Month: November 2009

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The “Father of the Constitution” Answers Roland Burris

Roland Burris, the Dhimmicrappic Senator from Illinois who apparently got his ConLaw knowledge from the same poisoned Marxist faux Crackerjack box as The 0! said this about the ObUmascare push to nationalize health insurance,

(CNSNews.com) – When asked by CNSNews.com what specific part of the Constitution authorizes Congress to mandate that individuals must purchase health insurance, Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) pointed to the part of the Constitution that he says authorizes the federal government “to provide for the health, welfare and the defense of the country.” In fact, the word “health” appears nowhere in the Constitution.

Now, most congresscritters simply assert that the “general welfare” clause found in the preamble justifies any old thing congrescritters want to do, but of course the “Father of the Constitution” demurs:

“With respect to the two words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.” –James Madison

And so there you have it: almost all congresscritters have violated their oaths of office to,

” …support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same… “

And they excuse their treason with such asshattery as Roland Burris’ stupid, illiterate comment. *feh* The House should impeach both themselves and the Senate, and the Senate should vote to convict. Sure, maybe a honest congresscritter that has attempted to be true to his oath of office would be caught in the gears, but that’d be a small price to pay. Of course, I expect reports of sub-zero temps in the most innner circles of hell (reserved of course for oath-breakers like congresscritters) before I hear reports of any such honest, forthright and ethical behavior from Congress.

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News of the Weird–Compgeeky Version

Well, not so much “news” as just a weird lil collection of personal compgeeky events. You have been warned.

ISP sent someone by to check my service outages/slowdowns. I offered to hand the guy a script, since he was new to the area (the regular tech who lives in the area was also in the neighborhood and I visited with him earlier). He gave me a “Huh-what?!?” kind of look. I then explained to him exactly what he would find with his test equipment. What he would find the current state of my connection to be–if it hadn’t already taken one of its sporadic nosedives–and what he would tell me when he was finished.

He gave me another look, then proceeded to directly verify everything I had already told him. He even did as others have done and escalated the situation to his supervisor and was told what I already knew he would be told.

“We’re working on it.”

Yeh. Since July.

I’ll just hand the script to the next guy. *heh*

Now, if that weren’t weird enough (it sure was for the poor tech. He seemed to wonder if perhaps I were psychic or something. *heh*), how about the little issue I had the other day patching MS XML 4.0 (needed because I–reluctantly–installed M$Office 2003). M$ Updates couldn’t see that I needed it, although Belarc Advisor and Secunia PSI both flagged the version that came with the software–and the version that was in place after ALL M$ Update patches to M$Office had been applied–as needing a specific patch. So, I tracked down the file that was necessary to effect the patch and downloaded it.

It refused to install. Bogged down unpacking the compressed install file.

*feh* M$.

Used 7Zip to unpack the thing and it installed just fine. Why the M$ exe couldn’t unpack–completely bogged–makes no sense, but having 7Zip around sure proves handy. (BTW, I never use Windows 7’s built-in compressed file viewer. Too inelegant and missing too many features. YMMV)

And then Thunderbird refused to start. Now, I run Thunderbird Portable off a flash drive. All my archived email in one handy folder, easy to back up by simply dragging the folder from the flash drive to an external hard drive. Can carry it around with me and access my email–with full archives–from any computer with USB ports enabled, which includes our local library.

Nice.

But after a reboot (following the M$ XML 4.0 install, but that likely had no connection), invoking thunderbird.exe wouldn’t start the app.

Weird.

Oh, me oh, my. What to do?

Simple. Reinstall the lil Thunderbird Portable app. The installation routine is very well-mannered and retained all my mail archives and customizations.

Then there was that strange little graphic artifact that appeared in the smack dab middle of my Win7 desktop the other day. Nothing I did seemed to affect it. All running processes were known to me. Multi-scans of the computer by installed and web services found no issues. Yet the artifact remained… until I rebooted. Computer was operating normally throughout. Logs on the router firewall noted no unusual traffic during the time it was present. Just a lil green box that went away on reboot. Sort of reminded me of,

Yesterday upon the stair
I saw a man who was not there
I saw him there again today
Oh my, I wish he’d go away

Gotta love Windows. *heh*

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Recommended Security Tool for Windows Users

Again, a “compgeeky” post, but one Windows users would do well not to skip.

