Another award for Al Gore

The University of Tennessee, fresh off banning of ownership of handguns by student-athletes, ups its moonbattery status by awarding Al Gore with an honorary doctorate.

The degree – an Honorary Doctor of Laws and Humane Letters in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology – will be given to Gore at the spring commencement exercises of the College of Arts and Sciences on May 14, where he will be the featured speaker.

“Why?” you ask. Let’s see what UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek said:

“Vice President Gore’s career has been marked by visionary leadership, and his work has quite literally changed our planet for the better,”

No, this isn’t a joke. He was serious when he said it. Really.

Now, I’m not saying that Gore shouldn’t be given an award or a degree. I’m just not sure that the degree he’s getting is most appropriate.

What awards and degrees should Al Gore have?

• Nobel Prize in Literature (Fiction)
• Bachelor of Settled Science
• Hugo Award
• Doctor of Asshattery
• Master of Arrogance
• Academy Award for Acting … Like An Idiot

I’m sure there are many other awards and degrees that Al Gore should possess.

What is it with the SEC? Or the politics of the states having schools in the SEC?

First, the University of Mississippi drops Colonel Reb as its mascot. Now, the University of Tennessee has banned student-athletes from owning guns.

This comes after some pot-smoking basketball players were found with handguns that had altered serial numbers.

So, how does the school respond? Banning drugs? Throwing idiots off the team? No, they ban guns. Stupid athletic director.

Oh, and then there’s the whole Second Amendment thing. But let’s suppose we ignore that for a second. (After all, many on the left do it all the time. It’s used to being ignored.)

Let’s look at the school itself. The University of Tennessee. What’s the school’s nickname? The Pundits? No, that’s not it.

The Moonshiners? Nah.

The ‘Possums? That’s not right.

Hound Dogs? Nope.

The Volunteers? Yes, that’s it! The Volunteers. Because Tennessee’s nickname is “The Volunteer State.”

Now, how did they get that name? Wouldn’t have anything to do with the War of 1812, would it?

…when President James Madison called on Tennessee to help defend the “Lower Country,” Tennesseans volunteered en masse, earning the nickname “The Volunteer State.” Tennessee Governor Willie Blount was asked to send 1,500 troops for the defense of the lower Mississippi region and an expedition under the command of Andrew Jackson, major general of the Tennessee militia, was outfitted in December 1812.

You think that maybe left-wing nutcases think the “Volunteer State” nickname came about from registering voters?

What will happen when they discover that the “Volunteer” nickname is from gun-owners offering to help defend others?

Maybe they’ll want to change the mascot.

How about the Dumbasses?

Harry Reid said during a floor speech regarding his $15 billion “jobs” bill:

“I had met with some people while I was home dealing with domestic abuse. It has gotten out of hand. Why? Men don’t have jobs.”

Fred Thompson tweeted:

Reid: Jobless men = domestic abuse. Is he saying we should be worried about Mrs. Reid after the November elections?

and made Harry Reid cry:

Harry Reid’s spokesman isn’t laughing at Fred Thompson’s Wednesday tweet — musing whether the majority leader would beat his wife if he loses reelection in November — calling the comment “despicable” and invoking Reid’s own violence-plagued childhood.

“While Fred Thompson may think he was being funny, it is unfortunate and disappointing that so many on the right would make light of domestic abuse,” Jim Manley wrote me in an e-mail. “As someone who witnessed it firsthand as a child, Sen. Reid does not find the issue funny.”

Apparently Fred was mistaken, and what Reid was really saying was “only a wife-beater would vote against my bill.”

According to a new Gallup poll, 51% of Americans think that the US is now viewed favorably overseas, thanks to Obama’s election in 2008.

Turns out 51% of Americans are dead ass wrong.

True, I’m basing this on so little evidence that it would make a climate scientist blush (wait… are Ferengi capable of blushing?), but you have to admit that it IS visually compelling.

Some floats from Germany’s “Rose Monday” parade (big ol’ hat tip to Laurie for these):

A carnival float shows US president Barack Obama and Iran’s President Ahmadinejad with a Trojan horse and an atomic bomb… The international community fears that Tehran is using the guise of a civilian nuclear program to develope atomic weapons something Iran denies.

