It’s not “Guard the Borders” blogburst day, but…

…this is just too good to pass up. A discussion on Jerry Pournelle’s Current Mail page yesterday includes this gem, among others:

If we were to offer $2,500 to $5,000 a head for illegal immigrants delivered to the Border Patrol by bounty hunters, no questions asked — we don’t mind if they turn in each other — with a very stiff hard labor sentence in a chain gang for repeat offenders, it would cost at most a couple of billion dollars a year, and the more it cost the more successful it would be.

Now, Pournelle does go on to say rewards should only be given for LIVE illegals, and he does specify some restrictions to curb abuse. And, of course, he notes that such an idea would die before even budding in the halls populated by that (mostly) vermin called congresscritters.

Man. Even at the $2,500 bounty rate, I could gross about $50,000 a day here in America’s Third World Countyâ„¢… until news got out.

heh

‘K, THIS one’s linked at Diane’s Stuff (And I hope you’re feelin’ tons better, Diane. 🙂

Catching up on reading/Open Post

[Yeh, Macstansbury caught me out in an inexcusable (and baffling) typo. Thanks, Mac… 🙂 ]

Wednesday is OTA Day! Link here and post a, well, how did Is It Just Me? put it? Oh, yeh,

“Although there is no monetary outlay involved to participate, a donation through reciprocal recognition of this site on your site is greatly appreciated. To reciprocate – please do not use the “o” word in conjuction with the “tb” word, or the “tb” word by itself, or even the “l””l” words to give acknowledgement. If you feel really compelled to use these words any site recognition to those sites you are advertising at will probably not occur. Please practice these rules of self-censorship for continued success in traffic exchange.

What? You say that all this is clear as mud? Good. It was intended that way.”

heh

OTA-BIGGEST

These came in later yesterday but are still worth reading:

My Blog is Not Blogging Outloud “Me wanted to recruit . . . them horse tooth paste of which it is possible to clean foot-wear.” That’s what you get when you go to Blogging Outloud instead of Bloggin’ Outloud. Choose the real cola.

Yeh, he has a point, but I stopped drinking Pepsi products when their CEO made an ass of herself… 😉


Another, uhm, pointed commentary by Bergbikr at TMH’s Bacon Bits:

Point – Counterpoint As is my daily practice, on November 28 I shared an article with a list of friends (and polemical counterparts), a Chicago Sun-Times article by Mary Laney, “Our accomplishments in Iraq make for a long list.”

Some good points…


BIG DOG’s WEBLOG grabs Jean Fraud sKerry by the throat and shakes his sorry… uhm, body a bit

Another Week And No 180 Another week has passed and John Kerry has failed to live up to his promise to sign an SF 180 that is completely unrestricted so that his military records can be released in their entirety. You will remember that big John promised to do this on national TV…


Now, as to catching up on my reading…

Had a nice lil blurb about Lars Walker’s “The Year of the Warrior” here, but Zoundry’s Blogwriter totally hashed that post, so I’ll just say: worth a read. Events surrounding Olaf of Norway’s attempt to subjugate all of Norway and bring Christianity to the heathen with an iron fist. (Yeh, he didn’t quite get the concept.)

My 12 (or is it 13?) year old nephew had me picking Aeschylus and Sophocles up again a short while ago. By the time I caught up with him, he was already at Oedipus at Colonus. It’s a good idea, I’ve found, to go back and read the sources of some of our cultural memes every now and then. Thanks, T.F., for the impetus.

“Who is like unto Thee?” (Ps 89). Where can you find poetry like this? Only in the Psalms.

Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.
Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.
In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.
Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.
All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.
For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.
Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them.
But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.
Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast helped me, and comforted me.

Words from an adulterous murderer who found mercy… maybe there’s hope for some of us, eh?

Hit me with your best shots, folks. 😉

Brazenly advertized at Stuck on Stupid, woulda advertized at Don Surber After hours, but he apparently closed his Wednesday open post before I sat down here (love ya, Don :-), MacStansbury’s, Right Wing Nation, Rempelia Prime, Choose Life!’s “Cowering Chicken” post, TMH’s Bacon Bits (I’ll hit you with another one later, bud 🙂 and Diane’s Stuff and elsewhere, when posts go up.

Drive-by post

Yeh, walking through when the TV’s babbling one of those touchy-feely “PSAs” that are totally cracked, I hear:

Friends always make you laugh.”

Riiiigggghhht.

“Hey, dude, your grandma died? That’s like, so totally hilarious, man!”

