The Countertop Chronicles

Got all the booking info for one of the two hunting trips of a lifetime I’m taking this fall.

Attached to the email was a copy of this video.

Are they sending me a message?

So, we are watching a friends kid the next couple of nights. The wife is your typical Volvo driving, Whole Foods shopping, clueless DC yuppie liberal (I’m surprised she lets her kid stay here, what with all my guns, but her husband makes the decisions in the family . . . she’s far too interested maintaining her lifestyle than to ever question her husband).

As an example, she dropped her kid off tonight, along with food. Amongst the many Whole Foods selections she dropped off for him (or Safeway food simply isn’t good enough) were some organic pop tarts.

Think about that.

Yep, are we surprised they would act any other way in Mayor McTurd’s city

The biggest shock came Wednesday when federal prosecutors charged special operations officer Jerome Finnigan with planning the murder of another member of the unit to keep him from talking to the government.

and it gets better

Finnigan, 44, also is one of six members of the special operations unit, created to crack down on gangs and drugs, who are charged with operating a shakedown operation aimed at civilians. Prosecutors say they have him on tape weighing the possibility of having someone kill a fellow special operations officer to keep him from becoming a witness against him.

Finnigan and his attorney, Michael Ficaro, declined to comment.

In July, three off-duty officers pleaded not guilty to charges that they beat four businessmen in a bar in a videotaped confrontation.

In another videotaped confrontation, off-duty officer Anthony Abbate was seen apparently beating a 115-pound female bartender because she would not serve him another drink. Abbate has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of aggravated battery.

The quagmire is deepened by five federal lawsuits accusing police and city officials of covering up the torture of murder suspects at the Area 2 detective headquarters under violent crimes Lt. Jon Burge in the 1980s. Burge was fired in 1993 after a suspect in the murder of two officers allegedly was abused while in his custody.

A four-year study by two special prosecutors appointed by a Cook County judge, released in July 2006, found that Chicago police beat, kicked and shocked scores of black suspects in the 1970s and 1980s to get confessions. The report said it was impossible to file charges because the incidents were so old that the statute of limitations had long since run out.

Took Midwest Express to KC. Yeah

Good service. Plush wide seats. Good food.

Arrived, though, sick as a dog. KC Airport Hilton doesn’t have a inhotel store, and vending machine doesn’t sell cold medicine (looks like Bitter was correct in that regard).

Sick all day, return on midwest express (Yeah)

Get in a taxi. Filthy. Disgusting. Asshole foreignor tells me I don’t know where I am going (I’ve lived in my house 10 years). Then we have a fucking flat tire.

Shit. Still sick as a dog.

Cause the NOT-funded-by-the-NRA gun nut bloggers are swarming all around, basking in the impending defeat of the bigots and storming and blogging (literally) from the steps of 300 Indiana Ave, the Henry J. Daley (as if we were surprised) building in Washington, DC.

That would be the DC Police Headquarters where I am telling the truth, blogging about and preaching civil rights to the assembled masses, explaining to a most receptive audience of DC Citizens that the police in this corrupt city are under no duty to come to our aid and work relentlessly to keep the citizens of Chocolate City (again, Marion Barry’s term) subjects of a harsh, corrupt, and repressive city government.

Behold the truth of individual rights.

Fight the power!

Fight the lies!!

Fight the bigots!!!

Victory, Here We Come!!!

and there ain’t a thing Laura Washington and her bigot friends can do to stop the truth.

Washington DC will be free!!!!

I may be white, I may be straight, I may be male but I am in no way an uneducated suburban bubba paid for by the NRA (strange, it seems I’m paying them much more than they pay me).

The rabid response of the gun lobby is damning, but impressive. They out-gun, out-email, gun-control advocates by more than 20 to one. Their ability to organize a rapid response is exactly the opposite of FEMA. The gun army, made up almost exclusively of white men from suburban and rural areas, is loaded for bear.

The People of the Gun are beating their drums on websites from Keepandbeararms.com in Washington State, to alphecca.com in Vermont. Every time a plea for gun restrictions surfaces on the Internet, the gun stalwarts furiously post hundreds of missives in homage to the Second Amendment.

Through organizing, the Internet, and plunking down plenty of cold hard cash, the gun lobby has proven it is ready for primetime. Meanwhile, its opponents are languishing in the wee-hours of late-night local cable.

And here I am blogging from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Chocolate City itself (not my term, but if gun bigot extraordinare Marion Barry can use it in his opposition to equal rights for whitey in DC, then I can to) about how we are winning the war and how the bigots don’t stand a chance when the truth comes out. Say Uncle is all over this, but seeing as he blogs from the comforts of Knoxville, Tennessee I just thought the brothers in arms in Washington, D.C. needed to represent!

So, as you read this I will be doing a 60 minute presentation on my issues to the senior executive leadership and board of directors (and outside law firm) of the 900,000 pound gorilla of our client base. I gave a similar one last week to a group that included one of their Exec VPs and he requested I do it for their quarterly meeting.

