Could Somebody Please Pass Me a Bucket?

Because if I hear this nonsense about "John McCain voted with George Bush 90% of the time" again, I think I'm going to hurl.  Nearly 50% of votes in the Senate are unanimous, which means that Barack Obama "voted with George Bush" nearly 50% of the time.  Oh, and by the way, for those of you who slept through your 9 weeks worth of U.S. Government class in high school, the president of the United States does not have a vote in the U.S. Senate.  I'm guessing this is the type of thing you learn during your first semester of college if you're a pre-law major, but then, that's about the time Barack Obama was hyped up on weed and cocaine, so perhaps this explains why he's missing the point.

You have got to be kidding me

Sarah Palin? Sarah Palin? Why didn't John McCain just nominate my daughter's daycare teacher? With all the highly qualified people--men and women--out there, McCain adds this woman whose experience is, amazingly, even less than that of Barack Obama, and all of a sudden conservatives are supposed to be energized.

Let's call this move what it is: a blatant attempt to "buy" the votes of white women who are angry Hillary wasn't their nominee by putting a token woman on the ticket. McCain's move is painfully transparent, and if I were a woman, I would be insulted. In fact, I'm insulted as a man.

For the last several months, McCain has been harping on the inexperience of Barack Obama and how little we know about him as his primary argument against him. Has he realized, in his old age, that the vice president must also be "ready to be president"? Could it have escaped his mind that at 72 years old and with a history of skin cancer, he needs a vice president who could actually take over? I mean, you think Dan Qualye had a deer-in-the-headlights look during some of his debates with Lloyd Bentsen? I'm betting this Palin woman makes Dan Quayle look like a seasoned political veteran.

Oh well, it's not like McCain had my vote anyway. In the past few years, I've begun to lean much more Libertarian than Republican. But it's surprising to me how quickly Republicans are falling in lockstep with this vice presidential selection. With Barack Obama's colorful past being brought more into the light every day (e.g., his associations with people who have nothing more in common than their disdain for all things American,--Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, et al--his shady real estate deals with Tony Rezko, his wife's apparent belief that America is a "downright mean country" that she has never been proud of, etc.), it shocks me that Republicans would now be willing to vote for a ticket that includes a vice presidential candidate who is an even bigger mystery than Obama.

But it's okay. Go ahead and vote for McCain. As someone said regarding the whole Dan Quayle/Lloyd Bentsen situation, "Wouldn't you rather vote for a president and hope he lives than vote for one and hope he doesn't?" As for me, I'll be voting for Bob Barr, the libertarian candidate. This will be the first time I have given my vote for president to a third party candidate, and no, I don't feel I'm wasting my vote. In fact, my vote will carry much more meaning than the millions of votes that are cast, noses held, by Republicans and Democrats for nothing more than party loyalty because let's face it, both parties have nominated some stinkers.

This is exactly what I hoped for

When I went to the poll in November and didn't vote for a single contested Republican, this is exactly what I had hoped for. I wanted to see two things happen: first, I wanted to see Republicans lose power for two years. I wanted to see their faces when they realized that their base isn't a bunch of mindless idiots who will vote Republican no matter what. And second, I wanted to see the Democrats make absolute asses out of themselves for those same two years.

I couldn't have written it any better myself. First Nancy Pelosi goes off the deep end endorsing Murtha for majority leader, and now the incoming Intel chairman--whom Pelosi picked over Jane Harman as retribution for her tepid support of President Bush's Iraq policy--can't even identify our enemies. He has no idea what the driving force behind al Qaeda and/or Hezbollah violence is, because he doesn't even know what sect of Muslim they come from. It's enough to make you cry, but you can't cry because you're laughing too hard!

Yep, I'm really starting to look forward to 2008. Republicans see what happens when they stray from their principles, and the American people see what happens when these idiotic Democrats take control. Hell, we couldn't spy on terrorists during Clinton's reign, but he had no problem spying on real enemies of the United States, like Princess Diana. Oh yeah, it's going to be very interesting in 2008. Thanks, people, for giving me exactly what I wanted.

