Homocon

2. "Actress Margot Kidder became a U.S. citizen Wednesday to avoid possible deportation to her native Canada when she begins protesting the war in Iraq, she said."

Now that's just foolish talk. No one is being deported from the United States for expressing their political views (maybe for inciting violence, but not for their opposition to a war or to a Presidential candidate), and making such a statement to the press is not only ridiculous, but downright ignorant.

She goes on to say "that her sole motivation" for becoming a U.S. citizen was to protest the war in Iraq. She doesn't care about living in this country, she just wants to "vote against anyone and everyone in elected office that in any way supported the Bush administration."

I think this helps explain the wackiness a little: "In 1996 she made headlines when she was discovered in a delusional state in a Los Angeles neighborhood (she was described as "dirty, frightened and paranoid"). She later described publicly her battles with manic depression."

Perhaps she should think about upping the meds -- the paranoia sounds like it's on a comeback.

3. "Incidents of consumer anger and gas-station crime have made headlines across the country, including the killing of a gas station owner in Alabama last week by a driver attempting to steal $52 worth of gas . . . Rae Dougher, manager of energy market issues at the Washington-based American Petroleum Institute, noted that, although gas prices are soaring, gas station owners are often suffering squeezed profits or even losing money -- and they still have to deal with irritated customers who blame them for high costs."

Hey, news flash for the brain challenged -- it aint the retailers you should be yelling at. Oil companies are taking in huge amounts of cash at present, since they bought their oil on futures, which means they're paying for it at $20-$40 dollars a barrel instead of the present $67. But the market is jittery, domestic refinement capacity has been hamstrung by environmental regulations (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it means that we rely even more on foreign oil than we by all rights need to) and the oil companies are nervously looking ahead to a future where they'll have to shell out billions for alternative energy technologies, deal with potential disruptions in delivery from both natural and political causes, face competition for supplies from growing economies such as China and India, and purchase more reserves at $70 a barrel and up (as oil prices are not likely to head south anytime soon).

Larry Kudlow at the NRO writes: "The spread of global capitalism to places like China, India, and Eastern Europe is the main cause of the spike in energy prices. It’s a market signal that the new and prospering world economy needs more power. Consequently, this is not a recessionary supply crunch like we had in the 1970s. It’s a growth-oriented demand increase," . . . and a situation which he believes will instigate an energy market explosion in the near future as nuclear power plants come online and alternative energy sources are more thoroughly explored and implemented.

Meanwhile, "nationwide, gas thefts cost convenience stores an estimated $237 million -- or about $2,141 a store --in 2004, the National Association of Convenience Stores report . . . Executive Vice President and Director of the Petroleum and Convenience Marketers of Alabama, Arleen Alexander, states: “A lot of people think when they are doing this (driving off without paying for their gas) they are hurting the oil companies, like the Exxons and the Texacos, but they are not. They are hurting the small business man who is making just pennies a gallon right now.”

So stop bitching at the gas station employess, dammit!

4. Oh, and the Italians . . . *sigh* (but they make great wine!).

UPDATE:
I almost forgot the academic liberals, but Instapundit didn't when he linked to the spine-tingling article, "Proving the Critic's Case" by By KC Johnson, regarding the near complete lack of intellectual diversity at America's universities.

There are numerous chilling quotations from University Professors and Administration throughout the article, but I think my favorite was this: "According to Montclair State’s Grover Furr, “colleges and universities do not need a single additional ‘conservative’ .... What they do need, and would much benefit from, is more Marxists, radicals, leftists — all terms conventionally applied to those who fight against exploitation, racism, sexism, and capitalism. We can never have too many of these, just as we can never have too few ‘conservatives.'"

Right . . . more Marxists, radicals and leftists. That's just what we all need.

UPDATE 2:
Dan Savage, ex-Drag Queen and present pseudo-moderate, takes his place in the Loony Files for self-righteous claptrap like this: "Gay people are more likely to take extreme ill-advised sexual risks . . . I would add voting Republican when you're gay to that list, along with doing crystal meth and having sex with 40 guys in one weekend. They're both dumbass, self-destructive things to do. A certain number of people are stupid enough to off themselves."

*Yawn* . . . yet another gay lefty obediently regurgitates "The Republo-Fascist-Theocracy Will Kill Us All!" rhetoric. Good little doggy, Dan. Here's your Don't Ask, Don't Tell biscuit.