Hiking Trails Ain't What They Used To Be

Where once dirt was sufficient ...


That's a nice coat of asphalt going down on the new Beaver Dam Trail in Hillsville. Nothing's too good for those 15 or so people who will meander there each day.

Oh, did I mention that you are paying for it?

Photo courtesy of the Galax Gazette.

Paula Thinks I'm a Wienie

I went out two weeks ago and bought my wife a new flame-throwin', ass-kickin' ATV (she felt mine was built for sissies and wanted a bigger one). I will say, she looks good on it. We've been up the mountain and down the hollers so far, and have plans for a longer journey in the works.

Of course, I was reminded of that little matter of her machine wanting to sprout wings ...

Woman seriously injured in ATV wreck
Charleston (WV) Gazette

Bomont — A woman was seriously injured when the ATV she was riding flipped over and landed on top of her, said Aylene Johnston, a paramedic with Clay County EMS.

The accident happened around 5 p.m. on a gravel road in Darnell Hollow, near Bomont, she said.

Two people were riding the large ATV, which resembled a small truck. (link)

I've now decided that women should be banned from riding ATV's. For their own good.

Paula having accused me of being less of a man for having a small four-wheeler has nothing to do with my decision.

Setting History Straight

As only the Motor City Madman can do it:

The Summer of Drugs
Forty years ago, dirty, stinky hippies converged on San Francisco to "turn on, tune in and drop out."
By Ted Nugent, writing in The Wall Street Journal

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the so-called Summer of Love. Honest and intelligent people will remember it for what it really was: the Summer of Drugs.

Forty years ago hordes of stoned, dirty, stinky hippies converged on San Francisco to "turn on, tune in, and drop out," which was the calling card of LSD proponent Timothy Leary. Turned off by the work ethic and productive American Dream values of their parents, hippies instead opted for a cowardly, irresponsible lifestyle of random sex, life-destroying drugs and mostly soulless rock music that flourished in San Francisco.
(link)

Forty years later, those same (graying) stoned, dirty, stinky hippies can be found wandering aimlessly along Southwest Virginia's many mountain hiking trails. Still soulless. Still clueless. Still oblivious. Brains fried long ago.

If only we could ship them back to San Francisco ...

Uh, There Is That Other Little Point

God love those who run Damascus [Virginia]. They do their best to look over the character flaws of others. Take for example the displeasing task before them involving their chief of police:

Damascus police chief dismissed
Town Council votes to fire him, says he didn't do his job
By Debra McCown, Media General News Service

Damascus -- The police chief in this small Southwest Virginia town was fired Monday night ...

After a 30-minute closed session, the Damascus Town Council voted 4-0, with one member abstaining and one absent, to fire Police Chief Tony Richardson, who was not at the meeting.

"Tony served at the pleasure of the council," Councilman Johnny Blevins said after the meeting. "He was not performing his duties." (link)

Well, if the guy wasn't doing his job, I guess the chief needed to go.

Of course, there was that other little problem that may have also been a factor:

Contacted after the meeting, Richardson said, "I would love to tell you how I feel and all that stuff, but . . . I've been advised not to say anything about anything."

Richardson was arrested June 23 and charged with three counts of distribution of a Schedule I or Schedule II substance, one charge of possession with intent to sell a Schedule I or Schedule II substance, two counts of selling and distributing a Schedule III controlled substance and possession of a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance while in possession of a firearm.

He was released from jail under a $20,000 bond.

Well, yeah, besides the fact that he wasn't doing his job, there's that too.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Terrorism. Global warming. AIDS. Tsunamis. Genocide.

Bad dogs:

Site lists vicious Va. dogs -- all 9 of them
By Joe Kendall, The Roanoke Times

Postal workers take note: The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has launched a Web site aimed at making it easier to avoid the perils of problem pooches.

The Dangerous Dog Registry, an Internet database much like the state sex offender registry, made its debut this week after more than a year of development, VDACS spokeswoman Marion Horsley said.

The registry provides a list of dogs classified as dangerous by local courts or officials. The database can be searched by locality or ZIP code, but there's one problem: The list is incomplete.

Horsley said only nine dogs have been entered into the registry so far. (link)

I can only imagine what that "more than a year of development" cost us to find out there are nine vicious dogs in the commonwealth. Where once a "BEWARE OF DOG" sign worked ...

