USDA, EPA, DOT .... all they do is keep you safe ... from corporations!

Why are the roads safe to drive on? Hell, why do we get to drive for hours without stopping to pay private tolls on roads?

United State Department of Transportation .... which is making sure roads are designed for safety.

Why don't we choke to death like people in China? EPA ... which is making sure we have clean air.

USDA ... is a little behind in their work. For over a year, a private, job creating, legal person called a corporation has been killing Americans with salmonella.

A year. Link to story at Yahoo.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An outbreak of antibiotic-resistant salmonella linked to a California chicken producer continues to sicken people more than a year after it started.

Despite the illnesses, producer Foster Farms has not initiated a recall, and the government has no apparent plans to shut it down.

The federal Centers for Disease Control says there were 50 new reported illnesses in the last two months, bringing to 574 the total number of cases in the outbreak. Most of the illnesses are in California.

574 cases of salmonella and no one has died? Make me believe it. " Bloodstream infections caused by nontyphoidal salmonellae in Africa were reported in 2012 to have a case fatality rate of 20–25%."

For this outbreak? "Thirty-seven percent of victims were hospitalized and 13 percent of the victims had developed blood infections, almost three times the normal rate."

In a letter from USDA to Foster Farms last October, the department said inspectors had documented "fecal material on carcasses" along with "poor sanitary dressing practices, insanitary food contact surfaces, insanitary nonfood contact surfaces and direct product contamination."

In January, USDA inspectors briefly closed a Foster Farms plant after finding cockroaches.

Yeah. No one has died from this version of corporate citizenship. That we know about.

Another gun death in Georgia

I'm not sure I can continue documenting gun stupidity. My empathy for the victim compels me to warn others.

Okay, so it is Memorial Day weekend. Father wants to spend some time with his son on a boating trip. But, ... dad has to bring a rifle with him. Just in case a wild hog wants to get shot and eaten.

Dad carries the loaded gun down to the boat. The gun goes off and kills the son .... like a wild hog.

Now how does Dad or anyone else in that family ever recover? I don't know.

But, we just passed another stupid gun law in this state called the I can carry my loaded gun anywhere, anytime. And, I dare the police to even ask me if I have a permit.

I'm sure the father of the dead boy was a responsible gun owner who made only one mistake ever with that rifle. Which wasn't just carrying a loaded gun. The mistake was killing his son.

Sad details of the real story here.

Drug dealers work for the NFL and pay no taxes

I have no clue on this headline. Who made that up?

Link

A group of retired NFL players says in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the league, thirsty for profits, illegally supplied them with risky narcotics and other painkillers that numbed their injuries for games and led to medical complications ...

Not a big story in some ways. Employees are often subjected to unsafe working conditions. But, if you're one of the players living through Hell, it ain't funny.

Bush knew about Benghazi. Warned Obama. Cheney flew to Benghazi to lead rescue mission.

I love writing nonsense. Especially eye catching headlines. Since Benghazi remains the only important issue to our beloved Republican leaders, I thought I'd help them out with another Benghazi head line.

Yes, Bush knew about Benghazi. In a prepared statement, George admitted using Benghazi on his knees. "It burns at first, which means it's good. Then, the pain goes away."

Cheney did fly to Benghazi to lead a rescue mission. His trip was the first out of body experience for the ex-Vice President. I admire him for taking the trip at all. I just wish he had done it on the night of the attacks instead of Saturday night before appearing on the Sunday morning talk shows.

Timing, Dick. It's all in the timing.

In real news, Bush and Cheney were warned several times about terrorist threats to the United States in the run up to 9/11.

See link here. It's not from the Huffington blog. It's from a business source. Ouch!

Election results

Nope. I didn't vote. Could have. Didn't need to.

Craig Lutz and Ashley Bell will just have to take personal responsibility for failing. Again.

Can't blame me. Can't sue me. Can't slander me. Can't touch this!

Bell gets 15 percent of the vote on Primary Day. Doesn't win. Doesn't run second. Doesn't run third. Isn't in the money.

Maybe now he'll stop asking me for money to get him over the top. Whatever it means to 'get over the top.' Bell should have learned by now that he's not Herman Cain. As if anyone wants to be Herman Cain. Herman Cain is a loser. Bell does have that to share.

Is Bell done in politics? Best guess is No. His ego won't accept being just like the rest of us. Ego can be good. If you have a few other things to go with it like humility for a start. Wait. Doesn't humility negate ego?

