Not the Sharpest Knife in the Drawer:

This photo, supplied by the Aiken County,S.C., County Sheriff's Office, shows a fake $1 million bill, which a man tried to use to open an account in a Aiken, S.C, bank Monday, Nov. 26, 2007. Alexander D. Smith, 31, was charged with disorderly conduct and two counts of forgery after he walked into the bank and tried to open an account by depositing thefake $1 million bill, said an Aiken County Sheriff's spokesman.

I would have loved to have seen the look on that bank officer's face!

Go Green: Sterilize

Apparently, in order to save the environment and reduce your global footprint, you should get sterilized.

From this source:

Meet the women who won't have babies - because they're not eco friendly
By NATASHA COURTENAY-SMITH and MORAG TURNER - More by this author »

Last updated at 22:05pm on 21st November 2007

Comments (30)

Had Toni Vernelli gone ahead with her pregnancy ten years ago, she would know at first hand what it is like to cradle her own baby, to have a pair of innocent eyes gazing up at her with unconditional love, to feel a little hand slipping into hers - and a voice calling her Mummy.

But the very thought makes her shudder with horror.

Because when Toni terminated her pregnancy, she did so in the firm belief she was helping to save the planet.

Scroll down for more...


Desperate measures: Toni Vernelli was steralised at age 27 to reduce her carbon footprint


Incredibly, so determined was she that the terrible "mistake" of pregnancy should never happen again, that she begged the doctor who performed the abortion to sterilise her at the same time.


He refused, but Toni - who works for an environmental charity - "relentlessly hunted down a doctor who would perform the irreversible surgery.


Finally, eight years ago, Toni got her way.

At the age of 27 this young woman at the height of her reproductive years was sterilised to "protect the planet".

Incredibly, instead of mourning the loss of a family that never was, her boyfriend (now husband) presented her with a congratulations card.


While some might think it strange to celebrate the reversal of nature and denial of motherhood, Toni relishes her decision with an almost religious zeal.


"Having children is selfish. It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet," says Toni, 35.

"Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population."

While most parents view their children as the ultimate miracle of nature, Toni seems to see them as a sinister threat to the future.

It's an extreme stance which one might imagine is born from an unhappy childhood or an upbringing among parents who share similar, strong beliefs.


But nothing in Toni's safe, middle- class upbringing gave any clues as to the views which would shape her adult life. The eldest of three daughters, she enjoyed a loving, close-knit family life.

She excelled at her Roman Catholic school, and her doting parents fully expected her to grow up, settle down and start a family of her own.

"When I finished school, I got a job in retail and at 19, I met my first husband," says Toni.

"No sooner had we finished our wedding cake than all our relatives started to ask when they could expect a new addition to the family.

"I always told them that would never happen, but no one listened.


"When I was a child, I loved bird-watching, and in my teens that developed into a passion for the environment as well as the welfare of animals - I became a vegetarian when I was 15.

"Even my parents used to smile and say: 'You'll change your mind one day about babies.'

"The only person who understood how I felt was my first husband, who didn't want children either.


"We both passionately wanted to save the planet - not produce a new life which would only add to the problem."


So, instead of mapping out plans for a family, Toni and her husband began discussing medical options to ensure they would never reproduce.


Toni, from Taunton, Somerset, says: "When I was 21, I considered sterilisation for the first time.

"I'd been on the Pill for five years and didn't want to take hormone-based contraception indefinitely.

"I went to my GP, but she wouldn't even consider the idea.

"She said I was far too young and told me I could 'absolutely not' be sterilised, and that I was bound to change my mind one day.

"I found her attitude frustrating.


"We decided my husband would have a vasectomy instead. He was 25, just a few years older than me, but the GP allowed him to go ahead.


"I found it insulting that she thought that, just because I was a woman, I'd reach a point where an urge to breed would overcome all rational thought."

Sound like anyone we know? Hmmm...

In Honor Of "Black Friday:"

Have a Merry Tossmas!

Usually, I would never, ever, ever go to the store today, but our coffee maker has just met an unfortunately timed demise.

Hopefully by going out later in the day, I will not be trampled to death by vicious little old ladies.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my blogging friends! Truly, we are blessed.