Effigies of US President Barack Obama and Chinese Prime Minister Hu Jintao are seen sitting together in a bed on a float… The float satirically illustrates the ties between the USA and China.

A carnival float depicting a flying U.S. President Obama angel who landed on his head… Words on tunic reads ‘Obama the Redeemer’.

Fools dressed as the statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam under the theme ‘Jeck we can’, that means, ‘as foolish as we can’

Yeah, they’re just respecting the crap out of us over there.

Thanks, Barack.

Still, in the interests of fairness, I gotta admit the Krauts at least had the stones to take a potshot at the Islamo-wackos, too, so I’ll throw them some High Praise! for this one:

A carnival float representing an Islamic militant with a sword [being bitten by a jester's head with a hat reading "humor & satire"]… The words on the float read ‘he who laughs last…’.

[Here's a link to more Rose Monday pics. Some not safe for work, and some - like the giant naked Frau Merkel - not safe for anyone without a gallon of eye bleach handy.]

In America, “bringing a knife to a gunfight” is a punchline.

For Islamic terrorists, it’s a battle plan.

The suspect was charged with two counts of attempted murder Saturday after breaking into artist Kurt Westergaard’s home armed with an ax and a knife on Friday night. He denied the charges at the court hearing.

Westergaard – one of 12 Danish artists whose cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad outraged the Muslim world in 2006 – escaped the attack by fleeing to a specially made safe room and alerting police. Police shot the Somali man in the hand and knee.

[YouTube direct link]

Bookmarked this story a while back:

“A remote-controlled dinosaur robot worth about £60,000 has been stolen from Australia’s “Walking with Dinosaurs” show in Guadalajara, event organisers said”

And now Frank’s “on vacation”.

My guess is that Janet Napolitano hired him to make a system that ACTUALLY works.

Seriously? For Veterans Day?:

Fine. Here’s the story I’m running on Earth Day:

But today, I’m going with this one:

“We won last night”

“We’re now in full control of the situation“

The whole world — or at least the part of the world that had nothing better to do — was transfixed Thursday by the saga of the boy in the balloon.

First reports said that 6-year-old Falcon Heenes was on board the balloon, and people were horrified at that prospect. When the balloon landed, and the boy wasn’t found, first fears were that he had fallen out.

When he was found hiding in an attic, speculation turned to the whole thing being a hoax.

But there’s one aspect that people are forgetting: since Falcon was not on the balloon, what was?

Many are assuming that it empty. But was it?

Remember that the investigators said they believed the family when they said the boy was on the balloon. Then they believed the family when they said this wasn’t a hoax. They also believed the family’s timeline of events, such as calling 911 when other reports say they first called news outlets. Now, on Saturday, they’re thinking they might need to check out this Heenes family.

Joe Friday and Bill Gannon these guys aren’t.

So, I’m wondering… did these investigators even check out what was in the balloon? Or did they simply say, “Hmm, kid’s not here” and let it go at that. Was something else in that balloon? And, if so, what?

I have some thoughts on what might have been in that balloon:

• The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ballots
• Amelia Earhart
• Barack Obama’s college transcripts
• The outtakes from the moon landing hoax
• The 1993 Academy Award Best Actress ballots
• Dick Cheney
• CNN credibility
• Apple’s Mac tablet computer
• The Third Secret of Fatima
• Abe Vigoda
• A map of Atlantis
• A map of Atlanta
• Barack Obama’s birth certificate
• Charles Dodgson’s hand-written Jack the Ripper confession
• The Higgs boson

It’s hard to tell how much stuff could be hidden in the balloon, so I’m not sure how many of these items, or what else could have been on board.

There needs to be an investigation.

* Obama spoke to doctors from all 50 states in the Rose Garden of the White House. Which was a complete waste of taxpayer dollars, since the doctor from Hawaii forgot to bring Obama’s birth certificate along with him.

* The NAACP is registering voters at prisons in Maine, raising the obvious question… there are black people in Maine?

Six people arrested Tuesday evening in a small protest of Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Games were charged with mob action Wednesday.

