Does Leaving Raw Bacon Around = Hate Crime?

"NYPD Probing Hate Crime After Bacon Found At Staten Island Ramadan Site"

Leaving raw bacon lying around is considered a hate crime -- by the same people (leftists) who defend flag-burning as "freedom of speech".


Don't get me wrong. I think it was a dumb thing to do. Unkind, etc. But the social rules that govern the left are hard to fathom. One action gets defended; a similar act gets condemned. If the bacon had been left at a police rally (as in "pigs"), would it be considered a hate crime, or protected speech? Presumably the mistake the perps made was leaving it raw. If they had burned the bacon they would have been OK, right?

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Diversity: The New Conformity

English: A picture I took of the "Welcome to Georgia" sign, 15 miles west of Bremen on I-20. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Georgia high school choruses not allowed to perform.  The reason? Not diverse enough.

Diversity: the new conformity.

PS. Don't forget to vote in the latest Ball Bounces poll.

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Ball Bounces Poll: Obama's Campaign Slogan: "Forward."

What do you think of Prez. Obama's 2012 campaign slogan: "Forward."? Is the US currently headed in the right direction to be moving "forward"? Or does forward simply mean, "into the future"?  As in, "the past lies behind us, the future lies ahead!!!".  Or does it have the desperate whiff of a communist Russia slogan, as in "last year was dreadful, let's not even think about it -- let's get outta here"?!

(And what's with the period? When you say Forward, shouldn't there be a bit of oomph to it, as in Forward march!!! I mean, is the US government not only out of money but out of exclamation marks as well??!!

Here, I'll donate one of mine -- ! -- take it.

Or is the slogan really "Forward - Full Stop", in which case, isn't it kind of lurchy?

Your vote counts at the Ball Bounces -- even if you're illegal!, even if you're white!, even if you're (gasp) Canadian !!!!

Vote now and vote often!

Forward!

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The Ball Bounces To The Toyota Service Shop -- And Comes Out Ahead!!! FINAL UPDATE: I drop the Vase

Basil Fawlty (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Ball bounced over to his friendly Toyota dealer in Charlottetown PEI for some annual servicing -- cabin air filter, oil change, tire rotation, rust check, a whack of fluids at the 150K mark. And, here's the deal. I got a coffee from their coffee-maker, and left without paying a dime!

I'm ahead!! For the first time in my life (channeling my inner Basil Fawlty) I'm ahead!!!!

updates to follow...

UPDATE1: I pocketed the keys by mistake, got a call around 2:00 pm, do I have the keys and I could I drop by with them. I do. While I am there, I help myself to another free cup of coffee!!!

I still haven't paid a dime!!!

Outgoing evil laugh:  Bwaahahahaha!

UPDATE2: I get "the call". I need a front brakes job, and will have to leave the car in overnight.

FINAL: I get the "pink slip". I drop the vase. Fluids, oil change, in-cabin air filter, headlamp, front brakes: $647 on the nose.

Minus two bucks for "free" coffee. D'oh!

And that's the way the vase-dropping Ball bounces.

Name The 2012 US Election Slogan Contest

America Alone (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mark Steyn's column in the Orange County Register is all about election slogans for the 2012. He thinks Obama's "Forward" suggests "More of the Same!". I think more like, "let's not even think about the mess we're in; let's get out of here!". The image that comes to mind is a car stuck in the snow  -- let's get this car in gear and gun the motor. Come to think of it, that's what five trillion dollars of stimulus was supposed to do. That's five trillion dollars in ice-melter down the drain. Or, the getaway driver after the bank robbery - "forward, gun it - let's get out of here!".

Steyn variously suggests:

"You're screwed, losers. Steyn 2012"

"Get real, you chumps. Steyn 2012"

"There's nothing holding the joint up. Steyn 2012"

Surely we can do better. Read the article, and then suggest a slogan for America.

Here're mine:

"Uncle Sam's Coming For You - Ball 2012"

"5 Trillion More! - Obama 2012"

"One Small Debt For Man; A Giant Debt-Load For Mankind - Ball 2012"

"Abandon Hope (And Change) All Ye Who Enter Here - Ball 2012"

Can you do better?

Oh yes, the Contest. The winning entrant will get a tax-free one-year subscription to the Ball Bounces!!!!!

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Mr. Smith Goes To Mosquington?

Chick-fil-A (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mr. Smith Goes To Mosquington?


I haven't weighed in on the Adam Smith lasts a round against Chick-Fil-A story, because it just unfolded nicely by itself without any need for help or commentary from the Ball Bounces. But let me say this. Rachel of Tucson is my newest hero, and, third thing I do when I hit Phoenix is stop in at Chick-Fil-A and give them a try. There's one in our hood but In-N-Out Burger always beckoned.


Anyway, here's my idea.


Now that Mr. Smith has time on his hands, I suggest he make the rounds of militant mosques -- Muslims oppose homosexuality, don't they? He must hate them as much as he still hates Chick-Fil-A. I think if he makes the rounds of the Mosques and asks them "how can you live with yourself" and tells them they are full of hate and bigoted it would go over really well -- I think he'd get some really interesting YouTube-worthy videos.  I for one would like to see them.