Required Reading

If you read one article in its entirety today--or for that matter, this year--make it this one. If you spend 5-10 minutes of your time doing anything, let it be to read this article. Love him, hate him, wish he would just roll over and die.....doesn't matter. Donald Rumsfeld was brilliant in these comments. Don't miss it.

Warning! Don't take a swig of your drink before you watch this

I nearly split my side watching this one. Enjoy! Rummy, hamming it up.

Ahhh, another great election day passes

Note: I don't know what's up with blogger, but if you want to view the picture below, you may have to click on it.

I've gotta tell you: today was the first time I've ever voted for a majority of candidates that weren't Republican, and it felt great!! I cast my ballot for about a half-dozen Libertarian candidates, and even though none of them will win, I still got to have my say. Give it a shot next time. It wasn't as hard as I expected.

A few random notes from today:

1. In various places, there were flash floods today. This is obviously an attempt by the Republicans to suppress the vote of poor...ahem...I mean, underprivileged, or less fortunate voters. Everybody knows that only rich people can afford the boats that they needed to get to polls. Those damned evil rich people and their boats! It's a vast right-wing conspiracy!

2. Can you feel the completely not disguised glee of the people of CNN as they report Democratic gains in the House and Senate? They've got their "Balance of Power" headline over at the website, and it's as if they're counting down to the 218th Democratic Representative so that they can hold some kind of New Year's Eve-esque celebration. Hell, they've probably got a big shimmering ball to drop somewhere.

3. Is it just me, or is the art of proofreading dead? (If you find errors here, they are due to computer glitches in the publishing process, and they are most certainly not caused by an error on my part.) I took this screenshot from the local news website. Read the caption carefully. It's pretty fun.

4. CNN has been running a computer-generated graphic at the close of election coverage segments that is supposed to be a cartoon-ish elephant colliding with a similarly cartoon-ish donkey. Thing is, the elephant has huge tusks, and its trunk is a bit.....oh, please forgive me.....truncated. In fact, the elephant looks strikingly like a rhinoceros when you just catch that fleeting glance of it. Could they be trying to send a subliminal message that our Republicans in Congress are actually just RINOs? (Republicans in name only). Hey, there are a lot of people out there who feel that the Republicans have betrayed their base. Just some food for thought.

That's all, folks. Have a great night, and remember: the Democrats most likely control the House of Representatives now, and their motto? "Mo' new taxes." Enjoy those non-truncated paychecks while you can.

Ignore the ads and decide for yourself

If you're like me, you are sick and tired of all the political ads on television. This candidate says that, and that candidate says this. Who do you believe? For example, in my area there is a big race shaping up between Mac Collins and Jim Marshall. Collins, the Republican candidate, has been running ads saying that Jim Marshall pretends to be a conservative in Georgia, but votes like liberal Nancy Pelosi in Washington. Marshall's ads have accused Collins of ignoring the needs of rural hospitals and supporting amnesty for illegal aliens. Man, oh man, what is the truth? Well, now I've found a place where you can get the truth for yourself--even if you're as lazy as I. Check it out here.

On this site, you can find any member of Congress and review his voting record. The list of votes offers links for each that provides you with an overview of the bill, including all of its major provisions and a summary of the debate surrounding it.

The only drawback is that it applies only to current members of Congress, and not to those who are challenging, even if they are former Congressmen. (Like Mac Collins). Enjoy, do your homework, and may the least weasley candidate win your vote.

Election Cycle History Lesson

I've been studying the "Great War", or World War I, as we know it. I must admit, I have realized just how ignorant I was of this conflict until I took this class. For instance, I never knew that the Russian Revolution grew out of the first world war. Oh, Russia was pretty much done fighting before it happened anyway, but still, it's interesting to note that it came in part because of anger over the war.

So for today, I thought I'd give those of you who are like I was--that is to say, ignorant--a little lesson in history that seems to have particular significance right now.

