I've always thought highly of the blog Vanishing American. And that WILL NOT change.
VA I've always liked and respected you.
As you can see below, I've quoted what I (honestly) thought were ''his'' words.
Then I got a surprise, VA is not a man!
For the record, ''Your Image Here'' IS a man. BTW, the cat in the pic (Sam) is also male.
That said, I understand. Like my own psudonym, yours is genderless.
VA, I apologize for using male pronouns to refer to you. You never intended to mislead me, and I never intended to offend you...

Labels: oops

posted by YIH @ 2:51 AM on Sunday, July 01, 2007  : 

Thank God it's finally raining...

Labels: not dead yet just resting...

posted by YIH @ 9:00 PM on Sunday, June 10, 2007  : 

I was over at Vanishing American and saw this:

Of course illegal is bad; that should go without saying. But because illegal is bad, does it automatically follow that the same thing is good as long as it is done legally?

There are some countries, notably in Europe, which have to most intents and purposes legalized drugs, the drugs which in our country are illegal. Many in this country, notably many libertarians, and many baby-boomers and Gen X and Y people, say we should make all recreational drugs legal. Suppose we did that. We may, one day, if this country keeps going more and more towards a libertarian/hedonistic society. Would heroin be good for us once it's legal? There are many things which in and of themselves are harmful, regardless of legality. Just making something legal does not automatically remove any harmful aspects of it.

His point here was actually about the distinction between 'Legal' and 'Illegal' mass immigration (I.E the ''I have no problem with mass immigration so long as it's legal'' train of thought).
The subject of ''drug legalization'' came up. I used to be one of those who supported it from the (alcohol) ''Prohibition didn't work'' point of view.
What changed my mind is what used to be derided as ''the numbers racket'' (A.K.A. ''bolita'').
The term for illegal lotteries about 30-40 years ago. Fast-forward to today and what has happend? ''The numbers racket'' is legal, state-sponsored, available just about everywhere and heavily advertised.
And you know what? The harm gambling can and does do has not changed. Just now the State ''gets it's cut of the action''. I know folks that spend at least $100 week after week on ''Lotto''. This is money that could have been used to pay bills or saved for the future BLOWN (and that's the correct term) on ''Lotto''. And while Joe Shmoe might ''win'' relatively small sums here and there overall it's just money that disappears down a rathole.
And even when someone wins ''the great jackpot'' they still lose, because the sudden wealth basically destroys them and often their entire families.
The other side effect of ''legalized gambling'' is that the same people that would have once decried ''the evils of gambling'' now are either silent about it or worse claim ''it's just fine because it's legal''. I used to listen to ''Dr. Laura'' and used to respect her. One of the things that changed my mind about her was the Bill ''The Book of Virtues'' Bennett's ''gambling scandal'' broke out while I was still a regular listener. The very day after the story broke she was on the air to shriek (and she does indeed like to shriek, another aspect of her that I tired of) that Bennett ''wasn't hurting himself or his family, what he was doing was legal, and his critics are merely picking on him''. Well ''Dr. Laura'' he DID ''hurt himself'', pretty much since the story came out his credibility as ''Mr. Virtue'' is gone and can never be completely regained:

Like it or not, it pretty much says it all.
Full Disclosure Time: Have I ever been in a casino (''legal'' or otherwise)? No, I can honestly say I never have. Have I ever played ''Lotto''? I'd be lying if I said I never have. I have not participated in any form of gambling (or as it's proponents call it, ''gaming'') in many years. I see it as a waste of my time and money, ''legal'' or not.
The rush (no pun intended) to defend Limbaugh after he entered rehab for drug abuse (YES, that IS what it was) appalled me. His defenders wanted to preserve the image of him as ''a paragon of morality and virtue'' when IMHO he was merely one of ''the rich and famous'' who had a ''Dr. Feelgood'' to perscribe him all the ''dope'' he wanted. ''Legally'', of course.
When it came out that he was likely buying more ''dope'' on the black market because what he was perscribed was not enough to satisfy him, he ''checked into rehab''.
When the recent ''crazy astronaut'' story came out, I said sarcastically in a chatroom:
[Your Image Here] Let me guess, she'll blame it on booze, and check into rehab
[fellow chatter] Seems to be the trend these days, doesn't it?
BTW, it's true. If I were to sign into that chatroom as my real name, no one would know who I was. My psudonym is my name there. The sarcastic comment was of course in reference to the Mark Foley ''scandal'' that was one of the reasons we now all use the phrase ''Speaker Pelosi''.
The frustration that comes with ''the right'' crashing and burning depresses me...

Labels: ''Junk food conservitisim''

posted by YIH @ 3:02 AM on Sunday, June 03, 2007  : 

I voted for him as Govenor of FL TWICE:

Jeb Bush, Ken Mehlman: Illegal Aliens Will Vote Republican

Go ahead, click the ''comment'' link and chew me out. I deserve it.
When I saw this I started crying. I thought I was doing right for my State when I enthusiastically voted for JEB TWICE.
I KNOW ''Sorry doesn't feed the bulldog'' but I offer my apologies anyway.
I made a mistake twice. Now that I know I screwed up, I will learn from my mistakes...

