Nobody Cares Anymore

Bullet 399

Or more precisely, it’s known as Commission Exhibit 399.

In order to believe that President Kennedy was killed by Lee Oswald acting alone, you must believe this:

This bullet was fired by Oswald using a cheap Italian Carcano rifle.

The round passed through the back of Kennedy’s neck (about 3 inches higher than his wounds indicated), out the front of his neck, nicked Kennedy’s necktie, then it hung in the air for two seconds doing nothing, then moved right 4 inches, then struck Governor Connoly in the back, broke his rib exiting from the front of his chest, entered his wrist, exited his wrist, and came to its final stop in the governor’s thigh.

You then have to believe that this bullet magically exited his thigh while he was on a stretcher at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, found by “someone.”

My God, this must be a magical bullet.

It’s magical because, well…. Hey -- have a look:

Did this bullet do all of that? Holy shit, this bullet really is effin magical.

Because if you take the same rifle and the same kind of bullet and shoot it through just the wrist of some poor bastard cadaver volunteer, you get this: (skipping the in the neck, out of the neck, in the back, breaking the rib, out of the chest and in to the thigh)

Damn.

The reality is bullet 399 did none of these things. But in order to perpetrate the greatest fraud in the history of the United States of America, someone created the story of bullet 399.

That person is….wait for it…wait for it…

Senator Arlen Specter.

Senator Specter was a staff attorney for one of the members of the Warren Commission. It was he who proposed the single-bullet theory which became the core of the Warren Commission report.

It is so blatantly bullshit that it is laughable.

The early 1960’s was a different time in America. The post-war prosperity of the late 40’s and the 50’s created an innocent utopia. We didn’t question our government or its authority, and the young charismatic President was just what we all wanted.

The cold-blooded murder of that President changed it all. But yet, an innocent and naive populace had no impetus to believe the truth. They didn’t question authority. All the bullshit of the late 60’s, the hating of the “man”, the belief that Nixon was worse than the Nazis, it all stemmed from the fact that no one in 1964 wanted to see the truth. That truth was that we were no different than a third-world country where governments are overthrown by force and not governed by law.

This is the legacy of Arlen Specter. This man had no quest for the truth. This despicable human being used whatever power and influence he had to sell the commission and the citizens of the United States on a bullshit story that could somehow remotely fit the fairytale that they wanted to sell.

F**k you Senator Specter. That’s my respect.

To my friends on the left side of the aisle (figuratively, since as I recall they’re actually on the right side of the aisle) you can fucking have him.

All the anger you tried to release in the 60’s was the result of his work. He alone created the tulmultuous era you lived through. Bless you all.

For those of you who don’t know why I chose today to go on this rant, you have my love. For those of you who do, let’s get off our ass and do something about it.

Heroes

"Nine times out of ten, a hero is someone who is tired enough, cold enough, and hungry enough not to give a damn. I don’t give a damn.”- Hawkeye Pierce

I have a new hero.


Beyond any question, Sully is a hero.

Without at doubt, Richard Phillips is a hero.

Yesterday, I found a new one.



He is Gov. Rick Perry of Texas.

Finally somebody says out loud what needs to be said loud and clear: “I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state...That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states-rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union." Perry continued: "Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, DC trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas."

For those of you educated in government schools, you may not know what the 10th amendment to the United States Constitution says, but I assure you it is as important as any other written words you will read. Witnesseth:

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

It’s that simple. The people (you know, “We the People” (perhaps the only part of the U.S. Constitution known by most citizens)) delegated powers to the United States. They are specific powers, they are listed in the Constitution. Those that were not delegated to the United States are reserved to the States or the people.

This is an easy concept. It’s sadly not taught in our schools, but the framers wished to protect the sovereignty of the people and their States. The government of the United States is ignoring it, and it *has* been ignoring it since FDR.

Governor Perry says it’s time to take it back.

Bravo. Gov. Perry, this Bud’s for you.

The Pigs Are In Charge

The Seven Commandments – Animal Farm’s Original Constitution:

1 - Whatever goes on two legs is an enemy.
2 - Whatever goes on four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3 - No animal shall wear clothes.
4 - No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5 - No animal shall drink alcohol.
6 - No animal shall kill any other animal.
7 - All animals are equal.



The Seven Commandments – After Pigs revisions:

1 - "Four legs good, two legs better!"
2 - No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.
3 - No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.
4 - No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.
5 - All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

Orwell was satirizing Stalinism.

I’m not sure he knew he was predicting the future of the United States Constitution.

Let me ask you a question… is this even remotely vague?

Article I – Section 2:

“The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States”

States. The House of Representatives comprises representatives of the “States.”


The United States Congress in recent years has taken the attitude that if you can’t amend the Constitution, "Hey! Let’s ignore it!!!"

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed a bill giving the District of Columbia a representative in the U.S. House. The District of Columbia is not a State. The Constitution says membership is for representatives of States.

I read the most disgusting quote from a Senator ever yesterday. Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader said that congress is “moving to right a centuries-old wrong.”

WTF!!!???

Tell me Harry… You got a problem with amending the Constitution?



