Citizen's Arrest! Citizen's Arrest!

Thelma Lou was robbed in Mount Airy, NC yesterday.

For those who are not members of TAGSRWC, Mount Airy is Andy Griffith's hometown and the model for Mayberry.

The outcome was good for Betty Lynn (Thelma Lou), all things considered.

Bless her heart.

Good Luck Bob

Most folks know Bob Uecker from his TV appearances, commercials, and a certain movie about a Cleveland Indians team that couldn't win for losing. Some really lucky folks have had the pleasure of listening to Bob call Milwaukee Brewers games on the radio night after night. Perhaps it's because Milwaukee is a sort of out-of-the-way market, but Bob has never gotten the credit for his play-by-play work that he deserves. He is one of the five best p-b-p guys I've ever heard and definitely the funniest.

Yesterday Bob announced that he's going in for heart surgery Friday. We wish him nothing but the best and hope he's back callin' 'em "just a bit outside" from "the front row" soon.

The Eleven Hour Poop Joke

Sen. Carl Levin straining to hold one in.

Much outrage, faux and otherwise, this morning over Senator Carl "SHI77Y" Levin. Everyone seems to think he uttered a barnyard epithet 11 times. I watched every minute and believe me Crappy Carl said the "s" word far more than eleven times. He hit eleven during just the first panel! (Which is when Drudge put up a story and thus everyone now believes he said it 11 times.) He also used "crap" and "piece of crap" so much I eventually needed a break to wash up.

But the real outrage isn't that an idiot Senator talks like he's 12. Heck, I never figured him for brain power beyond a pre-teen. I mean, after all, he thinks he's fooling somebody with that comb over so he can't be too bright.

Comb-over Carl the Crapmaster

No, the real outrage is that Senator Claire McCaskill dropped multiple S bombs and is being totally ignored. She also seemed to admit to using a bookie to bet on college football and was so deep into illegal wagering that she knew what "the vig" is. But today there isn't a peep about Crappy Claire. I guess next time she needs to drop two dozen bombs a la Creepy Carl so she can get some righteous potty mouth props!

See Big Claire crappin' out here.

In related news... Zoo Poo!

Pullin' A Fast One

When General Motors stood at the abyss Lord Obama gave them about $50 Billion to keep from being sold off for parts. Now GM has re-paid less than $7 Billion of the total relief package yet the latest of their revolving CEO's, Ed Whitacre, is writing newspaper columns called-- "The GM Bailout: Paid Back in Full" -- and strutting around in TV ads that promote the same idea.

Technically what he says may be true but the effect is totally misleading. And, I suspect, the consumers are buying it.

The details of GM calling their 14% payback "PAID IN FULL" are here.

UPDATE: Another look at the Government Motors "fast one" here.

Winds of Change

Maybe all it took to get some of the crustiest old Dems out of DC was to put them in charge of everything.

We can't do anything about most of those races, but we can do our part to send John Spratt back home this November.

Mick Mulvaney is just the guy to do that.

Celebrating Fertilizer Friday

Tigers win to salvage a split in Anaheim.


Sharks paste the Avs 5-0 to go ahead 3-2 in the series.


And a guy with a listening audience in excess of 20 Million people sets the record straight in one of the largest circulation dailies in America.


Now, everybody who should have a great weekend take one step forward.

Not so fast there Bubba Tubbypants.

Enough to Hack Ya Off

The kid who illegally accessed Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account back in 2008 is on trial and facing 50 years in jail.

The AP has written a story about the trial and somehow leaves out that the kid is the son of an elected Democrat in Tennessee, Mike Kernell.

All Even

After the third game of the San Jose v. Colorado first round playoff series a locker room question to an Avalanche player went (roughly): "How does it feel to be up two games to one given that the Sharks have scored three game-winning goals?"

We wish that was a joke but it was the actual state of affairs.

Last night the Sharks evened the series 2-2 in a third straight OT contest.

An 8 seed with a hot goalie is always dangerous and hot doesn't begin to describe the Avs Anderson. He's faced 148 shots in just 3 of the 4 games.

Back to The Tank for game 5 Thursday night. Time for the Marleau-Thornton-Heatley line to get it going.

Hand me the TUMS

It's not a dog bites man story. It's not a man bites dog story.
It's an incredible snake bites shark story.
And it's giving us indigestion.

