The Empty Mind©™

The Panama Syndrome

2016-09-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

(It's been way too long, and we really should have been keeping this up. Not being able to afford Internet access has certainly been a part of it, but we really do need to make more of an effort to record the events of the day.)

A few days ago, Mr. Chips was remarking about how -- all scandals to the contrary notwithstanding -- there were still far too many ~~idiots~~ voters were all too willing to vote for Herself based on nothing more than her gender. Apparently, they've learned nothing from the last seven years.

In the midst of this, The Old Sarge spoke up and reminded those assembled of what we had said about Milquetoast Romney during the 2012 "election" cycle. There was any number of good little "Mormons" who were voting for Romney, not because he was the most qualified -- which was somewhat doubtful anyway -- but because he was one of them.

It was at this point that we mentioned an incident that had happened back during the FDR regime. During a meeting, one of those present (the Secretary of the Treasury?) made a remark concerning the head honcho in Panama: "He's a no-good son of a bitch, but he's our no-good son of a bitch."

Far too many Americans fall into this trap. Just because he's "our guy" doesn't mean that he's the best guy.

As distressing as it is to admit it, we must confess to being willing to vote for The Donald this go-around. Scott Walker really was our first choice, but the Establishment eliminated him early on. Ted Cruz -- with all of his foibles -- was #2, but he got scuttled. Gary Johnson was a fairly good governor of New Mexico, but he's caved in to the wrong interests. Not to mention that the Libertarian Party has been taken over by the libertines and other assorted special interest groups and is no longer beholden to the concept of individual freedom.

(That notwithstanding, we remain four-square in favor of Johnson's inclusion in the upcoming Presidential "debates". In addition to injecting the random libertarian idea into the proceedings, it might finally put to rest all the blather about starting a "third party". For the uninformed, the Libertarian Party is the de facto third party, having more candidates in office and running for office than all the other minor parties combined.)

Having A Blast In Boston

2013-04-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

Apparently, the participants and spectators at yesterday's Boston Marathon got a bit more than they bargained for. As anyone might guess, everything worth knowing was reported within the first five minutes of "coverage". Of course, that's never stopped the nescient nitwits of the "news" organizations from nattering on and on ad nauseum with all their speculations and commentary.

"Blessed is he who has nothing to say and refrains from giving wordy evidence of the fact." -- G. B. Shaw

Just once, we'd like to see one of the local TV stations pre-empt one of their ubiquitous promos to give a thumbnail sketch of what happened and then say "As soon as any pertinent details become available, we'll pass them along."

Never happen, though.

Anyone starting an office pool on how long it's going to take for some grandstanding politician to use this minor tragedy to infringe yet further on our rights and freedoms?

As a side note, one cannot help but wonder how long it will be for some enterprising soul to start marketing a t-shirt that says "I had a blast at the Boston Marathon".

Another Epic "Liberal" Fail

2012-12-07T11:29:00.001-07:00

(H/T to The Old Sarge for passing along this graphic, which originated on Twitter.)

Trust a cretin like Piers Morgan to be unable -- or unwilling -- to acknowledge the difference between facts and opinions. Anyone who has read The Federalist Papers -- that being a rather minute percentage of the American populace -- would be familiar with the reasoning behind the inclusion of the 2nd Amendment. Of course, "liberals" don't believe in reason, relying as they do on feeeeeeling to get them thru life.

What's truly ludicrous is PM's use of "Fact." at the end of his rant. It would be one thing to include "IMO" or some such, but this betrays his arrogance rather nicely.

Quote Of The Year

2012-07-16T08:21:00.002-07:00

(Hat tip to The Old Sarge for pointing this one out.)

From Sunday's Times Free Press:

"You know that whole teach-a-man-to-fish philosophy? I hate that. You see someone drowning? You don't stand on the shore and teach them to swim." -- Rebecca Whelchel, Executive Director of Chattanooga's Metropolitan Ministries, which provides services for the poor and unemployed.

Read James 2:15-16 for a similar view.

More Injustice

2012-06-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

This story is revolting.

Yet another case of a false rape accusation, this time costing an innocent man 10 years of his life and earning his lying accuser $1.5 million.

Despite the lack of any evidence of rape, his "lawyer" (a women, by the bye, who should be disbarred) advised him to take a plea bargain.

