Local murder: What is wrong with this picture?

Way too close to where I live, a 15 year-old was murdered, and his 15 year-old companion was shot in the foot. Read this Sacramento Bee article and see if you can find at least three issues that made me shake my head in disgust:

Sacramento County sheriff's detectives have arrested an 18-year-old man in connection with the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy Saturday morning, according to authorities.

Detectives booked Luis Prudente into the Sacramento County Main Jail this morning on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, according to booking records. He also was placed on an immigration-related hold because he is undocumented.

Prudente stands accused in the death of Jesse Dean Jones, who was shot behind Encina High School as he was walking home early Saturday morning with a 15-year-old female friend, said sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran. A second suspect remains at large, Curran said.

A car pulled up to the pair at the intersection of Wittkop Way and Clinton Road about 2 a.m. Saturday, Curran said. A person got out of the car and fired shots before getting back into the car and fleeing, Curran said.

Jones was shot in the stomach, and his friend in the foot. They were taken to a nearby hospital, where Jones was pronounced dead. The girl was treated and released.

Detectives suspect Prudente pulled the trigger, but they are not clear whether he was driving the car. They are still searching for a second suspect who was in the car with Prudente and who has not been identified, Curran said. However, Curran noted that Prudente is cooperating with authorities.

At this point, detectives suspect the shooting was gang-related and fueled by "rival gang affiliations," Curran said. Prudente previously had been validated by law enforcement as a gang member, the spokesman said.

Prudente is scheduled to be arraigned in court Tuesday, jail booking records show...

OK, here is what I found:

1. The murder suspect is an "undocumented" immigrant, according to the Bee. As we all know, "undocumented" is the oh-so politically correct way of saying an immigrant is "illegal." He shouldn't even have been here to commit that murder!
2. But it gets even better: This "undocumented" immigrant has previously been validated as a gang member by Sacramento law enforcement. Hold on a second! If this guy is known by law enforcement enough to be validated, then why the hell wasn't he deported a long time ago for a) being an illegal alien, and b) being an illegal alien gang member? I guess it takes someone losing his life first to finally be able to rid our society of the illegal alien suspect.
   
3. Sorry to seemingly blame the victim here, but what the hell were two 15 year-olds doing walking around Encina High School at 2 in the morning? If you swim in a Florida swamp, expect to be eaten by an alligator.
   

This is not the kind of news I want to be reading about something that, as the crow flies, only happened about 2.5 miles from my house.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

A Thanksgiving Proclamation

From President George Washington -

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

Surprise! Increased security leads to...

... even more increased security. Looking at our naked images and/or giving us a good rogering is apparently proving not enough to be limited to our nation's airports. Homeland Security chief, Janet Incompetano, is now talking about installing these machines and procedures for other modes of public transportation as well - such as bus depots, train stations, and ocean liner ports. In the words of Incompetano:

[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through... I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?

Lovely! So the increased (yet still useless) security that has been foisted upon our airports is now being used as a reason to send these invasive machines and procedures to other places where the American public can be further harrassed and felt up.

I don't feel safer already.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

Reporting from paradise

For the second time now, we are spending our Thanksgiving week off in Palm Springs, California. Yes, that Palm Springs.

It is a brutal drive no matter which way you take, but once you get there, it really is a beautiful place. Me being me, I don't care much for the urban aspect of Palm Springs, with the ritzy restaurants, resorts, and recreation, but it is so easy to get away from that and see places like you see in the photo. Indian Canyons is the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. In an otherwise inhospitable maze of desert mountains, these people lived for a couple thousand years in these canyon oases where trees grow along the creeks and brooks that flow out of the San Jacinto Mountains. I had to find the photo online, as I won't be able to post any of my own until I can merge the digital camera with our computer at home.

So, update complete.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

We finally know who Bob Etheridge is: A Loser

The North Carolina District 2 race turned out to be a close one - with a recount and everything - but in the end, Democrat incumbent Bob Etheridge has conceded defeat to his Republican challenger, Renee Ellmers.

How happy am I to see this man removed from office by his constituents? Click on the video below to see what kind of charmer Bob Etheridge is:



As close as this race was between Etheridge and Ellmers, I cannot see how this viral video was anything but the deciding factor in the race. Let's hear it for the Internet!

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

The prof overreacted, but he's still right

At Cornell University, a professor was in the middle of his lecture when a student in the audience of 200+ let out a loud yawn. The professor voices his displeasure at this act, and it all got caught on video:



What is sad is that Cornell is an upper-crust Ivy League university, and yet, it is obvious that even at the college level, instructors have to put up with the same sort of inconsiderate, infantile bullshit that I endure from my middle schoolers on a daily basis.