Lutz ... sociopathic narcissistic personality with a Jesus complex. Perfect Republican. Should have won running against s candidate named, Buddy. If nothing else, Lutz was first on the ballot.

Here's what I've said to both these ... dudes. Clerks balance checkbooks. Leaders make things work.

So how long before the rest of Hall County GOP elitists have their personal face plant day?

Don't know. It's coming, tho.

Duck Dynasty Family. Secret Middle Eastern Terrorist Group?

CEO's aren't the owners of the company. Stockholders are the owners.

No big news to me. When the owners of a company can't set compensation plans, the CEO takes a 'lion's share' of the wealth.

Link

In their filings with federal regulators, these companies also disclose details behind those pay plans – how much stock, stock options, “performance” shares and other esoteric holdings they’ve awarded to their top executives.

Let's see if there is a real world analogy to explain this. Nope. None. Only in the business world does the CEO get rich faster than the owners of a company.

Wait! Al Capone! Nope. Sorry. I thought I had a real world example of a CEO getting paid more than the owners of a free enterprise. Capone owned the mob. Or did he?

Yul Brynner renounces US Citizenship!

Yul Brynner, of the nude head clan of actors, renounced his US Citizenship after a tax dispute with the IRS! ... 50 years ago.

So why is the Russian born actor newsworthy today?

Why his case highlights the huge number of people giving up their US citizenship.

Isn't it batshit crazy to report an event that happened 50 years ago as a reason for leaving the US today?

Not to Bloomberg's.

Does it matter that Brynner had lost his tax exemption as an American resident abroad? Ops! I guess not to Bloomberg. Brynner claimed to be an American living abroad for tax purposes while ... working in America.

I guess he jumped over the border with Siam every night before going to bed.

So how many people give up their US Citizenship per year? About 3,000. Most of them living overseas. Many of them born overseas.

None of them named Rush Limbaugh seeking political or other asylum in a non-treaty country without public healthcare, socialism, or Muslim President born in Kenya.

Guns everywhere stance already kills innocent bystander

Self defense is a bitch if you've been drinking. It must happen like this:

Someone bumps your elbow just as you're lifting your beer bottle. Instead of hitting your mouth with gently rounded lips of a high quality beer bottle, your stick your nose in beer. Snorting warm beer and rich beer foam, you turn quickly to identify the careless lout who spilled three cents worth of your $3.75 beer.

Following standard Cowboy bar protocol, you snarl, "Watch it, buddy!"

Robert DeNiro spins around with a cocky look and says, "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?"

Then, things move outside for more theatre and weak insults. Insults outside bars used to be so robust and nearly lethal in the days before the Guns Everywhere Law. Since then, no one really cares to whip out a cutting 'Yo Moma' quip. Now it's whip out the semi-auto 9 mm with 17 shot capacity, a bayonet mounted on the accessory rail.

Yes. A bayonet not a laser sight. Only a wuss uses a laser sight in a bar shooting.

Triggers are gently massaged. Steely eyed combatants close one steely eye to save their night vision and exchange salvoes.

Now here's the next set of rules, if you're wounded but standing, you stagger around in front of the onlookers saying, 'He shot me. Look. I'm shot. Why did he have to do that?'

If you're on the ground, wounded or not, shout, 'Help me up. I'm going to kill that guy who killed me before I die. I swear.'

If you're unwounded and still standing after your 17 shots, Run! Run like hell you coward because you've probably shot 17 innocent people killing at least one.

Story in the AJC on the most recent bar fight turned deadly for the innocent at this link, AJC

GOP Senate Candidates showering with Obama

While the Star and Inquirer broke the real story behind Obama and his long term affairs with Catherine Kennedy, Kellie Ripa, and Ruth Lyons granddaughter, Republicans voters have the real story behind the Soap on a Rope Scandal.

Depending on which campaign mailing list serves your email address. Jack Kingston ... or David Perdue ... have been showering with President Obama. According to Talking Heads R U, one or both candidates have a shower pass at the White House on a once per week basis.

Jack Kingston first showered with Obama in 1992 promising he would stop washing after three terms in office.

David Perdue was caught without his Soap on a Rope only once since turning 18. That was the election of who knows when. Maybe a primary when Perdue turned out to vote. Well, vote Republican. Perdue denies scrubbing behind his ears saying, "I'm a businessman not a professional politician."

We will give Perdue squeaky clean marks for his professional business like dealings with the Power Shower and Soap on the Rope Gang. After all, somebody ia always getting dirty in business and politics.