The five men and one woman interrupted crews that were attempting to hang an Olympic laurel from the Picasso statue in Daley Plaza by dragging the Olympic banner and tossing it into the “eternal flame,” authorities said.

Apparently their protest was more effective than I would have expected.

UPDATE 9:30PM – High praise! to commenter George Guy of The Prophet of Neofederalism for proving Obama is NOT like Hitler:

Hitler was able to bring the Olympics to Berlin.

Actual billboard on I-70 in Blue Springs, MO.

I think it’s especially poignant given Friday’s Olympic bitch-slap.

I’ve mentioned before — I’m sure I have — that years ago, I used to do news for a small south Georgia radio station. Not that I was any good. But I did give it my best shot. That fact that I’m not doing that for a living today says something about just how good I was. Or wasn’t.

Still, I learned that you try to do the news straight. There’s news. And there’s opinion. Sports has a bit of both. Weather, too, to be honest. But news? Just the facts. Leave opinion out of it. And try to play it straight.

You don’t see that anymore. Not much, anyway.

But is it fair to criticize a news reporter for his story? Or her story? After all, they’re human. They have opinions. But, they shouldn’t let their opinions interfere with their jobs.

Do they? Yes, some do. Actually, a lot do. It’s rare that reporters don’t. At least, on the national level.

But is the criticism fair? If a reporter files a story on a topic about which you have strong feelings, are you going to say the reporter is playing it straight if the reports seems to support your opinion? Or will you say the reporter is biased if the story contradicts your opinion?

Is the bias in the eye of the beholder?

I believe that sometimes it is. But, I also believe that often, the reporter isn’t reporting, but editorializing.

Let’s conduct a little experiment, shall we?

Look at my recent post on a DNC-sponsored rally in Columbus, Georgia. [EDIT: Yes, it was uploaded as "private." My bad. It's public now.] The rally was organized by a DNC-sponsored group that calls itself a grassroots organization. Yeah, I wrote my opinion of that earlier.

But, take three minutes and look at my report.

Ignore the poor quality of the video and the audio. I have an old, hand-held JVC camcorder, not some fancy camera like the local TV stations have. And, I have that south Georgia accent. Plus, built-in microphone on an overtaxed MacBook.

The quality of the audio and video aside, look at the content. Did I report it straight? Heck, compare it against a report I did on a July 4th Tea Party rally. Did I favor one side or the other?

If you’ve read anything I’ve written, you may have picked up how I personally feel. But, looking just at the reports, did I report it fairly? Was it balanced?

If I didn’t report it straight, then it shows just how hard it is to keep personal bias out. Keep that in mind when you watch a real reporter. (Here’s an example of what I see as a fairly balanced report from an actual reporter.)

But… if I did report it straight, that brings up the question: why can’t others do it, if some old, fat, gray-haired loudmouth white guy (me, not Ted Kennedy) can?

Then again, does it matter? At least, does it matter whether or not I report something fair and balanced? I mean, I’m a blogger. And if you read this blog for news, then something is seriously wrong with you. Or something is seriously wrong with the state of traditional news reporting. One or the other.

[NOTE: If you're looking for teh funneh, this post isn't. Because it's true. If it was fake, it's be hilarious. - B]

All the tea parties, all the protests at the town hall meetings, protests outside the offices of Congressmen … What does the DNC call those?

“Astroturf.” You know, appears to be a “grass roots” movement, but isn’t.

Having covered a rally by one of these conservative groups (the Columbus Georgia Tea Party), I’ve seen the hand-made signs and other things done on a budget. The kind of things that are done when individuals, not large organizations, are doing the work.

Still, the Democrats call this fake grass roots — “astroturfing.”

However, when the Democratic Party organizes a rally, it’s “grass roots.”

Last night, the DNC sent a news release out to several in the local media. The Albany (GA) Herald got one, and reported it, including getting a response from an opponent of the proposed health care bill.

