BlogWonks

October may be Domestic Violence Awareness Month, according to the official gender feminist schedule, but since when has doing anything according to a gender feminist mandate been a good thing?

A hunter in Pennsylvania ended up getting some pictures of a mangy bear, and all of a sudden Bigfoot seekers (think "snipe hunting" but bigger) are asking if this is proof of the existence of a juvenile Sasquatch (a juvenile Sasquatch is just like a regular Sasquatch except it puts "kick me" signs on the backs of the other Sasquatches).

Something besides that struck me as funny, however. After all the years of bogus and doctored photographs from mainstream media sources, the AP decided to put the following disclaimer on the "bigfoot" picture: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT AUTHENTICATE THE CONTENT OF THESE IMAGES.

Too bad the AP and Reuters didn't feel the necessity to put an authenticity disclaimer on any of these photos. I wonder why.

Today's "Stupid tax du jour" is brought to you by the Iowa Department in Oversight of Taxes (IDIOT), better known as the Iowa Department of Revenue.

The state is now taxing pumpkins — unless a form is filled out by the consumer and submitted to the government by the pumpkin seller stating that the pumpkin will be used for food purposes — with one copy placed in IDIOT's "in" box, three in their "out," and two in the file marked "Inane."

Due to the "if used for food it's tax-free" provision, the number of pumpkin pies in Iowa is expected to triple this season — as is the consumption of automobile sandwiches, inheritence soup and propane-sicles.

How's small business reacting to the pumpkin tax?

"I don't mind paying taxes, but let's get real here, people," said Bob Kautz, owner of the Buffalo Pumpkin Patch in Buffalo, about eight miles west of Davenport.

Kautz, who has owned his farm for seven years, was particularly dismayed with the notion of requiring customers to fill out a form verifying that they planned to eat the pumpkins they were buying.

"It's another crazy, crazy, stupid thing," he said.

Kautz said he will estimate how many pumpkins were bought for non-food purposes, and then will send the tax on that amount to the revenue department.

"It gets unfeasible for people to have small businesses," he said.

Danny Carroll, who owns Carroll's Pumpkin Farm in Grinnell with his wife, said he will have to pay the sales tax out of profits.

"Essentially, they just reduced our income by 6 percent," he said. "It's too bad, but it's not surprising."

As that great American economist Bill Clinton would advise, "Just raise your price!"

If we continue to create our tax schemes around the ideas of liberal economists in government, there will be plenty of jobs — as long as you want to be a liberal economist in government, red tape manufacturer, or chicken broth ladeler in the unemployment line.

Mitt Romney said that if the Clintons are in the White House, Hillary will be an intern. The most disappointed person in the country right now has to be Bill Clinton. Oh well, if all else fails, at least there will be pizza.

Here's part of what Romney said to Sean Hannity:

…the greatest drawback beyond the direction she’d take us is that she’s never run anything. She’s never had the occasion of being in the private sector, running a business, or, for that matter, running a state or a city. She hasn’t run anything, and the government of the United States is not a place for a president to be an intern. You need to have experience actually leading and running things.

Look for this "comparing Hillary to an intern" thing to be an ongoing theme among GOP candidates. It's semi-veiled, multi-level fun at its finest.

The USA Today blog asks of Mitt Romney, "Was 'intern' a loaded word to throw at Sen. Clinton?" Isn't a more appropriate question this: wasn't Clinton a loaded president to throw at an intern?

Mitt Romney said that if the Clintons are in the White House, Hillary will be an intern. The most disappointed person in the country right now has to be Bill Clinton. Oh well, if all else fails, at least there will be pizza.

Here's part of what Romney said to Sean Hannity:

…the greatest drawback beyond the direction she’d take us is that she’s never run anything. She’s never had the occasion of being in the private sector, running a business, or, for that matter, running a state or a city. She hasn’t run anything, and the government of the United States is not a place for a president to be an intern. You need to have experience actually leading and running things.

Look for this "comparing Hillary to an intern" thing to be an ongoing theme among GOP candidates. It's semi-veiled, multi-level fun at its finest.

The USA Today blog asks of Mitt Romney, "Was 'intern' a loaded word to throw at Sen. Clinton?" Oh, I don't know — wasn't Clinton a loaded president to throw at an intern?

Forget about health care and the war. How about more money for adult education, particularly for plakard prufreeding klasses:

In the "letters to the editor" section at WorldNetDaily today, there's this gem:

You need to change the banner for columnist Doug Powers to "OUT OF LEFT FIELD." He gets more liberal with every article. A few months ago, he was critical of us who study Bible prophecy, and now he wants us to abandon our beliefs and vote for a pro-abortion presidential candidate. His reason – to keep Hillary out of office.

He says the reason is that we Christians and conservatives need to fight for what we want. Once the primary is over, the fight is over. If the Republican Party won't listen to us before the primary, who in their right mind would think they would listen to us after the general election?

First of all, in the "prophecy" column, I wasn't critical of those who study Bible prophecy, I was critical of those who play on faith by constantly trumpeting reasons that Jesus is coming back before dinnertime in order to perpetually pump book and video sales. Judging from the promotional behavior of these authors, most of them seem incredibly convinced that Jesus is coming back soon, just not before their next book hits the shelves.

Secondly, the column yesterday wasn't about who to vote for, it was about the counterproductive ultimate outcome inherent in fleeing to start a third party.

