The Birther Conspiracy

There was many a "Birther Conspiracy" theory that President Obama was not a natural born citizen, as is required under the Constitution and that he is thereby not qualified to serve as president.

At issue was his birth certificate. The State of Hawaii says they were inundated with requests for a copy of his birth certificate. Considering it privileged information, all requests for copies were summarily denied.
The State of Hawaii Health Director said that they would often get 10-20 requests per week, often from the same half dozen people.

People sued. In fact, quite a few.
Berg, Donofrio and Kershner, were prime examples of litigants who were intent on uncovering what they thought was a conspiracy to defraud the American people.

In an attempt to appease these many inquiries, a scanned image was finally released to the public.

The US Supreme court ruled that the birth certificate is in fact genuine, and that there is no obligation to continually release it to the general public other than in the above version. The Republican Gov., Linda Lingle, then signed a bill that allows state officials to ignore duplicative requests for birth records. Because of that, requests dissipated.

Ok, maybe privacy is a concern as I'm not real comfortable with some moron obtaining my birth certificate and stealing my identity. Oh alright, that may be an extreme reason, but privacy is paramount, especially to the US President.

Now, for the grand finale -

5 Democrats introduced legislation that would allow anyone to obtain a copy of the President's birth certificate for a minimal fee of $100.00.  For this fee, it would entitle the person making the request to a certified copy from the state office and NOT the scanned copy that was released by the President himself.
This legislation will still have to make it's way around the privacy laws that are already on the books.

The Democrats aren't taking themselves too seriously on this however, as Rep. John Mizuno stated that he "had no problem looking into innovative ways to bring revenue to the state."

I hope he's not thinking that a $100. fee is any kind of deterrent. Because some people will pay outrageous sums of money for some of the stupidest things.  And yea, this ranks right up there.


Whether you believe in this theory or not, there's not a damn thing we can do about it.  The majority voted him in and we're stuck with him for another 2 years.

The TSA reconsiders

On January 13, TSA Administrator John Pistole said in a speech before the American Bar Association that they were attempting to find less intrusive ways of screening the traveling public.

During his speech, he eluded to the fact that they were considering using a full body scanner that shows stick figures.

Their goal is to be as minimally invasive as possible.  Ah, little late on that end. The stick figure full body scanner is already in use in Amsterdam and the TSA is going to decide this year whether they should switch.

They're also considering adopting another method similar to that used at Israeli airports.  PROFILING.  Yes, the Israelis profile....but they don't call it that.  No. They have a more civilized explanation. They rely less on the physical security but more so on the visual scrutiny of the passenger the minute they walk in the door.  If their suspicions are elevated, they will engage this person in a conversation, assessing things like, demeanor and body language and yes, they do take in to consideration sex and race.  Imagine that.  What a novel idea.  It could work.

The Greatest American Novel

 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
 by Mark Twain 

is about to be censored -- all in the name of political correctness. That's right. A brilliant book and literary classic is about to be changed after over a hundred years. This is a tale of adventure involving many unique characters, as told through the eyes of a misfit boy in the deep south.  This book was first published in 1894 and made reference to the "N" word and "injun" numerous times.
Now the world wants to do a rewrite and replace those words with "slave" and "Indian" respectively.  Oh come on, people!

This is censorship plain and simple!  Are we going to rewrite history too?
On last night's episode of the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert said it best in all of his scary truth humor,
"It's great that they took the N-word out of "Huckleberry Finn." Now get to work on "Moby D-Word."


What other exceptions could be made for the rule? Any thing goes: historical documents, books, movies, songs. What else needs to be changed? 


Samuel Longhorn Clemens aka: Mark Twain, a renowned author and humorist, probably wouldn't be laughing at this one.
Editing and censoring a classic piece of literature is a horrible act.

Crack Head uses His Crack

Felix Booker, of Oak Ridge, TN gets the supreme dumb ass award.

Concealing crack in your crack results in a trip to the hospital for a serious body cavity search.

Click on the defendant's name and read the details of what our stupid ass friend did to deserve such a prestigious award.

The defendant's attorney is testing the boundaries of case law when it comes to how far law enforcement can go in their search for illegal drugs and whether it outweighs the health and safety of the jack ass who put it there.

The novelty of this legal issue will almost certainly draw the attention of a federal appeals court and this guy is going to be the butt of endless ass jokes.

New Year 2011

For those of you working this evening, a message from an  old school friend.

Enjoy this clip from back in the day.

The Susan Smith saga continues....thanks to Harpo

In October 1994, Susan Smith of Union, SC reported to the police that a black male car jacked her, kidnapping her 2 young sons that were still in the car.  For days, she made well publicized and somewhat tearful pleas to the public seeking the safe return of her children.  After about 9 days, she eventually admitted to police that she had let her car roll in to the John D. Long Lake while her 2 sons were strapped inside.  They both drowned.

Some say that her media statements were cold and automated, with no signs of emotional distress or concern for the whereabouts of her children.  It wasn't until she was eventually arrested for 2 counts of murder that any emotions were finally revealed.

When it finally came to light that she had lied about a black man stealing her car with her sons inside, a racially charged media circus was ignited.  The volunteers, family and the public that supported her, all felt betrayed.
She stated she had disposed of her sons because of her interest in a wealthy man who had no interest in her or her ready made family.  It was never known if she had even considered relinquishing custody of her sons to her ex husband, the children's father.

She pleaded not guilty, and used the mental disease/defect defense. Many bizarre things came to light during her trial. She admitted to having been sexually assaulted by her step father as a child.  The step father admitted to it under oath and then claimed their sex was consensual well in to her adulthood.  Ok, so she had a bizarre childhood, even trying to commit suicide twice, but still...SHE MURDERED HER CHILDREN!

