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Friday, March 31, 2006

Lost Map

Not sure if anyone in Scaggsville watches "Lost" with any great regularity, but a friend of mine forwarded me this link that shows some amazing detail to the map that Locke saw while being pinned under the door.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Philly Cheese Taco???

Just before bed I scrolled down and noticed some comments on the immigration post from Chowda... I read them, turned off my computer and then tried to go to sleep. Well... I couldn't, I felt like I needed to raise my voice and wave my arms around a little bit.

I haven't disagreed with Cheese Steak this much in years.

First of all, lets trash this bullshit of "Jobs Americans won't do." Jobs will get done, plain and simple. It's called capitalism. See what happens here is an employer makes an offer to the world "I need your skillz, I will pay you $XXX for that service." Employee then says "Yes" or "No."

Employers trade money for labor. It's a simple agreement. If you need money bad enough, you will work. If the employer needs labor enough, he pays more for it. Every time you mess with that system you get problems.

Yes there will be a hit on the economy, yes some prices will go up, yes some profits will take a hit. What will happen is a simple rebalancing of the economy. Prices will end up where they should be. Why would an employer pay an "American" (note the term "American" for later discussion) more to do a job if he can get an "Illegal" to do it for less... and without paying taxes... and health ... and retirement... and unemployment and all the other bullshit he has to pay "Americans". Basically what you have is a tariff on American labor (crap, I should write that down). As with every other Tariff, it screws things up.

Point two, I dislike Unions as much as the next guy, but I don't see where they come to play. Maybe not in the city of Brotherly love, but Unions are on the way out and it's not solely the result of illegal immigration. Labor is simply not in the control of unions in most of the country anymore. Just as illegal aliens drive the cost of labor down, Unions and other forms of organized labor drive the cost up.

Point three, despite what I said above, no sane person is talking about deporting 12 million illegal immigrants. Without cattle cars and Nazis there is no way to remove that many people. If I don't have the stomach for it, I can't see others with it. Say what you will, they are here to say. Stopping the influx of new illegals is what we need to be focusing on. Once that is taken care of we can go about finding ways to make Mexicans living in America, American. They can then slowly start otherwise contributing more fully into the American economy and society.

Four, I'm all about the veiled Dennis Leary quote, but you are way off. I say we open the doors wide for anyone who wants to get into this country legally. Here is the trick though. WE NEED DOCTORS, SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS and the like... Not someone to cut my grass, thats what high school kids are for. You don't compete in the world market with goods anymore. The world has moved on, we need skills. There will always be unskilled people in a society, more than enough to fill any position. Skilled craftsman are always in demand though.

Fifth, borders are essential to sovereignty. You can not have a country without borders. Currently we have no southern border and no respect for the laws which enforce that border. A nation needs to be homogeneous. We don't need to look the same, we can have any color skin you want. What is necessary is that the underlying root beliefs and values are the same. You won't see it in the MSM, but I've been seeing a whole lot of Mexican Flags flying on flag poles.

In America, we fly the American Flag. We speak English (or a close approximation thereof). We consider ourselves to be Americans.

I mean seriously, look at Europe. We have been BLESSED in this country to have Europe there leading the way. Showing us what policies don't work. What happens in Europe happens to America in 5 to 10 years. I'm not talking fashion. I'm speaking of governement policies. Cheese Steak, say "Hi to France" They had a big old open door policy for low skilled immigrants with no desire to assimilate into their culture. Ask them how that's working out for em. You know, when they are not too busy putting out all their car fires. The same is happening in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden... All over Europe. Europe is paying for ALL of it's mistakes. Why follow their models while we can still get out in time. Still change our course.

You talked about supply and demand... I think you got it a little wrong. Americans are supplying the wealth. What are we getting in return? You say a booming labor based economy. I say we are getting a population most likely to vote (or demand) more of a welfare state by adopting an entitlement mentality (look at the protests for an example of that), a population who who sends a huge portion of their American wealth out of the country (back home... note the word "home") and a population that doesn't pay into a tax or insurance system which they freely take advantage of. The world is moving into a information economy and hanging onto old models will only leave us behind.

There is a lot more to this and the American global economy, but saying things like "Jobs Americans won't do" really is crap. Our current entitlement policies, labor laws and other restrictions are what is preventing "Americans" from wanting to do crappy jobs. I bet if you got rid income taxes, welfare, and everything else that would put Americans on the same level as Mexicans you will see a hell of a lot of white boys shoveling shit to make a buck. Strap the illegals with the same liabilitys to employers and I bet you'll see a lot more white boys cutting lawns.