Why was the 19th Amendment passed? Couldn’t the Senate have just done that on its own?

Why was the 23rd Amendment passed? It gave the District of Columbia the right to select presidential electors. Couldn’t the Senate have just done that on its own?

Hey HARRY!!!! Why was the 26th Amendment passed? Couldn’t the Senate have done that on its own?


Yeah, this is the problem: Back in 1978, the Congress passed the exact same thing, District representation in the House. It was passed as a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT!!!! And guess what? It failed to gain the support of the States and died. THEREFORE: The House is reserved for representation of the States!! NOT of the DISTRICT!!

But today… as Orwell clearly mocked in Animal Farm... the Pigs can change the constitution at will.

It is a sad state for the Republic.

The Pendulum Swung Back and Knocked Me Over

“PROFESSIONAL CARD COUNTERS ARE FORBIDDEN FROM PLAY AT OUR TABLES”

That’s the sign that many years ago was posted at each entrance to every Atlantic City casino.

Along came Ken Uston and his merry band of coked-up card counters who sued the casinos and won the right to play without the risk of being escorted out. Sadly, this was the beginning of the end of advantage-play at blackjack.

In the subsequent years, the casinos devised many methods to negate the advantage of card counters in blackjack. They tried the Bart Carter shuffle, cutting off half the shoe, the preferential shuffle and many other tricks.

Later, as technologies evolved, the continual shuffle machine and the “smart play” system were invented. The former made card counting impossible, the latter made identifying card counters simple, which outside of Atlantic City still mattered.

Many of my card counting friends drifted away from the blackjack table and found their way to the poker room, the only other place in the casino where skill can defeat the house edge. I was still working the blackjack table, desperately seeking a beatable game, and every so often finding one.

Introducing 6 to 5 blackjack.

Somewhere about 7 or 8 years ago, some genius casino employee or consultant came up with the idea of paying out 6 to 5 when the player got a natural 21 blackjack. Ordinarily blackjack pays 3 to 2. So for a ten-dollar bet, rather than get paid 15 dollars on blackjack, instead you got paid 12 dollars.

I can’t convey to you the dramatic change in the odds of the game. An average multi-deck blackjack game with proper strategy would give the house an advantage of right around 0.48%. The introduction of single-deck 6 to 5 blackjack increases that edge to over 1.45%! For all intents and purposes, this makes the game unbeatable.

Of course, one can never underestimate the stupidity of the gaming public. The average player has been told that playing against a single-deck is much better then playing against a shoe game. The minions flocked to blackjack. And I packed up my chips like those before me and moved to the poker room, and I have been there for the last 6 years.

MGM/Mirage is a casino conglomerate. They own the Bellagio, The Mirage, The MGM Grand (maybe we should rob those), Treasure Island, The Monte Carlo, The Excalibur, The Luxor, Mandalay Bay and a few other casinos. MGM/Mirage adopted 6 to 5 blackjack with a vengeance. I paid a visit to Las Vegas late in ’06 and was disgusted by the throngs playing this game up and down the Strip. I played poker. A repeat visit a year ago revealed the same thing. Recently, the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa introduced blackjack tables to go along with slots and poker. And typically, they offer blackjack dealt from continual shuffle machines, making the game unbeatable. I continued to play poker.

The Pendulum has swung.

I was back in Las Vegas again this week. MGM/Mirage had made me several offers I couldn’t refuse, so I booked the MGM Grand. I was walking from the elevators near the Majestic Lions slot machines all the way to the far end of the casino where the poker room was, and stopped to have a look at the blackjack game.

The game I observed was 6-deck, 3 to 2 blackjacks, dealer hits soft 17, conventional surrender with the cut card placed at 80% penetration. What??? Are you sure??!! Aside from a few casinos around the US which I loathe to mention by name, I haven’t seen a blackjack game this good in years! Five dollar minimum, 2000 dollar maximum made this game truly beatable.

Over the next couple of days wandering through various casinos I saw beatable blackjack everywhere. The Venetion was even playing a highly beatable double-deck game.

Having not played very much blackjack over the last few years, I really couldn’t leave town without giving it a crack. Before heading out of town, I paid a quick visit to Downtown Vegas to have a world famous 99 cent shrimp cocktail (which is now $1.99) at the Golden Gate casino. A year ago, they were cutting off more than half the shoe in their six deck game, making counting useless, this week they were cutting off about a quarter. Not great, but playable. I played one shoe, and won a few bucks.

I wandered up the street to Binions (formerly the Horseshoe) to pay homage at the Mecca where the World Series of Poker was created. For shits and giggles I bought in at the blackjack table since I had some time to kill. Within the first 3 hands, the running count went to +22, translating to a true count of +5 and a player advantage of around 4%. I bumped my bet. Blackjack! I parlayed. 19, dealer breaks. Two 9’s, I split, dealer breaks. I parlayed. Twenty, dealer 17. The true count remained at that level for the rest of the shoe and the chips were piling up in front of Rusty to the point where he figured he’s be getting tossed within a couple of minutes. Eleven, double down, 21, dealer breaks. Blackjack. One last 20, and the shoe was done. I looked down, full stack of reds, nearly a full stack of greens. Rusty get the fark out of there!!