Karen Handel reversed her earlier stance on hot water, soap, and standing up. She's now a proper stand up Southern Republican lady who drinks Southern Sweet Ice Tea and never sweats. Soap never touches her skin especially on her face. Besides, Handel knows more about everything because she never attended a Beauty College.

Paul Broun made no comments during the Soap on a Rope scandal until an official press release this evening. Doctor Paul Broun has never used Soap on a Rope. He has not used it here. He has not used it there. Doctor Broun has always washed his hands like doctor about to perform a later term abortion.

Phil Gingrey has changed his official bio page to include details of his weekly showering rituals. He sings Italian Opera with a lisp every Friday night in cold water from his neighbors garden hose. This weak attempt to gain his own scandal backfired when his neighbor denied owning a hose that long. The neighbors wife signed a statement swearing, "I've never seen anything that long in our neighbor. Ever." Phil's exciting campaign may be nearing an end as rumors swirl around a bath tub ring.

Art Gardner and Derrick Grayson, political outsiders, did not understand the importance of good political hygiene. Press releases from their campaigns failed to deny or affirm a preference for standing or sitting when soaped.

Letter in the Gainesville Times

A good read

The recent letters from Michael Parker, Claudia Simpson, Tom Crawford and others have aptly documented the absurdity and danger inherent in the newly gutted gun control law.

One area where more guns enable acts by young terrorists that has received scant attention is the source of guns used by students to annihilate their classmates, teachers and others. Most undoubtedly use their parents’ unsecured arms and some apparently steal their weapons. Never mind the sources; the more guns out there, the easier it is for youths to obtain them.

The NRA is no doubt loudly applauding passage of this bill and almost assuredly influenced its passage and has rewarded the efforts of our leaders. As Mr. Crawford pointed out, the legislature and Gov. Nathan Deal, in all their idiocy, made absolutely certain that they were exempt from these absurd relaxations of our gun control laws with all the expensive metal detectors, patrolling by state troopers and police, etc., in the Capitol.

While they are safe inside their secured dome retreat they, hopefully, go to bars, attend churches, go to schools and gun shows where they will be exposed to the results of their indiscretions just as the rest of us Georgians. Since we neglected to voice our opposition vociferously enough to prevent its approval we need to do so in order to get the law repealed.

Jim Scharnagel
Gainesville

Giving new meaning to DUI. Drunk open carries rifle with no sling.

People just should not get alarmed to see guns being carried down the street. Inside a coin laundry. In the parking lot of an auto parts store.

Guns don't kill, riiiiight? And everyone has a right to carry a rifle on the mean streets.

And, aren't there laws which forbid a police officer from questioning people? Especially those who have committed no crime.

So are we going to stop and chat up every dude with a gun?

Hey, how are you doing today? Can we talk?

Oh Frack No. You have no right to speak to me. You sorry son of a biscuit eater. You never noticed me without a gun, fracker.

Well, sir. I just wanted to ask if you're all right.

All right! Of course I'm right you lingering dog fart.

Would you mind taking a little test for me?

Do I look like some kid in diapers you blue brained drill butt?

Yeah. It went down like that. Read here.

Good man with gun kills neighbor for feeding deer.

A few good men can make a difference. Not this one who never had a criminal record before murdering his neighbor.

Glad he didn't live next door to me!

Gets worse. The murderer climbed out of a basement window with his buckshot loaded 12 gauge. His wife was screaming for blood, "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot again!" according to witnesses.

The murderers son had made the usual threats as well. Something along the lines of I'm going to burn down your house with you in it after I break your arms and legs so you can't even crawl out. Pretty much the usual Double Dog Dare you not to move out of the country.

Link

Police shoot 93 year old woman to death. Don't know why. Won't talk about it.

Authorities in Hearne, Texas are refusing to say if a 93-year-old woman was armed when a police officer shot her at least five times on Tuesday.

According to KBTX, Pearlie Golden was at her home on Karney Street when she was shot by the Hearne police officer. Golden, who was known as Ms. Sully by her friends, was later pronounced dead after being transported to St. Joseph Hospital.

“Hearne police are not ready to say whether Golden was armed or why the officer felt threatened,” KBTX reported.

Link to story

Hall County Commissioner Craig Lutz flip flops on property rights

I don't regret my wasted youth. I regret all the time spent around Commissioner Lutz.

Here he goes again with his political flip flops.

