Ex-Pat's Pats 2014: Super Bowl XLIX Prognostications

Okay, you heard these predictions here, first, folks (all 3 of you). In no particular order:

---We'll see Gronk's butt-crack at least 20 times during this game as the Legion of Boo! focuses on bringing him down in such a way that he doesn't pick-up 3 yards simply by falling forward.

---Katy Perry won't have a wardrobe malfunction (although her outfit may as well look like it).

---Down by 3, the Pats are 3rd & Goal on the Squawks 6 yard line. Brady throws back to Edelman while Amendola runs for the end-zone, drawing heavy coverage from the Legion of Boo!. Brady strolls forward to the end-zone to successfully receive from Edelman for a TD. Edelman, now with a QB ranking of 100.0, gets Game MVP. Gisele, meanwhile, posts the following to her social media accounts:

Puta merda! Meu marido pode porra jogar a bola e pegar a bola!

---Fairweather Squawks fans (and they are legion up her here in AK) who think they're part of the 12th Man learn that #12 is the number of a real player (not some fictitious concept of loud and obnoxious fans) and is not to be messed with. The game will conclude with chants of "Bray! Brady! Brady!" loud enough to completely drown out even the most vocally ardent "12th Man".

---On Monday, Bob Kraft publicly demands Roger Goodell submit his balls to the League for pressure testing.

---Getting absolutely fed-up with my yelling, screaming and pulling an overall Ramsey on the TV, the Weewolfe decides to chew the TV's power cord again.

---If it's a good game, I'll not be posting much of my typically obnoxious commentary as I'll be too busy having a freaking heart attack.

---As with the start of this season, their performance against the Ravens, and the Belichick/Brady era (going back to hearing this song on the radio as I drove to my cousin's house to watch Super Bowl XXVI with him and his wife), this song remains true to me and my long-distance Pats fandom:

Gronk may drink the whiskey drink, the lager drink, and the cider drink, but the whole team gets knocked down and gets up again.

Enjoy the game and keep on singing the songs that remind you of the good times and the songs that remind you of the better times! Maybe, we'll even get to touch the magic again this year:

I'll see ya at Glendale in a few hours!

Regulate Thee, Not Me

[Wow! I'm actually getting a chance to post again...:)]

I once had to interview someone who described at great length how people always want regulations—so long as they only apply to their neighbors. How true that is.

The same can be said for NIMBYism all around. A closer-to-home example of which deals with the island I live on. There are plenty of folks at the north end of the island that would like a second crossing so that they don't have to drive so far to cross the lone bridge and then drive an almost equal distance back the same way to get out to the major business areas of our community. Can't say I entirely blame them on that. It works out to be the equivalent of driving from Sandwich to Plymouth—twice—in order to get one set of errands done for these folks. Where the NIMBYism comes into play is when they realize the most feasible areas come a little too close to their neighborhoods and properties.

"Well," they say, "we need this second crossing; just not in my backyard."

Anyhow, I digress. Where I really wanted to go was to mention how Victor Davis Hanson really takes it to these folks that wish to regulate those outside their bubbles and/or make NIMBY apply in his Let's Save California Now! post over at PJ Media. As an example:

2. The Undocumented Immigrant Equity Act
The “I am Juan too Act” would assess all California communities by U.S. Census data to ascertain average per-household income levels as well as diversity percentages. Those counties assessed on average in the top 10% bracket of the state’s per-household income level, and which do not reflect the general ethnic make-up of the state, would be required to provide low-income housing for undocumented immigrants, who by 2020 would by law make up not less than 20% of such targeted communities’ general populations.

 I caution that you do go and read the whole thing. Just look away from your computer monitor while sipping your coffee, lest you spend more time wiping the screen than reading.

The New Political Civility

Okay, members of the Democratic Party, listen-up, This Teabagger says:

Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never harm me. So, neener-neener-neener!

Did Hell Just Freeze Over (NPR Edition 09/14/2013)?

OMG, my Saturday dose of Car Talk had just finished and I still had my headphones on...

Wait-Wait... Don't Tell Me has actually made fun of our current, godlike administration.

Been A While Since I've Visited Florida

I feel a hankering to go down and spend some time at Disney World!

Thanks for the idea, Jesse. ;)

A Little Something from the HR Sith Lord

This article from Forbes is a little dated, but I found it while shredding - er- cleaning-out some of my old HR Sith Lord files. It's a rather fun and definitely appropriate if you manage people and organizations:

Five Leadership Mistakes of the Galactic Empire

Be sure to check it out!