I do it get it Cheese Steak, you run a company and you want cheap labor. Cheap labor means you can sell your product for less (and get a bigger market share) or make more of a profit (obvious motive). However, this basically takes advantage of a system that costs every other part of the system.

Americans don't let illegal aliens go without help when they loose their hand in your meat grinder. Without putting their American born kids in school. Without them taking advantage of everything else we pay for. Simply shuffling around costs doesn't make something less expensive. I'll pay an extra 2 bucks for my tomatos if my health insurance costs less, or if I can communicate to the dry wallers that there needs to be a door where he has a wall.

Keeping the Southwest as part of America would be nice too. Radio stations and news papers declaring Los Angles belongs to Mexico is a trend that won't easily stop.

Hopefully I can sleep now. (ed. I did).

Otter

Birds, birds and more freaking birds...

I found the above link the other day and I love the idea of buying a freaking ton of baby birds. I mean I can buy 100 Bobwhite Quails for like $110. Pheasants, Turkeys, freaking 20 different kinds of chickens... All priced to go!

I wanna buy like 500 birds and release them at our property in the mountains. Worse case is they all die and we have a lot more bear and foxes walking around... Best case, freaking fowl everywhere... some to look at some to shoot... birds birds birds...

I think the neatest thing about all this is they ship these things through the US mail... How cool is it that you get home from work and there is a box on your front step with 200 chicks in it (birds, dumb asses, don't make the joke).

Anyway, I let you know if I take the plunge.

Otter

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Scaggsville Trivia

Which Scaggsville contributor celebrates two birthdays - one today (March 29) and one on Halloween?

Another Joke...

I'm not really in the mood for serious posting... I read this today and thought it was a hoot...

Two rednecks decided that they weren't going anywhere in life and thought they should go to college to get ahead.

The first goes in to see the counselor, who tells him to take Math, History, and Logic.

"What's Logic?" the first redneck asks. The professor answers by saying, "Let me give you an example. Do you own a weed eater?" "I sure do."

"Then I can assume, using logic, that you have a yard," replied the professor.

"That's real good!" says the redneck. The professor continues, "Logic will also tell me that since you have a yard, you also own a house." Impressed, the redneck says, "Amazin!" "And since you own a house, logic dictates that you have a wife." "That's Betty Mae! This is incredible!" The redneck is obviously catching on. "Finally, since you have a wife, logically I can assume that you are heterosexual," said the professor. "You're absolutely right! Why that's the most fascinatin' thing I ever heard! I cain't wait to take that logic class!!"

The redneck, proud of the new world opening up to him, walks back into the hallway, where his friend is still waiting.

"So what classes are ya takin' ?" asks the friend. "Math, History, and Logic!" replies the first redneck. "What in tarnation is logic???" asked his friend. "Let me give you an example.

Do ya own a weed eater?" asked the first redneck.

"No," his friend replied.

"You're QUEER, ain't ya?"


Otter

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

This Joke may get me in trouble...

But to hell with it... funny is funny.

Proud To Be An American

Two families moved from Saudi Arabia to the USA.

When they arrived the two fathers made a bet - in a year's time whichever family had become more American would win.

A year later they met again. The first man said, "My son is playing baseball, I had McDonalds for breakfast and I'm on my way to pick up a case of Bud. How about you?"

The second man replied, Fuck You, towel head."
Otter

Monday, March 27, 2006

Dual-Standard in Teacher-Student Sex

Substitute Debra Lafave with a male teacher and substitute the 14-year old boy with a 14-year old girl and tell me a prosecutor would drop charges.

It ain’t no Firefly…

…but I really am digging this new Doctor Who series from the BBC. Now I never really watched Doctor Who. It always came on too late for a sane person to be watching PBS. The few times I did see it, I was so sick I couldn’t sleep or too drunk I couldn’t sleep. So basically the otherwise already screwy show was even more incomprehensible once reinforced with fever or the spins. Something was just not right about it.

So anyways, I’m stuck in front of a TV last Sunday and catch the first two episodes of Doctor Who 2005 on the Scifi channel, and I liked them. The show is campy and bazaar and yet completely something I can get into. The new doctor is kind of a badass yet silly. The actor playing the Doctor has a lot going on in his performances (I’m a little pissed he didn’t stay for the next season which starts in April on the BBC).