Dumbaxis of Evil

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!

Another One For Daddio:

This is quite possibly the best campaign endorsement of all time!

Cartoons on Monday

I'm in a cartoon kind of mood today.

Poking at the Admiral of Chappaquiddick is always fun:
And since we're all going to melt to death unless we all act right now, Al Gore is trying to appeal to a broad spectrum of people. Here's his latest attempt at reaching the Muslim population:

Let The Mud Fly!

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words:

The infighting has just been kicked up a notch between Shrillary and Obama.

From this source:

Just days after increasingly acrimonious exchanges in Thursday’s Democratic debate, agents of Mrs Clinton were quoted as saying that they had obtained unspecified “scandalous information” about Mr Obama.

(Hmm... I wonder what the scandal du jour will be? Fraud? Adultery? Drug use?)

His campaign responded furiously over the weekend, challenging Mrs Clinton either to make the information public “or concede the truth that there is none”. Mr Obama, who is standing on a platform of changing Washington’s adversarial culture, accused the Democratic front-runner of using “Swift Boat” tactics of “innuendo and insinuation” similar to those deployed in the 2004 race when John Kerry’s Vietnam war record as a Swift Boat captain was smeared.

“I am prepared to stand up to that kind of politics, whether it’s deployed by candidates in our party, in the other party or by any third party,” he said. “The cause of moving America forward demands that we defeat it.

“She of all people, having complained so often about the politics of personal destruction, should move quickly to either stand by or renounce these tactics.”

You know, with the illegal immigrant driver's license flip-flopping fiasco, and now this, Shrillary might be starting to self-destruct.

Vive la France!

On November 7th, 2007, French President Nicholas Sarkozy gave a stirring speech that you did not see in the main stream media.

Sadly, you will never hear something so pro-American uttered from the lips of a Democrat, and quite frankly, we hear it too seldom from Republicans.

It is a long speech, and so I have excerpted certain parts. Read the entire speech here.

Upon first meeting Washington, Lafayette told him: "I have come here to learn, not to teach." It was this new spirit and youth of the Old World seeking out the wisdom of the New World that opened a new era for all of humanity.

From the very beginning, the American dream meant putting into practice the dreams of the Old World.

From the very beginning, the American dream meant proving to all mankind that freedom, justice, human rights and democracy were no utopia but were rather the most realistic policy there is and the most likely to improve the fate of each and every person.

America did not tell the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who—with their hands, their intelligence and their heart—built the greatest nation in the world: "Come, and everything will be given to you." She said: "Come, and the only limits to what you'll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent." America embodies this extraordinary ability to grant each and every person a second chance.

Here, both the humblest and most illustrious citizens alike know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned. That's what constitutes the moral value of America. America did not teach men the idea of freedom; she taught them how to practice it. And she fought for this freedom whenever she felt it to be threatened somewhere in the world. It was by watching America grow that men and women understood that freedom was possible.

What made America great was her ability to transform her own dream into hope for all mankind.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The men and women of my generation heard their grandparents talk about how in 1917, America saved France at a time when it had reached the final limits of its strength, which it had exhausted in the most absurd and bloodiest of wars.

The men and women of my generation heard their parents talk about how in 1944, America returned to free Europe from the horrifying tyranny that threatened to enslave it.

Fathers took their sons to see the vast cemeteries where, under thousands of white crosses so far from home, thousands of young American soldiers lay who had fallen not to defend their own freedom but the freedom of all others, not to defend their own families, their own homeland, but to defend humanity as a whole.

Fathers took their sons to the beaches where the young men of America had so heroically landed. They read them the admirable letters of farewell that those 20-year-old soldiers had written to their families before the battle to tell them: "We don't consider ourselves heroes. We want this war to be over. But however much dread we may feel, you can count on us." Before they landed, Eisenhower told them: "The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."

And as they listened to their fathers, watched movies, read history books and the letters of soldiers who died on the beaches of Normandy and Provence, as they visited the cemeteries where the star-spangled banner flies, the children of my generation understood that these young Americans, 20 years old, were true heroes to whom they owed the fact that they were free people and not slaves. France will never forget the sacrifice of your children.