The Solcitor [DA] asked for the death penalty in this case but the jury spared her and she got a life sentence with the eligibility for parole after 30 years. She will be eligible for parole when she is 53 years old in 2024.

During her incarceration, she develops a sexually transmitted disease which led to the discovery that she was having sex with 2 correctional officers.  The CO's not only lost their jobs, but were also arrested and charged with misconduct in office.  As a result, she was transferred to another correctional facility.

She also gained some publicity for posting her picture (see below) and profile on a new website called writeaprisoner.com.  After a good deal of public outcry, her profile was pulled and the website later dissolved.

Fast forwarding to the present, Oprah Winfrey admits on her show recently that she's been trying to get an interview with Susan Smith for years.  It's the final year for her show and this interview is on her bucket list.
Winfrey petitioned Governor elect, Nikki Haley, to be allowed to interview Susan Smith.
The SC Dept. of Corrections has a strict and long standing policy about not allowing prisoners to be interviewed.  Gov. elect Haley denied Winfrey's request, stating everyone had suffered enough from this tragedy and she has no intention of changing the rules.

I cannot believe that Winfrey would even want to consider giving this woman any kind of forum - all for the sake of ratings and notoriety.  Susan Smith is a narcissistic child killer who should have gotten the death penalty.  Oprah Winfrey should be ashamed and embarrassed for even asking.

Cough due to cold?

Ah yes, cold and flu season is upon us and it's safe to say that some of us will avoid going to the doctor at any cost.  In fact, that's the problem -- it costs.
There is no cure for the common cold so we know the schpiel -
drink plenty of fluids, get plenty of rest, eat Mom's chicken soup, and fight off the symptoms with any number of over the counter cold remedies.

I have developed a cough, that I can only hope won't manifest itself in to bronchitis.  After a very lengthy holiday road trip, I decide to take a quick stop at my local CVS to pick up some cough syrup and some milk before going home and crawling in to bed.

I made 2 mistakes:

1.  I foolishly believed that I could just run in real quick for my 2 items like it was your local stop 'n rob.
2.  I also left everything in the car and grabbed only a $20.00 bill.  [Yes, some people do occasionally use cash these days.]

This drug store was the busiest I've ever seen it on a Monday evening and there's only 2 employees working in the store.  One in the pharmacy - and it's packed with people back there, and one on the front register.  The young man running the register is about 25-30 years old, and is wearing a shirt and tie, not the usual blue CVS shirt.  I take it he's an Assistant Manager - or Assistant Manager in training - or an Assistant Manager in training to be a pain in my ass.

I get in line with my 2 items.  It was a strange, haphazard line and there are 3 people ahead of me.  What bothers me most is that he [the cashier/Asst. Manager] is spending an inordinate amount of time chatting up this pretty little blonde that he's checking out.  Granted, she has quite a bit of merchandise, but the usual 18-21 year olds I see working in here can always manage to make that line move a whole hell of a lot faster.

I'm tired.  Time is ticking.  I'm shifting my weight on either foot.  He's not getting her phone number, but he sure is kissing her ass. This guy is being so disgustingly pleasant that you just want to knock some ugly in to him!  Ok finally....she's out.  Next guy.  Blah, blah. Next guy...he wants cigarettes.  He's clearly younger than me. The Assistant Ass is being a bit solicitous to him too in that they don't have his brand and their delivery truck is expected tomorrow, but we have the shorter version.  Doesn't ask for ID to make sure he's old enough and responsible enough to smoke tobacco.  FINALLY!  My turn!  My turn!

I put my stuff on the counter and hand over my $20.00.  He rings up the items and is bagging them when he comes up with this brilliant comment that about floored me.....I'll need to see some ID to purchase the cough syrup?  ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?   He says he's not.  By this time, the check out line is snaking around an aisle and I just want to get the flock out of there!  I replied, quite loudly, "You want me to show you my ID to buy cough syrup?"  I'm looking out the corner of my eye, possibly looking for some affirmation or hope, or understanding from the other poor saps behind me.  It ain't happenin'.
I asked (with indignant sarcasm) if he'd hold up the line just for me so I could hustle on out to my car and get my ID.  "Sure" he says ever so pleasantly.  I still wanna slap the smug off this guy's face.

I bring it back, show him my ID and he glances at it.  OH HELL NO!  I asked him what point that served...it's obvious I'm over 21 and I'm only buying one bottle.  He starts stammering this crap about it's federal law and store policy, blah blah.  I suggest they get some signs put up because I've never heard of such a thing.  I'm too tired to argue and I hear some grumbling behind me so I take my lumps and exit the store.

So now, it's the next day and I've been to another major grocery store chain with a pharmacy and asked about this so called law.  The pharmacist says that a consumer must be over 18 and can only purchase one bottle at a time.  They do not check your ID unless they have some doubts.  I buy some Mucinex that contains a higher amount of Dextromethorphan than the cough syrup I bought yesterday.  No one asked for my ID.
I call another retail chain pharmacy and pose the same question.  This time, I get a giggly young girl who flat out says that they use discretion, but stores like Target and CVS do check ID's.  Holy shit!

After all that, I come across this article.

Then I found the Dextromethorphan Reduction Act simply requires the purchaser be over 18.  This statement about our big government interference just puts it all in perspective.
Now I ask you, does this serve any purpose?  Who is winning the war on drugs?


Shall we start asking for ID from people whenever they purchase an aerosol product just so we can make a concerted effort to deter "huffing" by teenagers?

There's a moral to this story, but I'm too sick to figure it out.