The Real Reason Why the Elephant Symbolizes the Republican Party

Strength, dignity, intelligence... all nice characteristics upon which to base a symbolic mascot to represent the people who make up the GOP.

However, as evidenced by the photo, it is clear that there is another reason why the elephant symbolizes the Republican Party...

He's Definitely a Republican Elephant...

Go Ahead, Ask Me a Question

Ask Me Anthing

I recently set up a couple of Q&A sites through QHub, a company specializing in Q&A software for businesses and websites.

Anyone can set up their own free QHub at a subdomain of the main site. Just go to the homepage, sign up for an account and pick a topic and a subdomain for your QHub (for example: lamesubdomain.qhub.com).

I set up two different QHubs, one for domain names and one for Vitamin D3.

So if you have any questions about Vitamin D or domain names, please don't hesitate to visit my QHubs and ask away!

Questions about Vitamin D: http://vitamind.qhub.com

Worldwide Interest in Vitamin D3 Soaring

Worldwide Interest in Vitamin D3 Soaring

In light of new research that shed light on the myriad health benefits offered by Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol), the mainstream news media as well as scientific journals have finally caught on to this groundbreaking research, leading to an exponential swelling of public interest in the topic.

Esteemed Nurse Practitioner and Health Columnist Pamela Egan has been years ahead of the curve in making known the medical and scientific facts underlying the health miracle that is Vitamin D3 for quite some time now (at least several years now). She has written numerous articles appearing on many different websites (including her own - PamelaEgan.com), as well as in newspapers, magazines and health journals describing the differences between D3 and other forms of the nutrient, as well as why the former is so far superior to the latter.

Nurse Practitioner Egan has been on the forefront of Vitamin D3 research and deserves to be credited as a pioneer in the media, writing years ago what the medical establishment has only recently began to recognize and accept as fact, which has been partially responsible for the swelling of interest in the topic over the past few months.

Shown below is a 'Google Insights' graph, depicting the swelling of interest surrounding the topics of the benefits offered by naturally healthy levels of Vitamin D3 and the dangers of Vitamin D3 Deficiency over the course of the past six years (when Pam first began writing on the topic).

AR-15 Semi-Automatic Assault Rifle

Guest Post by Shea Collignon

Contrary to popular belief, the term "AR-15" is not an abbreviation for "Assault Rifle 15". Instead, the letters "A" and "R" refer to Arms manufacturer Armalite, and refer to the Armalite Model #15 semiautomatic assault rifle.

The AR-15 consists of separate upper and lower receiver assemblies, which are attached with two through-pins and can be quickly interchanged with no tools. The gun is based on the 7.62 mm AR-10, designed by Eugene Stoner of the Fairchild ArmaLite corporation.

In this photo, firearms enthusiast Shea Collignon allows his AR-15 to be photographed by itself during a recent target-practice session in Covington, Louisiana. The weapon had become over-heated, and the barrel needed some time to cool off before any more rounds were fired from it.

Semi-automatic versions of the AR can be purchased legally by civilian consumers in the United States. Fully automatic versions are available to military and law enforcement personnel.

AR-15 Assault Rifle

AR-15 Semiautomatic Rifle with C-Mag (Beta Mag)

FLASHBACK: GOP Will Repeal Obamacare if House Changes Hands

This post was originally published in March of 2010 on another site that is no longer online. It has been slightly modified from its original version.

March 20, 2010

Whatever House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats in the House and Senate eventually either do or don't do regarding President Obama's healthcare reform proposal (commonly referred to as "Obamacare") is immaterial as to whether or not the bill (assuming one is passed) is ever actually implemented. The only real vote on Obamacare will take place this coming November, and it will be voted on by the American people themselves.

Consider the following:

In November of 1994 the U.S. House of Representatives saw an 82 seat majority for the Democrats become a 24 seat Republican majority overnight.  The Senate remained at 56-44, but with the respective parties swapping numbers (and control of the Senate).

Even if Obamacare passes, Republicans can kill it at any point upon regaining control of the House by merely refusing to fund it.  All budgetary legislation must originate in the House and the majority party (and/or coalition) must vote to spend everything contained within the Federal budget.

The GOP could just draw up a budget that doesn't include any reference to Obamacare, and the Senate can either pass it and the President sign it; or even better, have it rejected by either the Senate and/or President and stall for as long as necessary before authorizing the government to spend ANY money. The GOP could refuse to pass a budget bill until certain budgetary items have been removed completely from the federal bankroll.

This means that before any bill could be passed, any and all federal funds alloctated to anything even remotely related to Obamacare, ACORN, Planned Parenthood, and other rogue legislation and non-governmental organizations would have to first be stripped from the budget.

Therein lies the beauty of a system of checks-and-balances. Even if the ruling party passes Obamacare against the will of an overwhelming majority of Americans, the electoral punishment will open the door for the Republicans to undo the damage and actually serve the people that elected them rather than subjugate them. That is, assuming they can pick up enough seats to retake control of Congress.

Eventually, the President and the Senate (if the Democrats keep their majority there --- and that's a big "if") would have no choice but to compromise with Congressional Republicans in order to fund any government program.

