Jim Webb

The guy says he's only "exploring" whether or not to run for Prez in 2016, and he seems to be a truly decent human being, but...

First, never let the facts get in the way of a good slogan.

But second, we really don't need another candidate who just sounds good.  

Add a little bullshit - a little - and the roses grow better.  But if all you start with is bullshit, then try not to act too surprised when we see you as just another Bullshit Marketeering Creation spouting cutesy little bromides.  (Hey - if you think that crap is good Tweet material, then you don't get to bitch at me about fucking up my metaphor)

Anyway, I'm not the one running for office.  

We deserve better - try harder.

Where's The Outrage?

From Deseret News, via HuffPo:

A Utah high school student nearly launched a shooting rampage but a classmate saw his loaded gun and prevented a tragedy on Monday, according to police.

The student who saw the gun told a school resource officer who apprehended the allegedly armed teenager, thwarting a potential shooting at Fremont High School in Plain City, Utah, according to Fox Salt Lake City. The school was evacuated.

The 16-year-old suspect was arrested and taken to a juvenile detention facility, according to Desert News.

He allegedly admitted to police that he wanted to shoot a girl with whom he'd had a relationship and then open fire on others, according to the New York Daily News.

"We do not think that there were any additional students who were armed," Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Lane Findlay told KUTV. "It appears to be a lone student."

The teen, who has not been identified because he is a minor, faces charges of possession of a weapon with intent to assault, possession of a firearm in a restricted area and possession of a firearm by a minor.

But wait just a durn minute - the kid with the gun hadn't done anything but exercise his god-given right to keep and bear arms. Why is the "hero student who stopped a potential shooting incident" getting away with this blatant and unwarranted imposition of Nanny State tyranny?

How did anybody know for sure - before anything happened - that the kid with the gun was intending to do anything other than making sure he could defend himself and his schoolmates against somebody else?

Where's the NRA when you really need 'em?

Happy Zappadan

Tonite (Bummernacht) marks the end of the 21st year since our dearly demented Brother Frank split the scene.  And tomorrow begins Zapandan 2014.  Blessed be the Sheiks and the Weasels and the Pygmy Ponies, and all the rest.

There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we'd all love one another. --Frank Zappa

Cosmik Debris:

Today's Modern Policing

Hard to imagine why 'conservatives' haven't been totally maniacal about this shit - complete with brain foam erupting from their ears and every pore and follicle of their skull covers.  

Why has this not registered even the tiniest little blip on the Gubmint Conspiracy radar?

WaPo piece by Gene Robinson:

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, in 2013 there were 461 “justifiable homicides” by police — defined as “the killing of a felon by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty.” In all but three of these reported killings, officers used firearms.

The true number of fatal police shootings is surely much higher, however, because many law enforcement agencies do not report to the FBI database. Attempts by journalists to compile more complete data by collating local news reports have resulted in estimates as high as 1,000 police killings a year. There is no way to know how many victims, like Brown, were unarmed.

By contrast, there were no fatal police shootings in Great Britain last year. Not one. In Germany, there have been eight police killings over the past two years. In Canada — a country with its own frontier ethos and no great aversion to firearms — police shootings average about a dozen a year.

If you pay any attention to the stories of Sherlock Holmes or Colombo or House or Scooby-fucking-Doo, then you know mysteries get solved when the hero sleuth manages to put one bit of info together with a coupla other bits of info, and suddenly everything starts to make sense.

Here in USAmerica Inc, it almost seems like somebody wants to keep us from putting certain bits of info together.

And in case this one slipped past ya - the NSA (eg) demands we shit-can our civil rights and allow them to put together all manner of bits of info.  

So anyway, how is it that in a system of Self-Government, regular people are always having to push rocks up the hill while a shrinking number of very privileged snoots are always hanging out at the top telling us we should just be grateful for the banana peels they're tossing our way?

It's a wonderment.

A Crowning Achievement

The Daily Show
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Here's what I'd like to think: When you've twisted and warped your entire world into an elegant and obvious parody of yourself, it has to be over for you.  

That's what I'd like to think.

Go Places, Do Things

I have to wonder tho' - by thinking there's some place else we can go, we can continue the rationalization that it's OK for us not to take good care of this place.

Undercurrent

So, 5 guys - the receiver corps - who play for the St Louis Rams did the Hands-Up-Don't-Shoot thing when they came out of the tunnel during introductions yesterday.



Which BTW just continues a long proud tradition of Americans standing up for what's right, and being unafraid to speak the truth.



I remember thinking back then that it wasn't cool for Carlos and Smith to do that, but I was fortunate enough to have people in my life to present an alternative viewpoint - to teach me that ya gotta take your shots whenever the chance comes along.  Powerful people are 'in charge' and they need everybody to stay in line, and if staying in line makes permanent losers out of a significant bunch of Americans who're supposed to be getting exactly the same chance as everybody else, then somebody has to have the balls to step outa that line; somebody has to throw a little sand in the gears; somebody has to take one small moment to remind us that all anybody really wants is for this country to try a little harder to live up to its promises.

Anyway, then the Rams hung 52 on the Dog-Ass Raiders.  

And Dallas lost.

And my Donkeys beat KC to stay on top in the AFC West.

Pretty good Sunday.

A Cop's Eye View

I copied this whole post at Democratic Underground.  The author says he asked his nephew about Darren Wilson killing Mike Brown. Take it or leave it according to your own bent.

Not only is he a 29 year cop, he is the third highest ranking officer in the county that he works in. I asked him about this. Being the Republican that he is, I expected him to jump to Darin Wilson's defense. He had this to say.

He would not say it was a racial thing because he doesn't know. He did say he read all of the reports and the grand jury testimony.

1- He said at very least Wilson is completely incompetent. That you never get out of the car by yourself if you know there is going to be a physical confrontation with an unarmed person. Especially if you were in Wilson's words, "afraid" of the guy.

2- He said Wilson should have let Brown go, followed him as far as he could in the car as he called for back up. If he had to, arrest him later.

3- He had no business firing once Brown was down on the ground. He fired four shots too many even if you believe his story.

4- It is unheard of to leave the guy laying in the street for four and a half hours.

5- If all of this was in accordance to Wilson's training, an idiot trained him.

6- Brown's family will get a huge settlement from Ferguson because if this goes to civil trail it will cost them many millions more.

What my nephew thinks happened is that Wilson got into an argument with the guy, got out of his car to whip his ass. Quickly realized he bit off more than he could chew, so he shot the guy.

Take it for what it's worth.

Today's Wow

I'm something of a Sapio-Sexual, so I think any Fem-i-Nerd is kinda hot anyway, but holy crap.  If STEM courses are populated with women like this one, I suddenly have reason for hope.

Merry Mythmas