Snakes On A Cop

They tried it all. Nothing worked. Even snake charmers couldn’t do it. So the police in Sierra Leone finally turned to the army. And a few water hoses and bursts from AK-47s later, the police station was snake-free.

Authorities in the southern district of Bo called in police, army and fire fighters after the snakes scared away police officers and residents reporting crimes.

“We have forced water into the building and some of the snakes trying to escape were shot by our men carrying AK-47s,” said Brima Kontu, head of the police station in Gerihun.

About 250 of the estimated 400 snakes who had made the station their home have been killed.

Well, the joint isn’t exactly serpent free just yet. They hope to have the situation under control by next week.

Letterman (And CBS) Feeling The Heat

David Letterman has (or actually will later tonight) - again – apologized to the Palin family. This apology sounds much more like it was crafted by CBS attorneys, although that is pure speculation on my part.

David Letterman directly apologized to Gov. Sarah Palin and her daughters on his program Monday night, saying he took responsibility for a joke that had offended Ms. Palin, her family, and her supporters.

Mr. Letterman opened the desk portion of his show with the apology in which he said he wanted to say he was sorry to “to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke.” Two weeks ago on his “Late Show” program on CBS, he had joked about Governor Palin attending a Yankee game with her daughter.

The joke, in which Mr. Letterman seemingly confused Willow, who is 14 and attended a Yankee game with Gov. Palin that week, with Bristol, who is 18 and an unwed mother, had to do with the Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez impregnating Ms. Palin’s daughter.

Last week Mr. Letterman somewhat defiantly said that there was a misperception going on and he would never make a sexually charged joke about a 14-year old. But he never expressly explained that he had inadvertently confused the two Palin daughters.

Monday he acknowledged that as the host of the program it was his responsibility to get the joke right. “I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception.”

CBS denies putting any pressure on Letterman. But this passage from the article makes a joke of that statement:

One advertiser, Embassy Suites Hotels, sent word to Ms. Palin’s supporters that they had ceased advertising on CBS’s website and did not want to be associated in any way with Mr. Letterman’s comments.

That is why I suspect CBS had a few of their legal staff involved in this iteration of Letterman’s apology. Because, Lord knows, any loss of advertising revenue for any media outlet is a very serious thing these days.

So there are two ways to go here. Accept Letterman and the lawyer’s apology or keep pushing.

I’m inclined to keep pushing at this point. I am tired beyond belief at the likes of Letterman taking increasingly vicious, increasingly slimy attacks against any conservative that disagrees with him or her. I am increasingly tired of “cutting edge” humor that is outright sexist, racist or anything else-ist which is perfectly acceptable and roundly applauded by the left. So long as it is directed against people they disagree with.

I’m tired to death over the screeching double standard.

Keep pressuring Letterman’s advertisers. Keep bombarding CBS with letters, emails and phone calls. Make this kind of thing stop once and for all. Not just for a little while until it “blows over.”

Make it stop. We all deserve better than this, regardless of political persuasion.

This Is Negotiating?

ne?go?ti?ate?- verb (used without object)
1. to deal or bargain with another or others, as in the preparation of a treaty or contract or in preliminaries to a business deal.sub?mit?-verb (used without object)
5. to yield oneself to the power or authority of another: to submit to a conqueror.

 (Dictionary.com)

You read the words spoken by Barack Obama’s official “negotiator” at the “climate talks” and figure out which verb applies:

The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has rejected suggestions that the United States has adopted too soft a stance on climate change negotiations with China.IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri has told CNN that the U.S. is right to absolve China from setting firm caps for national cuts in carbon emissions.

His comments came after U.S. climate change negotiator Todd Stern was quoted in China Daily as saying, “We don’t expect China to take a national cap at this stage.”

“I feel that’s a very pragmatic view,” Pachauri told CNN. “I don’t think you’d expect any of the emerging markets to take an actual cut or even a commitment to reduce the rate of growth.”

China just told the world ”bite me” on any carbon controls. The US just submitted to that stance.

That is not negotiating. This is committing economic suicide. Welcome to Hopenchange.

Spend And Take Versus The Creation Of Wealth

Roger Kimball on an article by Boris Johnson, the mayor of London:

Boris Johnson, the redoubtable Mayor of London, cuts through the bickering fog of self-righteous protestation that characterizes so much political discourse today. The real debate, the Right Honorable Lord Mayor observes, is not between Labour spending versus Tory cuts-the “progressive” (Yanks read “Democratic”) versus the “hard-hearted” (read: “Republican”) approach to public expenditure. No, the real debate is between those who focus on disbursing and those who concentrate on creating wealth. What Mr. Johnson describes as a “small, sheep-like cough of protest” in his article in the London Telegraph actually contains more economic wisdom than 87 white papers issued by Washington or Whitehall, 789 columns emitted by Paul Krugman, or 7896 columns by Joseph Stiglitz. “This whole debate is back to front,” Mr Johnson observes.

Please do go read the entire article by Kimball and don’t miss Johnson’s piece over in The Telegraph.

One of the many things that bother me about the frantic spending frenzy by Democrats is that there is no thought whatsoever being given to real wealth creation. Oh, sure, they bleat about “creating” green jobs – but they are subsidizing those jobs to create them.

Private enterprise creates jobs. Government spending merely shifts money from one pocket to another. Don’t believe it? Look at the outright theft of two American automobile companies from the investors, giving large chunks of the ill-gotten goods to unions.

Look at the screeching that health care costs are out of control. And the proposed solution – spend more than a trillion dollars more. Only in Washington can spending much, much more of other people’s money be described as saving money.

Johnson is right, this debate is back-to-front. Wake up, folks. The golden goose is being slaughtered as we speak.

(And I fully intend to use Johnson’s new term “necrarchy” to describe government by and for zombies.)

Via RCP.