It Ain't Easy Being An Oracle!

The "Oracle of Omaha" takes a good whacking for having his head up his ass and his hand in your pockets...and mine.

Rahmbo Rocks Chicago

Chicago Tribune: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on his performance in the Chicago Triathlon where he finished ninth out of 80 in his age group:

“You may say I’m unfit to be mayor, but you can never say I’m an unfit mayor."

OK, that's one of the better finishing quotes I've heard. Probably written by some speechwriter.

The news stories about the Chicago tri have me a little nostalgic. OK, I'm there next year!

Vertical Man Goes Vertical

Great weekend in Steamboat Springs, CO. Visited some favorite dining spots, hiked up to the gondola's top to work it all off. Perfect weather - warm days, cool nights. Right now my view is looking west, high over the Yampa Valley as the sun turns everything golden. Home tomorrow, work Tuesday.

While I'm at it, the Dems' new narrative is that it's a "Tea Party Downgrade." Ummm, OK. Not a "Wasteful Bail-Out Downgrade?" Not an "Expensive, Health Plan Downgrade?" Or a "Two Endless Wars Downgrade?" Right, it's an "Our taxes are too low downgrade!"

How silly of me and so nice of the usual, useful idiots to enlighten me.

Should Drugs Be Decriminalized?

Probably. Will they be? Doubtful.

Why not?

Don’t kid yourself. It has far less to do with proclamations about youthful morality than you think. The fight is really about which side in the ‘war on drugs’ gets to bank the spoils.

But first, a question: why aren’t the headlines full of lurid stories about gangs wearing Distiller A’s colors shooting it out with other gangs wearing Distiller B’s? Hasn’t happened since prohibition ended. Hmmm…

Think about it, and, as with most things, follow the money. And never, ever underestimate a civil servant’s instincts for self-preservation.

Who benefits from illegal drugs apart from the leaders of a few thousand crazed Mexican thugs?

The taxpayer-funded, anti-drug establishment, that’s who.

The Narco-Industrial Complex

A few decades ago, when the wars were in Korea and Viet Nam, it was called the ‘military-industrial complex.’ It’s a few generals and captains of industry sitting behind the lines, directing armies of underpaid foot soldiers doing the dirty work and the dying.

It’s a back-scratching web of those with power to tax and spend in support of an agenda: politicians, lobbyists, regulators, law enforcement officials, government employees, their unions and those in their orbit - the court system’s judges, defense attorneys and for-profit prison operators.

And we shouldn’t forget the vendors - the sellers of guns, Kevlar vests and night vision scopes to what has become a paramilitary operation.

Damn Hippies!

Who benefits from decriminalization? In short, not the vested interests, but lowlifes – today’s users and yesterday’s felons. The dealers. Growers. Farmers. Hippies. Immigrants. Entrepreneurs. College kids. Importers. Head shop owners. Hustlers. Weird pharmacies selling brownies.

Yikes. Who’d want that? Better to get rich fighting a losing battle than to declare ‘peace’ and watch your former enemy get rich!

But don’t worry. Our kids are safe. The good guys are winning, right? Well sure, they control the narrative.

(Full disclosure: I don’t use illegal drugs and wouldn’t if they were decriminalized. But as someone with a definite libertarian streak, I’m content to let you make all the dumb decisions you want. I’m also content to let you bear the consequences.)

Free Speech For Me and Thee and Thee

I'm an absolutist when it comes to free speech. The First Amendment says "Congress shall make NO laws..." It DOESN'T say "Congress shall make no laws...EXCEPT those laws that are anti-corporate, incumbent-protecting and election-controlling."

To me, in the absence of some clear and present danger (shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater, for example) NO law means NO law. Back off my message, bucko.

And so I was greatly cheered yesterday when the Supreme Court blasted a huge hole through the so-called McCain-Feingold campaign law banning corporations and labor unions from paying for “electioneering communications,” such as movies, newspaper ads, and the like, that support or oppose candidates.

I'll never understand McCain's willingness to lend his name to such obviously unconstitutional claptrap. It's bizarre that he ever thought such lunacy was constitutional. It's downright scary that 4 Supreme Court justices agree with him.

The antidote to speech you DISAGREE with is speech you AGREE with, not prohibitive laws stifling opinions. And with the rise of social media and networking, the ability of deep-pocketed organizations to "buy" elections with huge media budgets lessens by the day.

Pornographers enjoy near-total First Amendment protection, yet under McCain-Feingold the Sierra Club couldn't argue against, say, deforestation within 30 days of an election if one side or the other challenged the message as electioneering.

Yes, the marketplace of ideas can be rough-and-tumble. Yes, illogical arguments are raised, disturbed opinions voiced and disagreeable conclusions reached. The antidote to all of that is NOT to close the marketplace, but to admit that we've raised a generation of ninnies and nitwits, where uncomfortable arguments hurt "self-esteem" and challenging words represent grounds for legal action, not rhetorical testing.

Admit it, and do something about it.

I remember some Chicago-area Italian-American parents seeking a court order prohibiting a high school drama club from performing a play portraying SOME Italians as gangsters. What message does that send? Are we really THAT thin-skinned? The parents' time might have been better-spent putting on their own play portraying Italians as artists, inventors, writers and philosophers.

Of course that would have meant actually learning something about Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Boccaccio and Machiavelli. Why do that, why engage in the marketplace of ideas when all you REALLY need to know is your damn lawyer's phone number?

One Person's 'Activist' Is Another Person's 'Nag.'

We live in a wacky world, don't we? According to yesterday's Wall Street Journal, while west coast activists lobby for LOOSER restrictions on marijuana, an east coast mayor lobbies for TIGHTER restrictions on food-borne sodium.

