Polit-idiots, Legion, & Rural Communication

So, normally Uncle Jeremy picks one thing that's pissing him off, or giving him warm fuzzies, and takes off on a tearing rant. Today, however, there's more than one. And since most of them are short enough to cover at speed, we'll take them back to back.

In no particular order:

4. You are what's between your legs, apparently.

State Rep. Peter Hansen, R-NH, apparently has absolutely no idea what Internet security is. There's really no other explanation for why a Republican politician would put the following in an email after all the other nasty little slips his party has had recently:

What could possibly be missing from those factual tales of successful retreat in VT, Germany, and the bowels of Amsterdam? Why children and vagina's of course. While the tales relate the actions of a solitary male the outcome cannot relate to similar situations where children and women and mothers are the potential victims. (Source)

Hansen was responding to a "stand your ground" bill, which basically says that if you can hand over your wallet, run away, drop your drawers, etc., you have to try that first before you can smack 'em in the temple or trachea.

Leaving all the horrible implications in that bill aside, seriously? Hansen claims he was using the word for shock value, but come on people. How many more times are we going to see some idiot politician degrade women or minorities?

Speaking of minorities:

3. Let the grandstanding commence!

Politicians have a tendency to turn anything into political capital that at times can seem Rumpelstiltskin-esque. Take State Rep. Steve King, R-IA, who's jumped on the Boston Marathon Bombings as a sign that we should be cautious about immigration reform.

No, seriously. Here you go:

Some of the speculation that has come out is that yes, it was a foreign national and, speculating here, that it was potentially a person on a student visa. If that’s the case, then we need to take a look at the big picture. —Steve King (Source.)

King is most likely reacting to news that a comprehensive bipartisan bill to reform immigration laws, specifically those dealing with illegal immigrants, had been mostly hammered out after months of closed door sessions. While the bill needs some more detail work, it looks like a decent shake for just about everyone involved might actually come out of this. 

A round of applause then, for Representative King! You didn't even let a single day of that warm, creamy political goodness slip by you before slamming into gear to get that tragedy working for you! I swear, that's one of the fastest snatch 'n spins I've seen on a tragedy since...

They did what? Ok, get me a bottle of Visine and the football.
(Source)

2. Who Rules?

Yeah, no segue. Bite me. Anywho, the Phelps Home for the Criminally Insane is at it again, telling people that God hates us all, and communicates through bloodshed. In the past, this has been met with loud media shouting, and much furor. However, a few months back a higher (or lower, depending on your point of view) power has deigned to intervene. 

The hacktivist group Anonymous has declared holy war on the unholy church. Here's their declaration of intent.

Because that's not at all terrifying, right? The best part, however, is that Anonymous is following through. They've stood down Phelps' clan a couple times since then, hacked their Facebook, Twitter, and websites a couple of times, and now Anonymous has flat out stated that if the WBC tries to protest the funerals of the Boston Bombing victims, the WBC will have to deal with Anonymous.

(Source.)

So...woot for a terrifying, faceless organization with potentially unlimited, decentralized power...but apparently with more conscience than most governments? I can live with that, for now.

1. What.

Ladies and gentlemen (and those who prefer to be neither,) I give you:

 Drive-by groundhogging.

BROOKVILLE, Pennsylvania — Police in one western Pennsylvania town are investigating a case of bar kill: dead animals tossed into a tavern by unsatisfied customers.

A groundhog was tossed into Bill's Bar on Sunday in Brookville, about 70 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, before a man sped off in a pickup driven by another man, The (Dubois) Courier-Express reported Wednesday. Hours later, the men returned and tossed in the dead grouse for good measure.

(Source.)

Ya did what now. (Source)

I have nothing to say on this, especially. It just struck me funny. I leave you with the second to final line of the news story without further comment.

"We have a lot of it up here. A guy will get in an argument and put a dead squirrel on his girlfriend's doorknob, that kind of thing," Dworek said.