Whoah! Your dad lost his leg in a freak meteor strike? Ha-ha-ha-ha… Dude, you crack me up!” [Musta been Smallville or something]

TV, so often even when it’s trying to “be helpful” it’s like a bad comic book written by monkeys on crack.

OK, so the History Channel sometimes manages to not be ahistorical and TLC is sometimes ahysterical. OK, so Smallville is the funniest nighttime soap I’ve ever even heard about. And that includes “Soap” and “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”.

Around and About Tuesday

TMH’s Bacon Bits lays out the skinny on Jean Fraud sKerry in no uncertain terms withKerry’s 180: Profiteering on Cowardice

The French-looking (yet underived) Kerry would not know a coward if he were wearing the suit of a senator from… MA. Is Sen. sKerry afraid of abiding by his promise made 303 days ago to release those records that were to be liberated via his SF-180

See the link to Cao’s Blog at “I’ll Be Home for Christmas…” (below) or at TMH’s Bacon Bits for more on this weasel.


Two Three from Freedom Folks: “Bush Tap Dances Around Illegal Immigration

I just forced myself to sit through Bush’s speech in Arizona yesterday about border control and illegal immigration. I knew I needed to. I knew it would be difficult. I knew it would be painful. Catch it again over at The Political Teen…

Yeh, half a loaf sometimes isn’t better than none…

And, “Define Nefarious Bastard Please“:

This just in: State Department churns out super weenies!

*yawn* Dog bites man, FF, dog bites man… *S*

Last, but not least, “Illegal Immigration: From My Perspective

In a recent article I quoted Mark Krikorian as saying that we truly don’t need illegal slave labor. I’d like to expand on that a little bit from my own experience.

An IMPORTANT issue contained within the larger Guard the Borders issue. READ IT!


Adam’s Blog ranks TTLB and Technoratti inTechnorati v. The Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem: The Final Showdown

There’s been a lot of talk about “The Truth Laid Bear” ecosystem as it changes its rankings to make it more complex with the intention of stopping people doing unfair things that endanger the sanctity of the Bear’s rankings.

Uhm, shouldn’t “sanctity” be in scare quotes? *smirk*


Now we know why the blog’s title is The Florida Masochist:”Now bend over, this won’t hurt

Some news from the Sun-Sentinel website. Could you imagine being one of the researchers studying this?

Nope. I have a vivid imagination, but it’s just not willing to go there. “Butt why?” you ask? Find out for yourself.

Oh, and TFM is also hosting its own awards… Come Fly with me

Wizbang is having the 2005 Weblog awards. Here at TFM we’ll be having the Knucklehead awards. For the biggest and worst of 2005. Categories will include Sports&Entertainment, MSM, Politics and our judicial system to name just a few.

More power to ya bubba. “If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve” is my motto. 😉 And missing in a roundup yesterday,

Mystery solved and Case closed

For almost 13 years a mystery remained in Lantana Florida. Who killed Rita Bado and her daughter, Lisa Bado.


Romeocat, a real lady, postsMy Momma taught me not to swear“-

but I’m thinking a whole lotta four letter words right now.

When you see what brought her to this pass, you’ll want to spit… on someone’s grave. Well, at least I do.


An email correspondent at Jerry Pournelle’s place pointed out a primer on Iraq. Must-read for folks wanting to get up to speed on the history of the region, because today didn’t happen in a vaccuum, folks: Iraq: A Short History of Violence.


Also missed in yesterday’s “Around and About” was this uhm, well-crafted post from “Is It Just Me?- Self-Censorship To Continued Traffic Exchange

This post will seem vague to some – if so, ignore it. As I really appreciate your SHARING HERE, due to constraints of regulatory censorship some words will not be used to describe the ongoing activities pursued on this site to enhance traffic of those who…

Arcane enough for ya?


There’s more, of course, but I’ll either get to it later… or not.

Soapbox for a reader

Via email from a frequent commenter here who said, “ Wanted to post the following comment, but it wasn’t clear (to me) under which entry was best to post the comment… If you see fit to add it, OK.” . I’ll just let Hugh speak his piece here:

This nation really, Really, REALLY needs a major catharsis–any definition one chooses.

I’ve been a Dubya supporter for a while now. However, I’m beginning to think it’s OK for him to go down in flames–he’s kicked his conservative base in the shins too often. He started out as a Republican, but he’s transitioned into a RINO.

Most all presidents tend to move to the center, but he’s gone far overboard trying to out Dimo-crat the Democrats on domestic issues.

He was definitely the lesser of the evils in both elections. Having said that, one of my friends reminds me from time to time that voting for the lesser of the evils is still voting for evil.