When property in Flowery Branch would come up for re-zoning, he was always for business rezonings often saying, People have a right to do whatever they want with their property.

I even remember one of his blog posts saying something like, I ignore people who want no change. They don't matter.

Now he flip flops again. He doesn't want any property owners in Hall County to have an 'adult business,' whatever that might mean.

Guns in bars. Okay. Guns in Churches. Okay. No conflict with private property rights.

Penises and vaginas on private property? Oh Gawd we can't have that. Next, he'll be passing a law that we can't have more than 11 people gathered in one home at a time. If you don't get that remark, jump back to the efforts to have him recalled.

He claimed the recall effort was harassment. Next is making sure no jury of his peers meet in private?

Here's the link to Access North Georgia's story on preventing penis envy.

Guns on campus, Arkansas style. It's illegal there.

So we have the police checking out a college students who is asleep in his car. Well, he's sleeping off some binge drinking.

The car gets searched. Is there probable cause just because he's drunk? Yeah. We don't know if he's just drunk. Maybe he has a dead body in the trunk. Maybe more than booze. Doesn't really matter. He's on a college campus pass out in a car. No reasonable expectations of privacy.

What do we find? He's a concealed carry permit holder and has two guns with him.

Ops! No guns on campus. Against the law. Sort of like drinking and driving. Or, drinking yourself into a stupor in a public place.

So, back to that wonderful statement about how responsible gun owners have never been caught breaking the law.

Friday afternoon. You're a responsible gun owner. Saturday morning just another drunk with junk in the trunk.

I like the logic of the pro-gun kids.

Burden of proof. Everyone is responsible until convicted ...

Kill me. No. Kill me first. Kids want to see gun collection. Get laser sighted and killed.

Link

So that thing again about how guns don't kill. People kill. Well, some dude with a laser sight just shot kid to death. Red dot on the forehead. Pause. Bang. And, oh no, officer. I never keep my guns loaded.

An 11-year old boy, looking at guns with his cousin and uncle, was shot and killed in Pike County Saturday afternoon. His uncle has been charged with criminal homicide.

The name of the child has not been released but police say he lived in Wayne County and attended the Wallenpaupack Area School District.

Police notified the school of the death and the school will have grief counselors available this week.

State Police were called at 5:35 p.m. Saturday to Keystone Drive in Wild Acres, a gated community in Delaware Township.

The home is owned by William Olm, the victim’s grandfather. The child was visiting the home where his uncle, Chad Olm, lives in a room in the basement next to the laundry room.

Hey, some day I want to live in my dad's basement next to the laundry room. Kids will think I'm so cool if I have a gun safe and no safe guns.

Pro Gun Nut in Gainesville Times

John Lott rides again!

Here's a devoted John Lott follower in the Gainesville Times trying to save me. Well, maybe my thoughts on his letter.

Link

"In his April 3 letter, Michael W. Parker used some questionable data to try to prove his point. He would do well to read John Lott’s third edition of “More Guns, Less Crime,” especially chapter 10."

Very much like the supporters of something that was called, The Fair Tax. Past tense. The GOP no longer supports the Fair Tax. But, when anyone questioned the legislation, supporters waved off the questions with ... "Read the book! It's all explained in there." Wow! Read my blog. It's all explained in there. Sorry. I'm over being childish. For now.

"As I recall, Lott originally began researching crime data with the assumption that more guns would equal more crime. The data, however, proved just the opposite and he was more interested in the truth than his original agenda. Some 'researchers,' however, have an agenda and are willing to manipulate the data to fit their agenda."

Only Lott knows why he applied for free money to research guns. But, I'm sure a lot of economists were writing papers on guns in 1998 using free money. And, I'm sure a lot of researchers in 1997 lost their raw data in a hard drive crash. Can you say back up? Assuming the crash happened, which it did, how did that go over with the people handing out the free money? Hmmm. Didn't tell anyone in 1997 about that lost data. Just went ahead and published. Strong work.

I can imagine Lott explaining the truth, the truth being so dear to him. "Oh, by the way, I don't have any supporting raw data for my finished work. Can I have my final check now? The bank closes at 4 and I don't want to be late."

"He [Parker} stated that a 2002 study by the Violence Policy Center discovered that 41 concealed carry permit holders over a five-year period were “arrested” for murder; not convicted or even officially charged, but “arrested.” It is likely standard procedure for the police to arrest anyone who is involved in a shooting until they can sort things out."