Point is, he knew he was in absolutely no danger sticking it to Chick-Fil-A precisely because Chick-Fil-A is a Christian business with civilized American values. Plus, he knew he was doubly-safe because he picked on a girl safely behind a drive-through counter. Kathy Shaidle posted a YouTube video of a black guy who said if Mr. Smith had spoken to him that way, there would have been chicken flying! 


Visit the mosques, Mr. Smith; you've got the passion, and now, because of some strategic moves on your part, you've got the time.


And that's the way the Chick-Fil-A Ball Bounces.

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• Far Left Goon Is Fired After Abusing Young Female Employee at Chick-fil-A [Video] [Update]
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• Corporate exec posts video on YOUTUBE of him berating restaurant worker, promptly gets fired...

Toronto Media Comments Embargo Is Black On

1968 ad. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Police release wanted notices for gun-crime suspects ahead of Caribbean Carnival".

"Toronto police have released wanted notices for six accused gun criminals, saying they hope to “refresh” people’s memories as hundreds of thousands of revellers flock to the annual Caribbean Carnival this weekend." -- National Post

The accompanying picture is of four black youths. No comments allowed on the article. Hmm...

Questions for the media:

1. How many of these youths grew up with both a mother and a father in the home?
2. How many of these youths grew up in a family with negative views towards police and authority?
3. How many of these youths grew up under "social assistance"?
4. How many times did a parent or care-giver take them to public libraries on Saturday morning?
5. What was their religious upbringing and church attendance?
6. Was there a parent-imposed curfew on their activities growing up?

None of these questions are sure predictors by themselves. But I think they are relevant. Note none of them deal with outside forces, like, "How many millions of dollars were poured into our community to prevent us from becoming gun-toting thugs?". Maybe you can think of others. You could even reverse-engineer them. How come you didn't turn out to be a fugitive from justice wanted for gun crimes -- what factors were in play?

How Many Years In Jail For Breaking Into 90 Cars?

You probably know where this post is headed.


By the time you've broken into 90 cars, you've pretty well established yourself as an incorrigible criminal, right. I mean, this is not a one-off. So, how many years in jail?


Six? Three? Two?


Correct answer: 1/26th.


 Two weeks. 14 days. 


Or, six hours per car. 

He had been out of jail just a few days. First nabbed the month before, Chysyk had confessed to breaking into 90 vehicles in six weeks. Nevertheless, a provincial court judge only handed him three weeks in jail, and he got out in two. ... 

... The “revolving door” of the B.C. court system is a frequent sticking point for police, who often complain of seeing petty thieves and drug dealers cycled back onto the street within days, often paying little heed to bail conditions. One of the most notorious, Vancouver’s Tracy Lloyd Caza, has racked up more than 100 convictions since 1977. “He’s like herpes — he just doesn’t go away,” said the granddaughter of Caza’s victims in April.

Seems to me this guy Chysyk paid a decent penalty for the first car he broke into, and then got the next 89 as freebies.


And, being a meth addict, I guess restitution is out of the question. 


With B.C. "aiding and abetting" via drug injection sites, the message to users and would-be users is "it's OK to use drugs - it's OK to be an addict". Until Canada and the US adopt strict zero social-tolerance for recreational drug use, there's no winning the battle. May sound harsh, but I wonder if there's not a place for the lash in the Canadian criminal justice system, like Singapore, where crime is close to zero -- you see, it really is possible to behave, and, at some level, criminal activity is voluntary.


I wonder if the sentence would have been higher if the provincial court judge's car had been one of those broken into?

97 Percent of World To End Tomorrow!!!!

English: Amnesty International Sections, 2005 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Greenland is melting, the polar bears are drowning and you're watching the Olympics. Have you no shame?

The article.

From the combox:

How is it that these people ( the BBC or NASA or the Royal Society or the Guardian
or the Independent or the National Academy of Sciences or the Prince of
Wales or Al Gore or any US TV broadcaster that isn't Fox) plus teachers, lecturers,  lazygoodfornothingstudents, the WWF, the Nazis, communists, Liberals,  greenies, the Boy Scout Movement, Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Blue Peter, The French and other lesser Europeans, The Red Cross plus many others and thousands of scientists and experts of every stripe, have banded together to destroy us by lying about the weather?
I mean, how did they manage this and what is it that they really want???

The BallBounces answers:

1. Alarmism fuels funding.
Scientists crave funding.
Hence, alarmism.

2. Climate change hysteria supports the leftist agenda of state control and redistribution of wealth(*).
Big Media is leftist.
Hence, alarmist articles.

* The BallBounces favors redistribution of weather. Canada is too cold.  Why should Arizona have all the heat? In the name of climate justice, Arizona, give us some heat!!!

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Greek Olympian Given The Boot: Announcing "Celebrity SafeTweets"™

Charlie Sheen does the Sunday Comics (Photo credit: susie.c)

A Greek Olympian's career bites the dust because of a Tweet that with a bit of tweaking could have been used on Leno. 


This is gonna lead to tweet-chill™!