A bit closer to where I am, the DNC is planning a pro-health care protest at the Columbus office of Congressman Sanford Bishop (D-GA)

As Members of Congress get ready to head back to Washington, Organizing for America (OFA), a grassroots project of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) dedicated to supporting the President’s agenda for change, will hold a rally Tuesday, September 1, 11:30 a.m. in Columbus outside of U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop’s office, 18 19th St., highlighting the strong support throughout Georgia for health insurance reform now and the importance of getting it done this year. Ga. Rep. Caroline Hugley will speak.

Yeah, you read that right. A “grass roots project of the DNC.”

And the tea parties are astroturf?

In George Orwell’s 1984, New Speak had “peace is war , love is hate, freedom is slavery…”

In 2009, the Democrats declare that organized is grass roots, and individuals are astroturf.

Seems Orwell was 25 years off.

I don’t follow Rick Sanchez, a CNN guy, on the Twitter. Because I don’t watch CNN. That’s because the channel is overrun with left-wing nutcases. Not as bad as, say, NBC, but still pretty bad.

Not everyone at CNN is a barking moonbat, though. But, enough are that I don’t waste time weeding through the lefties.

In fairness, Fox News has some goofy folks, as well. Some on the left, but some nutcases on the right, too. But not as many nutcases as other channels. So, when I watch news TV, it’s usually Fox News.

Now, having said all that, I wouldn’t have know about what Rick Sanchez said on the Twitter if it wasn’t for Gwyn’s Mom.

Here’s the summary: Rick Sanchez is a douche bag, and thinks he’s better than the folks at Fox News. He also denies that, so he’s a lying douche bag.

Here’s what he said:

if i didn’t believe in doing right thing, i’d be rich anchoring at fox news
11:19 PM Jul 24th from web

He followed that with:

do u know how much money i’d make if i’d sold out as hispanic and worked at fox news, r u kidding, one problem, looking in mirror
11:22 PM Jul 24th from web

Seems that Huffington Post picked up on what he said, and he didn’t like it:

ok im back, just saw huffpost. good story but headline wrong! i say i couldn’t work there, im not criticizing those who do. never said that
about 8 hours ago from web

I’m not here to support Huffington Post, but Sanchez did say that he couldn’t look at himself in the mirror if he worked at Fox News.

What about those that could? Are their standards lower? Does Sanchez think he’s better than them because his standards are higher? Seems that way, doesn’t it?

Somewhere, in the midst of all this, he said this:

i guess people really are essentially same.
12:29 AM Jul 25th from web

I assume he meant “people really are essentially all the same” and not “people really are essentially sane.” If “all the same,” then he’s saying that, well, he’s just like everybody else, except that he’s better. Because he has higher standards than the Hispanics that work at Fox News.

Sounds like something a douche bag would say.

Oh, and he offered this:

wow, really getting heat from neocons and far right wing fox viewers for saying truth. must have hit nerve
about 8 hours ago from web

No, Sanchez didn’t hit a nerve. But he did offer more proof that CNN hires douche bags that think they are better than others.

Will it affect me? No. Well, okay, it gives me something to blog about. Because, you know, it’s fun calling left-wing douche bags “left-wing douche bags.” Try it. See? Fun.

It won’t impact my TV news viewing. I already don’t watch left-wing douche bags.

But, if you watch CNN, it’s okay; I’m just better than you.

From Rev. Right of America is an Obamanation!, “Elephant Man’s Estate Makes Bid To Purchase Jacko’s Remains“.

I used to be a sort of serious small-town radio news reporter. I loved it. Except the parts I didn’t like.

Anyway, a long time ago — it was last year — Frank J. said that I could promote some things. I used that opening to actually post stuff here. It’s been too much trouble for him to try to get the keys to the blog back, so he’s let me keep posting. But today, I’m actually going to promote something. So, you might want to skip to the next post that somebody else wrote. It’s probably funny. And probably on purpose.

Right now, though, I’m going to scare away much of Frank’s precious blog traffic by offering a couple of links to my report on the Columbus, Georgia Independence Day Tea Party. I went there to cover it, just like a real reporter. Everybody there — except one jackass — figured out in short order that I was not the enemy. But the less said about that one jackass, the better.

Anyway, here’s the link to the report at PJTV. And here’s the link at my little blog (and it includes a transcript at no extra charge).