Labels: Bush Sorrow

posted by YIH @ 6:26 PM on Saturday, June 02, 2007  : 

Quote of the year: (Americans) ''don't want to do what's right for America''.
If THIS isn't proof of the President's hatred of America. I don't know what to say.
We have a President that has SQUANDERD the lives of over 3200 Americans in A FUTILE effort to ''transform'' a Moslim land into ''America II'' and is desperately trying to RAM 'amnesty' down America's throat!!!
You KNEW that was part of his agenda even BEFORE 9/11 didn't you? I did.
You thought ''Hey, Bush is a conservative, and LOVES America'' when it became clear that in 2000 and 2004 that our choices were between A LIBERAL and another LIBERAL.
But Bush is ''a cowboy'' you say. And I say ''And so was Marion Morrison'' (Google that name, see what you get).
I see right through his portrayal of a staunch defender of America. It's gotten so awful that even genuine LIBERALS see him as actually one of their own.
''The worst President America ever had'' was how Jimmy Carter described him. I remember his Presidency and how terrible it was. I can only say ''No, SECOND worst, it would take a complete collapse of the US economy to knock you off your throne''.
When Hillary Rodham is sworn in as President the GOP will take the blame. And rightly so.
Watching my country ''crash and burn'' is a terrible thing...

Labels: Goodbye America

posted by YIH @ 4:29 PM on  : 

And Americans are getting killed and maimed in ''iraq'' for WHAT reason again?
We CAN get ''iraq'' under control. The question is do we have the will to?
But we can't just WISH control over ''iraq'', we have to TAKE it. It's the only way ''the surge'' can be effective. We thought the ''iraqis'' could govern themselves, four bitter years of experience have PROVEN that untrue.
Yes, I know Vice President Bill Clinton went over to ''iraq'' to wag his finger at 'the iraqi people' and tell them 'to straighten up and fly right'. But it was all speaking loudly and carrying no stick.
It's ''crap or get off the pot'' time in ''iraq''. We can either TAKE CONTROL OF IT or take our leave of it and allow 'the iraqi people' to sort out their problems however they choose to...

Labels: ''iraq''

posted by YIH @ 3:18 PM on Saturday, May 19, 2007  : 

I now officially begin the YIH FOR PREZ campain. I'm running as a Republican (Why not? Both of my cats are seeking the R nomination as well).
Considering that except for Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul the current slate are merely wasting oxygen, I figure I might as well jump in too.
My (and my cats) platform is:
1. Right after I'm sworn in as Prez, I will (as CINC) order ''our troops'' to get off their lazy butts and BEGIN ''the war in iraq''. THEY will have ''benchmarks'' and ''a timetable''. ''Our troops'' will be unleashed to win the war by any means nessessary.
Campain slogan; ''Let them FIGHT, let them WIN so they can come home''.
2. As ''our troops'' return home their service to America is unfinished. There is a significant number of Moslims in America. Uncle Sam is suffering from constipation, he needs a laxitive:

There is no such thing as Moslim-Americans. Sura 9:5 of the koran makes that quite plain.
3. While ''our troops'' BEGIN ''fighting the war over there'' I will see to it that The US Secret Service arrests, detains, and brings straight to the Oval Office Nihad Awad of CAIR.
I'll make a presentation of it, full orchestra and choral group playing and singing ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' as I personally behead Nihad Awad of CAIR. And Google WILL BE REQUIRED to post the thumbnail and link to the YouTube video...

Labels: ''iraq''

posted by YIH @ 4:37 AM on  : 

The solution to this problem is so plain it's not funny. Our Marines should just grab the nearest ''iraqi'' by the hair, lift it up and put the barrel of his sidearm to it's head and say ''OK, where are they?'' if it gives us taqqiya (the moslim obligation to lie to non-moslims), we merely pull the trigger and send that moslim to it's ''allah''.
We repeat this procedure until our missing soldiers are found. No matter how many ''iraqis'' have to have 'their ticket (to ''allah'') punched'. We ARE fighting a war in ''iraq'' OR ARE WE NOT?
So our Marines have to step over THOUSANDS of dead ''iraqis'' to recover our fellow Americans that those foolish moslims have captured. I don't have a problem with that!!!
It just might convince the moslims that taking Americans hostage might not be a good idea...

Labels: ''iraq''

posted by YIH @ 12:08 AM on Monday, May 14, 2007  : 

Every time I hear some random lefty call ''iraq'' ''Bush's war of aggression'' I want to vomit. But I also feel nauseous when I hear some Junk Food Conservative™ say ''we need to win this war''.
Because I'll put it bluntly, our affairs in ''iraq'' ARE NOT A WAR!!!
Frankly, I would like it to be one but even the Bush Administration doesn't have the stomach for that. CAN we win in ''iraq''? To quote Bush's favourite people; Si se puede! [Yes we can!].
Using Old West stereotypes in regard to the Bush Administration have been popular since before he was elected President the first time and I'll use one now; ''The new Sheriff in town''.
Why should we care if the ''iraqi parliment'' TAKES A TWO-MONTH VACATION in July? Why should we care what spews from the mouth of Al-Sadr's Tony Snow Al-Maliki? (Al-Maliki is no more the President of ''iraq'' than Tony Snow is the POTUS). LET the ''iraqis'' just screw around, pretending to cooperate with us if it serves their own personal agendas. Why should we even care?
We have over 160,000 ''Marshall Matt Dillions'' in ''iraq''. IF WE START treating ''iraq'' as a war where WE IMPOSE law and order on the savage frontier I do indeed believe we can get ''iraq'' under control.
And that's the rub, we don't have the stomach to seize control of ''iraq'' and rule it as a harsh despot. We want to continue to live in the fantasyland of ''if we just give them some more time they'll work their problems out''.
WHY SHOULD THEY? The way they see it Americans are social workers that they can BS to get whatever they want.
It's time for us to give ''iraq'' a deadline to clean up their act OR ELSE. Our only realistic options are IMPOSE law and order upon ''the iraqi people'' or tell them; ''We gave you a chance at freedom and civilization and the vast majority of you just sat there twiddling your thumbs. SO BE IT, keep twiddling your thumbs, deal with life after we leave. And don't come whining to us for help 'cause we're leaving the phone off the hook''...

Labels: ''iraq''

posted by YIH @ 2:29 PM on Sunday, May 13, 2007  :