Future tweets from athletes and other public figures: 


"Another sunny day!"; 


"Let's all give peace a chance!"; 


"All we need is love"; 


People are the greatest!"; 


"We are the world!". 


"I love everybody!"; 


"Little kittens, adorable puppies, warm milk and cookies!"


In fact, this gives me a business idea. 


Announcing Celebrity SafeTweets™ -- an internet service that automatically generates innocuous, inclusive, gender-neutral (male/female/other) tweets for busy  celebrities. Here's my advertising pitch: "Scared of career-ending motor-mouth tweets? Keep it safe and cut out the middle-man (your brain): subscribe to Celebrity SafeTweets!™  


Slogans: "Celebrity SafeTweets -- Sweet!™" and, "Celebrity SafeTweets: "How Tweet It Is!™"


Charlie Sheen will be my celebrity spokthperthon.


Another winning idea from the Ball Bounces!

Obama Gets Something Right?

English: Frame from 1967 trailer for Bonnie and Clyde showing Beatty and Dunaway with "Faye Dunaway" in type onscreen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Obama meets with Colorado shooting victims’ families, refuses to utter suspect’s name"

In a rare instance, I think Obama got this one right. My theory of (mostly white) one-off mass murderers is that they do so for the notoriety; IOW they don't do it for the kill itself, but for the limelight that follows. I could be wrong -- just a theory.

My approach to mass murderers like Colorado what's-his-name would be not to ban guns but to ban media naming -- and not ban in the legal sense, but ban in the social constraint/convention sense. So, a guy shoots up a Colorado movie theatre? Fine. Nobody mentions his name or shows his picture. Ever. Maybe, just for the record, one reference using his initials only, as in the suspect, identified as I. A. Looser. This would apply to the subsequent court coverage as well.

I suspect that notoriety is the air these guys breathe.

Another aspect to this -- ironic in the face of the facts of this event -- is that the US glamorizes evil-doers and criminals. Yes, they do. Bonnie and Clyde. Scarface Malone. And, irony of irony, the primary vehicle for this glamorization is... movies.

Starve them of the oxygen of glamorization and notoriety and the motivation disappears.

Just a theory.

And that's the way the Ball bounces.

Are Gunless Gangs The Solution To Toronto's Problems? Really?

Overheard on a morning CTV interview of a Toronto "African-Canadian leader" (I think she's a spokeswoman, not a leader...)

Overheard: "The answer is strict gun controls".

Really? That's it?

A culture that is gang-friendly, but gunless, is the solution"? Really?

And do you really think that if Ontario had the world's strictest gun controls that gangs would have no guns?

Really?

And that's the way the Ball bounces.

The T.O. Shootings: Toronto Media Imposes A Comments Lock-Down

Toronto Skyline (Photo credit: Bobolink)

The National Post and the Globe and Mail have embargoed comments on their coverage of the Toronto shootings this week. Probably they're afraid citizens have un-PC opinions and may want to express them. A bit like Fawlty Towers' The Germans episode: "mustn't mention the war".

I learned today the organizer of the "block party"/BBQ bought $1500 of booze for the event. Not sure if she charged people to attend or if the booze was sold or given away. I'm wondering if this was even legal, and/or if a permit was needed and/or obtained. I'm not expecting the media to do any deep digging or ask any tough questions. They are all tip-toeing around the obvious social issues involved.

A sub-culture where single-parenting is the norm, the police are distrusted if not despised, and gangs and guns are tolerated if not glorified, is a recipe for mayhem. Toronto has sown the wind and is reaping the whirlwind.

And that's the way the Ball bounces.

The face of a hero...

Hero catches girl after window free fall.


"St. Bernard, who has been working for the MTA for 10 years, has four kids of his own — and one of them is a 7-year-old girl, just like Keyla."

Video with commentary at end. Yo!

Dawkins' Interview Goes Badly Off-Message

Design... design... design... appearance.... design... design... design, illusion, design, design, maya.

A Dawkins interview goes badly off-message (but the guy has a great smile!).

Is Dawkins really a Hindu?

Just askin'.

The New York Times weighs in on high school cheating

Image via CrunchBase

The headline: At Top School, Cheating Voids 70 Pupils’ Tests.

The commentary: "The revelations that dozens of Stuyvesant students had cheated on tests not considered particularly challenging for them were the latest example of the competitive pressures inside top schools."


Latest example of competitive pressures? At which point the Ball Bounces asks, "who wrote this?". Back to top of page. Ah, the New York Times. That explains it. Not the students' fault.


Next up at the New York Times: "Shoplifting Latest Example of Competitive Pressure to Look Good And Wear Nice Things"; "Steroid Use By Athletes Latest Example of Competitive Pressure to Win".


The principal of the school weighed in: "Stanley Teitel sent a letter to dozens of students implicated in the cheating, telling them he found this 'breach of integrity very serious.'"


A breach of integrity taken very seriously -- is that it? What makes the principal think there was integrity to begin with? And what does "seriously" end up meaning? According to the article, the impact on most of the students is they have to re-take the exam.


That's it? How about an automatic zero as a minimum?


If we want to develop moral citizens, shouldn't moral behavior be one of the criteria of academic success?


And that's the way the Ball bounces.