In a little over a week, Americans will go to the polls and vote. In fact, the date is November 7th. Today's lesson centers around that date. For 10 bonus points, can anyone tell me the significance of November 7th in world events?

Nah, didn't think so.

It was 89 years ago, on November 7th, that the Bolsheviks seized control of the Russian government. The Bolsheviks, in case you were wondering, were headed up by a guy named Lenin. They were the 1917 version of today's Democratic Party. Their platform consisted of two items, just as the platform of modern Democrats does:

1. Get rid of the current government.
2. Get us out of the war.

That was their big plan. That was their platform. It's the exact same platform Democrats are running on today.

1. Get rid of Republicans.
2. Get us out of Iraq.

What the masses didn't know on November 7, 1917, was that the Russian army had dealt the Central powers a devastating blow in the Brusilov offensive, and had the Russians just.....gasp!.....stayed the course a little while longer, the German army would have been completely broken because it would have had to continue its defensive maneuvers on the western front and it would have had to hold the entire eastern front line by itself. Russia, you see, had all but knocked Austria out of the war. In fact, Franz Josef--the Austrian leader--was already putting out peace feelers. The Russians were on the verge of sealing an Allied victory, and defeatist, pacifist 1917-version Democrats caused them to surrender.

In fact, it wasn't just a withdrawal from the war that these early-day Democrats achieved. (I guess they probably called it a "redeployment" or something like that.) No, they achieved even more. Guess what they did? They did what Democrats want to do today: negotiated with the enemy. They sent a guy named Trotsky to Brest-Litovsk to negotiate a peace deal with the Germans. What was the result? The Germans ignored the deal and marched on Petrigrad. The Bolsheviks retreated to Moscow (wonder why the capital is there now?) and wound up signing a humiliating treaty that surrendered Russian territory all the way to the Black Sea, including the Ukraine, one of Russia's most vital centers of natural resources, to the Germans.

A wise man once said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Will we be condemned to repeat the past? Or will we learn from the mistakes others have made? Who will we put in power? The pacifist, Marxist Democrats? The big-government, borrow-and-spend Republicans? How about some strong Libertarians?

Oh well, the choice is yours. At least now you're a little more educated. Or perhaps "sedated" is the word?

Sarge out.

El presidente de México debe guardar su nariz gorda fuera de nuestro negocio.

Hey, Mexico. Here are some tips to keep your relationship with the United States from becoming a hostile one:

1. Work on getting rid of your hypercorrupt government. Try installing one that doesn't use its position to glean millions of dollars in bribery from the hands of criminals.

2. Clean up. Your country--at least in the one time I visited--is nasty.

3. Stop providing information, comfort, and aid to those of your citizens who are trying to cross into our country illegally.

4. Think for a second about why so many people want to leave your country and come here, and then sit down and try to reason out some ways to entice your people to stay home.

5. Finally. Keep your fat nose out of our business, el presidente. It's none of your concern whether or not we put up a fence along the border. If you would take the advice of (1) through (4) above, a fence wouldn't be necessary. The only problem with this fence is that it is 700 miles long, not 2200, and it doesn't come stocked with National Guard soldiers and gun turrets.

Hello? McFly?

Click here to have a good laugh today.

And for a laugh of a different type, check here. Oh, you might want to get yourself a vomit bag handy. Don't say you weren't warned.

More Bottled Up Anger Released

While I'm really winning friends and influencing people, let me hit a couple other topics.

1. Mark Foley. Bury this preying-on-subordinate-children fag under a maximum security prison somewhere. In fact, put him in an all-women prison so he can't get his jollies when Big Bubba meets him in the shower. I don't care if he had sex with the boys or not--the fact is, he preyed on them and used his position of power to pressure them into these vile conversations, and to me, that deserves a....ahem....stiff punishment. And while you're at it, send Denny Hastert to the same place. Don't even try to tell me he didn't know about Foley's behavior. We're learning that EVERYbody knew about Foley's behavior, and nothing was done. Nothing. It makes them nothing short of accomplices. Send them packing.