Secunia PSI (Personal Software Inspector) is a tool from, obviously, Secunia–a highly-respected software security organization. Free for personal use (with some very minor and inconsequential to the average user limitations), Secunia PSI inspects the software installed on a Windows computer for known security issues, recommends fixes and even conducts the user to the proper place to download patches.

For Windows users, I consider it a “must have”. It’ll save the average Windows user tons of headaches down the road… provided the user actually… uses it. It’s not dummy-proof as it does allow users to turn off warnings about applications that require patching, but it’s certainly better than relying on Windows Updates alone, which, at best, patches only Microsoft products. When it catches the need for patching.

As an example, I thoughtlessly allowed a program to install its version of the Ask Toolbar. I knew better, but just clicked through (being “in a hurry” or distracted is no excuse). Secunia PSI notified me of the insecure app and the fact that it was unpatchable, so I simply uninstalled it. (BTW: if you have the Ask Toolbar taking up space in your browser, nuke it. Just sayin’. Go to Control Panel and uninstall it. Really.)

Now,

Secunia-PSI-01

See that yellow bar at the bottom? Yep. That’s when the Ask Toolbar was installed. Notice the “2 browsers are insecure”?

Secunia-PSI-02

Yep. Both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Internet Exploder: insecure and unpatchable. ‘S’all right. I ONLY use ’em to visit Microsoft’s site, and only when a page requires IE. The broswers I do use when I’m using Windows, Opera and Firefox, pass the Secunia PSI inspection for known vulnerabilities.

BTW, you notice I’ve included multiple links to the download page for Secunia PSI, right? Take the hint.

Micro-mini-update: Although it’s not primarily a security advisor tool, the venerable Belarc Advisor also lists patches to software–and missing patches–along with its other inventory of a Windows PC. Useful. Saves its inventory as an html file that can be posted, emailed, to tech, etc. Much preferred to Windows Device Manager for hardware info.

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Mid-Week Funny

Seen on Facebook:

Dear Mr. Grim Reaper, So far this year you have taken away my favorite dancer and entertainer Michael Jackson, favorite actor Patrick Swayze, and favorite actress Farrah Fawcett. Just so you know, my favorite politician is Barack Obama. Thank you.

Hmmm, reminds me of a lil ditty by W.H. Auden:

As poets have mournfully sung,
Death takes the innocent young,
The rolling-in-money,
The screamingly funny
And those who are very well hung.

Well, The 0! is certainly rolling in money, but he’s not all that young anymore, and I don’t have any idea how well hung he is, so everyone: please send him your best jokes. Two out of four ought to do the trick…

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A Timely Reminder

The Armed Geek linked to this Whizbang! post, and it’s worth passing along and commenting on, I think:

Who Do They Think They Are?

“There’s a trend emerging in American politics. I don’t think it’s a new one, but it’s growth is disturbing to me. And it’s the amazing hostility to the common people.”

Go read it. Now. I’ll wait for you to come on back. Go.

While a reverence for the “wisdom” of the common man is silly, even more silly–and dangerous–is the self-reverence our political masters engage in and the complete disregard and disdain for the views of those they supposedly represent. It is “They” who are the real problem in these (dys)United States nowadays. And I’ll tell you who they are, plainly.

We all know who the “They” of the Whizbang post THINK they are–those who deem themselves our political masters, our social and intellectual betters. Instead, “They” are themselves the scum of the earth, little minds wearing other peoples’ shopworn and discredited ideas with pseudo-intellectual pride, the self-enstupiated, self-absorbed glitterati whose entire lives are all hat, no cattle; all sizzle, no steak. “They” are the Beltway elites deafened by their own echo chamber, the vacuum-headed Hollyweird script readers and the Mass MEdia Podpeople. “They” all fluff each other in a never-ending circle jerk of self-congratulatory rape of our liberties.1

There is no way to dehumanize this “They” that “They” have not already claimed as their very own by their empty, bobble-headed, vile, venal2 behaviors.

And now that I’ve listed their good qualities…

*heh*

But still, remember this:

“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time… the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.”–Thomas Jefferson

Or, in Randall Thompson’s presentation of Jefferson’s thoughts on liberty, from “Testament of Freedom”:

[audio:http://www.thirdworldcounty.us/Media_Files/The-God-Who-Gave-Us-Life.mp3]

Or, for those not using Flash,

The God Who Gave Us Life

The bastards may destroy our lives, but apart from taking our lives, “They” cannot take our liberty… without our cooperation.

