Washington's Wake

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That’s what I think when I read this story in the NY Post.

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s State Department is spending $5.4 million to buy fine crystal stemware for American embassies

The story goes on to complain that the contract on that lavish gig is using a Swedish crystal maker instead of an American one that just happens to be in upstate NY.

I’m more incenses that the friggin state department is buying $5.4 million crystal on a no-bid contract at all! This story is yet another in a long line of examples that the people “in charge” don’t give a rat’s ass about you or me. All they care about is their creature comforts.

I’m betting that the genius that thought spending $5.4 million for crystal in a recession is probably the same genius that doesn’t know how to speak Russian. I’m so glad we have competent people running the joint…

We were told repeatedly ad nasueum, that the world would really start to love us if we would only drop that stiff, W.

Not so much.

Turkey’s foreign minister is warning of a breakdown in ties with the U.S. after a congressional committee approved a resolution branding the World War I-era killing of Armenians genocide.

And it’s a Muslim country to boot. I seriously thought and was told that Barack Hussein Obama would make us loved throughout the world with his election. As Insty says, who are the rubes anyway?

I’m grateful to be so wrong. I was feeling a lot of despair that Massachusetts couldn’t hold a fair election. I feel a tiny tiny bit of hope that maybe there’s a possibility of salvation for some small percentage of us.

Now to ruffle some feathers, I’m sure.

This is so convoluted, but a sign of the times. And a kind of flashback to another time in US history when unease and revolution brewed.

While in a lesbian relationship, a woman in Vermont gave birth to a child.  Then the woman, the mother, became an evangelical Christian and left her lesbian-ism, and partner, taking her then-18-month-old child with her.

So far so good.

Not for the partner.  The partner demanded visitation rights. When the mother refused, the partner demanded custody.

Long story short, she got her wish, and now the courts have decided it right that this 7-year-old girl goes to live with this stranger, her mother’s former lesbian lover.

Although Jenkins is not the biological mother and never tried to adopt the now seven-year-old Isabella, Vermont Judge William Cohen ordered Miller to turn the girl over to Jenkins this Friday.

“There’s a very serious constitutional issue regarding whether Virginia must enforce the Vermont court order,” [Attorney Steve Crampton] notes. “So the clock is ticking quite loudly right now, and it remains to be seen whether we can get any relief in Virginia.”

Virginia is a state that only recognizes the union of one man and one woman, and Crampton explains that “there is an enormous conflict between the laws of Vermont that have decreed a lesbian legal stranger to be a full parent and the laws of Virginia….”

In other words, now it becomes an issue of state’s rights: Will Virginia comply with Vermont’s  ruling, recognize Jenkins as the legal guardian, and return the child to her custody?  Or will Virginia, recognizing only man-woman unions as legal, grant safe haven to this pair of fugitives?

Apparently the mother and child have little confidence in the latter outcome as they have “disappeared” since the ruling.  Honestly, I would have too.

This has been a hell of a year and I’m sure the upcoming year will be as interesting as the last. So, enjoy today and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

I will be taking part in the national strike on Jan 20th. I urge you to as well.

I urge each of you to go out into rushhour and drive VERY slow or just park in the highway. Block traffic.

I know we’re all a little outraged about the vet that just wants to fly his flag. I know I certainly am, but one thing keeps niggling in my psyche – why does it matter that he’s a vet?

Look, I know he earned it. I’m well aware of that. It is atrocious that we even have to have this discussion, but really it’s more insane than it seems at first.

The media, hell everyone, is focusing on his status as a hero. Well, yes, he IS a hero. A bona fide dyed in the wool real as real hero. Nothing can ever take that away, that’s for sure. But, for the sake of this argument – why does that matter?

In my opinion, every man woman and child that loves this country has a right to display that flag if they wish to do so. The idea that some weasley little homeowners association thinks they have the right to say no is just as awful if they’re telling a 9=year-old as a 90-year-old, a felon or a hero, a atheist or a jew. It seems to me that flying the flag is a right that those heroes fought for, not for themselves, but for all of us. And there are heroes who gave their life for that right, and this disrespects them as much as it does this genuine greatest of greats.