To those 20-year-old heroes who gave us everything, to the families of those who never returned, to the children who mourned fathers they barely got a chance to know, I want to express France's eternal gratitude.

On behalf of my generation, which did not experience war but knows how much it owes to their courage and their sacrifice; on behalf of our children, who must never forget; to all the veterans who are here today and, notably the seven I had the honor to decorate yesterday evening, one of whom, Senator Inouye, belongs to your Congress, I want to express the deep, sincere gratitude of the French people. I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France. I think of them and I am sad, as one is sad to lose a member of one's family.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The men and women of my generation remember the Marshall Plan that allowed their fathers to rebuild a devastated Europe. They remember the Cold War, during which America again stood as the bulwark of the Free World against the threat of new tyranny.

I remember the Berlin crisis and Kennedy who unhesitatingly risked engaging the United States in the most destructive of wars so that Europe could preserve the freedom for which the American people had already sacrificed so much. No one has the right to forget. Forgetting, for a person of my generation, would be tantamount to self-denial.

But my generation did not love America only because she had defended freedom. We also loved her because for us, she embodied what was most audacious about the human adventure; for us, she embodied the spirit of conquest. We loved America because for us, America was a new frontier that was continuously pushed back—a constantly renewed challenge to the inventiveness of the human spirit.

My generation shared all the American dreams. Our imaginations were fueled by the winning of the West and Hollywood. By Elvis Presley, Duke Ellington, Hemingway. By John Wayne, Charlton Heston, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth. And by Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, fulfilling mankind's oldest dream.

What was so extraordinary for us was that through her literature, her cinema and her music, America always seemed to emerge from adversity even greater and stronger; that instead of causing America to doubt herself, such ordeals only strengthened her belief in her values.

What makes America strong is the strength of this ideal that is shared by all Americans and by all those who love her because they love freedom.

America's strength is not only a material strength, it is first and foremost a spiritual and moral strength. No one expressed this better than a black pastor who asked just one thing of America: that she be true to the ideal in whose name he—the grandson of a slave—felt so deeply American. His name was Martin Luther King. He made America a universal role model.

The world still remembers his words—words of love, dignity and justice. America heard those words and America changed. And the men and women who had doubted America because they no longer recognized her began loving her again.

Fundamentally, what are those who love America asking of her, if not to remain forever true to her founding values?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today as in the past, as we stand at the beginning of the 21st century, it is together that we must fight to defend and promote the values and ideals of freedom and democracy that men such as Washington and Lafayette invented together.

Together we must fight against terrorism. On September 11, 2001, all of France—petrified with horror—rallied to the side of the American people. The front-page headline of one of our major dailies read: "We are all American." And on that day, when you were mourning for so many dead, never had America appeared to us as so great, so dignified, so strong. The terrorists had thought they would weaken you. They made you greater. The entire world felt admiration for the courage of the American people. And from day one, France decided to participate shoulder to shoulder with you in the war in Afghanistan. Let me tell you solemnly today: France will remain engaged in Afghanistan as long as it takes, because what's at stake in that country is the future of our values and that of the Atlantic Alliance. For me, failure is not an option. Terrorism will not win because democracies are not weak, because we are not afraid of this barbarism. America can count on France.

Santa Isn't Laughing:

Will, "Ha, ha, ha; Happy Holidays," be what you hear this year when you put your little tyke on Santa's knee?

If you live in Sydney, Australia, it's a possibility.

From this source:

(All emphasis mine)

When kids hear Santa Claus bellow, "Ho, ho, ho," is their first thought prostitution?

That concern has prompted an attempt to gag the traditional greeting, and many Santas are now fighting back.

According to the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Santas across Australia are rebelling against attempts to change their saying to a more politically correct, "ha, ha, ha."

It all started when the recruitment firm Westaff – which has offices both in the United States and Australia – told its Christmas trainees that the "ho, ho, ho" phrase could frighten children and possibly be derogatory to women.

(Look, I don't know any woman who has ever inferred that she was indirectly being called a whore while her child is giving Santa their list. Frankly, if she does, she's got bigger problems than the mall Santa insulting her on the sly.

