and strong she moved to New York City to attend university and law school, and after passing the bar exam in 1934 she went into private practice. This is where it starts getting ugly.

By the mid 1930's the Italian Mafia ruled much of New York City, including many of its leaders in politics and law enforcement. Organized prostitution rings, bootlegging, and numbers rackets (whatever that is) were the order of the day. The Mob was rolling and one man was pissed.

New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Republican, took office on New Year's Day 1934 and he hit the ground gunning for gangsters. Now, before you get to thinking that this was a case of a Republican being motivated to do good, you should know that LaGuardia was only 5 ft 2 inches tall. So, in addition to being a Republican, he also suffered the dreaded small man syndrome. His meanness knew no bounds, as long as he had something to stand on. I digress. Anyway, it was while distracted with showing the mafia just who was boss that LaGuardia let his guard :) down and appointed Eunice Carter to a position of some minor import. She then became assistant DA to special prosecutor Thomas Dewey, Republican. While serving under Dewey, Republican, Carter played a prominent role in bringing down the top mafia boss of the day, Lucky Luciano. Thomas Dewey, Republican, was so appreciative of her efforts in this case that after he was elected New York District Attorney he appointed Eunice to head the D.A.'s Special Sessions Bureau. Now that's one confused Republican.

I am officially tired of writing so let me try to sum up. Republicans are bigots, racists, and homophobes who desire nothing more than causing pain and suffering and, of course, stopping the Democrats from doing the Lord's work. However, there are just so many mean Republicans to go around so they are often forced to choose between evil doings. From time to time this inability to do it all allows many of those who would be natural targets of Republican villainy to slip through the cracks. Even worse, it is not uncommon for a Republican to get so focused on the depravity at hand that those they wish most to harm actually benefit from their actions.