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Sunday, June 30, 2013

Sunday Political Cartoon

Found at TOTUS: CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL COMMENTARY and a perfect example of "Some animals are more equal than others":

Saturday, June 29, 2013

So Much For My Copious Free Time

(Scroll down for the weekend roundup post)

The AOW household has been chosen to complete this intrusive survey and ordered to do so immediately. I say that the survey is intrusive because of pages such as THIS ONE.

According to THIS ARTICLE in the Washington Times, I have the following to look forward to:

Nincompoopery — And Worse

(Weekend roundup post.   For the definition of nincompoop, see THIS in the Urban Dictionary. Commenters are encouraged to post links that tell of more nincompoopery)

Links to read (more possibly added as the weekend progresses):

NAACP President offers bizarre reason for abolishing Voter ID laws: Transgenders (Thanks to Jim of Asylum Watch for this link)

AT&T to Load iPhones With Emergency Alerts From Obama – That You Can’t Switch Off

41% of small business have frozen hiring because of ObamaCare, and 19% have cut workers

MADD Okay with Illegals with DUIs Staying on America’s Roads

Obamacare will share personal health info with other state and fed agencies

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

RIP: Richard Matheson (1926-2013)

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)

Richard Matheson (1926-2013), author of the macabre and science fiction, inspired Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Ray Bradbury.

Matheson's works include the novel I Am Legend, the short story "Duel" (made into a 1971 television movie directed by Steven Spielberg), the Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," and other works.

The Washington Post obituary is HERE.

White Lightnin'

Part history and part novel, Matt Bondurant's The Wettest County in the World (Excellent Wikipedia entry!) is a riveting read and relates some of the history of the illegal liquor trade in Franklin County, Virginia.   The author is a grandson of one of the Bondurant Gang, around whom the book revolves.

Actually, the Bondurant Brothers wasn't a gang at all.  Rather, they were folks living on the edge of poverty and trying to survive the Great Depression.  Prohibition was the game changer!

Until Prohibition, Franklin County farmers made liquor from leftover crops at the end of the harvest season primarily for personal use: imbibing, anesthetic, cough syrup, and antiseptic.  During Prohibition, the area fell on hard times; during that era, liquor was made in sizable quantities to the point that the mountainsides looked like Christmas trees.  Large buyers came from as far away as New York City and Chicago for the purpose of stocking their speak easies.   After Prohibition, Franklin County became less lawless — although, even today, blockaders, liquor runners, do occasionally make runs to Washington, D.C., to sell the 'shine in back alleys.

As the author Matt Bondurant points out in an essay about Franklin County today:
...If you are offered a drink in Franklin, better put on your coat and kiss the wife goodbye, because you are definitely going outside, and I'll guarantee a vehicle is involved.

In fact you will almost never see a man in Franklin County drink anything in front of women and children. If you do, it will be in an opaque cup, plastic or paper, and it will remain off the table. I was in Franklin a few years ago for an aunt's birthday party, held in a large barn on my cousin's land. They had several long tables set up, laden with food, at least 50 cousins and friends, and when we sat down to eat, I was the only person there with a can of beer at the table. I wasn't the only one drinking — some of my uncles and cousins were positively ripped — but I was the only one that anybody saw drinking. And this is the county that, as the New York Times reported recently, produces half-a-million gallons of illegal liquor a year. You could spend years there and never see it, even as it is all around you....
Not covered in the book and something that I recently learned from my veterinarian, who hails from that area: the supposed demise of the making of bootleg liquor in Franklin County led to the replacement of that particular activity, one that dates back as far as the 19th Century and continues to a smaller extent today.  What has largely replaced the making of illegal liquor in Franklin County?  Marijuana and meth.   Not an improvement!

I do recommend The Wettest County in the World, available in all formats.  The audio version is particularly good.

Lawless, the film based on the novel, lacks luster in comparison to the book, however, and is a waste of time.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Big Clean-Out: Part 2

Ongoing since June 11 and an absolute necessity!

My family has been living here since 1947 when my mother, my uncle and his wife, and my grandmother purchased this old house, built around 1930. Mr. AOW and I have been living here since June of 1972. Like most former farms, we have numerous sheds and other areas dedicated to storage.

So, now you know what I'm not up to my usual blogging frenzy this summer.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Question About Deer Behavior

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)

Last night, I went out into my backyard at dusk. There stood a young buck almost identical to the one pictured at the left.

No matter how much I waved my arms, clapped my hands, and shouted, he did not flee or turn away.  On the contrary, he stood his ground and became aggressive in his stance.  The closer I got, the more he stamped his front legs and stared me down.

What was going on?  I've never seen a deer behave in that manner when it isn't rutting season.

