This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: “Teh Stoopid”

  • Another NY Weapon Seizure

    Well, it seems as if NY authorities are at it again.  They’ve confiscated yet another weapon from a state citizen.

    This case was a bit different than the norm, though.

    Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office officials confiscated the weapon from Brian Malta.  Seems as if he’d fired it, albeit while loaded with blank charges, towards neighboring homes during a dispute with neighbors.

    The weapon confiscated was a Civil War cannon.  Seems Malta had aimed it in the direction of his neighbors’ homes and fired it (with powder charge and wadding only) during his dispute with his neighbors.

    Yeah, firing a freaking cannon towards someone’s house – even if only powder and wadding – is likely to get you a visit from the police, as well as an escorted ride to the station.  Dumbass.

    Malta was charged with 3 counts of harassment and 3 counts of menacing.  He was arrested and later released on bail.

    No, the amount of his bail wasn’t set at $5150.  Though that might have been apropos.  (smile)

  • MOH Politics

    So what’s this from Fox News? Pentagon probe finds Petraeus sought downgrade of hero Army captain’s Medal of Honor

    Something is rotten in Denmark…….the Pentagon, but then we could have guessed that.

    A Pentagon probe into the mishandling of hero Army Capt. William Swenson’s Medal of Honor nomination found retired Army Gen. David Petraeus had sought to downgrade it, but shed no light on why the soldier’s file was scrubbed from military computers and never passed up the chain of command

    At least Swenson finally got what he earned, and I’m glad Duncan Hunter isn’t letting this go just yet….

    It is extraordinarily disconcerting that the facts surrounding Swenson’s Medal of Honor nomination, specific to how it was handled and subsequently lost, still cannot be resolved,” Hunter wrote.

  • Déjà Screwed

    I swear, sometimes I think every freakin’ day is Groundhog Day when it comes to our Federal government.  They simply don’t seem to learn a damn thing from past fiascos.

    Well, at least the current Administration doesn’t.

    Remember the Lifeline fiasco I wrote about the other day – that “free phone” program where the Federal government depended for years on unchecked self-certification to determine eligibility?  Remember how well that worked out?

    Wanna guess how the Federal government is going to determine whether people qualify for tax credits under the new Patently Phoney Patient Privacy and Absurd  ‘Affordable’ Care Abomination Act next year?  C’mon – take a guess.

    But hey, I’m gonna be a hardass here.  You only get one guess.

    If you guessed “self-certification with no requirement for backup documentation or cross-checking” – AKA the “honor system” – give yourself a freaking gold star.  ‘Cause that’s exactly how the Federal government plans to hand out PPACA-related tax credits next year.

    Until last year, that’s the same method the Federal government used to determine eligibility for Lifeline phones.  Based on early indications from imposing cross-checking and requiring annual re-certification, looks like that program had about a 41% fraud rate.

    It’s also how the Federal government determines eligibility today for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).  That program is estimated to lose 20-25% of its total annual outlays to fraud.

    Ya know, I kinda think I’m seeing a pattern here.  But maybe it’s just me.

    Predictably, the FBI expects to see fraud related to this new tax credit – a LOT of fraud.  They’re currently estimating we’ll see on the order of $20 billion in healthcare tax credit fraud next year.  I think that might be in the ballpark – for the first year.  Then it will skyrocket.  And it’s possible that estimate could be way low for the first year, too.

    Looks like it really is “Here we go again.”  And remember:  that’s yet another “bennie” to the US taxpayer, courtesy of the PPACA.  So just grit your teeth and bend over.

    Yeah, that’s courtesy of the PPACA, too.

  • Alligator mouth overloads hummingbird a$$

    If you ever wondered what that phrase meant, here is a graphic depiction;

    She lasted a good long time, but not as long as she claimed she would. And she’s wearing a 1st Cav patch.

    Thanks to 1AirCav69 for sending the link.