So, more pot, less salt. Really? REALLY? Tell me I'm not alone here in noticing a bizarre symmetry.

Apparently, the Woodstock generation finally matured...into hypertensive, glaucoma-ridden loudmouths with too much power (east coast) and time (west coast) on their hands.

I'll Stop When You Do

Interesting how "Dubya" Bush was deemed responsible for everything from global warming to jock itch, yet, now that The Messiah's ascended to the throne, his ass-kissers plead for an end to "The Blame Game." Yeah right. I just spent 8 years learning the game's rules.

Say! There Are Bubbles From That Hole In The Ice!

Well, the lake iced over last night. So I can't take Camden the Freakin' Wonder Dog in the back yard any more, at least not until spring. He's sufficiently stupid to run down the hill, across the dock and onto the ice where he'd frolic and play...until the ice gave way and he found himself swimming in water only a miniscule degree above absolute zero.

And, heartless bastard that I am, I'd feel absolutely no compunction to rescue the IQ-challenged hound from his own folly. So to avoid y'all laying a huge guilt trip on me, I'm doing the next best thing and banning his sorry ass from the back yard until one of the following events happens: summer arrives, the ice melts, he grows some semblance of a doggie IQ, global warming becomes a fact, or The Goracle volunteers to serve as CtWD's own personal lifeguard.

If he's right about global warming it shouldn't be a very time consuming job.

"The $700 Billion Man Builds A Shed

From The Washington Post: if you're Neel Kashkari, what do you do after you've distributed $700 billion of TARP money, invested in 540 banks, implemented a $50 billion foreclosure prevention plan, endured Congress's rage and the blogosphere's savagery, and watched colleagues suffer heart attacks at their desk?

Find an anti-Washington hideaway, of course. Move to the Sierra Nevada mountains, watch shooting stars, listen to the coyotes howl and build a shed. I like this guy.

Olympics In Chicago? Well, Maybe Not!

Support dwindling for Chicago's Olympics 2016 bid. Hizzoner may not need to re-pave LSD after all. If the bid proceeds, I'll rent ya a really cool house.

The Court "Supreme."

So Judge Sotomayor's nomination is likely to be confirmed. Big deal. She's just a louder version of the nearly-invisible David Souter.

Future generations of law students will suffer most. Though they don't yet know it, they're condemned to slog through the opinions of TWO Supreme Court justices who, between them, couldn't carry William O. Douglas's coffee cup.

Somehow I expect the Republic will muddle through. And anybody stupid enough to go to law school goddamn well deserves what they get.

Global Warming Alert!

Funny, I don't remember the Goracle saying anything about curvy women in tight dresses, but things sure seem to be heating up!

Wait 'til the Prez gets home to Michelle...

So Letterman regrets saying certain things about the Palin daughters. Letterman? Is he still around? I thought he was dead or something.

Today's "Remove That Stick From Your A** Award" Goes To...

...this Missouri prosecutor. Hey, I hate the Blues as much as the next Chicago fan but, c'mon, not even the DUMBEST Blues fan (and there's tons of competition for THAT award) deserves legal hassles over some obscure election fraud law. In fact, s/he should be twice lauded - once for voting, and again for knowing how to write.

God I hate lawyers. Especially those paid by "the State" with nothing better to do than dream up inventive ways of prosecuting backwoods hillbillies.

What I'd Do About The Somali Pirates

So the Somali thug/pirates bagged another one, an American ship this time.

I dunno what's wrong with the world's navies. "Oh, the ocean's TOOOOO big! And the pirates are TOOOOO swift! We can't be EVERYWHERE!" Time to change tactics, dumbasses. Learning some history wouldn't hurt either.

In WW II, the Germans disguised "raiders" as peaceful cargo ships, flying the flags of neutral and allied nations. In reality these heavily armed warships roamed the world's oceans, preying at will on Allied shipping.

I'd follow the German model, were I in charge. I'd take 3 or 4 unassuming, otherwise unoccupied freighters, station on each 100 heavily-armed Special Forces bad-asses, and send 'em off to the east African shipping lanes. Somali thug/pirates, foolishly sensing easy prey and another big ransom, would be instantly liquefied. Blown to doll rags. Aired out, as it were.

Beyond the benefit of converting several dozen thug/pirates to squid food, there's the sense of caution such tactics would instill in all future terrorists. Spotting a ship, they'd be hard-pressed to tell whether the crew is a bunch of unarmed patsies or instant death.

That's how I'd handle it, were I in charge. I have no idea what the p*****s running this world will do.

Today's 'Just Shut Up' Award!

Isn't this the pot calling the kettle, well, crazy?

Or, as we used to say on the playground "Nyah, Nyah! Takes one to know one!"

Plain Talk. From A POLITICIAN?

In a speech yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder called Americans "...a nation of cowards" on racial issues.

Though some may not appreciate his choice of words, I think he's right.

Do As I Legislate, Not As I Do!

More tax problems for Obama's cabinet picks.  Geez.  And here I thought liberals LOVED taxes.  Oh wait.  They do...so long as someone ELSE pays 'em.  

Silly me.

Buh-Bye Blago!

Change We Can Believe In

So next week ushers in the era of change.  Hmmm.  Of course there's change...and then there's change.  You know, the kind we can believe in.  

Apparently we're changing the business of change, though I'm betting some things never change.  Like the Rabid Righties who still haven't forgiven Slick Willie.  Or the Loony Lefties who won't soon forgive Dubya, either.  

Of course change is best when it's happening to - or being forced on - someone else.  So to all of you, rabid and loony, I say leave me outta your life's plans, you little change-averse weirdos.

And now I sign off with a poem:

Change is cool, 

Change is neat.

But it's better for YOU,

Cuz my life's replete!

BWAHAHAHAHA!