Oh yeah, he also told me the assistant General Counsel who handles my issues, “a real crackerjack assholle lawyer just like you” he said, just announced she was leaving to move across country and take care of her elderly parents. “We need to find someone we can trust to keep on top of this stuff” he said.

Not that my wife would move but . . .

For a Pink Floyd fan, David Gilmore has just given Rolling Stone a pretty brutally honest assessment of where the band is.

The inevitable question: The last I heard, you were speaking of Live 8 as perhaps the end of the story of Pink Floyd. What’s your current thoughts on the subject?
What I’ve been doing for the last couple of years — what I was in the middle of when Live 8 came along — was my album, and that’s what I’m thinking about. It’s been a joy and very satisfying, and the album did very well, even though Rolling Stone only gave it two stars. Everything went so well, I can’t see why I would want to be going back to that old thing. It’s very retrogressive. I want to look forward, and looking back isn’t my joy. Roger hasn’t written a lyric lately that has really been something where I’ve gone, “Wow, I wish that was part of my oeuvre.” I don’t know how one puts it, but going back into all that just wouldn’t bring me joy. It’s my time of life to be selfish — please myself.

You could do it without Roger again.
Yeah, yeah. One could do that. But again, I can’t really see why I would want to, unless I wanted a big boost for my ego or a big boost for my bank account, neither of which I need that badly.

They offer you outrageous sums of money to do this.
They did, yeah.

It must be strange to say, “No, I’m not taking that enormous sum of money.”
I can’t — it’s a very hard thing to discuss, really. To you and to virtually everyone in the public, they would find that a difficult thing to understand, because believe me, when I was impoverished, I wouldn’t have turned it down so easily. Life has dealt me a pretty fair hand, I’ve done very well, I’ve been very, very lucky, and now I can say, “This isn’t what I want to do.” As they say, every man has his price, and maybe that’s true, but whatever we’ve been offered isn’t mine.

Have you spoken to Roger since Live 8?
Yeah. Yes, I have. He called me up about something a little while ago. It’s nice. Of course, he was rehearsing. In the documentary that goes with the DVD, there’s a moment of me saying hi to Roger, where we were rehearsing, at Bray Studios near London at the same time last year.

So there’s been a little bit of a thaw?
Yeah. We’re not calling each other every week and going out for dinner every week, but the week of Live 8, we went out for dinner a couple of times. It’s a bit more reasonable. I think there are fundamental differences of opinion and view. As Roger likes to say, we are musically, philosophically, and politically different.

As a Beatles fan, there was something Lennon and McCartney could do together that they couldn’t do apart. Are you willing to accept that that’s true of you and Roger — and yet still not do it?
Yeah, I am willing to accept that. I know that art should be about everything, and therefore, one should get over all one’s differences to create art. But I suspect that our conjunction of people and musicality and taste and intelligence has run out of steam. Roger thought it had in 1975. Certainly, I don’t have any particular desire for it. What one is willing to sacrifice for one’s art is another whole point, and that’s beyond that I’m willing to do right at the moment.

Childhood’s End
Lyrics by David Gilmore

You shout in your sleep.
Perhaps the price is just too steep.
Is your conscience at rest
If once put to the test?

You awake with a start
To just the beating of your heart.
Just one man beneath the sky,
Just two ears, just two eyes.

You set sail across the sea
Of long past thoughts and memories.
Childhood’s end, your fantasies
Merge with harsh realities.

And then as the sail is hoist,
You find your eyes are growing moist.
All the fears never voiced
Say you have to make your final choice.

Who are you and who am I
To say we know the reason why?
Some are born; some men die
Beneath one infinite sky.

There’ll be war, there’ll be peace.
But everything one day will cease.
All the iron turned to rust;
All the proud men turned to dust.

And so all things, time will mend.
So this song will end.

I direct your attention to the sidebar, and the lovely moon phase widget.

Cool. And in keeping with the recent hunting and fishing focus going going on here.

Chuck The Schmuck is on the floor of the Senate right now talking about how rare it is when he and the NRA agree and that the NICS Improvement Act be passed tonight. He’s also discussing the efforts which were highlighted the other day to address issues in small states, like in Vermont. Stressing IT IS NOT GUN CONTROL but only targets those records which should already be in the system but weren’t because of the disconnect between mental health records and the NICS system.

Not surprisingly, D.C. is opposing the recent action to lift the stay on enforcing the D.C. Circuits decision as it regards rifles and shotguns kept in the home. SCOTUSblog has more.

You can read the District’s opposition here.

I don’t have time to review it today.

That would be me.

Spent an enjoyable morning shooting wobble trap and skeet with Bitter and Sebastian. (Bitter had a very unique, gender specific, “mechanical” issue occur. She promised to blog about it . . . )

While sitting around between rounds we had a discussion about, what else, firearms and hobbies and the what not. I informed them that my wife was getting annoyed with the gun thing. Not that I needed to get rid of them all, but that she was upset I was spending too much money on them what with the kids in private school and her desire for a new kitchen and some other improvements in the house. Her message was, simply, No More Guns!!!