Nice guess on how police operate in Texas. I would really like police to handle every person suspected of a crime in the same way. Maybe Texas has a shoot first and arrest later policy. Maybe.

"This is about as good a demonstration of massaging the data as it gets."

No way! This sentence screams irony. To rebut the data from 1997 to 2002, five years, Lott's devoted follower quotes a study from 2002 to 2006. Four years.

"In actuality, from 2002 to 2006, the number of Texas permit holders who were convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony was 0.04 percent. This is about one-eighth the conviction rate of the general adult population."

The general adult population. Not white males living in low crime areas who feel a need to carry a gun ... compared to a similar group ... say white males living in low crime areas who do not feel a need to carry a gun. That would be too uncomfortable.

"He [Parker} chose to compare Chicago with Atlanta on homicide rates. For 2012, Chicago had a rate of 18.5 and Atlanta 19. If the number of guns were the problem, why are they virtually equal? Since 2000, Chicago’s homicide rate is down by 15 percent and Atlanta’s by 40 percent. It would appear that Atlanta is doing something right."

I haven't looked up the stats on Atlanta from 2000. I do know someone is avoiding the other crimes related to guns. If we're going to compare stats, let's get them all out there. No 'massaging the data.' But here is where I think we get down to it!

"I would challenge Mr. Parker to go to the nearest prison and interview convicted felons asking what they think of gun control and concealed carry. This has been done before and the answers were unanimous. Gun control is highly favored among criminals as it is like health insurance for them. They have the guns and their victims do not.
Concealed carry, on the other hand, is the one thing that they fear most. Even the dumbest of criminals can figure out that attacking someone who is carrying a gun can be hazardous to their health. And since the weapons are concealed, they can’t tell who might be carrying one."

Nope. I'm not going to a prison to take a survey of violent and antisocial felons. Nope. Not going to do that. Or listen to their opinions. Especially if the goal is to find the dumbest of criminals.

Gun nuts. Who can live with them?

Relay for Life

From the Gainesville Times.

Yes, I said it. Governor Nathan Deal is the Godfather of murder.

Southern states enable gun smuggling into cities like New York which have strong control laws.

Those guns get used to murder men, women, and children. Plus the cop or two from time to time.

So every pro-gun bill signed into law by a Southern Governor puts guns into the hands of people who would re-sell those guns.

When those guns kill someone, it is no different than sending a person to commit a murder.

I'll stand by what I've said.

Governor Nathan Deal is the Godfather of murder.

Guns don't kill babies. Four year old kids kill babies.

Guns don't kill. People kill. In this case, a four year old killed a one year old.

Wanna tell me that fairytale again? The one about how many kids are killed with loaded knifes because when a bad guy wants to kill, he'll find a way.

Story

Residents in this Wichita neighborhood are still trying to understand what happened.

"Cause that was a tragedy," said Jackson, holding her one-year-old grandson. "My heart is broken."

"I was just taken away," said Ray about her reaction to the news. "I don't have the words to really say, describe how I felt and what all I felt."

A one-year-old boy who lived down the street from them is suddenly gone, shot to death by his four year old brother. Police say the two boys were playing with their sister in the bedroom.

"It appears that the four-year-old child opened a night stand drawer," said Lt. Todd Ojile, Wichita Police, during a briefing Wednesday. "In that nightstand drawer was a loaded handgun. The gun was still in the drawer when it was fired," said Ojile.

Governor Nathan Deals signs guns everywhere law. Guns already everywhere

FedEx worker disguised as Rambo shot 6 people in Kennesaw, Georgia.

A suicidal young girl in White County, Georgia takes a gun to school.

New York police arrest a Georgia family for selling 155 guns to one undercover cop.

There is a hero in Kennesaw, a 28 year old unarmed security guard, still in critical condition, tried to stop the Kennesaw shooter. He's in a medically induced coma fighting to recover.

Unarmed teachers at the White County high school took two hours to talk the young girl into handing over the gun while SWAT picked their teeth in the parking lot.

And in New York where the Georgia gun runners were arrested? Most of the guns in New York are from the wonderful Southern States with guns anywhere, anytime laws.

"I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any changes in the laws in those states," Bratton said Wednesday. "That is what it is and we deal with the impact of it."

Let's make it clear to my dear Governor. You and the Georgia GOP are the Godfathers of murderer. You enable the gun deaths on the mean streets. You kill cops. You orphan children and you kill children.

You're a bastard.

Rot in Hell.