Rumble Strips|You have been warned!

Is there anyone out there in the world who can make a case that Obama, or anyone else who would be the Democratic nominee for president, past present, or future, including Bill if he were eligible, should pick Hilary Clinton to be their vice president?

If you can make such a case, I’d sure like to hear it.

If by some miracle of ascension you were offered the job of president knowing that Hilary was vice president, would you take the job?

Shoddy crime labs are looking like the state of the art. In Washington a court has ruled the state’s breathalyzer tests are basically junk:

The State Patrol’s toxicology lab has had so many ethical lapses and made so many scientific mistakes in recent years that alcohol breath test results should not be admitted at trial, a court ruled Wednesday.

FBI Crime Lab, Houston Crime Lab scandal: It’s like Dan Rather in Charge of the police. We know these guys are scumbag, drunken criminals all we have to do is make the facts fit.

Dow’s new Chlor-Alkali plant sounds like a good deal at first, and the construction jobs will certainly be a nice boon for the area but overall, when the plant is up and running it appears Brazoria County will have waived eight years worth of taxes for the status quo.

Without the new facility, there would have been lost jobs with the closed plants. The new facility makes the switch “job neutral,” which means there will neither be a net drop or gain in the number of jobs at Plant B, Copeland said.

I thought the argument for abatements was generally that more jobs would be created. Dow had a pretty strong hand to get the abatement and I am certainly not opposed to granting abatements. Abate the taxes for every business and see what happens. The county would be wall-to-wall business enterprise with a smattering of homes.

All in all abatements are a pretty strong statement with solid empirical evidence that lower taxes spurs economic activity.

more…

Also announced by Dow last month:

The Dow Chemical Company has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hunton Energy for the drafting of definitive agreements, which if executed, would result in the construction of a gasification facility in Freeport, Texas. According to the non-binding MOU, Hunton would own, build and operate a petroleum coke gasification plant at Dow’s Oyster Creek property. Once the gasification plant is completed, Dow would purchase synthetic natural gas and steam from Hunton for its large Texas Operations manufacturing site also located in Freeport.

I mentioned a while back that I have this ear infection that has been lingering around in a manner that can only be described as stubborn. I finally broke down and went to a specialist to get to the bottom of the matter only to find out that the ear infection wasn’t so stubborn as it was just an ordinary ole ear infection that had been misdiagnosed and thus mistreated. Not once, but twice. Two different places, one a clinic and the second a regular doctor, an internist.

The third doctor, an otolaryngologist, took no more time than either of the other two medical care givers but knew right off what the matter was. A few minutes later he had pulled out a small vacuum device and with a slrrrp the bulk of the matter was resolved and deposited on a small square piece of gauze. The doc bade me get up and indicated for me to look at the long tubular mass he had just evacuated from my ear.

As a result of many ill-advised Q-tipped assaults into my ear canal in futile attempts at gaining some self-administered relief (a practice with which I am not wholly ignorant) I had obviously packed the little critters in there there like so much wadding in an old muzzle loader.

Glancing nonchalantly from where I was standing, I’m like, “Yeah, I’ve seen that before, doc.” Albeit maybe not so much all at one time.

Doc conveniently had a magnifying glass, probably of a magnification about 10 times normal and was built onto one of those arms that can be easily maneuvered and positioned over the subject matter. “No have a look through here,” he said moving out of the way to give me clear access.

So what the heck, might as well have a look at just how nasty my infliction was. Folks, let me tell ya, the gunk out of your ear, especially if it is alive, is a lot worse under a magnifying glass than it is on a tissue.

“Ah, man that’s gross,” I said pulling away from the glass. If I had any sense of propriety I should not even try to describe what the infestation looked like out of embarrassment for having something like that living inside my head for three months or so. It looked like three different kinds of amphibious egg sacks with black sturgeon caviar nestled in the core. Gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it now.

Before I could recoil fully, due to a force that is akin to or the same as the one that make us unable to turn our heads from a horrible car wreck I went back for a closer inspection.

“Man! That is some nasty, gross… Ah man, ooh look at that…” I trail off as I am finally able to pull away.

I look over at Doc and he has this big grin on his face and he says, “Looks like bread and butter to me.”