Fondest thoughts from the Desktater, Darth Arbitrarian-Kaprishus.

Updated: Where's Joey?

Vice President Joe Biden, MIA.

'Nuff said...

Update: Aw, Joe Biden Cancels His Annual Summer Beach Party with Journalists. How sad.

Minimum Qualifications

According to Madame Pelosi:

“I pray that Hillary Clinton decides to run for president of the United States,” Pelosi said at a panel discussion in Little Rock, Arkansas. “Let’s set aside for a moment the fact that she’s a woman. As a person, she would be the most qualified person to enter the White House in modern history.”

 If that is the case, what does that say about our current nitwit?

Summer Migrations 2013

If I'd had my camera available this morning, I'd've been able to snap a great picture of my first view of a pair of the migratory navistourista alaskensis as they started their annual summertime travels through my neck of the woods.

This morning's viewing was of a beautiful mated pair, sporting identical white upper body plumage with navy blue striping. I felt rather bad as, much like the hummingbirds and robins, they are here for some unseasonable weather.

A quick look out the windows on the opposite side of the building revealed a rather large piece of the flotsam through which they so often travel the Southeast Alaskan waterways.

This was but the first of thousands that will be passing through. At least these come in on cruise ships, as opposed the the thousands of cars that descend and choke the roads on Cape Cod every summer.

Lá Sona Naomh Pádraig!

To wish you a Happy Saint Pat's Day, a little something from The Pogues:

Más rud é ba chóir dom titim ó cairde le Dia

Más rud é ba chóir dom titim ó cairde le Dia

nuair is féidir aon dochtúir faoiseamh dom

Má tá mé burried faoin bhfód

ach ní bheidh na haingil a fháil dom

Lig dom dul, buachaillí

Lig dom dul, buachaillí

Lig dom dul síos sa láib

i gcás na n-aibhneacha a reáchtáil go léir tirim

An talamh a bhí i gcónaí linne

an raibh an talamh bródúil as ár n-aithreacha

Baineann sí le linn agus iad a

gan aon cheann de na cinn eile

Lig dóibh buachaillí dul

Lig dóibh buachaillí dul

Lig dóibh dul síos sa láib

i gcás na n-aibhneacha a reáchtáil go léir tirim

Bury dom ar muir

i gcás nach féidir Ghost dúnmharaíodh haunt me

Má tá mé carraig ar bharr na dtonnta

ní féidir aon corpse bheidh orm

Tá sé seo ag teacht suas triúr buachaillí

Gcoimeádann teacht suas triúr buachaillí

Lig dóibh dul síos sa láib

i gcás na n-aibhneacha a reáchtáil go léir tirim

Más rud é ba chóir dom titim ó cairde le Dia

nuair is féidir aon dochtúir faoiseamh dom

Má tá mé burried faoin bhfód

agus fós ní bheidh na haingil a fháil dom

Lig dom dul, buachaillí

Lig dom dul, buachaillí

Lig dom dul síos sa láib

i gcás na n-aibhneacha a reáchtáil go léir tirim

And, should my Irish be as pathetic as I pretty much know it is:

If I should fall from grace with god
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me

Let me go boys
Let me go boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

This land was always ours
Was the proud land of our fathers
It belongs to us and them
Not to any of the others

Let them go boys
Let them go boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

Bury me at sea
Where no murdered ghost can haunt me
If I rock upon the waves
No corpse can lie upon me

It's coming up three boys
Keeps coming up three boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

If I should fall from grace with god
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
And still the angels won't receive me

Let me go boys
Let me go boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

Hugo está muerto. Viva Hugo!

I'd had lotsa things that I wanted to say regarding the untimely passing of El Presidente (y, mucho más to the liberal cock-smooches in our own country who were so quick to idolize him); however, events kept me distracted and away from posting. Alas, it was all lost to the cluttered virtual desktop of my ideas.

Perhaps, that wasn't such a bad thing as I now get to share this wonderful line of thought from the Porch, via the Mistress of Snark herself:

I am always sad and depressed when a tyrant dies a natural death, rather than being hounded and torn by an enraged mob of his oppressed citizens, then hung from his heels in the public square to be beaten like a pinata by happy children.

  Adiós,Hugo! Descanse en paz [or] Resto de piezas.