Not By Accident

"Believing that a crisis is a useful thing to create, the Obama administration -- which understands that, for liberalism, worse is better -- has deliberately aggravated the fiscal shambles that the Great Recession accelerated."

-George Will, April 18, 2010

Read it here.

To Disobey The Current State

Dr. Zero knows. He tells us a very important thing here.

Excerpts:

Our basic currency is no longer the dollar... our new currency... is obedience.

Where the free market is persuasive, organizing resources by responding to demand and exploiting opportunity, central planning is coercive. It must compel obedience to its designs, and compulsion is always necessary. If people were eager to follow those designs of their own free will, there would be no need for central planning in the first place.

The Tea Party is the living incarnation of disobedience. It is driven by the words and deeds of people who refuse to submit. Its members demand the return of money and power appropriated by an out-of-control federal government. They won’t allow their lives to be sculpted by the knives and chisels of penalties and subsidies. They speak out against an ugly reality that President Obama’s supporters don’t like to confront: political control of the economy consists of directives, which require submission, which can only be assured through punishment.

Summit Follies

Everybody has seen the pictures of Lordy O bowing brilliantly to Hu...

Most have seen the finger wag in the face of the Canadian PM-- reminiscent of the finger jab at Bibi last week.

Some have seen the picture of O's full on HuggaLula, confirming his love for the Socialist leader of Brazil.

But my favorite part of the ridiculous nuclear forum in DC this week was when Emperor Obama tried to introduce Slow Joe to the leader of Japan.

"Have you met my Vice President Joe Bi.... oh, $#&*, he's wandered off again..."

And then later, this unfortunate moment...

"Listen worthless, I told you to fill everyone's water glass. That included mine you dope! Ya know Chris Dodd and a helluva lotta other idiots are going to be looking for work next year. You can be replaced, loser!"

A Slow Joe dressing down in front of world leaders. Bad for him. But we enjoyed it.

What To Make of This?

Here are 11 minutes of video that you might find interesting. The Chinese are very innovative when it comes to military parades. Instead of spending hours in the reviewing stand, Hu has the parade stay in place and does a drive-by. Genius! Great steadicam shot by the way... and the microphones in front of the sun roof are brilliant.

Other great strides forward are the new colors for armored vehicles. Blues, purples... way to expand the palette, guys. I think you should re-think the giant white sidewalls on military vehicles however. They look dorky and, more importantly, time spent cleaning whitewalls is time taken from more important military matters.

$31,406 per household

The folks over at Heritage have taken the actual US federal government budget and broken it down by household. It makes it a bit easier to understand than all of the billions and trillions.

The federal government is spending $31,406 a year per household.

They are collecting $18,276 a year per household.

Meaning there's a shortfall of $13,130 per American household.

How many of us believe they'll close this gap by spending less?

Now, how many of us believe they'll raise tax rates and create new revenue streams like the Value Added Tax?

Great Monday Morning

Every now and then in sports the good guys win...

Phil? Oh, um, sure.

But we were thinking of the Western Conference Champion San Jose Sharks who start their quest for the Stanley Cup Wednesday night against Colorado in the Shark Tank.

Those 4 Golds and 1 Silver don't mean a thing now, fellas.
Just like the President's Cup didn't help you get out of the first round last year.

BTW, this morning a famous national sportscaster had problems describing that reddish-brown material Phil was playing out of on #13 yesterday. First he called it, "pine grass." Then he called it "saw grass." Our climate here is pretty much the same as Augusta's and we have lots of those Loblolly pines, poplars, azaleas, dogwoods, and so on too. About 9 out of 10 homes around here use "PINE STRAW" as mulch. It's PINE STRAW, Warner. Or, if you must, pine needles. We have no idea what "pine grass" might be.

How Evil

Regular unleaded gasoline just topped $9/ gallon in England.


Must be George W. Bush's fault.

Every Bum A King

Ramirez captures the change in my lifetime.

IBD editorial page is a daily must-read.

Meanwhile health insurance professionals and doctor's offices are being inundated by calls from bums wanting to know how to sign up for the free Obamacare.

Meanwhile, Pravda notes that "American capitalism is gone with a whimper."

Something About Nothing

It used to be that people who said they didn't like or didn't listen to country music would, if pressed, say that k.d. lang or Lyle Lovett were their favorite country artists. The fact that neither enjoyed much success with country radio probably only made them more appealing to non-country ears. They were the two favorite country acts of people who hated country music.