Somebody strangle me.

When You've Run Out Of Ideas ...

We were entertained the other day with the news that Governor Tim Kaine is going to once again attempt to have his smoking ban passed by the state legislature. This after seeing it go down in flames just a few short months ago.

Today we learn that he also wants to bring up his failed attempt at "payday lending" legislation - again.

Has this guy no NEW ideas?

Kaine pledges to revisit payday lending debate
The governor said he objects to cash-strapped Virginians being burdened with "rates that are off the charts."
by Michael Sluss, The Roanoke Times

Richmond -- Gov. Tim Kaine said Tuesday that he will join lawmakers in an effort to revamp the state's payday lending law next year, declaring that cash-strapped Virginians should not be burdened with "interest rates that are off the charts."

"I am very committed to working with legislators and citizens to try to find meaningful ways to reform this industry so that people don't dig themselves in deep and get taken advantage of at vulnerable moments of their lives," Kaine said during an appearance at a mixed-income housing community south of Richmond. (link)

This is just another example (in a long line of many) of Democrats thinking they run a nanny state. Kaine wants to keep lenders from taking advantage of those people who have such poor credit that a bank wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. How dare the two parties enter into a contractual agreement of their own free will? People with bad credit are obviously stupid (a prerequisite for the government running their lives) or they wouldn't be in their predicament, right Tim?

If all you Democrats out there think this is such a swell idea, why don't you go into the lending business and start shelling out money to these high-risk customers who are notorious for defaulting on their loan obligations, and we'll see how long that magnanimity lasts.

But, as usual, you'll not do that. It's other people's money that you always concern yourselves with. Never your own.

Anyway, this sheds light on Tim Kaine's approach to the coming legislative season. Reviving that which has already failed. Wonderful.

Hillary vs. Hillary

So which is it?

The Hobgoblin of Little Minds

"Nonviolent offenders should not be serving hard time in our prisons. They need to be diverted from our prison system."--Sen. Hillary Clinton, Democratic debate, June 28

"Today's decision is yet another example that this Administration simply considers itself above the law. . . . This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice."--Sen. Hillary Clinton, press release, July 2

James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, July 3, 2007

Hillary Has A Poor Memory

Hillary Clinton on the Libby sentence commutation:

Clinton Slams Bush Over Libby Maneuver
By Mike Glover, The Associated Press

Keokuk, Iowa -- Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton drew a distinction between President Bush's decision to commute the sentence of White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby - which she has harshly criticized - and her husband's 140 pardons in his closing hours in office.

"This (the Libby decision) was clearly an effort to protect the White House. ... There isn't any doubt now, what we know is that Libby was carrying out the implicit or explicit wishes of the vice president, or maybe the president as well, in the further effort to stifle dissent."

Her husband's pardons, issued in the closing hours of his presidency, were simply routine exercise in the use of the pardon power, and none were aimed at protecting the Clinton presidency or legacy, she said. (link)

First off, George Bush didn't pardon Scooter Libby. He only commuted part of the man's sentence.

But beyond that, this woman finds fault with Bush's actions and has the gall to defend her husband's pardons/commutations ("routine exercises") involving Puerto Rican terrorists, a drug kingpin, a former partner in his Whitewater scheme (was that an attempt to shut her up, Hillary?), a child molester (and good friend), a former member of his cabinet (!), and a crooked politician (not his wife).

Hillary Clinton knows no shame. Another indication that she'll take up where her husband left off. This should scare the living hell out of every American voter.

A Cancer Metastasizes

What is it about Islam that turns otherwise intelligent people of means into vengeful murderers?

7 Doctors Tied to British Plots
By Mark Landler and Sarah Lyall, The New York Times

London, July 3 — All eight people arrested in the aftermath of two bungled car bombings here last week are from the medical profession, a British police official said Tuesday, rattling a national heath service that has long relied on foreign doctors to fill its understaffed hospitals.

The seven men are physicians, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, while the lone woman, the wife of one, is a laboratory technician. The police are now working to unravel links and prior contacts within this far-flung expatriate medical circle. (link)

Doctors turned mass murderers. Living lives in relative splendor and, in the name of Allah, they plot to slaughter innocent men, women, and children. Infidels. Us.

Meanwhile, here in this country, we worry more about Gitmo ...