The Cost Of Giving Offense

According to Infidel Bloggers Alliance, Pat Condell's recent video cost him his account at Vimeo and resulted in a stern warning from YouTube. Mr. Condell must really have struck a nerve, huh?

My blog partner Sam Huntington will be posting that video on Thursday.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Recommended Reading

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)

See CAIR-Washington's Omar Abdelbadie arrested for child rape, claims the 12-year-old was dressed "provocatively" at Atlas Shrugs. Omar Abdelbadie is the vice president of Bridges, an interfaith council at the University of Washington.

Immigration Truth

(hat tip to Larwyn's Linx for the video below)

I know several immigrants — legal and illegal — who are wonderful people of excellent character and a laudable work ethic. You likely can make the same observation about immigrants whom you encounter.

However, the chilling video below should make us realize that political activism appearing humanitarian and socially just in the short term may well be something else entirely in the long term. The speaker, immigration activist Eliseo Medina, has connections with the SEIU, the Communist Party USA, and the Democratic Socialist Party:


Some text from the video:

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Modern Islam

by Sam Huntington

There is plenty evidence in the ancient Islamic texts to prove the negatives of Islam. It is my view that there is nothing attractive about this religion (some regard it as a cult), unless one happens to be an ignorant goat herder who, not unlike Don Quixote,  fantasizes about becoming more than a flea.      The ancient texts are of some interest, even if nauseating, but I think we err by focusing all of our attentions on the past. We should rather be thinking about what the modern Islamacist is saying to the masses.


One scholar that deserves our attention is Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian theologian who has published more than 120 books about Sharia law and Islamic life. More than 60 million Moslems listen to al-Qaradawi on the Jazeera (Gore) Network, and he has long maintained a prominent role within the Islamic intellectual community —which is not altogether over-populated.

No surprise, some of this man’s views are controversial. The United Kingdom refused him an entry visa in 2008; France barred him in 2012; and in 2004, a large number of Moslem academics accused him of giving Islam a bad name. Who knew that was even possible? Yet, in spite of this, al-Qaradawi has a gift for persuasion: a talent that should concern those of us who prefer to maintain our own western culture. Here is an example of al-Qaradawi’s eloquence:



“The condition of the Muslim nation was like a wasteland in the middle of the nineteenth century. The pillars of caliphate had broken which was the last display of unity under the flag of Islamic belief. Islamic countries were breathing their last under the talons of capitalist countries like Britain, France, and others, so much so that Holland, whose population was small dominated over the ten million strong population of Indonesia with the help of force and weapon. It had spoilt the face of Islamic decrees and putting Quran behind was busily engaged in its disrespect. Blind imitation of self-made Western laws and appreciation of foreign values had set over the lives of Muslims. The youths and lovers of new culture who were bearers of the so-called modern culture were particular victims of this. Western domination upon the field of education and means of communication was producing heaps of Westernized honorable people, whose names were Islamic but brains were West-bred.”

This is what al-Qaradawi is telling Moslems who have access to books and radios. What has befallen the contemporary Moslem is not the fault of western imperialism: it is the fault of the Moslem, who has lost his faith. The backwardness of Moslem society is not so much the result of Western aggression as it is Moslem weakness.


He challenges the Moslem to regain his strength, his power, by embracing once more that which made Islam strong in the 7th Century. He ignores American foreign policy, but is bitter about western Christendom. His tact is to transform the inferior Moslem into a superior being that the west can no longer ignore. Al-Qaradawi does not stress Islam as a religion; he speaks of it as a political movement that must grow until the west is incapable of ignoring it further.



Those of us who do not speak Arabic cannot know what Islamacists talk about inside America’s mosques, on Arabic radio or television programs. As someone pointed out on a blog the other day, we have evolved into a culture that thinks Honey Boo-Boo belongs on the Learning Channel. What we can see, however, is ever expanding Islamic populations in several of our cities, increasing numbers of Moslems elected to city, state, and federal positions, and local and state laws becoming Sharia compliant. As Islamacists proclaim to the masses in the Middle East that western society pose a danger to Moslem theology, and while training some Moslems to deliver violence to unsuspecting innocents, Moslem planners wage the real war beneath the surface, inside western societies, where hardly anyone can see it.

As I mentioned a moment ago, we cannot possibly see what is going on because the Arabic language hides most of it. Besides, most Americans have their faces glued to smart phones, their fingers tapping out messages on social media to prove to other morons how clever they really are. We have become a nation of people that collectively agree to limit their inanity to 140 characters per tweet. What this suggests is that by the time Americans find out that Sharia law has suspended the United States Constitution, it will be too late to do anything about it.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Common Core Techniques

(with a hat tip to Gulag Bound)


Have you heard of the Common Core State Standards Initiative?