No, I don’t think Dubya is evil per sé. He recognizes appeasement doesn’t work with radical Islamists who want to kill us all. Yet, he has worked “overtime” trying to appease Dimo-crats. That will never work. No amount of apppeasement ever works–it only stiffens the opposition by thinking they’ve won “one more.” So far they’ve won several more by his appeasement attempts.

Catharsis? How about cutting the federal welfare programs–all of them! When the freeloaders have to work for their food and housing, then perhaps there won’t be so many jobs available for illegal aliens that “Americans don’t want to do.”

Let the states do what they will with welfare–get the feds out! All welfare should go back to the local churches (synagogues, etc.) and charity organizations.

With the feds out of welfare we can cut both the budget and taxes.

Another budget/tax cut would come with getting the feds out of education. Again, let states and locals handle education.

To use an old aviation idiom: Dubya, being a former aviator, has “screwed the pooch.” What’s worse, he continues to do it. (That terminology ain’t got nothing to do with Lady Laura!)

There’s more, but that’s sufficient for now.

I think Hugh makes some valid points. One of the reasons President Bush got no slack from some on the Miers nomination was the perception that he was soft on “Dhimicratic Terrorism”-and all these issues certainly fed into that. Comments?

“I’ll be home for Christmas… ” (A free Kerry’s 180 OPEN POST)

(Open Post)

I’ve been wondering for a while if this poor guy needs therapy or some such. After all, he makes promises he doesn’t keep, makes wildly contradictory statements (and asserts they are not): lies out of one face while… lying out of his other face at the same time, so to speak. Surely some therapy would be in order.

But no, maybe all he needs is some time with friends and family, away from the pressures of work. It’s only a few weeks away. I think he ought to go home for Christmas.

christmas_in_cambodia
(Cox and Forkum’s excellent suggestion
for a Kerry Christmas Card… Look! Lucky Hat!)

If you’re tired of this deranged pol’s mouth-flap, encourage him to go home for Christmas. Maybe he can find those records he’s promised to release stored in a box somewhere… along with his integrity, common decency and a shred of honesty.

Go home to Cambodia, John.

This has been a Free Kerry’s 180 Blogburst post. Ya want in on the thing? Drop in on Cao and pick up the info there.

Oh, and for this Open Post, I’d especially welcome any snarky comments headed Jean Fraud sKerry’s way. By now you probably know the drill. Link to this post in your own and trackback here. I’ll try to get all the tracked back posts up in an “Around and About” later.

Linked at Those Bastards!, NIF, Don Surber, who speaks for me as well when he says,

This is an open post… IDGAF who doesn’t like them. You worry about your little blog. I will promote mine.

heh. Oh, and also linked at Right Wing Nation, Choose Life! and others as the mood takes me, maybe. 🙂

Revisiting Pournelle’s observations…

I linked to some comments by Jerry Pournelle below, but for some reason, one portion of his comments I didn’t quote has been bring Harrison Bergeron back to haunt my thoughts all day…

“And there remains the ceaseless striving, with no peaceful end: is it any wonder that bureaucrats form feudal organizations and effectively end the striving and competition? Is it any wonder that the rise of the modern egalitarian state has produced the rise of bureaucracy and rule by bureaucracy?”

Any wonder at all? If bureaucrats had to demonstrate a genuine contribution to the good of society in order to keep their jobs, we could weed their ranks by 90% over night…

Oh, and DO pop on over and read Harrison Bergeron as well. It’s a very short story, and it’s also one of the few really good pieces by Kurt Vonnegut, IMO.

Of slightly more than passing note…

See Around and About Monday, Monday’s Featured Blog-and Open Post and Almost a “Guard the Borders” post (all below) for links to more good reading I’ve noticed.

This is a short roundup of recent ping-ins that may have slipped under the radar–worthwhile reads, all.

Peakah’s Pub mistook Teach Your Children Well for an Open Post and pinged in with “Front Page News“-and I’m glad he did cos there are some good reads listed in his link roundup.

TMH’s Bacon Bits only pinged me with Guard the Borders: What Is “Practical” Interior Enforcement, Anyway?, and that’s a shame, cos while it is a powerful post on an important topic, “Democrats Eat Their Own” Is Not News by new contributor, DL, is an equally good read.

The Florida Masochist brings the issue of Cindy Sheehan’s character-and those of her detractors-into focus with Tasteless. Indeed. 😉

And last but far from least is the collection of links posted at The Carnival of True Civil Liberties. Gribbit honors my submission with the label “important” and though I’d certainly agree (or I’d not have submitted it), I’d sooner lavish such a lable on some of the other submissions. Worthy reads, all.

Well, that covers early afternoon, here. Later.