Wait, What?

Over to Bing. Damnit.

Google has allegedly begun censoring its shopping search engine to exclude firearms and any accessories related to shooting.

I say "allegedly" because I just plugged ".45 colt ammo" into Google Shopping and got results. On the other hand, "colt 1911" had no results.

Look, Google is a large corporation and as such, they are both bound to both be full of idiot managers and they are free to set whatever stupid policies they want. We all should know, by now, that Goggle's "don't be evil" motto is nothing but eyewash.

But neither you nor I or any of the other gunnies out there have to use them. Search engines thrive on being used, or, as one term has it, "eyeballs". Maybe it is time to consider to start to deny some of those eyeballs to Google.

Another thing: If Google is going to start censoring its shopping results, how long will it be before Google starts telling its bloggers what they can and can't write about? Blogspot is a Google entity and that makes Goggle the publisher of all of these blogs. And before you start bleating about the First Amendment, the law is clear on this: Publishers have the right to control content on their publications. Google can say "no blogging about guns", just like Fox New, an agitprop arm of the GOP, can tell its anchors "never say anything good about a Democrat".

Farming and Predation

Marko is having a little trouble with foxes eating his chickens. A friend of mine buys her eggs from a local farm (really, a "hobby farm") where they have free-range chickens. Or they did, until the coyotes or foxes came shopping for food.

Decades ago, there was a farmer who was running dairy cows. A man lived down the road who worked in town. He had two dogs, German Shepards. There wasn't a leash law in that county; the man let his dogs run free during the day while he was at work. When he came home each day, the dogs were lazing about the yard.

During the day, however, the dogs got into some mischief. One of the things that they would do is go over to the diary farm and chase the cows around the fields. The farmer was none too pleased about that, since agitated cows don't produce as much milk.

The farmer complained to the dog owner, who told him: "Can't be my dogs, they don't chase cows." The farmer thanked the man for his time, apologized for bothering him, and went back to the farm.

Three days later, the dogs were chasing his cows. The farmer shot both dogs with an old .32-20 Winchester that had been passed down from his grandfather. He then fired up his backhoe, dug a trench and buried the dogs. He said nothing to anyone about it.

A week after that, the dog owner came by and asked the farmer if he had seen the two dogs. The farmer said: "Nope, sure haven't, hope you find them. Well, I did shoot two German Shepards last week who were chasing my cows, but they couldn't have been your dogs, because your dogs don't chase cows."

Oh, Cable News, What Would We Do For Humor Without You to Mock?

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN & Fox News Report Supreme Court Decision
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In the next segment, watch Romney's performance.

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Health care is a real problem for Romney. Jon Stewart might be the first one to point out that the Republican idea is to keep all of Obamacare that is popular but trash the provision that pays for it. And Rmoney has to do all this without breaking down and admitting that the Massachusetts health care plan, or Romneycare, that he signed into law as governor, was wrong. For Romney didn't just sign the bill, he was deeply involved in negotiating its provisions. Romney pushed for the individual mandate:

"With regards to the individual mandate, the individual responsibility program that I proposed, I was very pleased that the compromise between the two houses includes the personal responsibility mandate. That is essential for bringing the health care costs down for everyone and getting everyone the health insurance they need."

Every other governor who has ever run for president has done so by touting what good things they did in their home state and how they can do that for the rest of the country. Romney is the only governor that I can think of who has been saying, in effect: "This is what I did as governor, I promise that I won't do it as president."

Hell, if Rick Perry had adopted that sales pitch, I might have considered voting for him. Come to think of it, that's sort of what Bush did in practice, as well. He came into office proclaiming that he would be a bipartisan president who would work with both parties, as he did as governor, and then he morphed into a batshit-crazy "my way or no way" wingnut.

This Just In:

BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court rules that ER visit and stitches will be free for all red-blooded American conservatives who slash their wrists today.

Reason #1,847,953 Why Not to Listen to Pundits: Obamacare

For they were all wrong:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the controversial health care law championed by President Barack Obama in a landmark decision that will impact the November election and the lives of every American.