Paul Jacobs: “I was placed in hand-cuffs and leg-irons before my release on bond, and am threatened with a ten-year prison term for that oh-so-violent crime of helping others petition their government. “

In Oklahoma it is seriously against the law to come from out of state to help with peaceful petitions of the government, but obviously it’s okay to bring in ringers from out of state to harass anyone who has the temerity to chalenge the oppressive power of the state.

This wasn’t merely a few renegades. Jeanne Berg, a liberal labor activist from Oregon, was hired to run a campaign of harassment. Blockers were hired from throughout the country and paid as much as $100 a day. Their function? Swarm around anyone out circulating the petition and create enough street theater and mayhem to chase away citizens who, since the measure was overwhelmingly popular, would otherwise be likely to sign.

So what ya gonna do? Complain to the government?

On a related topic, does the 2nd ammendment provide for a well-regulated state-run militia, or a well-regulated citizen-run militia?

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(Link via Instapundit)

Kurt Daims: “I feel bad for people who are loyal to Bush who have lost a son or had one in the service and it’s hard for them to admit the utter waste of it, and that it was caused by this man in the White House.” What a despicable thing to say. Does that sound like chagrin, or hatred? Anyone who would make such a comment is nothing but a run-of-the-mill hater.

According to the latest Yahoo News article, some of the surrealist moonbats of Brattleboro are skeered that there might be consequences for their treasonous actions. Well, you Bush-hating idiots in Brattleboro Vermont should be concerned for your safety. As a matter of fact, I hereby decree that if Kurt Daims ever steps foot anywhere where I can get my hands on him, I will personally inflict a beating upon his person, regardless of the consequences. If he is willing and able, Kurt Daims shall be free to use deadly force against me in self-defense, since he will obviously have come to Texas for his beating. See, I don’t mind paying a steep price for my actions if I know the cause is right.

Antonio Mon, Houston builder Newmark Homes parent company CEO: “We’re in the worst housing recession in modern history.” It is not clear wheter Mon meant for his company or for the world.

The good news is that Houston and Texas are a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy picture. (Link)

Related: Texas foreclosure rate bucks skyrocketing US trend.

Evidently CBS 48 Hours newsmagazine did a story on convicted murderer Jenny Eisenman (Drew was unavailable for interview.) The article at the link is seven pages. I read page one but stopped because of statements like this:

Was Jenny – described by many as gentle and caring – a victim or, as prosecutors asserted, a woman capable of cold-blooded murder?

I think that has been decided already. And this statement irked as well:

[Homicide Detective] Reynolds says his gut was telling that there was a story here, but before investigators could start to unravel that story, they first had to answer a big question: where was Drew’s body?

Ya think? The story is a rehash with the tone of a Mystery as if the case has not been lawfully adjudicated. Basically it is blatant exploitation, same as I am doing here and now. I still think Jenny had help loading Drew into the tub and moving the tub downstairs, but that hardly matters now.

If there is anything of interest or importance in the following six pages of the story, like an upcoming appeal or something, do let me know.

FoxNews just reported on the Cavuto that the FBI has announced it is investigating 14 financial lending institutions for varied indiscretions, such as collusion, improper accounting, and insider trader. Details were slim and the companies have not been named.

I bet a dollar on Citigroup.

Okay, who out there thought there was nothing fishy with the sub prime lending scam? Raise your hand.

A couple of months ago I asked whether anyone would be going to jail.

It would seem we almost missed the chance for victory in Iraq as well as retaining any credibility in the Middle East for want of thirty thousand measly ass troops. Evidently everyone down to a man, and a woman, were against the “surge” save for Bush, Cheney and a few realists at the NSC. (Link)

Inside his own administration, Bush had few allies on a surge in Iraq aside from the vice president and a coterie of National Security Council (NSC) staffers. The Joint Chiefs were disinclined to send more troops to Iraq or adopt a new strategy. So were General George Casey, the American commander in Iraq, and Centcom commander John Abizaid. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice favored a troop pullback. A week earlier, the Iraq Study Group, better known as the Baker-Hamilton Commission, had recommended a graceful exit from Iraq.

I just don’t get it. What’s the use in having the world’s most expensive military if we can’t use it? I mean, what are we saving it for when we are under attack and being driven from the field.

I don’t buy this idea that no cost is too high as long as Bush fails. Anyone making a career in the military or civilian command who is satisfied with retreat in the face of victory should maybe look for other employment.