Thanks, Frank.

You’ll probably be wanting the keys back now.

I was thrilled to read that a Russian cruise liner was selling “pirate cruises”, wherein tourists could rent weapons, go cruising off the Somali coast, wait to get attacked, and fire back with impunity.

However, I got suspicious that everyone who linked this story all linked to the same source at Ananova and nobody linked to a mainstream media source. Figured the libs would be frantic on this.

So I did some digging.

Ananova mentioned that they got the story from the Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt.

Wirtschaftsblatt said they got the story from Golden Morgenstern & Partners.

And the story there is clearly marked “Warning – satire!”

So curb your enthusiasm if you’ve read about this story elsewhere. It ain’t real.

Meanwhile, for your reading pleasure, here’s the clumsy Google translation of the original piece:

WARNING – satire! 16,000 unarmed merchant ships each year to try healing through the Gulf of Aden to sail and not the Somali pirates to be upset. A Russian cruise business now turns the tables around and loads of Russians to hunt down pirates before the coast of Somalia, the most dangerous waterway in the world.

His business idea is simple: His cruise ship is the bait for the pirates. Try the real pirates, the seemingly harmless ship to enter and experience the wonders of blue its Africans. Instead defenseless sailors are trading them to the teeth armed Russian tourists compared. A macabre tourist fun.

A day on board the chartered Kreuzfahrschiffes costs $ 5,790. It is geschippert while until the real pirates are actually attacking. At least one pirate attack Kaperungsversuch with entrepreneurs from the travel is guaranteed.

The route goes from Djibouti to Mombasa in Kenya. The ship sails as close to the Somali coast with a speed of five nautical miles along. The tourists can taste and budget in accordance with arms monoplane.

A gun-type AK-47 can cruise by the Russian passengers on board for $ 9 a day for rent. 100 rounds of ammunition cost $ 12. A grenade launcher costs $ 175 a day. These included three grenades, which are included in the rent. The use of Reeling in the permanently installed machine guns should cost $ 475.

In order for the pirates but not yet on stupid ideas, rich Russians will receive an extra personal protection. On board the ship at any time hold a large number of former employees of Russian special commands a watchful eye on the guests. The Russian elite fighters will be mainly at night for security on the cruise ship care.

As the international naval associations tourist to this military operation to combat pirates react, however, is still unclear.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin should declare victory and stop the game. In the battle with David Letterman, she’s had her say. She’s ahead. If she ends the game now, she wins.

What former late-night comedian David Letterman — he used to be a comedian; now he just plays one on TV — said about her and her daughter (whichever one he thought he was talking about) was in bad taste. Everybody knows it.

Heck, even the National Organization of Women has criticized Letterman for what he said. The NOW doesn’t normally take sides with conservatives. And, true, they haven’t so much agreed with Governor Palin as they have come down against Dave.

I expect that Governor Palin will drop it now. If Letterman keeps it up, he looks worse and worse.

But what about the little people? You know? Me? You? That guy watching you from behind the bushes over there? What do we do?

There have been many suggestions. One I’ve heard a lot is … Boycott Dave!

That’s just silly. Me threatening to stop watching Letterman would be like me threatening to stop beating my head in with a brick; I can’t stop doing what I don’t do. And I suspect that’s true for many other conservatives.

Letterman was funny a long time ago. But, he’s not now. Well, not funny enough to stay up and watch. Not even funny enough to schedule on the TiVo. Red Eye is. Letterman isn’t.

Another thing people are suggesting is to petition CBS to fire Letterman.

To quote Hank Hill: “That’s just asinine!”

We are conservatives. We’re the grown-ups. We don’t do like the left does and demand that some so-called entertainer be fired. Don Imus has said a lot worse than “nappy-headed ‘ho’s,” but it was the left that demanded he be … and got him … fired over that little comment.

So, what do we do?

It’s simple.

To deal with an attention-whore, you ignore them.

So, ignore Letterman. Quit criticizing him.

He’s now a joke. And not in a good way. He’s a parody of what he used to be. He’s now a punch line.

So, if you mention him at all, there are a couple of ways to do it.

