My Personal Rants, Raves, and Ramblings

"I picked up the saucepan and smacked him right on the head. He looked at me and said, 'Lady, why did you do that?' And I hit him again."

"She was upset that she had to turn over her favorite saucepan as evidence."

"A woman and two of her three children were tied up after three armed men forced their way into her apartment in Roswell. The woman said the men were after the family's valuables."

ATLANTA -- A well-armed couple opened fire with an assault rifle and pistol early Friday morning on some car thieves in southwest Atlanta.

The couple at a home in the 1900 block of Childress Drive told police that after somebody tried to steal their car last week, they rigged up a homemade alarm in their carport using string and cans.
Police told Channel 2 Action News reporter Ryan Young that about 2 a.m. Friday the cans started making noise, indicating intruders were in their carport. The couple swung into action.

The husband picked up a pistol and ran outside to confront the thieves. The wife grabbed an AK-47 assault rife and joined her husband outside.

They found several men driving off in their car.

Homeowner Opens Fire

They told police when the car thieves tried to shoot at them, they opened fire with his pistol and her AK-47.

The thieves took off, leaving the couple's car behind.

When police arrived they found shell casings littering the driveway and front yard, and the couple's car riddled with bullet holes.

There was no blood at the scene so police don't think any of the thieves were hit.

The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.

"As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters.

Holder said that putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border.

"I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum." Holder said at a news conference on the arrest of more than 700 people in a drug enforcement crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating in the U.S.

Holder declined to offer any time frame for the reimplementation of the assault weapons ban, however.

"It's something, as I said, that the president talked about during the campaign," he said. "There are obviously a number of things that are -- that have been taking up a substantial amount of his time, and so, I'm not sure exactly what the sequencing will be."

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States."

"This coming from the New York Times which is trading for three bucks, and you can buy a Sunday newspaper for more than a share of the New York Times."

"[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, - who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia."

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal said today that the state will reject up to $98 million in federal relief for unemployed workers because it could lead to a tax increases on businesses.
Jindal, who has emerged as a leading critic of the $787 billion economic stimulus bill signed into law by President Barack Obama earlier this week, said the state would accept the federal dollars being offered for transportation projects, along with a $25 per week increase in unemployment benefits.

But he said the state will not take advantage of a part of the package that would require the state to change its law to expand unemployment insurance in order to qualify for $32.8 million in federal cash. Qualifying for the $32.8 million provision is a pre-requisite for being considered for another $65.6 million in federal unemployment benefits that would be available to Louisiana under the new law, the governor's office said in a news release.

Were the to take advantage of those provisions, it would have to be supported with $12 million a year in state tax dollars once the federal money runs out. That cost, in turn, would have to be passed along to Louisiana businesses, Jindal said.

"Increasing taxes on our Louisiana businesses is certainly not a way to stimulate our economy," Jindal said. "It would be the exact wrong thing we could do to encourage further growth and job creation."

The US government may have to nationalise some banks on a temporary basis to fix the financial system and restore the flow of credit, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, has told the Financial Times.

In an interview, Mr Greenspan, who for decades was regarded as the high priest of laisser-faire capitalism, said nationalisation could be the least bad option left for policymakers.

”It may be necessary to temporarily nationalise some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring,” he said. “I understand that once in a hundred years this is what you do.”

Mr Greenspan’s comments capped a frenetic day in which policymakers across the political spectrum appeared to be moving towards accepting some form of bank nationalisation.

“We should be focusing on what works,” Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, told the FT. “We cannot keep pouring good money after bad.” He added, “If nationalisation is what works, then we should do it.”

Speaking to the FT ahead of a speech to the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday, Mr Greenspan said that “in some cases, the least bad solution is for the government to take temporary control” of troubled banks either through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or some other mechanism.

"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting.... The purity of his private charter gave effulgence to his public virtues...."

--John Marshall, official eulogy of George Washington, delivered by Richard Henry Lee, 26 December 1799

"His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man."

--Thomas Jefferson about George Washington

Amazing video of an attempted home invasion in Tucson. Investigators say the victim fought back by shooting at a group of armed men trying to break into his house. This all happened Thursday afternoon near Cardinal and Irvington on the southwest side.

The is video from a surveillance system overlooking the driveway of the victim's home. It shows the suspects pull up in a car and jump out. One of the would-be home invaders fires a shot as he runs into the garage. Within seconds several more shots ring out. Investigators say those came from the man inside the home.

In the video you can see shards of glass fly as bullets hit the front windshield. Two cameras caught the crime on tape. Once the homeowner shot back the suspects scattered. Three ran away on foot and the fourth jumped back into the car and sped away.

"It’s now noon on Wednesday. I’m standing outside the office of the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. The door is closed. We just heard news break there’s been an agreement between the House and the Senate on the non-stimulus bill. It’s curious because Republicans were invited to a meeting they said at 3 o’clock this afternoon. What this means is there are more shady deals going on behind closed doors -- without the public, without Republicans in attendance.”

"Their estimation was that by two o'clock that afternoon, five-and-a-half trillion dollars would have been drawn out of the money market system of the United States, would have collapsed the entire economy of the United States, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed."

4:30 Rep. Ron Paul (TX) – Regency Ballroom - INVITED
Introduction: John Tate, Campaign for Liberty - CONFIRMED
.....................................
5:00 Rush Limbaugh – Regency Ballroom - INVITED

"If you started the day Jesus Christ was born and spent $1 million every day since then, you still wouldn’t have spent $1 trillion dollars." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Updated: January 13, 3:41 PM ET
Life of Reilly
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By Rick Reilly
ESPN The Magazine

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

As a homeschool dad, I am used to people accusing me of “sheltering” my children. I hear it all the time (mostly indirectly). “You homeschoolers are doing your children an injustice by keeping them away from ‘real’ science and just giving them one side of the argument.” I love to see the looks on people’s faces when they discover that our children actually read more Darwin than those in Government Indoctrination Centers. That’s right; my children read, Darwin’s book, The Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (gotta love that racist title). Did you read that in school? I know I didn’t.

My children also read The Communist Manifesto, The Humanist Manifesto, and Mein Kampf, among others (again, who read this stuff in government school?). They are well versed in the arguments of the “other side.” In fact, they often find that they know more about Darwinism, socialism and secular humanism than those who claim to be champions of the aforementioned worldviews. Ironically, though, the true ‘sheltering’ of children is happening in the government schools. That’s right. While homeschool families are exposing their children to a broad range of literature and worldview arguments (and outscoring their government educated counterparts on every significant standardized test), it is the government school that suppresses opposition.

“Let me tell you something, we heard Lenin. There was a little snippet last week that was, 'Now is not the time for profits.' Look - in Lenin’s book, ‘What Is to Be Done?’ the simple text of what I always though was for the communists, it was remarkable to hear very similar language from ‘What Is to Be Done?’ which is we have no place for profits. Thank heavens for the Chinese communists, strictly rooted in profit government, because 'we' have decided that profits have not place in a system!”

"Former McCain video guy Justin Germany sends over this ad, which he and Brian Donahue of Jamestown Associates cut as an attempt to define their party in the run-up to tomorrow's vote for a chairman."

- Original post

- Stimulus, Illustrated - Part II