Don’t let the bastards wear you down.

Lastly, despite the destruction wrought on our society by the appeal to the lowest common denominator (I typoed, “demoninator” there. Freudian slip?) by the “They” seeking (apparently) to enstupiate the common man with toxic cotton candy (the end result of The Revolt of the Masses *sigh*), this:

[audio:http://www.thirdworldcounty.us/Media_Files/fanfare-common-man-excerpt.mp3]

And again, for non-Flash users,

Fanfare for the Common Man–excerpt

Despair is a deadly sin. Again: don’t let the bastards wear you down. “Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” as Dylan Thomas put it.

1BTW, the couple of vulgarities–verging on the obscene–I included in my indictment of “They” are just that: vulgarities. In the past, I’ve had some object to vulgarities such as that as “profanity” or some other subliterate appellation (“cursing”? *feh* Save me from burgeoning enstupiation and subliteracy!). I chose the specific vulgar comment consciously, because the very least, most inoffensive behavior of “They” is so far beyond the most offensive vulgarity I can imagine that it was just about the mildest way I had available to describe “They’s” obscene, evil, “…iniquitous, nefarious, sinful, vicious, wicked… ” etc. nature. Blame them, not me.

2“venal” is used here as shorthand for “mercenary; crooked, cutthroat, dishonest, unethical, unprincipled, unscrupulous; corrupt, debased, debauched, degenerate, degraded, demoralized, depraved, dissipated, dissolute, perverse, perverted, warped; bad, evil, immoral, iniquitous, nefarious, sinful, vicious, wicked, etc.”

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Green Chicken Stew

I posted this a few years ago, but since it’s soup and stew weather, and since I just put a batch of this in the slow-cooker (well, actually in the Wolfgang Puck rice cooker, but that’s another story), I thought I’d repost it.

This is a really, really simple recipe with a Southwestern flair. Since it’s mostly just “open cans, dump” it’s also quite fast to assemble. The only “cooking” required is to pre-cook some chicken.

Cook–any old way that’s easy or comfy for you–a chicken, or just cook 5-6 chicken thighs. White meat’s not as juicy and tasty, so I major in dark meat for this, but you can pick and choose for your own taste. I generally skin the chicken before cooking, but whatever suits you. Cooking the day before and store the chicken in the fridge–or even a week and freeze–then cool and de-bone the chicken.

Just assemble the ingredients listed in any order you want in a slow cooker:

Chicken, as above
1-28oz (or two 15oz) can of green enchilada sauce
2-4oz cans chopped green chiles
2-15oz cans white hominey
1-15oz can of cannellini beans
1-4oz can chopped mushrooms
1-chopped onion, pre-“sautéed” (the quotation marks are cos I “sautée” onions for such as this by placing them in a microwave safe container with a lil olive oil and nuke ’em for a minute or so. YMMV. 2 mins at half power works best in my microwave.)
about 2C water

You can feel free to add some “sautéed” minced garlic–do the garlic with the onions so as not to overcook the garlic–some freshly ground black pepper and even some cumin to taste. I do. Heck, I’ve also been known to add some Rotel’s Diced Tomato & Green Chilies for a lil added taste touch. But not the tomato and habaneros Rotel also sells. (Too much heat for my Wonder Woman.)

rotel

Crock pot as normally. Eat with (white, if you have ’em) corn chips, corn bread, lightly toasted corn tortillas, or whatever suits your fancy.

A couple of small notes: while I do rinse the cannelini beans, I do not rinse the hominy. While most folks do rinse the hominy, I’ve not found it adds any benefit to do so. 😉

This is a chicken “white bread” version of a pork posole recipe. If you prefer, you can pre-cook some pork chops, pork shoulder or whatever, and substitute that for the chicken. It’s just as good but with a slightly different flavor. 😉

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Tuesday Passing Shot

The 0!’s entire administration to date has been a Kabuki theater production written by Jean-Paul Sartre on crack, produced by Karl Heinrich Marx and Friedrich Engels (without benefit of the opiate of the masses), and directed by Chairman Mao.

For the American Sheeple, attendance and applause is mandatory. For the rest of us, the response is more complex…