I too have been the victim of an intentionally loud yawn, and it always drives me crazy. What made me shake my head in disgust were all the comments on The Blaze blog (see my blogroll) where I first found this video in which the commenters did nothing but complain about the professor. I can say with much experience that unless you have stood at the front of a classroom on a regular basis and taught young people, you have no idea how frustrating it can be. And no, having logged years as a student when you were a kid doesn't count. There is a huge difference between being a student in the crowd, and being the teacher at the front of the room.

I totally empathized with this professor because I have truly been in his shoes. His one error was wasting his time trying to get the yawner to fess up or for the yawner's fellow students to rat him out. My only hope is that the rest of the students in the class who do know who the yawner is, took him to task afterward, away from the professor. After all, the yawner is wasting valuable time in a class that probably costs several thousand dollars of tuition. If I was a fellow student in that class, paying Cornell prices for my education, I would have socked yawning boy in the kisser, or got my ass kicked trying.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

A little treat for History/Geography teachers

Ever try to explain the concept of countries and continents to your students and gotten nowhere? Perhaps this 5 minute video will help. It shows the changing borders of the different countries that have existed in Europe over the last 1,000 years.

Notice that while the borders drastically change, the continent stays the same:



Hopefully that helps?

Hat Tip to Duffy at Colossus of Rhodey (see blogroll) for that one.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

A true American Hero... even if he denies it

I usually DVR 60 Minutes, and then check if there is anything worth watching before I delete it. Every once in awhile, they hit a homerun - especially when correspondent Lara Logan files any story about Afghanistan, where she has spent much time over the past couple of years.

Last Sunday, Logan reported on our country's first non-posthumous Medal of Honor recipient since Vietnam. I previously blogged about Staff Sergeant Sal Giunta, who received our nation's highest military honor for rushing toward his Taliban enemy in order to save a wounded fellow soldier who was being carried away by two Taliban thugs.

The 60 Minutes piece on Giunta does a good job of telling the backstory of the situation leading up to the firefight where Giunta performed his heroic act, and then does an excellent job conveying the heavy burden that a living Medal of Honor recipient must bear.

Please, please watch this segment about Staff Sergeant Sal Giunta.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

Illegal aliens in California to get in-state tuition?

Let me get this straight...
If someone from Oregon attends a state college in California, he must pay the out-of-state tuition rate, which is significantly more expensive than what a student from California would pay.
However, if a citizen of, say, Mexico comes illegally to California and applies to go to a state college here, that illegal alien will only be charged the in-state tuition rate.
So says the Supreme Court of the supremely and increasingly insane nut house known as California:

The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday that illegal immigrants may continue to be eligible for in-state tuition rates at the state's colleges and universities rather than pay the higher rates charged to those who live out of state.

In a ruling written by Justice Ming W. Chin, one of the panel's more conservative members, the state high court said a California law that guarantees the lower tuition for students who attend California high schools for at least three years and graduate does not conflict with a federal prohibition on giving illegal immigrants educational benefits based on residency.

In-state, out-of-state, or otherwise, these people who are illegally in our country should not be attending our colleges regardless of what they are charged. I was just wondering - if a foreign student goes through the legal process of obtaining a student visa before he comes to the United States to go to college in California, does that student receive the in-state tuition rate, or is it only students who come here illegally?

California is becoming more like Alice in Wonderland all the time. Up is down, black is white, and wrong is right.

Don't worry, Jerry Brown will be taking over in January and will fix everything... that's sarcasm, folks.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

Veterans Day 2010

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

MSNBC: Making the World Safe for Hypocrisy

During last week's election, my viewing buddy and I often clicked over from FOX News to MSNBC for a little schadenfreude as we watched the droopy faces of Olbermann, Matthews, Maddow, and O'Donnell as they watched so many of the candidates they worked so hard to get elected go down in flames.

After taking such a "shellacking" - to borrow the term from Obummer - MSNBC didn't take long to to begin whining about the Dems losing, their ratings, and life in general. One of their biggest complaints (steeped in raging jealousy) was the election night success of Fox News.