I found the cage, cashed in my chips, and headed towards the airport.

My friends, Blackjack is BACK!!

Woohoo!! I Must Be Rich!!

Sixteen days.

It only took President Obama 16 days to raise my taxes. Nice.

I suppose I should be happy. Having my Federal taxes raised means that I must be one of the “fortunate” people who doesn’t need tax relief. I mean, this socialist bastard advocate of “change” promised that the working people of America would see their taxes reduced. Ninety five percent of Americans would be cool, and only 5% would get screwed.

On Wednesday, the President signed the SCHIP bill in to law. Buried back on page 265 are the changes to the Internal Revenue Code, including the changes to Section 5701, which read up ‘til now thusly:

"(a) Cigars
On cigars, manufactured in or imported into the United States, there shall be imposed the following taxes:

(2) Large cigars
On cigars weighing more than 3 pounds per thousand, a tax equal to 20.719 percent (18.063 percent on cigars removed during 2000 or 2001) of the price for which sold but not more than $48.75 per thousand ($42.50 per thousand on cigars removed during 2000 or 2001)."

And the SCHIP bill modifies this as such…..

(2) by striking ‘‘20.719 percent (18.063 percent on cigars removed during 2000 or 2001)’’ in paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘52.75 percent’’, and (3) by striking ‘‘$48.75 per thousand ($42.50 per thousand on cigars removed during 2000 or 2001)’’ in paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘40.26 cents per cigar’’.

So let me see, hmmmmmmm….

The tax on cigars goes from 20.719% to 52.75%, with the cap on each cigar going from 4.875 cents per cigar to 40.26 cents per cigar.

I know a wee tad about tax increases, so this translates to a 726% (Seven HUNDRED twenty six percent) increase! In my case, this is an effective tax increase of between 3 and 4 hundred dollars a year.

I guess I’m happy to be rich.

Thanks asshole Mr. President.

Opportunistic Ripoff Artists

"How can you get a permit to do a goddamn illegal thing?" - Dr. Leonard H. 'Bones' McCoy, Star Trek III - The Search for Spock

Only in the world of government can you implement a policy, enforce it for 47 years and steadfastly refuse to change it – even though you know it doesn’t work!

The Cuban embargo was designed to bring about the downfall of Castro. Hey, how’s that workin’ for ya?

This ridiculous embargo bred a highly-profitable industry. Counterfeit Cuban Cigars.

After the cigar boom of the 90’s, when demand for premium cigars in the USA soared, enterprising people in Cuba and in other cigar-producing nations discovered that they could package lesser-quality cigars as authentic Habanos product, and pawn it off as the real thing to a public which has this pleasure denied to them.

Introducing “1001cubancigars.com”

From their website:

“Authenticity: All our Cuban cigars are 100% genuine, hand-rolled by Cuban master cigar makers, and carry all the manufacturer's trademarks of a genuine Cuban cigar.

“Quality: We carry only the highest quality Premium Cuban cigar brands. Once the cigars pass their rigorous inspection, our qualified personel inspects them once more prior to shipping to you from our order fulfillment center in Geneva, Switzerland.”

To which I respectfully observe: Bullshit!! Total bullshit!! Incredible bullshit!!!!!

Yes, these are high-quality fakes. But they are FAKES!!

The unsuspecting novice consumer stands no chance. The boxes had all required labels, stamps and insignia. The cigar bands themselves were 100% authentic. The tubes were exactly like the authentics. The cigars themselves? Completely second-tier, veiny wrappers, inconsistent color, rolled and cut in a hurry. Some are really good, and some are really, really bad. And definitely not authentic Habanos.

Sadly, you truly have to be a real cigar enthusiast to tell the difference. But the reality is, they’re crap. Fakes. Counterfeit. 1001cubancigars.com sells fakes. I’m pissed.

Bill Clinton campaigned in ’92 with the promise of opening up Cuba. As with all the other things he campaigned on in that year, he lied.

It’s time to cut the crap and open up Cuba for the rest of us. A half century of failed policy is enough. Even for government.

“These are wonderful things we’ve achieved in Havana, and there’s no limit to where we can go from here…… The hotels here are bigger and swankier than any of the rough joints we’ve put in Vegas.” -- Hyman Roth, The Godfather Part 2

Welcome! (And all that other cr@p)

Why is it when someone starts a new blog, they seem obligated to write an introductory entry to discuss who they are or why they're writing?

If you know who I am, you know what I'm into. If you happen to stumble across this, well, keep up with the jokes.

I write this for my own amusement, my most successful therapy is venting and with the downfall of USENET, I will occasionally write a blog. I had one for awhile on a lesser-known blog site, but I figured I'd move it here in case there were any masochistic folks with too much time on their own hands that might be entertained or amused by my venting. Other than that, this is about nothing. It will be about as interesting as watching Connecticut Shade leaf dry.

All posts prior to this one were written for the old blog.

That being said....

Welcome to My Blog!