One is to refer to him in the past tense. Like, maybe: “Ah, Letterman. I remember him. He was funny a long time ago. Whatever happened to him?”

Another thing to do would be when someone cracks an unfunny (or even offensive) joke, say something like “Wow, you could write for Letterman” or “You’re a real David Letterman, there, you know.”

But don’t go out of your way. If possible, don’t mention him. Don’t talk about him. Don’t tweet about him. And, for goodness sakes, don’t blog about him. That would be a complete waste of space.

A hateful man made the news yesterday. You’ve read or heard about it, I’m sure.

This hateful old man — born prior to the U.S. entry into World War II — has, for years, spouted hate for others.

This hateful old man has a long history of criticizing Jews. If you search the Internet, you can find his rants.

This hateful old man is a racist, who has made statements that have inflamed relations between blacks and whites.

This hateful old man is a conspiracy nut. Despite serving in the U.S. Navy, this hateful old man now spouts anti-government rhetoric, and blames the U.S. for the events of 9/11.

This hateful old man was a strong critic of President George W. Bush and GOP presidential candidate John McCain. Admittedly, this doesn’t make him hateful, but it does show you something about his political leanings.

This hateful old man made the news recently. And my reaction was like many others that hear or read about him and people like him: “That darn Jeremiah Wright is at it again.”

Of course, his recent comments that made the news were pushed out of the forefront by the actions of another hateful old man: James Wenneker von Brunn, another pre-World War II anti-Semite, who served in the Navy, made inflammatory statements, opposed Bush and McCain, and is a conspiracy nut.

The difference between them is as stark as black and white. But no deeper than color. Beneath the color, there’s not a bit of difference.

Let me be the first Right Wing Extremist® to go on record and say that not all Obama administration members blame everything on America.

Take U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, for instance.

Monday, she spoke with CBC reporter Neil Macdonald, and repeated the false perception that Democrats such as Charles Shumer have perpetrated, that the 9/11 hijackers came across the Canadian border to the United States:

(JN:) Nonetheless, to the extent that terrorists have come into our country or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it’s been across the Canadian border. There are real issues there.

NM: Are you talking about the 9/11 perpetrators?

JN: Not just those but others as well.

Macdonald, to his credit, called her on it. Something you often don’t see in the American media.

But, this seems to sum up the Obama administration … and most Democrats … today. Blame America for everything, which is wrong. When they don’t blame America, they blame a friend of America, and are wrong.

See what’s common? It’s that they’re wrong.

At least they are consistent.

Barack Obama isn’t real.

He’s made up.

Oh, sure, he was born … somewhere on Earth (we think it was Earth) … and grew up in a comfortable home after emigrating to the U.S. as a child.

We really don’t know much about him because he’s following the story.

And no one tells the story better than those that wrote it. And the writers of the Barack Obama story include the media.

Well, suddenly, some in the media are starting to question Obama.

That smacks of heresy, sure. But think for a minute. Is it really heresy of those that invented the religion (Obamatology) stray?

Here’s what happened.

Jennifer Loven of the AP questioned White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about the $100-million (that’s 1/100 of 1% of $1-trillion) budget reduction target (H/T RealClearPolitics)

Link:

ABC’s Jake Tapper joined in.

Oh, sure, that’s only two reporters. But it gives hope.

Perhaps some of the so-called journalists that cover the White House will actually be journalists.

I’m not holding my breath. But I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Did you notice that the Obama administration did a couple of things recently that smacked of the Bush administration?

First, the decision by Obama to boycott the U.N. conference on racism. Back in August 2001, the Bush administration did the same thing, and was roundly criticized. The left said that it showed just how much contempt Bush had toward the world community and how insensitive it was to issues of race.

But now, Obama did the same thing — for the same reason Bush gave: wording in the text for the conference were out of line:

The United States, under the Bush administration, and Israel walked out over attempts to liken Zionism — the movement to establish a Jewish state in the Holy Land — to racism. The reference was later dropped, but concerns about anti-Semitism remained in the final text.

Plans to reaffirm the 2001 document were of particular concern to the Obama administration.

“(It) singles out one particular conflict and prejudges key issues that can only be resolved in negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians,” (State Department spokesman Robert Wood) said.