Every pundit and prognosticator that I heard was talking about whether the Supremes would throw out the individual mandate or toss the entire bill. John Boehner was telling his minions not to dance too much when (not "if", "when") the decision came down. Oxy Boy was telling people to get ready to celebrate. The New York Times was blathering on how badly the Administration had misjudged things.

Who's dancing now?

Update:  Certainly not this idiot.

"Stand Your Ground" Does Not Mean "Go Looking for Trouble"

Not even in Texas.

Retired Texas firefighter Raul Rodriguez, armed with a handgun and video camera, had claimed he was standing his ground and had no choice but to use deadly force when he fatally shot his unarmed neighbor after confronting him about a noisy party.

A jury decided otherwise Wednesday, sentencing Rodriguez to 40 years in prison for killing the neighbor, Kelly Danaher, a 36-year-old elementary school teacher.

I think the minimum time in Texas is 50% of the sentence, so Rodriguez is still going away for a long time.

Recycling for Military Uses

During the Civil War, the South had far more difficulty than the Union in supplying their forces. One of the items that the Confederates found in short supply was potassium nitrate, one of the components of gunpowder. A chemist in the South figured out how to extract potassium nitrate from urine. His name was John Harrelson.

The Southerners began a program to collect human urine. That led to considerable merriment on both sides of the battlefield:

John Harrelson, John Harrelson, you are a wretched creature,
You've added to this bloody war a new and awful feature,
You'd have us think while every man is bound to be a fighter,
The ladies, bless their pretty dears, should save their piss for nitre,

John Harrelson, John Harrelson, where did you get this notion,
To send your barrel around the town to gather up this lotion,
We thought the girls had work enough in making shirts and kissing,
But you have put the pretty dears to patriotic pissing,

John Harrelson, John Harrelson, do pray invent a neater
And somewhat less immodest mode of making your saltpeter,
For “tis an awful idea, John, gunpowdery and cranky,
That when a lady lifts her skirt, she's killing off a Yankee.

John Harrelson, John Harrelson, we’ve read in song and story
How a women’s tears, through all the years, have moistened fields of glory,
But never was it told before, how, ‘mid such scenes of slaughter,
Your Southern beauties dried their tears and went to making water,
No wonder that your boys are brave, who couldn’t be a fighter,
If every time he shot a gun he used his sweethearts nitre?
And, vice-versa, what could make a Yankee soldier sadder,
Than dodging bullets fired by a pretty woman’s bladder.

They say there is a subtle smell
That lingers in the powder;
That when the smoke grows thicker,
And the din of the battle louder
That there is found to this compound
One serious objection;
A soldier can not sniff it
Without having an erection.

TSA: More Despicable Every Day

New tip for travelers: Do not travel with the cremated remains of your loved ones. For the TSA goons will open the container, spill at least a portion of the ashes on the floor, and then laugh at you while you try to recover what you can.

Note that the TSA is saying that its thugs did nothing wrong. Which it pretty typical for any group of cops in Soviet Amerika, even unarmed glorified airport mall cops. For it is only when some uninvolved citizen captures such arrogant fuckery on video that anything is ever done, if even then.

(H/T)

Romney the Corporate Rapist

Over the weekend, two long stories came out that set out, in detail, how Mitt Romney and Bain Capital raped, plundered and burned companies. They bought a majority stake in the companies and then forced the companies to hire themselves as "consultants" for very large fees.

So as the companies went down the drain, laying off thousands of American workers, sending those jobs overseas and amassing massive debt, Bain Capital took out massive "fees".

If the company was one of those few that survived the rapacious ministrations of Romney's Bain Capital, Rmoney and Bain made a fortune. if the company eventually went under, Bain made even more mney.

The wholly predictable thing is this: Bain Capital under Rmoney made a practice of shuttering American plants and sending the jobs overseas. Only now that he is running for president, Mittens is going around decrying offshoring American jobs.

By the way, has anyone noted that Mittens hasn't held down a job for the last six years? He's kind of young to be retired.

(H/T for the last)

Update: He's also trying to get other Republicans to lie about the economic conditions in their states.