The entire video of some thirty-six minutes is well worth watching. If you don't have time to watch the entire video, however, please watch at least the portion from time marker 2:00 through time marker 8:00 in the video below the fold.

Monday, June 17, 2013

41st Wedding Anniversary



I have to tutor for a few hours this morning. Mr. AOW will be sleeping in because he has the day off from occupational therapy.

Later in the day, Mr. AOW and I are going out to one of our favorite restaurants.

No big splurge on this day, the actual date of our anniversary, because in August we'll be going on a week's vacation at a classy resort — our first vacation since 2007.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Friday, June 14, 2013

Recommended Reading

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)

See A Massive Conspiracy, Mustang's essay about the NSA. Worth your time.

Video: The Collapse of the American Dream

Accurate or not?

The video is quite long. Nevertheless, please watch it, and provide your critique in the comments section.


(hat tip to Matt of Conservative Hideout 2.0 for the above video)

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Is America Really Broke?

Whether a Democrat or Republican, maybe the time has come for us to stop trying to fool one another. Both parties claim that America is broke. We can no longer take care of our seniors, veterans, orphans, the homeless, or the mentally ill.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Big Clean-Out



Time to dejunk here at the AOW household.


I have some dear friends coming over to help with the lifting and have also scheduled special trash pick-up scheduled for later this week.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Bob Beckel: Obama Approaching Fascism


Liberal Democrat Bob Beckel commenting on the National Security Agency's phone-records surveillance (fast forward to time marker 2:49 after the commercials stop):


Here is the money quote (around time marker 3:55):
“I think it is one of the most outrageous examples of the stepping on the Constitution I’ve heard. They have no right to the phone records… It is illegal, it is unconstitutional, and it is deplorable. I didn’t like it when they did it during the Bush administration and I don’t like when they’re doing it now.”

“They have taken this PATRIOT Act, which I think was the most dangerous act passed, and they have taken it and abused it,” Beck added. “You talk about fascism? You’re getting damn close to it."
Mr. Beckel should expect an IRS audit in the near future.

2008 flashback:
HANOVER, N.H.--Barack Obama may be leading the Democratic presidential pack in every major poll here, but that didn't dissuade the Illinois senator from a final early-morning rally with the Facebook generation.

Clearly not content to leave their votes to the whims of online politicking, the Illinois senator stepped onto a stage fashioned in a Dartmouth College gymnasium, pulled an index card from his inside jacket pocket, and launched into a familiar set of talking points centered on what has become a familiar theme for his campaign: change and hope.

"My job this morning is to be so persuasive...that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Barack," he told a crowd of about 300 Ivy Leaguers--and, by the looks of it, a handful of locals who managed to gain access to what was supposed to be a students-only event.

For one thing, under an Obama presidency, Americans will be able to leave behind the era of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and "wiretaps without warrants," he said.
(He was referring to the lingering legal fallout over reports that the National Security Agency scooped up Americans' phone and Internet activities without court orders, ostensibly to monitor terrorist plots, in the years after the September 11 attacks.)

It's hardly a new stance for Obama, who has made similar statements in previous campaign speeches...

Flashback to 2007, when Barack Obama was a United States Senator:




Friday, June 7, 2013

Remembering Dean Martin

(Two posts today.  Please scroll down for today's political post)

Born on this day in 1917:





On this day, Dean Martin's birthday, I Love Dino Martin is planning more tributes to the memory of the King of Cool.

Preferential Treatment By The IRS

One group, one with delinquent tax filings from 2007-2011 and terrorist connections, certainly didn't testify before Congress's recent hearings regarding IRS's targeting of certain groups with the word "tea" and "patriot" in their names when those groups filed for 501(c) status.

The group that received preferential treatment? CAIR. CAIR supports the criminalization of speech critical of Muslims.

From this source:

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Facts are stubborn things ...

Posted by Sam Huntington

There is nothing I could ever say as well as this short testimony by Dr. Karen Kenny.


Monday, June 3, 2013

Shut Up!

From 2009 (with thanks to Dcat, who emailed me the video below):


Fast forward to 2013 (with thanks to Mustang for the link below the fold).

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Musical Interlude

I first heard this song at the 1992 funeral of Daniel Dobbs, the child of a couple with whom Mr. AOW and I were friends:


The story behind the song:
"Tears in Heaven" is a song by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings from the soundtrack to the film Rush. The song was written about the pain and loss Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son, Conor. Conor fell from a window of the 53rd-floor New York apartment owned by his mother's friend on March 20, 1991. Clapton arrived at the apartment shortly after the accident....
More information HERE.
!--BLOCKING--