  • Kokesh pleads guilty

    We’ve been following the case of Adam Kokesh, a former and vocal member of the Iraq Veterans Against the War who loaded a shotgun a few blocks from the White House on July 4th this year for a video camera. He’s been languishing in jail for about four months after Virginia police raided his house and seized a measure of illicit drugs.

    ROS sends us a link to the Washington Post which reports the latest developments;

    Kokesh’s impromptu plea came during an unscheduled hearing, just two weeks after Kokesh pleaded not guilty Oct. 24 to the charges and told Judge Patricia A. Broderick that he was exercising his constitutional rights. Kokesh, who had grown a long, thick beard while in custody, also announced that he was replacing his attorney, who had been involved in the case since Kokesh’s arrest.

    A trial was set for Nov. 18, and Kokesh’s supporters had been advocating for jury nullification in his case.

    But on Wednesday, standing next to his new attorney, Kokesh pleaded guilty to carrying a rifle or shotgun, possession of an unregistered firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition. In a separate case, Kokesh pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of marijuana in the District.

    Kokesh is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 17. Broderick ordered Kokesh to stay out of the District and said he must report in with supervising authorities weekly. The judge also ordered that Kokesh not possess any firearms. Kokesh faces a maximum of more than six years in prison on the combined charges.

    I guess that four months in the hoosegow did him good – he’s finally owning up to his misdeeds and taking his punishment. All of those other things that we’ve watched him do over the years enticed him to up the ante with each new antic. I’m sure the judge will probably just give him time served, but maybe that was enough.

  • About That “Wonderful” Federal Lifeline Phone Program . . .

    Many of you doubtless have doubts and misgivings about the “Lifeline” program – the Federally subsidized program to provide basic phone service to the “poor”.  I for one certainly do.

    The program is sometimes derisively referred to as the “Obama phone” program.  That’s a misnomer.  The program dates to 1985, during the Reagan administration.  It was begun as a way to subsidize emergency phone service for the poorest of the poor.

    It’s funded from the “universal service fee” – one of those incomprehensible mandatory fees tacked onto the phone bills of paying customers.  (IMO those fees are intentionally incomprehensible to hide what they’re being used to fund, but that’s another story . . . . )

    Originally the Lifeline program was landline-only.  But in 2005, the Bush administration opened the program to cell phones.

    “Really bad idea, sir.”

    From there, soon things began to go off the rails – badly.  During the last few years, program costs have skyrocketed.  Costs went from around $800 million in 2008 to roughly $2.2 billion in 2012.

    (more…)

  • YGBSM!!

    Obama right now, where Obama is is right around where Reagan was, right around where Nixon was. There, he’s no more left than those, those, those Republicans.

    . . . Obama’s right around where Bob Dole is. They’re very similar, you know? There’s not much of a difference there.

    So sayeth that great “sage for the ages”, Rob Reiner.  You probably remember him best as “Mike Stivic” from the 1970s TV show All In the Family.

    So, you say Obama’s politically right around where Nixon and Reagan were?  And about the same politically as Dole?

    Yeah, right (pun noted and intended).  Uh-huh.  Riiiiiiiight.  Sure, fella.

    Hell, even Edith ain’t buying that one.  (smile)

    Apparently Archie Bunker was dead-on-target when he chose the nickname for Reiner’s character on the show – but was talking about Reiner himself, not the character.  Think much, Rob?

    GMAFB.  And quit p!ssing on my leg and claiming it’s rain, too.

  • Stupid Terrorist Tricks

    Headline says it all:

    Suicide Bomber Blows Himself Up on Empty Mediterranean Beach

    Seems as if he was observed and chased away from the hotel he was apparently targeting.  So he fled to an empty beach nearby – and executed his one-way mission.  Solo.

    A second suicide bomber, possibly in a separate and unrelated attack, was reportedly noted and disarmed by Tunisian security forces before he could execute his mission (or anyone else).  Good job, guys.

    Wonder if you still get “72 virgins” if you only take yourself out – or fail in your mission completely?  (smile)