As for frightening children... Most are until they hit about three years old. When you see a child younger than that on Santa's lap, it's for the parent's gratification, not the baby's.)

"Westaff has been a provider of quality caring Santas for over 40 years," Westaff's national Santa coordinator Sari Hegarty wrote to stores via e-mail.

"Part of our advice to our Santas is that they should be mindful of children having their first Santa experience. We ask our Santas to try techniques such as lowering their tone of voice and using 'ha, ha, ha' to encourage the children to come forward and meet Santa. We wish you and your family a very merry Christmas."

(As I said earlier, most babies are going to be a little fearful. This is the same phenomenon that drives some parents to carry their infant baby around in a Halloween costume with a pail. Who's going to eat that candy?

Tell the parents to try again next year.)

The directions have prompted some Santa trainees to quit the program.

One told the Daily Telegraph he was taught not to use "ho, ho, ho" because it was too close to the American slang for prostitute.

"Gimme a break," said Julie Gale, head of the campaign against sexualizing children called Kids Free 2B Kids. "We are talking about little kids who do not understand that 'ho, ho, ho' has any other connotation and nor should they. Leave Santa alone."

(Here, here!)

Dr. Joe Tucci, CEO of the Australian Childhood Foundation, called it the latest example of political correctness gone mad.

"There is no stronger tradition for children than Santa's ho, ho, ho," Tucci said.

At a Myer store, where Westaff also trains the fat men in red suit, Santa could not stop laughing about the suggestion.

"Myer has not directed our Santas to refrain from using 'ho, ho, ho' and believe the expression is an important Christmas tradition," a spokesman for Myer said.

---------------------------------------------------

So what is it? A directive from the staffing service, or a mandate from the store where the Santa will be employed? If it is the latter, I would be avoiding that store like the plague!

Political correctness will be the death of Western civilization if not stopped, as certainly as I type these words!

Another One Found:

This undated photo provided by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, known as TIGHAR, shows historic aircraft specialists inspecting a World War II fighter plane recently found on the Welsh coast. The American P-38 aircraft had made an emergency landing in 1942 after it ran out of gas, and was buried under water and sand for 65 years until revealed by beach erosion in July. Experts hope to recover the plane for a British military museum. The photo was taken from a kite-suspended camera. (AP Photo/TIGHAR)

Mwaa-haa-haa!

Get a Cash Advance

Click for your own rating, and a big hat-tip to For Zion's Sake, found nestled securely in my blogroll!

Live RPG Removed From Soldier

Joe Gringo has a link to an amazing video; an interview with a soldier that was impaled with a live RPG during combat, and the soldiers who saved his life.

The link below is an absolute must-see; a testament to our men and women in uniform.

This link is from Military Times, and here is another video from YouTube:

The War On Weather...

... As Daddio likes to call it!

Go Figure

Once I bought a pair of shoes at Fashion Bug, a local clothing shop. I had a coupon that, if I would just fill in my email address to receive online offers, I would get 50% off. The shoes were already on sale, and with another 50%... You get the idea.

Of course, my inbox now gets regular offers from the boutique. The latest is a magazine subscription offer from their "plus size" line.

(I have marked Fashion Bug as a junk mailer now.)

I captured the image for reproduction here, as I was quite disgusted by it:

(Click to enlarge.)


I couldn't help but fire off an email about this:

I am extremely disappointed with your recent email advertising Figure Magazine with Rosie O'Donnell.

I will definitely not be subscribing, and if I were, I would cancel my subscription immediately.

Rosie O'Donnell is a highly divisive figure whom I find VERY offensive. Her views about the World Trade Center attacks are absolutely unconscionable.

Like the President or not, she regularly and publicly assaults and insults the office of the Presidency, which I feel goes beyond regular discord or discourse, and moves into the territory of hateful vitriol. In short, she looks and makes America look a fool in a world forum.

The editors of Figure Magazine should give serious consideration to whom they decide to devote their magazine.

Thank you for your time.

Here is the customer service page in case you wish to express your displeasure as well. There is also a snail mail addy at the bottom.