To make things even more surreal, the accuser "friended" him on Fakebook after he was released from prison, met with him, and wound up admitting that the accusation had been false. But she wouldn't talk to prosecutors because she didn't want to lose her windfall.

Here's what should -- but probably never will -- happen: She should go to jail for the exact length of time that he did, down to the minute. And she should pay him the entire $1.5 million, with interest.

Perhaps we should name an award for Brian Banks. It's the least anyone could do.

'Tis The Season

2011-11-29T09:46:00.001-07:00

Great quote from The Old Sarge:

"I love Christ, but I hate Chri$tma$."

Amen.

And The Award Goes To:

2011-09-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

Whoever can come up with a credible futuristic sci-fi story beginning with:
"After the disbanding of that miserably failed experiment known as the United Nations...."

Wrong Way Around

2011-08-30T07:16:00.002-07:00

It looks like someone got the line of cause-and-effect backwards with this one.

From where the rest of us sit, it looks more like a belief in "climate change" is caused by mental illness.

Comments

2011-08-23T11:27:00.002-07:00

Uh-oh.

The Old Sarge just took us to task for having the Comments unnecessarily limited. The problem has been fixed as of a few minutes ago. Sorry for any inconvenience.

How Do You Spot A Liberal?

2011-08-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

It's simple. They're the ones who "believe in" UFOs, but don't "believe in" guns.

Interview Question

2011-08-05T10:39:00.002-07:00

Remember how, in job interviews, the interviewer always winds up asking "Do you have any questions?"?

Try this one on for size. Next time she asks that, simply respond with: "What is your procedure for resolving personnel disputes, and what specific safeguards do you have in place for protecting the rights of those who might be falsely accused of wrongdoing?".

Try to keep a straight face while she squirms and stammers. ;-)

Sounds Like A Good Deal

2011-07-13T10:04:00.002-07:00

The US gummint has threatened to withhold ~~bribe money~~ "economic aid" from Pakistan if Pakistan doesn't get with the program and start actually doing something about terrorists on the Afghan border. In retaliation, Pakistan threatens to pull its troops back from the border.

Let's see if we have this right: the US saves $800 million in ~~bribe money~~ and Pakistan moves its do-nothing troops away from the border.

Sounds like a win for the US taxpayers.

A Question

2011-04-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

For all the "liberals", "Progressives", socialists, communists, Marxists and other statists:

Is there any aspect of life -- any aspect at all -- that you're willing to keep the government out of? Anything?

More Stupidity

2011-04-21T11:43:00.002-07:00

As further proof our the depths of stupidity to which our society has sunk, one need only look at the way in which the apostrophe is now being mis-used. It's bad enough that hardly anyone knows how to use a hyphen or a comma anymore. But the ubiquitous use of "'s" to form a plural is getting to be a bit much. We recall seeing the "advice" some time back of "when it doubt, use it".

How about "when in doubt, find out"?

Nah, that's be too much for today's morons. Might cause 'em to feeeeeeel bad.

Right Idea, Wrong Place

2011-02-23T11:06:00.001-07:00

So... Harry Reid wants to outlaw prostitution in Nevada. Not a bad idea, except he's starting in the wrong place. He should start in Washington, DC. In the government.

As Pres. Reagan so aptly pointed out: "They say that politics is the second-oldest profession. And it bears a strong resemblance to the first."

(Of course, this does beg the question: Prositution is a combination of sex and free enterprise. Which of the two does he oppose?)

This Is A Big Help

2010-11-16T19:10:00.002-07:00

It seems the town of Roselle Park, NJ has passed an ordinance making it illegal to sleep in public. Per the Chief of Police, this is "to help assist the police in addressing the increasing problem of homeless people sleeping on benches".

Right. Because fining poor people and/or throwing them in jail is so much more efficacious than helping them find suitable shelter.

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." -- Anatole France

Rope. Tree. Bureaucrat. Some assembly required.

Indecision 2010

2010-11-03T04:37:00.003-07:00

OK, so it's all over but the shouting.

You don't really think things are going to change much, do you?

Good. As long as we're clear on that.

As the late Paul Harvey used to say: "There's no use worrying. Nothing's going to come out all right."

Health Alert!

2010-10-21T05:39:00.002-07:00

The Centers for Disease Control has issued a warning about a virulent new strain of this old disease. The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectem. It's pronounced "Gonna re-elect 'em", and has terrible health consequences.