There are Republicans in the field I wouldn't vote for as well. I'll push for the pro-life candidate (my "pro life" position is fairly well documented here and here and here) — provided that person is also socially and fiscally conservative and a stickler for national security. The latter is the big one. We need a president who will take the initiative to create an atmosphere that makes it more difficult for thousands or even millions of Americans to die in a terrorist attack. What's more "pro life" than that?

Once the terrorists are dead and the borders are secure, then we can have a nice chat about many of the other issues, but judging by some of the letters sent to me, I get the feeling that there are some Republican voters out there who would only be concerned about somebody who blew themselves up in a crowded shopping mall if the bomber was pregnant.

I also heard dozens and dozens of different ideas on what constitutes the "perfect candidate," and in the absence of that, a third party should be created. This is the kind of politically narcissistic approach with which elections are lost and parties fragmented to the point of irrelevance.

During the one term of George H.W. Bush, the 41st president drifted from pro-choice to being supportive of pro-life legislation, but he lost many of us with his "no new taxes" broken pledge (and he lost the votes of pro-choice Republicans — yes, there are some). Ross Perot came about in a third party and soaked up some of the disgruntled vote. As a result we ended up with eight years of Bill Clinton — pro abortion and pro high taxes.

Haste for immediate satisfaction on all accounts is often our worst enemy.

Now if you don't mind, I have to make a tofu pizza, strap on the Birkenstocks and go house shopping in Berkeley.

(The following article is based on a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.)

Within the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration’s mission is to protect the nation’s transportation network.

Since its inception in 2001, TSA has developed and implemented a variety of programs and procedures to secure commercial aviation. Recently, the Government Accountability Office examined the progress DHS and TSA have made in securing the nation’s commercial aviation system, and challenges that have impeded the Department’s efforts to implement its mission and management functions.

In August 2007, GAO reported that DHS had made moderate progress in securing the commercial aviation system, but that more work remains. Specifically, DHS generally achieved 17 of the 24 performance expectations that GAO identified in the area of aviation security but had generally not achieved 7 of them.

DHS and TSA have made progress in many areas related to securing commercial aviation. For example, to meet congressional mandates to screen airline passengers and 100 percent of checked baggage, TSA initially hired and deployed a federal workforce of over 50,000 passenger and checked baggage screeners and installed equipment at the nation’s more than 400 commercial airports to provide the capability to screen all checked baggage using explosive detection systems.

TSA has since turned its attention to, among other things, strengthening passenger prescreening; more efficiently allocating, deploying, and managing the transportation security officer (TSO) — formerly known as screener — workforce; strengthening screening procedures; developing and deploying more effective and efficient screening technologies; and improving domestic air cargo security.

While these efforts have helped strengthen the security of the commercial aviation system, DHS and TSA still face a number of key challenges in further securing this system.

For example, TSA has faced difficulties in developing and implementing its advanced passenger prescreening system, known as Secure Flight, and has not yet completed development efforts.

In addition, DHS’s efforts to enhance perimeter security at airports may not be sufficient to provide for effective security. TSA has also initiated efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of security-related technologies, such as biometric identification systems, but has not developed a plan for implementing new technologies to meet the security needs of individual airports.

TSA has also not yet effectively deployed checkpoint technologies to address key existing vulnerabilities, and has not yet developed and implemented technologies needed to screen air cargo. GAO also reported that a number of issues have impeded DHS’s efforts in implementing its mission and management functions, including not always implementing effective strategic planning or fully adopting and applying a risk management approach with respect to commercial aviation security.

Further, while TSA has initiated efforts to develop security standards for surface transportation modes, these efforts have been limited to passenger and freight rail, and have not addressed commercial vehicles or highway infrastructure, including bridges and tunnels.

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.

He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri’s own website is located at http://jimkouri.us

A short news clip of Bill Clinton being confronted by some "9/11 truthers" at a speech came out a few days ago, but a full clip was made by the group who did the interrupting. The funniest part, in my opinion, is near the beginning, just after Clinton is introduced. Crank up the volume and try to figure out which porno movie they stole that music from.

I can't help but admire the skill with which Clinton can spin a negative yarn into a positive sales pitch for Hillary. You have to admit, the guy's good. I couldn't help but think of Alec Baldwin's sales manager character in the film Glengarry Glen Ross. If you could see the inside of Bill Clinton's head, this is what you'd see, and it applies both to both sexual and political sales:

John Edwards is like a bank robber who's not afraid to take off his ski mask, look directly into the security camera, and let everybody know exactly who he is and what he's about. I like that in a Democrat — because it makes them lose:

John Edwards says if he's elected president, he'll institute a New Deal-like suite of programs to fight poverty and stem growing wealth disparity. To do it, he said, he'll ask many Americans to make sacrifices, like paying higher taxes.

Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a government-funded public higher education program called "College for Everyone."

He'll solve "growing wealth disparity" alright — we'll all be poor. In addition, "College for Everyone" will also go by the name "Making a college education even more worthless."

If all else fails, Edwards will unveil his tried and true "National slip-n-fall care" plan.

If John Edwards had any chance of winning the presidency, this kind of talk should disturb us. Instead though we can just read it and poke fun at him, as the last guy to be this honest about his intention goes by the name of Walter Mondale.

For now, frankly, Edwards' biggest campaign problem isn't his leftist political views, it's that he continues to allow himself to be photographed like this: