Fuck those jackbooted authoritarian douche-bags. Poor taste it was, threat is was not (not even fucking close!)

This is why I blog under a completely false name.

Read Borepatch

True then, true now

There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician who portrays himself as "caring" and "sensitive" because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that he's willing to try to do good with other people's money. Well, who isn't? And a voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he'll do good with his own money – if a gun is held to his head. — PJ O'Rourke

yep

Insiders dumping stocks...

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/12/plowing-into-junk-while-insiders-bail.html

Summary:

Insider sales, together with extremely bullish equity and junk bond sentiment, and extremely bearish treasury sentiment, along with numerous technical divergences in the stock market, sounds one of the biggest warning bells in history.

Makes you wonder how much of this is people consolidating into cash vs people knowing their companies are fucked.

Baba O'Riley

Dropkick Murphys cover:

Getting things done

Saved here, because the site it came from has been pulled due to the actions of censoring actions of Masshole police.
When TJIC is back, I'll cut this post loose. Much better on the original site anyway.

The Cleverlys are fun

Not the same without the old drummer, but the new guy looks to be doing OK so far.

Kicked the NRA out of my wallet

For the last few years, seems all the NRA has to offer me is junk mail and solicitations for cash. It seems much of their claims of work done are shared with others, or mostly the works of others.

The most recent one, and the most ridiculous was Chris Cox's recent American Rifleman article detailing how the McDonald case in Chicago showed how hard the NRA was working for the Second Amendment rights of all US Citizens. Not once in that article did Cox mention Otis McDonald, Alan Gura, or the SAF; the people who did the heavy lifting in that case.

I posted in the comments on Sebastian's blog a while back about some of the things I was unhappy about, and pretty much derailed a comment thread (sorry!); a Meg Guegan from the NRA posted a response there asking me (and anyone else with problems/concerns) about the junk mail we had received, to contact her so she could "check on our request to make the mailings stop."

Thanks Meg, thanks for never replying to my email.

A month or so back, I got an email from Wayne LaPierre. At least that is what the signature on it said. "Please renew your membership" it says,

If you have a problem with NRA that’s keeping you from renewing your membership, please let me know what it is, and I pledge to you that I’ll do whatever I can to fix it.

it says...

So I reply:

I have a couple issues with the NRA and some of the policies and behaviors I am seeing.

First and foremost, I am extremely unhappy about the "send out a DVD and bill" mail-fraud type fundraising tactic. I have no desire to be part of a group that attempts to profit from dishonest crap like that. Can I trust the NRA to actually fight for my rights if the NRA is willing to lie to get into my wallet?

Secondly, the SAF and others are and have been MAJOR players recent court battles. From fighting Katrina confiscations, to California gun bans, and the Heller and Mcdonald cases to the Supreme Court, the SAF has been leading the fight; not so much the NRA. In Chris Cox's latest article in the American Rifleman magazine, he talks about how the NRA is fighting for our rights in Chicago; but NEVER ONCE mentions Dick Heller, Otis Mcdonald, Alan Gura, or the SAF. In the last 4 years, the NRA has not ever given ANY other person or organization any credit or acknowledgement for their work fighting to restore the Second Amendment. Weasling around is what the Brady Campaign and their puppets do when confronted with facts; if that is what the NRAis doing now, I'm not interested.

These actions by the NRA are why I am no longer interested in being a member.

Guess what email bounced from the address provided to send my response to?

Twice.

Guess the NRA really is committed to giving a shit about what it's members think!

No thanks, not for me.

Fire it up again

Well, this thing has been sitting here idle for about 3 years. Lets fire it up and see how it goes.