Some Terrible News for Skier Lindsey Vonn

Got this in an email from Skeeter the other day:

The International Olympic Committee announced today that it has taken back the gold medal previously awarded to American skier Lindsey Vonn and given it to U.S. President Barack Obama.

Olympic officials said Obama deserved the medal more than Vonn because no one has ever taken a country downhill faster than he has.

My condolences to both Ms. Vonn and U.S.

QOTD: 02/26/2013

"A liberal is a conservative who hasn't yet been a victim of a crime."
-The Sensei, over post-League Shoot beverages

Something That I Just Gotta Quote

I was going to do this last week but got side-tracked. A little wisdom from the Porch as Tam discusses Pump[ing] up the bass!

This being Sweden, I'm waiting to hear that at least one member of the research team, realizing that he'd gone to school for twenty-plus years only to wind up at the pinnacle of his career standing in a lab getting fish high, went home and locked all the garage doors and left the Volvo running.

Check it all out (if you haven't already)!

I'm Sorry Oscar. It's Not You. It's Me

Well, it appears that my last enjoyable reason for spending Sunday evening with Oscar & Co. has flown out the window in the beak of a raven:

Rob Gronkowski replaced by Ed Reed as red carpet correspondent at Oscars

Wasn't like I was planning to tune in to feel Miserables or anything (and, as somewhat of a connoisseur of that musical, what a depressing, in-your-face disappointment that turned out to be).

[Sigh] Oh well, there's always next season...

Possibly, My Favorite Quote of teh Week

Also, as a rule, I find it helpful to immediately run screaming from anything that John McCain and Chuck Schumer agree on.

So sayeth PJ Media's Stephen Kruiser as he discusses his creepy feeling as Feds Consider ID Badges For ALL Workers.

Ban the Black Beasts of Death!

Got this through an email from one of my shooting buddies:

As He Tends to Say, "Heh"!

Via the Instapundit, who aptly states:

EVERY COP IS A CRIMINAL: In haste, Cuomo and New York Legislature forgot to exempt police from draconian new gun law. If I were a member of the legislature, I’d oppose a fix just as a lesson . . . .

No further comment necessary.

More Good Thoughts on Needed Controls

These come courtesy of Michael Z Williamson over at The Sacred Cow Slaughterhouse, where he ponders:

I keep hearing people say they want to regulate guns the way we regulate cars.  They don't really mean that, of course.  What they mean is they want to make it acceptable to find more ways to intrude on the right to keep and bear arms.

I propose instead, we regulate cars the way we regulate guns.  Let's start:

To buy or operate a standard car, one will have to be 18 years old.  Under that age, adult supervision will be mandatory.  This means the adult must be in the vehicle with the underage driver.

To buy a sports car, you will have to be 21.  A "Sports car" will be defined as any combination of any two of the following: 2 doors instead of 4, spoked rims not requiring hubcaps, aerodynamic effects such as spoilers or air dams, a wheelbase under 100 inches, a manual transmission, a curb weight under 3000 lbs, fiberglass or other non-metal construction, or painted logos. 

For every purchase, you will have to fill out a questionnaire confirming you're a US citizen, do not use drugs or abuse alcohol, have never had a conviction for alcohol related incidents or reckless driving.  Lying on this form will be punishable by 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

Good ideas. Be sure to read the whole thing, where he concludes:

Eventually, we need to move away from the notion that owning and operating a vehicle is a right and entitlement, and limit it to people with a proven, bona fide professional need.  There are plenty of trains and buses for normal people.  This is how most civilized nations are moving and is not a violation of your right to travel.

Another Area That Needs Sensible Control

We all know these items only serve one purpose: to wreak havoc upon the innocent and law-abiding. With them, criminals and other antagonists are far more concealable and dangerous. These are items that are not needed by the average citizen as they serve no purpose except to create destruction through assaults.

You know of which I speak, don't you?

Here we find the worst and most destructive of this class:

Photo courtesy The Daily Beast

And, don't forget balaclavas. These should only be on the faces of law enforcement conducting no-knock raids on the wrong houses in the middle of the night:

Photo courtesy of Occupy The Lefty Report

And, then, we have the poor girl's Saturday Night Special:

Photo courtesy of Breitbart

It's obvious that we have to ban "assault clothing" in order to protect the public good, starting with the old Guy Fawkes masks, balaclavas, and bandanas.

Hell, maybe we ought to ban hoodies, as well, just for good measure:

Photo courtesy of PetaPixel