2. Nancy Pelosi. Sorry to say, this bed-wetter will most likely soon be the speaker of the house. God save us all. This woman is about as kook fringe liberal moonbat as you can get, and pretty soon she'll have the gavel. But you know what? Republicans have earned the privelege of listening to her BS for 2 years. Americans are not afraid of sacrifice, and if we have to tolerate two years of poor leadership in the war on terror to teach these RINO republican congressmen a lesson, then I say that is a sacrifice that needs to be made.

3. The game "tag". In case you haven't heard, a school in Santa Monica (shocking, I know, that it's in that wacko state) has banned the playing of the children's game tag, citing troubled students. Dear God. These students are having their feelings hurt that they are losing at tag. Well you know what? Put down the computer mouse and the Sony Play Station controller and get out and run a little more, and maybe you'll be fast enough to win. And adults: you should be ashamed of yourselves. You are certifiable moonbats now.

4. The New York Times. Never in the history of our republic has a single institution been so overtly guilty of anti-American activity. This so-called "news" paper has published, three times now, details on classified anti-terror and terror assessment programs and results, to the detriment of our armed servicemen and our first responders. This rag of a paper has, without a doubt, given aid and comfort to our enemies by providing them with details regarding the measures we are taking to defeat them. It's no less a crime than if the NYT had published America's secret communication code in WWI and WWII for the Germans and Japanese to see. In fact, I'm surprised the NYT didn't tell Japan in 1945 that we only had one more nuclear weapon available, and not the stockpile of them that Japan thought we had. The owners and editors should be tried for treason, and nothing less.

5. The Sarge. Am I in a bad mood? No, absolutely not. I'm sure it might seem that way if you're still reading. The truth is, I'm having a great fall. School is going well, Amy and I are getting along great, and Alli is just beautiful. I am just so tired of the full-scale lack of common sense in the world today. I'm tired of defeatism here at home, and I'm tired of our so-called allies constantly kicking our feet out from under us. Yes, people, the world has changed since 9/11 and a lot of it doesn't particularly care for the U.S. But here's a tip: they felt that way BEFORE March of 2003, and they have been complicit in our struggles there. Had the world presented a united front, committed to removing Saddam Hussein and building an autonomous government in Iraq, this conflict would have long since been over. Our enemies have a nose for weakness, and they have found ours, just as the Viet-Cong did in the 60s and 70s. They cannot defeat us militarily, so they aim to defeat our will, and sadly, Democrats here in America have followed the plan of our enemies to a T. It's pathetic.

Wow...4 months can really fly by

I guess I'm probably back to square one now. Square one, of course, being the existence of zero readers here at Sarge's Spot. I don't blame you. Hasn't been anything to read in over four months. I'll dispense with the excuses and get to it. There are a few topics I've got on my mind, so here goes.

1. Minimum wage. There has been a lot of talk in Congressional debates about the minimum wage. This person voted against it, this person voted for it, etc. Let's get something straight. The minimum wage is unconstitutional. Simple. The constitution of the United States prohibits the government from exercising powers not explicitly granted to it in the constitution. Nowhere in that sacred document will you find an article that grants government the right to interfere in the terms of private employment contracts. Don't like it? Think I'm heartless? Think I hate poor people? Well I don't give a crap. I'm sick of this "living document" theory. The constitution is not a living document. It is the foundation of our republic (that's REPUBLIC, not DEMOCRACY, for those of you who fell asleep in 8th grade civics) and it is not open to the wild interpretations to which liberals and so-called progressives love to subject it. The minimum wage is just as unconstitutional now as it was when it was first written into law. Get the government out of private employment contracts. If you're trying to raise a family on a minimum wage job, you're a loser and you need to go back to school. Plenty of government assistance is available in that arena. The fact is, "minimum wage jobs" (read: unskilled labor) are not intended to be the types of jobs you support a family on.

2. Mid-term elections. I just can't even listen to talk radio anymore. Well, except for Boortz, but even he is starting to get on my nerves. On the one hand, you've got Limbaugh and Hannity spending three hours a day telling us why we should get out and vote for Republicans, in spite of the pathetic record they've put up in the last 6 years. Then on the other hand, you've got Boortz telling us we shouldn't vote for Republicans, but only because if we do, then voters will elect all Democrats in 2008 and talk radio will be finished off by the fairness doctrine. So let's see....according to these people, my options are A) vote for Republicans no matter how pathetically they perform, or B) vote for Democrats just to save talk radio. I don't really care for either of those options. If you're like me, you're fed up with two types of politician: the defeatist, surrender monkey, Euro-weenies of the Democratic party, and the fake, phony, hypocritical, "I'm-more-moral-than-you" teenage-page-seducing homos of the Republican party. So here's my answer: Libertarian. If you find a Libertarian candidate who will be strong on national defense, put him in office. Period. Abandon the miserably failed "war on drugs" and legalize, reduce taxes, eliminate government entitlement programs that are unconstitutional, decriminalize behavior that takes place in the privacy of your bedroom, and get us back to our roots. The Libertarian party is the closest we have to true constitutionalists out there. Now if you're a hard-core conservative, you can pick your jaw up off the floor. Yes, I said legalize drugs and get rid of so-called sodomy laws. It's not the government's place to regulate any behavior that isn't harmful to others. It isn't the government's place to decide what your moral and religious values will be. It's your place. If the behavior doesn't attempt to deprive another person of life, liberty, or property through force or fraud, it shouldn't be a crime. I'm sick of the Terri Schiavo pimps in the Republican party using their so-called moral values a campaign issue when they're just as perverse and corrupt as the Democrats. And by the way, this doesn't mean my stance on homosexual marriage has changed. I think it's wrong, and I think it's a perversion of the institution of marriage. "But Sarge, so are these people who get married and immediately divorced!" You're right. I also support making it very hard to get a divorce except in cases of abuse or infidelity. Marriage is a legally binding contract, and it should be enforced as such. Sadly, it's not. "But Sarge, what about our Judeo-Christian values?" Well entertain this scenario, if you will: 50 years from now, the Muslim population of America has outgrown all other religions and has become the majority. Muslims look back to today and say, "Back in the early 2000s, you subjected us to laws based on Christian values. Now, we are going to use our majority to subject you to Sharia law."

How do you like that? Now WE are the minority and those Muslims--those evil Muslims--have subjected us to Islamic law. They don't have the right to do that! Well neither do we. "Dammit, Sarge, I hate when you're right."

3. North Korea. There is quite a simple solution to this problem. It's called a 50 megaton nuclear warhead in the middle of Pyongyang. And if anyone has a problem with that, we've got more where that one came from. Why is the Asian Pimpsta so bold these days? Because he knows the Defeatocrats here in America and the Axis of Weasels in Europe won't do a damned thing. It's the same reason that terrorist dictator in Iran is so emboldened right now. Defeatocrats and the Axis of Weasels.

4. Madonna and her adoption. I just don't give two flying craps about Madonna or her third-world baby. This should be a non-story in today's global landscape. Why we've got credible news agencies wasting ink, paper, and bandwidth on this washed-up has-been 80's queen eludes me.

I guess that's enough for now. Enjoy, pass along to your friends, and make sure some of you whackos out there write hateful comments. I love it. See you soon.

--The Sarge

Sweet Justice

THEY CELEBRATED HIS LIFE

AND THEY CELEBRATED HIS WORK

NOW LET THEM MOURN HIS DEATH

Excuses, excuses

Yes, I know I've been gone a while. I've got excuses aplenty. And yes, I know I've strayed from the hard-hitting political commentary you've gotten used to. For that, I say this: I'm just a little tired of it all. I've come to realize that after following national politics for a while, you start to be able to predict everything that's going to happen. Hillary Clinton is in favor of immigration reform. Please, tell me something I don't know. (If 80% of Americans want it, then it's a lock Hillary is for it, at least on the outside.) A politician is caught taking hundreds of thousands in bribes. Well, duh. Can anyone say "term limits?" Thirty years of being in Congress makes you two things: arrogant and powerful, and that is a deadly combination. Just look at Ted Kennedy. John Kerry is both for and against a wall along the Mexican border. Shocking.