The main female lead isn’t really attractive, and there are some other issues (below)… but the story telling is pretty good. There are genuinely scary parts, there are a lot of silly parts, and there is some real points of tension…

There are a few problems with the show… but not many… there are a lot of references to how the British are all great and wonderful. There are a couple of references to how the British won WWII without even a mention to… well you know… the guys who ACTUALLY won WWII. There is a crack about how the British prime minister isn’t going to let the American President start a war with some aliens (then 20 minutes later she kills off a whole bunch of aliens that leave on there own volition). The show talks a lot about the UN and how the Euros defer a lot of power to it… Hell there is even a crack about how great the British welfare state is… As if they could afford that if they didn’t have to US backing them up.

Anyway… Check out the show… Its on the SciFi channel, or if you are a criminal, you can find them on the internet… but I’m only guessing about that.

Otter

Solution to Immigration

It's too bad our border patrol teams weren't in L.A. over the weekend. My guess is that 1/2 the 500,000 demonstrators were illegal, and could have been nabbed. But that aside, if L.A. is all for illegals, I say we construct a train system that would start in Mexico and end in L.A. Then L.A. can be happy with their continual flow of illegals and see how that "plays out" with the local economy. Would love to see how Hollywood's elite Actor contingent responds to lower wage "entertainers."

In the mean time, the rest of the U.S. constructs a giant fence between California and Mexico with laser-firing obelisk (Command & Conquer reference). Oh yeah, and let's toss out those Mexican consulates while we're at it. And tax the government of Mexico per illegal immigrant that gets shuffled back.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

No Such Thing as A Meth Epidemic . . .

statistically speaking. Nonetheless, Congress has used "Meth" as a means of taking more of your civil liberties. They added "Meth provisions" and "Anti-trust provisions" to the PATRIOT Act, so as they can eavesdrop on more people.

The notion of a meth epidemic is silly. Moreover, when individual states ban the sale of cold medicine - people just replace the weak homemade stuff with the exponentially stronger stuff from Mexico. I know that's what I did (not really, it's a literary device). Plus, these laws annoy regular people who just want to be left alone. For example, Otter wouldn't buy cold medicine on his Arizona trip because he would have had to register to buy it - instead, he got his friend to buy it. I bet that's illegal (Otter, if you go to jail, I'll bail you out - sorry for ratting you out).

Anyway, I've linked above to an article that exposes the media's role in expanding the Myth of Meth:

In its effort to convince the world of the threats posed by meth, The
Oregonian has sacrificed accuracy. According to an analysis of the paper's
reporting, a review of drug-use data and conversations with addiction experts,
The Oregonian has relied on bad statistics and a rhetoric of crisis, ultimately
misleading its readers into believing they face a far greater scourge than the
facts support.

Few local media watchers are willing to criticize The Oregonian's
coverage of the meth problem. But skepticism about the growing frenzy has begun
to appear in the pages of major papers across the country, from The Wall Street
Journal to The New York Times, where columnist John Tierney recently wrote that
politicians have become so meth-obsessed, "they've lost sight of their duties."

Miami Herald media critic Glenn Garvin, who is critical of national
drug reporting, says he is disappointed in The Oregonian's reliance on shaky
numbers.

"This idea that we are in a meth hell, it is just not right," he
says. "It does not comport to the numbers. It's nonsensical
."

Anyways - it's a good article, which I stole from Hit & Run, which I am too lazy to link.

Kid H

Your Tax Money Goes Here

Apparently Texas, like Virginia did recently, went into local bars and arrested people for public intoxication. Their rationale - to prevent drunk driving. Note that one was a hotel bar, and a few of the arrestees were registered at the Hotel - which means they weren't driving anywhere.

Even so, what constitutes being drunk? Hopefully, our dear readership doesn't think it's the ridiculously low standard used for DUI's. Anyway, I'll leave you this beaut of a quote from some idiot cop (redundant?):
"Going to a bar is not an opportunity to go get drunk," TABC Capt. David
Alexander said. "It's to have a good time but not to get drunk."

Way to go genius. And arresting people at the bar curbs drunk driving, Riiiiggghhht!

Kid

UPDATE: AndyT13 beat me to this story with this post - found in the comments in the post below - thanks.

Big Ass Pillow...

I've really been wanting to buy this for a couple months now... I just can't seem to wanna spend $150 bucks for a big pillow though.

Anyway... this is a new post... It may not be a good one, but it's a new one.

Otter

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Arizona

So dear readers, your friend Otter here has left Scaggsville and is in Arizona. It's been an interesting trip thus far, with all the almost missed planes and what not. At this point in time I am sitting alone in a room listening to Techno (Fischerspooner and Dust Brothers) on a hand built triode amplifier through 2 laser cut and other wise hand made Ariel speakers. The sound is... well... awesome. I'm hearing things I've never heard before.