It will be quite interesting to see how things would unfold with House Speaker Boehner calling the shots instead of Nancy Pelosi. The Republicans must pick up a minimum of 39 seats currently occupied by Democrats and successfully defend their own incumbents as well in order for that (the GOP gaining a House majority) to happen.

The Democrats presently hold a 77 seat advantage in the House and a 16 seat advantage in the Senate, although the two independents both caucus with the Democrats, so it's really more like an 18 seat Democrat edge.

In 1994, the Democrats held an 82 seat edge in the House and a 12 seat advantage in the Senate. While it is feasible that the GOP could recapture both legislative chambers in this November's elections, doing so would require a repeat of the '94 landslide, which was and still is an unprecedented rebellion against incumbents, in this case Democrats.

The Republicans winning enough seats in this year's mid-term election to acquire a majority within the Senate is extremely improbable given the circumstances. It's not an impossible scenario, but realistically the party should not be disappointed if it manages to make a serious dent in the Democrats' advantage, positioning the party so as to be able to make a serious bid at retaking control in 2012, when the dynamics are more in the GOP's favor with more so-called "vulnerable" Democrats such as Mary Landrieu of Louisiana will be up for reelection.

As stated previously, if the GOP can just manage to retake the House it can stop Obamacare from ever being implemented in spite of objections from the President and Senate Democrats.

The question is not will the Democrats lose seats in this year's mid-term elections, but will they hang on to enough of them to be able to fund Obamacare (assuming they eventually get a bill passed)? 

On a side-note, even if no bill is passed, it may be too late to undo the damage Obamacare (and the Stimulus bill, the GM takeover and everything else Obama has done while in office) has done to the Democrats chances for reelection across the board, and they should still stand to lose a considerable number of seats regardless of what happens with the healthcare reform bill from this point forward.

Fat Lester Meets Karl Rove

This post was originally published in April of 2010 on another site that is no longer online. It has been slightly modified from its original version.

March 31, 2010

COVINGTON, LA - Fat Lester, the primary author of this weblog (not to mention its namesake) was recently blessed with the opportunity to meet Karl Rove, the brain behind George W. Bush’s two successful Presidential campaigns as well as his Presidency.

Mr. Rove is one of Fat Lester’s foremost role models, and a man whose work he admires tremendously. Not only has did he rise to the top of his profession - an extremely competitive and cut-throat one at that - he did so without ever graduating from college, a common theme among Fat Lester's role models (other examples include Rush Limbaugh, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs).

The meeting took place at a once-in-a-lifetime dinner featuring Dr. Rove and GOP political strategist Mary Matalin following a public book signing in Covington, Louisiana. Dr. Rove has been touring America promoting his new book: Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight. 

The event was held at a private residence just a few miles from Fat Lester’s home off of Three Rivers Road in Covington, Louisiana. At least 150-200 people were in attendance at the event, at which both Matalin and Rove spoke, with the former introducing the latter.

The party was great fun, as was getting to meet Karl Rove and Mary Matalin. It was certainly a night I won't soon forget.

GOP Strategist Karl Rove and Fat Lester perform the secret handshake

Stolen Van Crashes Into Uptown Home While Tenants Play GTA Inside

This from the 'you can't make this stuff up' category: The following is a true story of an incident that took place while I was living in uptown New Orleans while attending college in late 2002 or 2003.

Seven or eight years ago, I was attending school in New Orleans and renting the downstairs of a house near the uptown campus.  One cold night while my roommates and I were inside playing Grand Theft Auto on Playstation 2, a stolen van flattened the hedges in our front yard before plowing through the side of the house.  It came to a rest just a few feet away from where I was sitting.

Prior to its collision with the house, the van struck two cars while fleeing the scene of the initial theft.  One of the drivers caught up to the van when it came to a stop in the side of the house.  The driver of the stolen vehicle -- an overweight middle-aged woman -- attempted to flee the scene on foot but was successfully pursued by the driver of one of the hit-and-run victims.  The driver whose car was struck caught up to the woman and tackled her, and then held her down until police arrived.

The photo above is meant to help the reader envision what the scene looked like from the vantage point of my roommates and I.  It was not taken at the crime scene described in this post.

Castrate Pedophiles

People with sexual proclivities towards children should be neutered.  Taxpayers wouldn't have to foot the bill for their existence in prison, and society would leave nothing to chance in terms of the potential danger posed to children by that person living amongst the rest of society.

The exception would be instances of statutory rape in which the victim is within a year or two of the age of consent and the accused is within the same general age bracket as the victim.  The reason I would exempt these cases is that the perpetrators in cases such as these may not necessarily be engaging in "predatory" sexual behavior despite being in violation of the law.

If an 18 year old boy has sex with a 16 girl, it's a whole helluva lot different than a 38 year old man fornicating with the same girl.  In one case, a teenage boy is trying to get laid by a girl he could legitimately date based on their respective ages.  In the other case, a sexual predator is robbing a child of her innocence in a disgusting act of pedophilia.

In my opinion, the latter of these instances is a serious crime.  The former is a minor offense at the absolute worst.

Under the system I (and others) have proposed, the 38 year old would be eligible for immediate release from prison in he agrees to be castrated, either by way of chemical castration or the traditional manner, whichever the soon-to-be eunuch prefers.

For what it's worth, the state of Louisiana currently has a similar law in place that enables the state to castrate pedophiles if the offender agree.