Come On, Hypocritical Republican Scum , Show Me the Conservatism

Republicans love their pork as much as any other party. Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) is offering a conservative plan to remove government funding of NASCAR and other sports. Any true Conservative knows that the government has no business funding race teams or fishing events, but the hypocritical Republicans scum are only "conservative" when they don't like what's being funded. Under such a bitter lens, cerebral NPR is cut, while troglodyte NASCAR and the NFL are sacrosanct.

Since it seems our government is bound to spend excessively, let's use the billions we waste on pro sports and fix a few bridges with it. Let's end these stupid wars and exercises into empire and bring that money back home and build a few rail lines.

Republicans, if you want to have any credibility, you'll support conservatism, regardless of the side of the aisle from which it's offered.

High Gas Prices Demand Police Vehicle Reform

It is absolutely immoral for cops to be driving around 12 mpg vehicles while gas is northward of $2.50 a gallon, now well over $3.00, a gallon.

Almost everything a cop does in a car can be accomplished in a Corolla that gets well over double the mileage.

It is further flatly unconscionable for the taxpayers to be buying free gas for police to use to run personal errands in fuel-inefficient cars.

We must immediately move police into more fuel-efficient cars through a program that could be called "Cops in Corollas." We must also immediately end the practice of take-home cars, unless the officer with such a car reimburses the City $600 a month to cover the use of the car, plus all gas the officer uses in non-police driving.

This take-home car benefit has become so outlandish and excessive that it's akin to giving every cop a $7,000 undeclared raise.

There is absolutely no reason why an Indy cop cannot conduct his business in one of these:

Snowplowing Update - City of Indianapolis Roads are Just as Bad as the Interstates

The City of Indianapolis, led by Mitch's fellow Republican, Mayor Greg Ballard, has also presented motorists with an embarrassing, incompetent and dangerous snow removal effort, this morning.

I am aware of Republicans' much-advertised distaste for government, but there are some things centralized government can do fairly well, if administered correctly, chief among them is plowing the streets.

Getting the streets plowed is true public safety. If the Republicans aren't willing to commit their energies to these basic and essential public services, then they ought run for other offices where the consequences of their inaction cannot so profoundly imperil the lives of over a million people.

Mitch Daniels Fails to Get the Roads Plowed

We had a little snow, last night. Maybe 3" - 4". Nothing much. It fell softly and steadily, all night.

Despite the predicted and not overwhelming snowfall, Mitch Daniels failed to get the Indianapolis Interstates plowed for this morning's commute. The Interstates looked untouched, with the car tires making wagon tracks through the snow. The commute on the Interstates was unbearable.

This failure to perform basic governmental services is nothing but rank incompetence from Daniels. Instead of making another trade summit to a foreign country, Mitch, how about you stay home to run the state and put together a good road plowing plan?

Harrison Ullman once correctly described Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith's snow removal plan as "Wait 'til May." What is it about Republicans that cause them to focus their attentions so heavily on matters that have very little benefit for the people, while ignoring the prosecution of basic governmental services that ensure a decent quality of life for the entire population?

When the largest city in the State can't get to work quickly and safely after a modest snowfall, you're not doing your job, and you're continuing to mire Indianapolis in its longstanding and notorious mediocrity. If Indy can't play with the big boys on something as easy as snow removal, Indy can't expect to be regarded as a first-rank city.

An Open Admission that the NFL Meddles in its Games

In the midst of a 23-3 blowout on Monday night, Coach Jeff Fisher of the Titans was calling running plays to spend down the clock and leave with an easy win in hand. Inexplicably, Coach Jack DelRio of the beaten Jaguars called timeouts, when his team had no hope of recovering from the deficit in a the short time remaining.

It is now revealed that the NFL asked the two coaches to call pointless timeouts so that more commercials could be aired.

We all know that the Colts have been the beneficiaries of some of the most rigged games in sports history, so it's nice to see actions like this surface to confirm what everyone knows - the the NFL manages the outcomes of games.

Good for Coach Fisher, by the way. He refused to call needless timeouts, and the Titans scored an additional touchdown because of DelRio's corruption of the game.

Here's the story on Yahoo Sports.

"Jack used his timeouts," Fisher said. "My understanding is they needed network timeouts, and that's why Jack used his timeouts. They came over and asked me to do it, but I said, 'I was hoping to get a first down and kneel on it.'"

Fisher has an interesting sense of humor (you may remember that he tried to break his team's 2009 losing streak by donning a Peyton Manning jersey), but in this case, he wasn't joking. Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com has the real story, based on Fisher's Tuesday press conference with the local media:

"At the two-minute warning in every game in the fourth quarter, there are conversations that go by. There's conversations that take place at the two-minute warning before the first half. But there's conversations that take place, and it's the official's responsibility to give the head coach a status of commercials and TV timeouts," Fisher said. "Yesterday, I was told that they were two short. And they looked at me and smiled, and I said, 'Sorry, I can't help you.' Mike Carey came across and said, 'Here's the deal. We're two short.' And I said, 'Mike, I can't help you. I'm trying to get a first down and I'm gonna kneel on it.'

McCormick told me that he did not know (nor did Fisher) whether Del Rio took his timeouts in accordance with Carey's request, or the league's specific need for TV timeouts.

Perhaps the most disconcerting thing about this story -- the part that made it so hard to believe at first -- is the idea of a television network, and the need for ad revenue, deciding the pace of a game (no matter how awful it may be). That Carey would break away from his responsibility as a supposedly objective arbiter of the on-field action to try and wrangle timeouts from coaches in the name of commercial breaks -- well, this is where we truly have gone down the rabbit hole. And judging from Fisher's comments, this happens all the time.

Obama Just Went on My Shitlist

He just blocked reimportation of 100,000 M1 Garand rifles from Korea, rifles which we loaned them. We built them for WWII, and we let allied militaries use these rifles, as we went on to other equipment.

The Garand is one hell of a battle rifle, and it's pretty accurate, as well. These rifles are used competitively, every weekend, in ranges around the country in NRA Highpower matches and less formal "Garand" matches.

http://volokh.com/2010/08/18/obama-bans-over-100000-rifles/

I was giving Obama a break, because, well, nobody can be worse than Bush, but there is absolutely no excuse for this action. This vindictive action reveals the true colors of the Democrats and proves that all that talk of communion was just lip service.

I may not support a Republican in the upcoming elections, but I sure won't support a Democrat.

Anti-Gun Mayor Greg Ballard Leaves Indy Residents Prey for Criminals

The anti-gun Republicans continue to make Indy residents sitting ducks for criminals by denying the citizens their right to keep and bear arms.

Dave Clark, a 60-year old Indy resident, was attacked on the Monon Trail, near Kessler, on Tuesday. As is well known to criminals, Republican Mayor Greg Ballard prevents people from carrying guns on the Monon, making the citizens easy prey for the criminal thugs.

It's time we all stopped thinking of Republicans as pro gun. They're not. They only pander to us when they want our vote. Being "pro-gun" means not voting Republican. All gun owners must send a message to anti-gun Ballard by not reelecting him in 2011.