Rachel Maddow complained in her smug, snarky way that Fox News actually dared to have conservative candidates who, during their interviews, would dare to mention their campaign websites. Oh the humanity! MSNBC would never dare to let anything so horrific take place on their network would they? Would they? Maddow will set us straight:



Now that is some red meat right there. Those people on MSNBC are simply hateful and disgusting.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

2010 Midterm Elections: A night to remember

Well Statists/Democrats, I hope you enjoyed scenes like this while they lasted!!

When the Republicans took control of both houses of Congress in November, 1994, they did it by gaining 54 seats in the House of Representatives, and 8 seats in the Senate.

Tonight was just as impressive in its own way. Results are still coming in, but at this point we can say with certainty that the Republicans have taken back control of the House of Representatives, with a gain of a projected 65 seats. Again, that's 65 seats!

Meanwhile, in the Senate, while the Democrats maintain their control of that house of Congress, the Republicans made huge gains by picking up at least 6 seats. That puts to rest any possibility of the Democrats being able to defeat a filibuster. So even though they do not control the leadership of the Senate, the Republicans can still flex their muscle to keep the Democrats in check... that is, if the Republicans have the stones to flex their muscles. That remains to be seen.

Here are some observations of the night so far, even though some races - such as the Senate contests in Washington, Colorado, and Alaska - have yet to be decided:

Highlights of the Night

• The Republicans took the House! Speaker Pelosi? Not any more! Now hand over that gavel!
• Rand Paul won his Kentucky Senate race against a most sleazy Democrat candidate by the name of Jack Conway.
• Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Allen West won a House seat in Florida. This man is a man's man, a true American, and a stand-up guy who risked his military career to keep his men safe. He is also a black candidate who was backed by those mean, evil, racist Tea Partiers.
• Another black Tea Party-backed candidate, Tim Scott, was elected to the House of Representatives in South Carolina. Scott had defeated the son of Strom Thurmond to win the Republican primary.
• Pat Toomey defeated extreme Leftist Joe Sestak in a hard-fought Senate race in Pennsylvania. Toomey deserved this win. In 2004, the Republican party had abandoned Toomey in the primary in order to support Arlen Specter. Gee, that worked out real well, didn't it Republicans?
• Frank Guinta kicked out incumbent New Hampshire Representative Carol Shea-Porter. See, Shea-Porter started out as an anti-war activist who hounded former Representative Jeb Bradley about his vote in favor of the Iraq War. She would disrupt his meetings and events with her shrill shouting. She eventually challenged Bradley for his seat, and defeated him in the 2006 midterms. During the summer of 2009, when people took their congresscritters to task about the looming ObamaCare bill, Shea-Porter did not react too kindly when the very same tactics she used on Bradley were used on her. She is a detestable woman who deserved to be removed from office. I thank you, voters of New Hampshire.
• Mark Kirk of Illinois is a moderate Republican at best, but I find it rather sweet justice that this Republican won the Senate seat that was vacated by none other than the Anointed One himself, Barack Obama. This is as sweet as moderate Republican Scott Brown taking the Senate seat vacated by Ted Kennedy.
• Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin is half of the team that gave us the 1st Amendment-stomping atrocity known as the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform law. I am happy to report that Feingold no longer is a Senator. He will be replaced by Tea Party-backed Republican Ron Johnson.
• Marco Rubio won a well-deserved victory over that "Republican" turncoat Charlie Christ. The aspect of that race I find most amazing is that 30% of Florida voters were stupid enough to actually vote for Christ. What are you morons thinking? Luckily, 49% of the voters correctly voted for Rubio. This man has a very bright future.
• Alan Grayson is out of the House of Representatives! Republican challenger Dan Webster has ensured that we never have to endure that smug, mentally unstable, reptilian creature known as Alan Grayson. Bye, bye Grayson. You are a detestable human being.
• Democrat Phil Hare of Illinois was removed by voters in favor of Republican Bobby Schilling. Earlier this year, during a talk at the end of a town hall meeting, Hare was asked by a blogger with a video camera about the constitutionality of the ObamaCare bill, for which Hare had voted. Hare said, "I don't care about the Constitution." Bye, Phil.
• Democrat Representative Mary Jo Kilroy of Ohio was defeated by Republican Steve Stivers. Kilroy was a proud member of the House Progressive Caucus, which is affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America. This alone makes me glad that Kilroy is out of there.
• Tea Party-backed Republican Vicky Hartzler beat out 30-year Democrat incumbent Ike Skelton in Missouri. Not all Tea Party candidates won this night (when does any side win it all?) but they definitely made their mark!
• Not long ago, I posted a video of two supporters of Virginia representative Tom Pierrello cussing up a storm, using racial epithets, and tearing up the signs of some peaceful conservative demonstrators. Sorry potty mouths, your guy lost!
• Finally, we come to Bob Etheridge; Democrat representative from North Carolina. Earlier this year, he assaulted a college student on camera when he was asked by the student about his vote in favor of ObamaCare. As he manhandled the student, Etheridge kept asking, "Who are you? Who are you?" I know who you are, Mr. Etheridge: You are no longer a member of Congress. Good riddance you arrogant pig.