Follow that up with Obama’s decision to not pursue prosecution of CIA operatives that used interrogation methods that Obama sees as torture that Bush saw as reasonable.

The U.N.’s top torture investigator doesn’t like that:

Manfred Nowak first made the remarks to an Australian newspaper and later to the Associated Press.

According to Nowak, it’s illegal under International Law for the U.S. government to announce that it has no intention of prosecuting low-level CIA officers.

Bush was roundly criticized for not bowing to the U.N.

Obama might bow to the king of Saudi Arabia, but apparently is not yet ready to bow to the U.N.

Good for him.

And I’m looking forward to what’s next. That is, those on the left who won’t be able to get over Obama acting like Bush on two key issues. They love Obama. And they love the U.N. But what do they do now?

Do they applaud Obama? Or do they support the U.N.?

I’m going to watch the liberals’ heads explode as they try to figure out what to do.

I hope I get pictures.

The UK is finally taking a stand against piracy.

This week, France — France! — captured 11 pirates. And, of course, the U.S. Navy took out the pirates that had captured the Maersk Alabama.

With all the problems there are around the world with pirates, there need to be more countries taking a stand against piracy.

And the U.K. is doing just that. They just sentenced four pirates to jail.

According to the report ….

Um.

Wait a second.

Ah.

Hmm.

It seems that they are battling software pirates, not seafaring pirates.

Okay, the whole world has turned upside down.

France protects world commerce … and the U.K. protects iTunes.

I want my reality back.

Right up front, I need to let you know that I don’t like smoking. If you smoke, I don’t like that you smoke.

However, I understand that it’s your decision to smoke. I just figured you were smarter than that. Obviously, I was wrong about some of you.

But you don’t need me preaching to you about all the things that are bad about smoking. You’ve heard it all. You know all the reasons.

And, if you still smoke, that’s your decision. I just don’t want to have to smell it.

I don’t want to have to pick up your cigarette butts, either.

And that’s my quandary.

When I was in the Army, one of the duties I hated most was having to police the area around the barracks or around the company or battalion headquarters.

Not that I minded picking up trash so much. Things would blow in — candy wrappers, Burger King bags, paper napkins, and such — and they’d need to be policed up.

But the wind doesn’t really blow cigarette butts very far. When we picked up cigarette butts, it was because some butt head had tossed it on the ground.

Being a non-smoker, I didn’t like picking up the butts. But it needed to happen. Soldiers often go in and clean up other people’s messes. Whether it’s something some politician screwed up somewhere, or someone’s cigarette butts on the ground, soldiers end up cleaning it up.

So, when I read about Deb Schallert and her crusade to make it a crime in Oregon to toss cigarette butts on the ground, I understood from whence she came.

But I disagree with her.

It’s already a crime to litter. Even in Oregon. I suppose another law is supposed to make people stop?

And that’s the mentality of lots of folks. “Hey, let’s pass a law making it illegal, and people will stop.”

Passing laws has certainly stopped other things like:

• Drinking and driving
• Smoking dope
• Robbing banks
• Rape
• Speeding
• Murder
• Kidnapping
• Running red lights

I mean, nobody does any of those things since they’ve been made illegal, right?

Oh, I’m certainly not saying that we shouldn’t have laws preventing these — and other — things. I’m saying that if one law doesn’t stop it, why would another law stop it?

That’s the thing about that mentality: pass another law.

You end up with a United Nations that passes resolutions and follows up with more resolutions — resolutions that rouge nations will just ignore. [Edit: I would have said "rogue nations," but most of them like to wear makeup and walk around in women's clothes when no one is looking, so "rouge nations" works.]

You end up with more and more laws that make it harder for law-abiding citizens to do simple things — laws the criminals are going to ignore anyway.

You end up making a bunch of noise and not solving the problem.

Somebody throw a cigarette butt down in front of you? Hit them in the nose with a newspaper.

Yes, that’s what you do with a bad puppy. But most folks that throw cigarette butts on the ground aren’t any smarter than a puppy. And not nearly as cute.

It also give newspapers a purpose.