Me, I've been left to my own devices and have been drinking vodka and ice (what, it's a mixed drink) by the pint glass... James Bond style... I've been putting a pinch of pepper in, which is a trick he learned at his stay in the Russian embassy. If you don't remember that, no worries, it's not from a movie but rather the book Moonraker. In my world, James Bond can do no wrong.

Anyway, the trip has been interesting so far. The friend I was visiting wasn't actually even in the country when I departed Scaggsville. He was in Canada visiting a Canadan (not misspelled) female friend of his. I won't get into that, but basically his flight plans didn't pan out and I spent all of yesterday hanging out with with his roommate. I had a really good time. The guy and his friends are awesome. Went to a couple places and ended in a Bar called the Library (Hero of Canton, that's like the third one I've seen... I think we were a little slow in opening the bar we wanted)... Arizonian girls are pretty. Umm, really pretty... Actually change pretty to hot and that's a little closer. Actually change that to hot and sexy. Anyway, it could be a case of the grass is always greener mentality, or not but I didn't see too many girls I would kick out of bed. One of them even smiled at me. That was cool.

So anyway my friend ended up renting a car in Las Vegas and driving through the night to Phoenix. He's asleep now and my only company is you, my readers and a handle of Kettle One from the Freezer. I've been wishing for some Whiskey, but you know... lent and all...

Back to the story, after my friend got in we were grabbing a bite to eat and we started talking about manners and etiquette, my friend.. hell... lets just call him Geoffrey... Geoffrey who just like my roommate went to finishing school. Even so he doesn't always follow proper form and I called him on the “way it went in is the way it should come out” deal where he should spit out the olive pit on his fork instead of into his hand. I mentioned that I was from a rather blue collar existence and wasn't subjected to such guidelines and only picked a few of them up in passing. However, one of the few things I never did was put my elbows on the table. Mom wouldn't approve and I believe she always wanted me to look good in the eyes of others. Geoffrey said he noticed that, and resting ones elbows on the table was a very comfortable position. Long story short, I came to the revelation that maybe the reason I like eating (and drinking) at bars is because I can put my elbows on the bar. Good manners drove me to the local pub without even realizing it.

Probably not, but it made for a... well.. just a post.

Different topic... My connecting flight took me over Denver (to hell with Elway)... I always thought Mile High Stadium was in the mountains.. but really its in the flat part before the mountains. It could be a mile high, I don't know what the surrounding elevation is or whatever, but it looked to me to be a hell of a lot lower than the mountains it was a couple miles from. Also Denver is this little downtown (I think Balti-less is bigger) surrounded by this perfect grid of suburbia (BTW Hero of Canton was in the play Suburbia... it was cool... I liked the theater people.. they were fun. I wish I did more than hang out with them in the green room and actually worked on something...)
...

Anyway... the Rockies were cool from the sky... Check this out.. there was land, with no roads. Lakes that weren't surrounded with condos...dude.. there was room for a man to be a man.

Alright...

ohh yeah, one more thing.. West coast light switches are made for little people.. they are like 3 feet off the floor... try finding the light switch in a strange froom in the dark.. I typed froom.

Ohh well, maybe I need a nap as well...

Have... well... another day,

Otter

Eye-Poppin' Fun

Not for the faint of heart...this video actually captures Villanova's Allan Ray's eye get poked out on the basketball court. Wonder how that'll play out in the brackets...

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

What do y'all talk like?

Little test to see how southern you may be. I'm from Atlanta, GA and my result was:

"100% Dixie. Is General Lee your grandfather?!"

I was kind of proud of my self, even though I don't believe I have a discernible accent (except when drinking, tired or anywhere around my relatives - I think I just adapt).

See how you guys fare.

Kid H

Monday, March 13, 2006

Milosevic's Myspace

Hilarious...especially when you read "Milosevic's Friends." Enjoy.

Ummm... Ohh YEah!

This one is for the guys... More accurately Firefly fans who happen to be male.

Otter

Thursday, March 09, 2006

I welcome our new Asian overlord...

OMG...

You have to see this to believe this. This is a video of this kid playing the Super Mario theme music on, not one, but two guitars at the same time. He is so freaking talented he should rule the planet. He could do for the world what The WYLD Stallions did for it. Except, you know, that was a movie and this guy has WAY more mad crazy skills than Bill and Ted. No more war, not more suffering... I mean anything is possible for a guy who can do this.