Story continued after the fold

(more…)

I have to attend a fundraiser for the DSCC (Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee) tonight. That would be the group Chuck the Schmucker runs.

Oh, and Dick Durbin’ll be there. Harry Reid too.

Ugh

At least its at a nice Museum (and no, I won’t raise any gun issues).

By the way, I was harassed by the police yesterday crossing Independence Avenue. Had a 21 year old capitol Hill Police Officer tell me he was going to enjoy watching me spend the night in jail and that he was well within his power to arrest me. My offense?? Jaywalking.

I pulled political rank on him.

Fuck the police
Lyrics – Ice Cube, MC Ren, Eazy-E

Right about now NWA court is in full effect.
Judge Dre presiding in the case of NWA versus the police department.
Prosecuting attourneys are MC Ren Ice Cube and Eazy muthafuckin E.
Order order order. Ice Cube take the muthafuckin stand.
Do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothin but the truth so help your black ass?

Why don’t you tell everybody what the fuck you gotta say?

Fuck tha police
Comin straight from the underground
Young nigga got it bad cuz I’m brown
And not the other color so police think
They have the authority to kill a minority

Fuck that shit, cuz I ain’t tha one
For a punk muthafucka with a badge and a gun
To be beatin on, and throwin in jail
We could go toe to toe in the middle of a cell

Fuckin with me cuz I’m a teenager
With a little bit of gold and a pager
Searchin my car, lookin for the product
Thinkin every nigga is sellin narcotics

You’d rather see me in the pen
Then me and Lorenzo rollin in the Benzo
Beat tha police outta shape
And when I’m finished, bring the yellow tape
To tape off the scene of the slaughter
Still can’t swallow bread and water

I don’t know if they fags or what
Search a nigga down and grabbin his nuts
And on the other hand, without a gun they can’t get none
But don’t let it be a black and a white one
Cuz they slam ya down to the street top
Black police showin out for the white cop

Ice Cube will swarm
On any muthafucka in a blue uniform
Just cuz I’m from the CPT, punk police are afraid of me
A young nigga on a warpath
And when I’m finished, it’s gonna be a bloodbath
Of cops, dyin in LA
Yo Dre, I got somethin to say

Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police

M. C. Ren, will you please give your testimony to the jury about this fucked up incident.>

Fuck tha police and Ren said it with authority
because the niggaz on the street is a majority.
A gang, is with whoever I’m stepping
and the motherfuckin’ weapon
is kept in a stash box, for the so-called law
wishin’ Ren was a nigga that they never saw

Lights start flashin behind me
But they’re scared of a nigga so they mace me to blind me
But that shit don’t work, I just laugh
Because it gives em a hint not to step in my path

To the police I’m sayin fuck you punk
Readin my rights and shit, it’s all junk
Pullin out a silly club, so you stand
With a fake assed badge and a gun in your hand

But take off the gun so you can see what’s up
And we’ll go at it punk, I’ma fuck you up

Make ya think I’m a kick your ass
But drop your gat, and Ren’s gonna blast
I’m sneaky as fuck when it comes to crime
But I’m a smoke em now, and not next time

Smoke any muthafucka that sweats me
Or any assho that threatens me
I’m a sniper with a hell of a scope
Takin out a cop or two, they can’t cope with me

The muthafuckin villian that’s mad
With potential to get bad as fuck
So I’m a turn it around
Put in my clip, yo, and this is the sound
Ya, somethin like that, but it all depends on the size of the gat

Takin out a police would make my day
But a nigga like Ren don’t give a fuck to say

Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police

Police, open now. We have a warrant for Eazy-E’s arrest.
Get down and put your hands up where I can see em.
Just shut the fuck up and get your muthafuckin ass on the floor.
[huh?]

and tell the jury how you feel abou this bullshit.

I’m tired of the muthafuckin jackin
Sweatin my gang while I’m chillin in the shackin
Shining tha light in my face, and for what
Maybe it’s because I kick so much butt

I kick ass, or maybe cuz I blast
On a stupid assed nigga when I’m playin with the trigga
Of any Uzi or an AK
Cuz the police always got somethin stupid to say

They put up my picture with silence
Cuz my identity by itself causes violence
The E with the criminal behavior
Yeah, I’m a gansta, but still I got flavor

Without a gun and a badge, what do ya got?
A sucka in a uniform waitin to get shot,
By me, or another nigga.
and with a gat it don’t matter if he’s smarter or bigger
[MC Ren: Sidle him, kid, he's from the old school, fool]

And as you all know, E’s here to rule
Whenever I’m rollin, keep lookin in the mirror
And there’s no cue, yo, so I can hear a
Dumb muthafucka with a gun

And if I’m rollin off the 8, he’ll be tha one
That I take out, and then get away
And while I’m drivin off laughin
This is what I’ll say

Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police

The jury has found you guilty of bein a redneck,
whitebread, chickenshit muthafucka.
Wait, that’s a lie. That’s a goddamn lie.
I want justice! I want justice!
Fuck you, you black muthafucka!>

Fuck the police
Fuck the police
Fuck the police

Brilliant