The disease is contracted through dangerous and high-risk behavior involving putting one's cranium up one's rectum. Many victims contracted it in 2008, but now most people -- after having been infected for the past 1-2 years -- are starting to realize how destructive this sickness is.

It's sad because Gonorrhea Lectem is easily cured with a new drug just coming on the market called Votemout. The first dose is available this year, with a follow-up booster available in 2012. Those afflicted with Gonorrhea Lectem are encouraged to not engage in such high-risk behavior again; otherwise, it could become permanent and eventually wipe out all life as we know it.

Several states are already on top of this -- e.g., Virginia and New Jersey, and apparently now Massachusetts -- with many more seeing the writing on the wall.

Request widest dissemination of this important alert to anyone who is still capable of rational thought.

The Pigeons Come Home

2010-09-24T17:21:00.002-07:00

Even though we normally read only linked excerpts of his columns, Victor Davis Hanson offers up an excellent analysis of the Democrats' current dilemma. After laying the blame for their failures on Bush, conservatives in general, the rich, Christians, and just about anyone else to the right of Karl Marx, they've finally gotten around to blaming The Empty Suit.

It's truly sad to watch this cannibalistic self-destruction, but to paraphrase The Iron Lady (Maggie Thatcher) the problem with liberalism is that after a while, you run out of other people to blame.

Being incapable of seeing the problem staring at them from the mirror, liberals would prefer to believe that the rest of us "just don't understand" their message. Heaven forfend that they might finally come to the conclusion that we do indeed understand their message -- we simply don't agree with it.

But then, liberalism was never about rational thinking anyway, so what do you expect?

A Fitting Tribute

2010-09-07T05:36:00.002-07:00

You can't make this stuff up. The Los Angeles Unified School District has decided to name a new school partly after failed Presidential candidate and environmental whacko Algore. Adding to the irony is its being built on land contaminated by old underground storage tanks.

But it gets better. This isn't just any old government school. This one is called the Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental "Sciences", with Algore getting second billing to the late environmental hysteria monger Rachel Carson.

And there's more! There's a working oil well operating right across the street!

About the only improvements we can think of would be to contract out the school cafeteria to McDonald's and have the school song written by Twisted Sister.

Weekend At Bernanke's

2010-09-02T00:46:00.003-07:00

Oh, great. The Fed chairman is set to is set to testify to Congress that what this country needs in order to get out of the mess we're in is more of the same nonsense that got us into it in the first place.

There is, of course, no such thing as "too big to fail". Just like the little guys, the big guys should be allowed to suffer the consequences of their actions. And this includes not just the government, but quasi-governmental agencies like the Fed. What we need in this country is not more of the same, but something different.

A good start would be replacing Bernanke with Sheila Bair. Her take on things:

"Never again should taxpayers be asked to bail out a failing financial firm," Bair told community bankers in a speech in March. "It's time that the big players understand that they sink or swim on their own."

Just like the little guys.

Comment Of The Year

2010-08-17T10:20:00.002-07:00

Normally, we like to stay out of the "Battle Of The Sexes", but commenter ButtonPusher over at Vox Popoli summed things up quite well:

"Every time I hear a woman trot out that tired trope "It's a womans' prerogative to change her mind" I make it a point to correct them by saying "It's EVERYONES prerogative to change their mind, it is only women that think they can change their mind, usually at the most inopportune of times, and not have to suffer the consequences and usually without a thought to the consequences others must suffer." The looks I get in return are priceless."

Definitely worth remembering. And using, as occasion permits. Just be sure to duck.

Quote Of The Week

2010-07-24T17:20:00.002-07:00

(We really should cut back on this. Ol' Travis is getting way too much attention here. Which wouldn't be A Bad Thing if only we could conclude a non-aggression pact with him.)

This week's quote involves yet another government idiot (Oops! Redundancy Alert!) who apparently has a solution in search of a problem.

The money quote:

When you’re using stolen money, no idea is too stupid to pay for.

Amen and amen.

A Voice From The Dust

2010-07-14T10:39:00.002-07:00

Well, dead people vote, so why shouldn't they do a little electioneering?

Let's hope the old gal gets her wish and Dingy Harry winds up being plain old Mr. Reid in January.

Quote Of The Month

2010-07-08T06:32:00.001-07:00

The esteemed Travis is at it again.

The money quote:

Muslims build fire bombs to use against women and children.

Westerners build medical technologies.

Best. Comparison. Ever.

This is why Muslim society is failing.