After Rick Rubin produced those sessions for Johnny Cash the Man in Black became the artist that non-country fans pointed to as the country act they liked. My guess is that very few of them actually listen to Cash, and even fewer listen to any of his pre-Rubin output.

Now I have enjoyed country music ever since living in Oklahoma in the late 1970's. I enjoy Lyle Lovett but don't consider him a country artist. I never cared for lang. But, other than "Walk The Line" and "Ring of Fire" I don't care much for John Cash. There I said it. Many country artists I think highly of regard Cash as a revered founder of the genre. That's fine. But I would much rather listen to Merle or The Possum if I want some old school country.

Not What It Seems

Last Friday the US stock markets were closed for Good Friday. The Labor Department, however, was at work and released the March non-farm payroll statistics and the household survey from which the unemployment rate is devised. The unemployment rate remained at a very high 9.7%. Prior to the release of the information the predictions for the non-farm payroll number ranged from plus 160,000 to plus 300,000. There were outlier predictions of as few as 40,000 to as high as 400,000 net new jobs.

The number came in at plus 162,000.

The media portrayed this as positive despite the fact that half of the 162,000 were government jobs and half of those were temporary census jobs. More importantly for market purposes the number came in at the low end of the range of predictions. So, was it a positive report? Yes, says the crowd-- and to prove it the market went up Monday when trading opened for the first time since the report was released.

But, consider a different point of view. Yes, the report could have been worse but it was, after all, at the low end of the predictions. Traders saw it as a signal that the Federal Reserve will not be raising interest rates soon. In other words, it gave the green light to a loose money policy for another six months at least. That cheap money not only finds its way into the stock market but also into commodities. For instance, crude oil jumped to nearly $90 a barrel yesterday.

Did the market rise on "good news"? I say the market would have rallied harder and with more volume if the jobs number had come in weaker, say under 100,000. If it had been plus 400,000 jobs I believe the market would have sold off. Traders would have factored in sooner interest rate hikes.

The rally yesterday was on weak volume. There's a lack of conviction in the markets. Everyone knows taxes are going up dramatically no later than January 1, 2011. Traders are trying to make what they can before the market corrects as it discounts that dismal future.

Opening Day 2010

TV sports channels constantly make predictions. Who will win? Who ya got? What are yer picks?Nobody can be truthful and say, "I have no idea."

In fact, not only must they predict who will win, they must do so in an emphatic way. "The Lobsters don't have a chance! They're goin' down this weekend to the Crabs!!"

It gets pretty tedious. But, apparently it's a path to media success. After all they do it on every sports program on TV and radio. Even the guys who still write for newspapers have to offer their "picks."

I blame CBS TV, The NFL, and Jimmy The Greek for this mess. But, as we say on Wall Street, "the trend is your friend." And... "don't fight the tape." Somehow that applies here. Maybe.

So, today we offer up our first (and almost certainly last) Dart's Baseball Season Predictions.

American League

East- Boston Red Sox

Central- Detroit Tigers

West- Seattle Mariners

WC- Tampa Bay Rays

National League

East- Philadelphia Phillies

Central- St. Louis Cardinals

West- Colorado Rockies

WC- Atlanta Braves

AL Champs- Boston

NL Champs- St. Louis

World Champions...

Boston Red Sox

Agree? Disagree? Comments? Concerns? The comment section is closed (as usual) so you can keep it to yourself.

Play ball!

Have a Blessed Easter Weekend

One of 'em who come runnin'-- every time

The big story in our little unincorporated community the past week has been the death of SC Highway Patrol trooper, Cpl. D. Kevin Cusack.

How big a story? Well, 700 people came to the neighborhood for his memorial service-- including the Governor.

York County Sheriff's deputies had taken over almost all the Highway Patrol's duties Monday so as many troopers as possible could attend the services. One of the deputies in the middle of the road was a guy with creases in his face deep as any furrow plowed by a mule in red clay soil, named Ronnie Wilburn.
"There's those who love the police, and there's those who don't," Wilburn said. "But I can tell you that it don't matter one way or another, when people need help, in a house or out here on the roads, we come runnin'. Cusack was one of 'em who come runnin' - every time."

The Rock Hill Herald tells it well.