Not everything went the way I wish it could.

LOWLIGHTS OF THE NIGHT

• Harry Reid defeated Sharron Angle in the Nevada Senate race. That sucks, but the good news is that Reid's agenda can be totally gummed up by the resurgent Republican Senate minority, should they choose to grow a pair.
• Christine O'Donnell was always a longshot to win that Delaware Senate seat. I swear though, I am almost happier to see the race go to an out and out Leftist Democrat like Chris Coons, who we can actively oppose, rather than a RINO like Mike Castle who would often vote the same way as Coons, but just fly under the radar while doing it.
• Democrat Joe Manchin defeated Republican John Raese in the race to fill the West Virginia Senate seat left vacant by the death of former KKK member (and Democrat) Robert Byrd. And how did Manchin pull off this win? By posing as a damn Republican, complete with campaign TV ads showing him shooting a rifle and piercing a copy of the Cap and Trade bill with a well-aimed bullet. What a phony.
• I hoped that Tom Tancredo could pull off an unlikely win in Colorado, and take that state's governorship. Perhaps if the hopeless loser of a Republican, Dan Maes, had been a man and stepped down when his support got down to around 10%, it might have been a more competitive race.
• My home state of California is screwed. Barbara "Don't call me Ma'am" Boxer was reelected to another 6-year term as Senator, defeating squishy Republican Carly Fiorina. Meanwhile, Jerry Brown was brought out of deep freeze to once again become our governor after leaving office after two terms in 1983. God save the Heathen: Jerry Brown is going to be our governor yet again. He ran this state into the ground the first time around, and I don't see any change in his ways that would reassure me that he won't run it into the ground some more this time around. Brown's challenger, Republican Meg Whitman, will probably thank her lucky stars that she lost. California is headed for an inevitable fall; how appropriate would it be that the fall will happen with none other than Jerry Brown at the helm when it happens.
• California Proposition 23 failed. Prop 23 aimed to stop implementation of AB32 until our state's unemployment dropped below 5.5%. AB32 is California's "global warming" law that mandates this state to cut its carbon emissions to below 1990 levels. The law is a job killer in an already economically depressed state. Now, nothing will stop AB32 from becoming reality, and Jerry Brown, who is a member in good standing of the Church of Global Warming, will be only too happy to enforce AB32's mandates.
• California Proposition 25 passed. Gone is the two-thirds majority vote that is needed to pass a budget. Now, a simple majority vote will suffice. While it sucked that our state's budget was late every year, at least this two-thirds requirement kept the statist beast at bay. Now, there is nothing to stop the excesses of California's heavily Democrat-dominated state legislature from ramming through budgets that our loon of a governor, Moonbeam Jerry Brown, will be only too happy to sign.

Bottom line on this night: It was a good night for the country, but California is royally screwed.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

The day has finally arrived!

Here we are folks: Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Get out there and make it count, and vote the bastards out!

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

So how about it? Is Obama a Keynesian?

Lefties love to tell us how smart and enlightened they are, especially in comparison to us dumb, mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging, Neanderthal Conservative Tea Party types.

After all, the occasional Tea Partier misspells a word on a protest sign, don't ya know?

That makes this video all the more hilarious as Lefties at the self-congratumasturbatory Stewart/Colbert/Cat Stevens hate-America fest got taken in by a very straight-forward sign that got them all worked up by their ignorance. Check this out and have a laugh at their expense. They deserve it!



Remember folks, these people want to run your life, because they are smarter than you.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be."

With one day to go, the Left is coming unglued

Want to see the racism and hate that the Left always accuses the Tea Party of promoting? In this clip, it ain't comin' from the Tea Party (not that it ever did). Watch these supporters of Democrat Representative Tom Perriello go absolutely ballistic at the sight of their political opposites daring to publicly share their point of view. I must warn you, the language, hostility, and destruction of property is rather extreme, but it does wonders in showing the projection of the Left as they demonstrate the hate of which they often accuse their opponents:



Nice. Do their mothers know they talk like that?

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson