The perfect thing for sipping your DNC Kool-Aid

Found by Strange in San Antonio.

A Message from Great Cthulhu

Irrelevant humans, I have been awaked from my millennial slumbers by a multitude of troublesome thoughts and dreams turning my way. I do not have a foolish conscience that drives me to set these misguided thoughts aright. I address you now only because the Time is not yet right and I really need to get some sleep.

It seems that many of you insignificant humans have made a crude attempt at "humor" (which I must admit I do not fully understand--although once the antics of the 976th form of Nyarlathotep did make me feel uncharacteristically light-hearted; figuratively of course since I do not actually have a heart) during your current election cycle by displaying various blasphemous caricatures of myself with such words as, "Why Vote For The Lesser Evil?" The implicit declaration being that I, somehow, am the Greater Evil.


Please note that I do not fully understand this thing you call an "election." I have discussed it at length with many of my deep minions who were once--pardon the quotes--"human," and as the discussion ended and I was devouring them I came to the conclusion that your "elections" are all very absurd and insignificant. You may have full faith that I am a master of insanity, and the very idea that you must choose those who would oppress you is insane. The only true method of selecting a superior is with an eating competition, in my own completely unhumble opinion. The winner is the one who eats everyone else.

But back to the task at hand: why am I the so-called "greater evil?" Is it evil for one of you paltry humans to step on an insect? Is it evil to place noxious poisons throughout your dwelling-places to prevent what you call (excuse me if I chortle softly--I do find this concept somewhat "humorous") vermin from invading and taking up residence?

You waste your minuscule lives and pathetic energies trying to choose which of you should have power over others. Is servitude to another unimportant member of your species so essential to you? And why do these worthless chosen humans covet power so?

They lie, they cheat. They all take part in various ways and means of dominating you for no other reason than that they hunger for this power. And then they try to cover up what they have done to you with new lies. They seem to believe that they are better than you, and that the rules they arbitrarily create to enforce your servitude do not apply to them. And you believe them, you let them get away with it, and you do it over and over again.

Who then, is evil?

I tell you the truth: this worthless planet is my plaything. I do with it as I will. It is only an accident of my own unique metabolism that I am rendered somnolent for eons on end. There will come a time when the stars are once again aligned and I will truly and fully awaken. When that time comes, I will arise in diluvial annihilation, lay waste to this pointless blob of mud and devour you all. My deep minions will swim free over all this planet. Eventually I will devour them as well, and I will move on.

I will not do this because I bear you any ill will. I will do this because of who I am, and I will sweep this world clean of your pestilence in the same way that you would sweep an ant from your dining table.

But until then, you will continue to agonize over choosing those who are best able to lie, to cheat, to steal, and to force you into servitude to their whims.

I ask again: who then, is evil? One who tells you the truth, or one who lies so that he may trick you into believing serving him is necessary? One who regards you only as an edible and usually palatable pest, or a treacher of your own kind who will use force and deceit to subjugate you to his will?

I am transmitting this through the dreams of one of my insignificant human tools who sometimes fancies himself a "sensitive." I understand from his thoughts that he has access to a communications system called a "web" by using something called a "blog." I do not understand the exact definitions of these terms (although "blog" puts me in mind of the noise made the last time I squashed a shoggoth), yet I understand it is another useless invention of which you wretched humans are quite proud.

He writes this at my command. Heed his words carefully and give them thought, lest my slumbers once again become troubled and in my fury I unleash my oceanic minions on a wave of destruction the likes of which you worthless humans have never seen. In return for this service, he will be devoured quickly, cleanly, and in a relatively painless manner when the Time is right. Or so I have assured him.

The crawling chaos...

David Codrea mentioned Set, but his post reminded me of something else.

I do not recall distinctly when it began, but it was months ago. The general tension was horrible. To a season of political and social upheaval was added a strange and brooding apprehension of hideous physical danger; a danger widespread and all-embracing, such a danger as may be imagined only in the most terrible phantasms of the night. I recall that the people went about with pale and worried faces, and whispered warnings and prophecies which no one dared consciously repeat or acknowledge to himself that he had heard. A sense of monstrous guilt was upon the land, and out of the abysses between the stars swept chill currents that made men shiver in dark and lonely places. There was a demoniac alteration in the sequence of the seasons. The autumn heat lingered fearsomely, and everyone felt that the world and perhaps the universe had passed from the control of known gods or forces to that of gods or forces which were unknown.

And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences of electricity and psychology and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished, for the small hours were rent with the screams of nightmare. Never before had the screams of nightmare been such a public problem; now the wise men almost wished they could forbid sleep in the small hours, that the shrieks of cities might less horribly disturb the pale, pitying moon as it glimmered on green waters gliding under bridges, and old steeples crumbling against a sickly sky.

I'm almost certain no one will care...

But I found this amusing.

Much to the chagrin of the leadership of the Green Party, Ralph Nader was the victor of the California Green Party primary. Party leaders are pushing for ex-Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney to be their nominee.

Nader got 16,835 votes, compared to McKinney's 7,124. Although Nader is not a declared candidate, he is expected to seek the Green Party nomination.

The California Peace and Freedom Party also featured both Nader and McKinney. In that race, Nader beat McKinney 2090 to 1114.

Three other states held Green Party primaries yesterday. In Arkansas, Nader was unable to get on the ballot, but "uncommitted" beat McKinney 273 to 116.

Snort.

What he said...

The War On Guns delineates John Kerry's Favorite Republican.

I remember hearing an NPR interview a couple of years ago with McCain's good friend Joe Lieberman. This was back when he was officially a Democrat, instead of the so-called "Independent Democrat" (whatever that is) that he is now. He was talking about working with McCain, and was asked what would happen if it turned out that he had to run (as a Democrat, back then) against Republican McCain. His answer was something like: "I would be just as happy no matter which one of us won. I believe John McCain would make an excellent President who would take this country in the right direction."

No, I haven't forgotten all this stuff, and I am completely flummoxed as to how so many Republicans have so effectively mind-wiped themselves.

Well, I feel kind of stupid

I've been reading so much about Stupor Tuesday on the blogs lately that I forgot Texas doesn't have its primary until March. I knew something was amiss when I pulled up to the polling place and no one was there. Heh.

Well, what do you know?

I agree with Ann Coulter.

(Yes, I was referring to Guiliani at the time, but the principle remains the same).

Yikes

I mean, holy crud. That's just too freaky.

And let's not forget Romney

Far be it from me to neglect pointing out socialism where such an accusation is well-deserved. You (ahem) "conservatives" are leaning toward Romney: do you really want to give him the chance to wreak this havoc on a national scale?

So What’s Going On With Romneycare ?

When Mitt Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, he signed into a law a bill mandating that every resident purchase health insurance or pay a fine to the state to subsidize the cost of state-provided insurance. When the law was passed it was assumed that most people would be covered by employer provided insurance, but according to the Boston Globe, Romneycare is costing the state a lot more than expected:

Spending on the state’s landmark health insurance initiative would rise by more than $400 million next year, representing one of the largest increases in the $28.2 billion state budget the governor proposed yesterday. The biggest driver of the cost increase is projected growth in the number of people signing up for state-subsidized insurance, which now far exceeds earlier estimates. State and federal taxpayers are expected to bear nearly all of the additional cost.

So much for Mitt.

So much for Rudy.

So much for John.

And what was his name now? Oh yeah, Huckabee.

I can't say "I told you so" because I haven't been blogging that long, but off-line and out in the real world I have said it many times: this constant "voting for the lesser evil" is backing you farther and farther away from where you want to be. And now look where it's gotten you. There is no conservative candidate for you to vote for this time. Not one. Of course, if you simply want to vote Republican (whatever that is, these days), you're covered. If you want to vote conservative, you are S.O.L. You have allowed yourself to be lesser-eviled right into a corner and there's no way out.

Actually there is a way out, but it involves punching a hole through the wall so of course it's far too extreme. Maybe even crazy.

So don't surprised when in four years' time your tiny corner of breathing room has become a suffocating chokehold.

And the worst part is, you've taken the whole country with you.

That about sums it up

Joe's Crabby Shack nails his statement to the door with an Open letter to Mike Duncan.

Yeah.

But I passed this point a long time ago.

Another strike against McCain

For those who are still feverishly clinging to the theory that getting McCain into the Whitehouse will someone ensure that we get rights-friendly supreme court nominees and other rights-friendly appointments: I just don't get it. McCain has already proven himself as no friend of fundamental rights.

The Buckeye Firearms Association points out that a certain Mike DeWine could become U.S. Attorney General. And...

DeWine, an anti-gun candidate sporting a Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly Handgun Control Inc.) endorsement, proved himself out-of-touch with Ohio voters on the Second Amendment, was drummed out of office just over 1 year ago. Comments about his fantasies of a political future in Ohio, and his support for John McCain's presidential candidacy prove he didn't learn a thing from his defeat.

In Ohio alone, approximately 1/2 million people have hunting and/ or concealed handgun licenses. And according to the Minneapolis StarTribune's Dennis Anderson, Ohio gun owners made up 27 percent of the total vote in Ohio in the year 2000.

Yet as a member of the House, DeWine supported the Brady Bill, which required a waiting period and criminal background check before a gun could be sold. When he ran for the Senate in 1994, he backed the Clinton Gun Ban. In 2006, Human Events Online named DeWine among the Top 10 anti-gun U.S. Senators. And shortly before his defeat, DeWine took a position in opposition to legislation which barred gun manufacturers, distributors, dealers or importers from frivolous lawsuits designed to put them out of business.

Mike DeWine consistently cast his votes on the side of the most rabid anti-gun Democrats in the Senate. And now he wants you to cast your vote for Senator John McCain. And we all know the wisdom that one should judge a man by the company he keeps. John McCain likes to claim he is pro-gun. But as Dr. John Lott wrote in an op-ed for National Review Online, "this was true a decade ago, but since then, on issues such as regulating gun shows, banning less expensive guns and so-called assault weapons, and requiring gunlocks, McCain has supported central portions of the gun-control agenda. Indeed, in a couple cases, McCain authored the proposed legislation himself."

As usual, read the whole thing.

Giuliani, the bully

According to the chicken entrails that I scattered on the pentagram in my back yard last night, Giuliani won't make it past the primary. But, as long as he's in the race, I'll keep ragging on him.

Here's one from the New York Times (of all places):

As mayor, he picked fights with a notable lack of discrimination, challenging the city and state comptrollers, a few corporations and the odd council member. But the mayor’s fist also fell on the less powerful. In mid-May 1994, newspapers revealed that Mr. Giuliani’s youth commissioner, the Rev. John E. Brandon, suffered tax problems; more troubling revelations seemed in the offing.

At 7 p.m. on May 17, Mr. Giuliani’s press secretary dialed reporters and served up a hotter story: A former youth commissioner under Mr. Dinkins, Richard L. Murphy, had ladled millions of dollars to supporters of the former mayor. And someone had destroyed Department of Youth Services records and hard drives and stolen computers in an apparent effort to obscure what had happened to that money.

“My immediate goal is to get rid of the stealing, to get rid of the corruption,” Mr. Giuliani told The Daily News.

None of it was true. In 1995, the Department of Investigation found no politically motivated contracts and no theft by senior officials. But Mr. Murphy’s professional life was wrecked.

“I was soiled merchandise — the taint just lingers,” Mr. Murphy said in a recent interview.

Long article. There's more--much more.

There are many kinds of people I simply won't tolerate, but right up there at the top of the list is the bully.

via The Agitator

That settles that

Another man done gone. That makes the primary easy.

To say "fisk" is an understatement

A must read for anyone following the Ron Paul alleged racism story. Justin Raimondo of Taki's Top Drawer utterly destroys the original article and shows the quotes in their proper context: Why the Beltway Libertarians Are Trying to Smear Ron Paul. I've been reading everything I can about this. In my opinion, you cannot have an informed opinion on this matter until you read this article. I'm not going to post a money quote like I usually do, because this article is too long and detailed and must be read in its entirety. And it's absolutely devastating.

via Karen De Coster

Oh, and, by the way, I am kind of cynical, now that you come to mention it

A compelling and probably accurate article at Lew Rockell. Why a Primary Vote for John McCain is a General Election Vote for Hillary by John Keller.

After four terms as Senator from Arizona, John McCain has written or co-sponsored enough legislation to give us a good idea of what he believes the proper role of government to be without explicitly asking. Even if we did ask, actions are what matters. Below is an analysis of McCain’s electability based on bills he’s sponsored, most of it in the last 8 years, and various speeches and op-ed pieces. I’ll spare you the suspense, and give you the summary up front; read the rest for supporting details. McCain sees the federal government as the solution to nearly every problem, and advocates creating new bureaucracies and federal databases to track and monitor the "solutions." His bills are laden with the veneer of free market controls, tracking databases, and public-private information exchange and R&D so popular when alleged Republicans expand government; at the end of the day, he is expanding government in nearly every conceivable way. He is a committed Clintonian interventionist, often the lone Republican supporting Bill Clinton’s interventions of choice in Sudan, Somalia, Kosovo, and Bosnia.

McCain considers himself capable of getting things done in Washington because many of his bills are bipartisan efforts. The results however, leave conservatives shaking their heads: Free Speech Control, Gun Control, Unlimited Immigration, Support for a Greenhouse Gas Tax, and Woodrow Wilson–Style International Gun-Barrel Democracy. McCain was the Democrats’ useful conservative idiot in each of these cases. He was the lead sponsor of multiple bills no Democrat could have pushed through Congress, but given that almost all the co-sponsors of these bills are hard-core leftists we can see by his actions this Senator is a big government Republican on matters domestic, fiscal, and foreign.

As usual, read the whole thing. I've only quoted the introduction. The details go far beyond that.

---

I had drafted this post earlier for posting tomorrow, but I'll go ahead and post it now along with some additional comments. Most other bloggers who I read made it clear who they would be voting for. I didn't, because I knew it would be pointless.

The herds who graze the vast American plains will only vote for who they are told to vote for. Thompson never had a chance. He ran for prez not because he had a great ambition, but because a lot of people wanted him to--a lot, but not nearly enough. The media never recognized him as a legitimate candidate and did their best to portray him negatively to make sure the livestock didn't consider him legitimate, either. Thompson was closest to a real conservative of the currently surviving candidates. Paul was closest to a real libertarian (and look how the media treated him). They were the only two I ever considered voting for, and neither of them ever had the slightest chance of getting the media's permission to run.

No, as of this post they have not dropped out of the race, but I still refer to their candidacies in past tense because they are already history.

I knew from the beginning that I would never get a chance to vote for either of them in the general election. If you think that there's any real difference in any of the other Redemopublicrats, you are still fooling yourself. The only difference we should worry about now is which one will be the most competent at screwing us, and prepare for things to get a lot worse.

One last update: my prediction. It's going to be McCain and Clinton. Beyond that, the chicken entrails are murky and I can't say what will happen, except that it's going to be so nasty that it will make 2000 look like an April picnic in the park.

Everyone else is quoting it...

(Religious mini-rant ahead. You were warned).

This just makes my skin crawl:

"[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards," Huckabee said, referring to the need for a constitutional human life amendment and an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

In case anyone was wondering, I am against any amendment that would prohibit gay marriage. I am firmly convinced that the Constitution should never be used to restrict any freedoms, and that's what this amendment would do. I was once asked about this, and my answer was, "I don't see any way that gays getting married would infringe on any of my fundamental rights, so I don't care." Anyone who disagrees, please feel free to convince me that I'm wrong.

Huckabee has fallen into the same trap that many have. It doesn't matter that he calls himself a Christian. It doesn't matter that he's referred to as a "pastor" (he isn't)*. He has fallen into the trap of seeing the government as savior, and it isn't. There's only one Savior, and the government has nothing to do with Him.

As a Christian, it is not my job, nor is it Huckabee's job--even if he were President (God forbid), to brute-force "morality" by the bludgeon of legislation. It is only my job to live by example and to try and "let the glory of Jesus be seen in me." I fail at this, a lot. But then of course I'm not perfect.

I'm sure I've failed to adequately state my position with perfect clarity, so please feel free to misconstrue something I've said. I know someone out there will.

I've said it before: The more I hear about Huckabee, the more I dislike him.

*"Pastor" means "shepherd." The church has only one Shepherd: Jesus Christ. Any human who uses that term to refer to him- or herself is misusing the term.

P.S. Anyone who reads this and uses comments to make bigoted anti-Christian slurs: your comments will be deleted. It's my blog and I'm not in the mood.

Fred or Ron?

Good article at Samizdata:

Fred Thompson or Ron Paul? Like Perry and some others, I would rather see a big government Democrat elected than a big government Republican. At least that would bring back some opposition. Republicans in Congress have a much better record of reining in the Democrats' presidents than their own. And as I explain later, I think that one of these two is the only Republican candidate capable of winning the national election.

Ron Paul answering the What programs? question by naming three cabinet level departments ... Wow. Good answer. If there was no rest-of-the-world, he would possibly have my vote.

"Possibly?!" Yes. Possibly. Why? Because good intentions are not enough. Many people have the right ideas. Even if elected, he needs to maneuver his ideas through both the Washington players and the great ambivalent middle of the electorate. He needs to explain and convince massive numbers of mainstream people that what he will bring is better for them personally. How many think Ron Paul is up to that job? I don't.

If you've already made up your mind either way, don't bother. If you're still pondering, read it all.

What a dork...

I think this pretty much proves that Huckabee is barely registering on the clue-o-meter.

How much money did he spend to create what is essentially a Saturday Night Live skit? (But mercifully shorter).

Oh Chuck, you should have stuck to roundhouse-kicking people in the face.

Who are you trying to kid, Rick?

Houston Chronicle:

Gov. Rick Perry's endorsement Wednesday of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the Republican presidential nomination sparked renewed speculation that Perry is seeking a spot on the ticket as a vice-presidential candidate.

I've never been entirely comfortable with Perry as gov, something about him just didn't sit well with me, even though he appeared friendly to the CHLers. He lost me for good with all that Trans Texas Corridor nonsense, but this is just mind boggling.

Seems like he's been drinking the "Giuliani is the only viable candidate" kool-aid. He's probably been living in Austin too long.

Via the Pistolero.