Yes, I’m disgusted, but I’m disgusted not just for this guy, but for all those other guys who are resting in Arlingon, Normandy and Pearl Harbor.

I am so freakin’ fed up with the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Anyone out there that thinks it’d be a lovely place to live – you’re an idiot.

Yesterday I decided to renew my license – not even the last minute – so I go to the Registry of Motor Vehicles ready to fork over $50 for the pleasure and priviledge of a MA Driver’s license. I get the paper, fill the paper out, get the number to wait in line, wait in line 45min (though the paper said the wait was 20min) and finally get to the unenthused lady. She types in my drive’s license, prints something, hands it to me and says, “You have to take care of those parking tickets first”

I look at them, and remember one of them, and go pay it. The other is in the town of Ayer, where I haven’t been for 20 years. I am stymied. I drive to Ayer.

Go to the clerk’s office, only to find – she has left to go to a wake. I need to come back later. I leave my info, so she can look up the ticket and let me know the amount and such. This morning, rather than drive all the way back to ayer and find out she’s out again, or I’m missing something i need, I call first. She gives me a number of their management company (they farm the ticket collection out) and tells me they should be able to help me.

I call the number, the girl asks me for the license plate of the car – “I have no idea what car it was” I say, She asks me for a date, “I have no idea when this happened”, she asks me my name, and bingo the ticket comes up, Nov 22, 1990. I paid it, but I didn’t pay the late fee.

I have no choice at this piont, I can’t dispute it til the end of the month, and my license expires before that. I pay the $25 + $3 fee to do it over the phone.

So let me get this straight. I’ve renewed my license 4-5x in that period and it never showed up. I have received no notice about this, and it’s 20 years ago. Turns out that now that Massachusetts is nearly bankrupt (thanks Romneycare and Deval “Girlyvoiced Wussified ass” Patrick) they’re being a lot more fascist about collections on old tickets.

It’s not just me, a friend of my wife had the same thing happen to him.

There really isn’t much recourse, it’s a total scam – and if you ask me, it’s completely illegal. Collecting these things 20 years later, when any records you might have had are long gone and you have no recollection of the event, totally impossible to fight it. In fact, the way the system is set up, you won’t even know about it until it’s too late to fight it without other problems – like an expired license ($100 fine)

I also noticed that in the state of massachusetts the penalty for blowing a stop sign is greater than punching a random stranger in the face. Seriously.

Blow a stop sign in massachusetts, where it is mandatory that you have car insurance, you’ll get a ticket for $100… doubled in work zone. Ok, that doesn’t sound so bad. but then, for the next 7 years the insurance company can charge you a surcharge of a couple of hundred bucks. A $100 ticket costs about 1500-2000 once you factor in the higher rate you have to pay and the surcharges.

The penalty for punching a random stranger is a $1000. And it’s done right then.

If you ask me blowing a stop sign, speeding, etc etc, sure they’re bad. You shouldn’t do it, but it shouldn’t be an economic disaster. costing 3% of an average Joe’s salary. Frankly, if someone punched me in the head, I’d hope they’d get a lot more than a $1000 fine.

It seems to me that the penalty and the crime are messed up to the point where I wonder how this type of thing is even legal. but then, who can sue? And who is going to spend thousands in legal fees for blowing a stop sign? It’s just a shakedown.

Don’t believe for one second that you’re free in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They own you and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it. Just pay the protection money and shut the hell up.

I found the following chart and thought it really scary that there were so few people with experience in the real world that are now suddenly in charge of the real world.

Hey, what could go wrong?

Yes, HRH The Sun King’s cabinet has fewer than 10% of it’s appointees with ANY real experience in the private sector. That means they’ve either been in academia, I’m looking at you Helicopter Ben or have lived their lives completely in the government, right Mr Vice President?

All in all, a very depressing graph to think about. So many people who are completely cluess about how the world runs are now in charge. No wonder we’re doomed. As the perfessor says, the best we can hope for is a Carter rerun.

KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED:  Your honor, I will represent myself. Please hand over all classified documents  and evidence and transcripts of comments extracted under torture.

JUDGE: Umm… you can’t have classified documents.

KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED: Then none of that evidence is admissible and you must dismiss the case against me and release me immediately.

JUDGE: Oh, Good point. Case Dismissed.