Watch this freaking video.

Otter

PIN Wars

Yikes...MSNBC is reporting that any time you make a purchase using a "debit transaction" (combination of debit card and PIN), some of these retailers are inadvertently capturing that PIN data as part of their accounts receivables to reconcile payments. Thieves apparently got the mother-load when they lifted this data, along with the associated account numbers, which are in turn linked to bank checking accounts. Now they just go to any cash machine and make off with your money!

So word to the wise, when using the debit card for purchases - make sure it goes through as a "credit" purchase rather than "debit." You'll save additional fees from your bank and not put yourself at risk for some hefty donations from your checking account.

Pillow Fight Club?

Just a little something for your amusement. A huge pillow-fight in San Francisco. Where else?

El Cabrito Hermoso (the handsome little goat).

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Good Credit = Terrorism

I think the end may be near. This guy pays off his credit card bill. He paid it in one big lump sum. Because he normally doesn't do that, the Department of Homeland security FROZE the transaction and then OPENED AN INVESTIGATION on him.

Someone has got to do somethng about this.

Otter

Monday, March 06, 2006

SCREW THE ATF

I'm sorry, but I can't say that in any nicer way.

Chemistry SETS???? For the love of God. Americans are falling behind in the sciences and some geniuses in the government wanna require that any store wanting to sell ANY combination of chemicals that COULD be used for an explosive to get a special license.

Great.

There are a lot of ways to stop terrorists, but limiting MY freedoms isn't one of them. Growing up I lOVED my chemistry sets. I played with those things for years.

I honestly can't believe this country any more. Isn't there any sanity left???

Otter

A Nation of Pansies

Seriously, what kind of little wuss men are we letting boys grow up to be.

Kid twists his friends nipple. Yeah it hurts. Kid goes to juvie?!?!?

The only good news here is that he didn't comply with the requirement that he explains to his "victim" what his "criminal thoughts" were (though it cost him 4 days in juvie, way to go judge).

This country is developing some serious problems. I mean. what kind of crappy society are we developing where friends can't rough house with each other? The parents of the "victim" should be ashamed of themselves.

Otter

Pentagon...Afraid of Unions?

With the largest arsenal of the world's finest soldiers at its disposal you wouldn't think that the Pentagon would be scared of anything...well, anything except government unions.

In the works for the past several years, the NSPS (National Security Personnel System) was designed to transform the current civilian workforce of DoD into a workforce with distinct measures to ensure accountability linked with performance. As part of this transformation, the DoD needed to change the collective bargaining rights of the government unions that are entangled into the lives of the core civilian employees. What the NSPS proposed was to limit collective bargaining from a national level, ensuring that agreements would be fluid across the organization - unlike now where collective bargaining occurs at all levels of the organization, making it nearly impossible to hold individuals to any standard of performance across DoD.

Well the unions clearly felt threatened by this restriction of their bargaining rights and took their matter to federal court. With the appeals court ruling in the union's favor, the Pentagon has no choice but to bend over and take it up the ass. Basically once again forcing multiple standards of performance for union and non-union members in an organization that is in dire need for strategic focus - especially to provide much-needed support during the GWOT (Global War on Terrorism).

Reason #589 why unions have no business in federal government.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Liberal Bias in the Classroom

Sean Hannity has been on the rampage of liberal bias in the classroom, but this is one of the first articles that I've actually found on the subject. A Colorado 10th grade teacher compared "Bush to Hilter," described capitalism as "at-odds with human rights," and summed up America as one of the "most violent nations on the Earth." Kudos to the kid who recorded this liberal jackass and made it public.

I'm not going to tread lightly on this subject. I'm really starting to hate teachers and I personally feel that the teacher martyrdom is highly overrated. Teachers work 10 months out of the year, have a politically connected union that pollutes its members with liberal propaganda, receive pay raises driven without performance standards or accountability, and bulks at the notion that your parent company (the Federal Government) should hold you to "national standards" yet we are still producing kids who can't read.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Lent...

Lent starts today. I know this 'cause they were giving out beads last night at the Mexican joint I went to for a bite and a beer (unfortunatly, I don't believe one can buy large tracks of North America for beads anymore, but they are shiney and pretty none-the-less).

Anyway, for Lent this year, I'll be giving up Brown Spirits. No more whiskey in any of it's wonderful forms. 40 days and counting.

Once I hit publish there is no going back.

Can't change it......

Otter

Cops and Complaints...

The more I've been thinking about the comments from my previous post, the more I want people to watch the video attached to the link above.

Otter