So anyway, I've not stopped following politics altogether, but I've backed away from it for a short break. Hopefully my 4 readers will hang around anyway.

It was a long week last week. I went down to Lake Park and spent four days and three nights with my buddy and his family for two purposes: to learn the produce business and to have a little fun. Both missions accomplished, although I sure was hoping to play that golf course down there. Turns out my buddy really does work for a living. We went in at 8 in the morning, and every night it was past 6:30 before we left. I learned a lot. For instance, I learned that there are about 97 varieties of squash and about 74 varieties of peppers, and every variety has a different price that you have to have memorized. A challenge, but interesting nonetheless. I also learned a little of the produce business lingo. There are the "pin hookers," who are guys that buy a field from a farmer for a fixed price and pick the vegetables, hoping to sell them for a profit. Then there are the "birddogs" who scout out all the packing sheds to see which ones have the best product, and then report back to their employers, who then purchase said product. I learned that those in the business use cute little abbreviations for common vegetables. It's too much work to say "cucumbers," so they say "cukes" instead. Same for "zucchini." Those are "zukes." Also, it turns out that the squash we eat down here in the south isn't common all over. Our squash has a curved neck, so they call that a "crookneck." Apparently those up north eat "straightneck" squash. Who knew? There is all kinds of cool stuff to learn.

Still, the most enlightening thing of the week was about my buddy himself. Well, about the both of us, I guess. We don't see each other that much these days. He took off to the south down to Lake Park, and I took off to the north up to Warner Robins, but it's amazing how close you can stay when you've got a history together. As Forrest Gump would say, "we was like peas and carrots."

Or maybe I should use the illustration my dad prefers these days: we were like two peas in a pod, and neither of us has been fertilized.

Yeah, that's about right.

Life Does Indeed Come Full Circle

Over the past week, the Sarge has been hard at work doing some repairs on the ole homestead. It turns out the people who put the original roof on the house were just clueless, and they apparently did the valleys wrong, so as I pulled back the fascia boards to replace them, I found a lot of water-damaged wood behind them. So I did what any good Marine would do when faced with a difficult task: I called my daddy.

Dad came up last Friday morning to help, and we had a great, productive day. He stayed over Friday night, and Saturday morning, we got up to go at it again. It was about 2 hours into our venture when the unthinkable happened. Dad went to move an 8-foot ladder, forgetting that a hammer was sitting on top of it. You can guess the rest. The hammer succumbed to the forces of gravity, and Dad's head succumbed to the large force of the hammer striking it.

As I raced inside to grab some paper towels for Dad to use to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding, I began to replay in my mind the dozen-or-so times Dad had taken me to emergency rooms all over the southeast as a child. There was the first time I need stitches--which I was too young to remember--because I didn't like our coffee table and decided to attack it with my left eyebrow. Then there was the time I took a running jump and drove my right shin into the corner of some brick stairs. I can't leave out the time I was running in church and decided to use my forehead to hammer in a loose nail on one of the pews. And who can forget that summer at camp, when my right knee had a serious disagreement with a jagged rock on the ground. All of these times, my poor young body required stitching, and all of these times, my dad was there.

He loves to tell the story about one of my many forays into the emergency room. The doctor asked me if I was going to be okay as he stitched my wound. My response? "Just give me the needle and thread; I can do it myself." That's a sign of a boy who has had too many accidents. Come to think of it, were I a child in this day and age, my parents would probably be under investigation by DFACS.

Anyway, all of these thoughts are racing through my mind as I drive Dad to the local hospital. This time, it's me taking him to get sewn up. Instead, he had to settle for a couple of staples. I guess times have changed. But one thing that hasn't changed is that the circle of life keeps on spinnin' round, and I guess that's okay with me.

I'm not so sure it's okay with Dad's head.