The Haircut

Stolen in its entirety from The Feral Irishman.

Blessed are those that can give without remembering, and take without
forgetting.

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he asked
about his bill, and the barber replied, 'I cannot accept money from you, I'm
doing community service this week.'  The florist was pleased and left the shop.

When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a 'thank
you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the
barber again replied, 'I cannot accept money from you, I'm doing community
service this week.' The cop was happy and left the shop.

The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a 'thank you'
card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.

Then a Congressman came in for a haircut, and when he went to pay his bill,
the barber again replied, 'I can not accept money from you. I'm doing
community service this week.' The Congressman was very happy and left the
shop.

The next morning, when the barber went to open up, there were a dozen
Congressmen lined up waiting for a free haircut.
 
And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the
citizens of our country and the politicians who run it.

Lies of Obamacare

Steve Tobak has a Silicon Valley based technology strategy company.  Recently, he got word about how Obamacare would result in the cancellation of the policies he currently offers to his employees.  In response, he posted a column at Fox Business.  It's worth reading in its entirety, but the end brings home the bitter truth:

Let me tell you something, folks. We’ve seen this sort of leadership behavior before. We’ve seen it at companies like Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and Adelphia. If you’ve ever wondered what makes powerful executives commit fraud, the answer is simple. They think they’re above the truth and the law. They think they know better. And they think they can exert their will over others without being held to account.  

When that happens, it’s called absolute power, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s what I think we’re seeing here. The organization of our federal government into three unique and autonomous branches was supposed to keep this sort of thing from happening. It didn’t. It failed.

Power. That's what it's all about.  Not the good of the nation, or its people. Just raw naked power and control.

Remember that when you cast your ballots.  At every level at all times.

Thanksgiving advice

Steven Hayward at Powerline submitted some Thanksgiving tips to the Wall Street Journal.  He also posted them at Powerline.  An excerpt:

Thanksgiving presents a tough choice.  Should you cook the turkey on a rotisserie grill, or should you deep-fry it?  Forget the barbaric oven, but if it’s all you have, give yourself a fighting chance and cook the turkey upside-down–that is on a V-rack with the breast side down, so that the white meat doesn’t dry out so badly.  (Wait: can we actually still say “white meat,” or is that racist?)

 That last parenthetical comment is just part of why I love reading Hayward.  He also wrote:

 My favorite Thanksgiving recipe involves lightly rinsing the chilled glass first with Vermouth. . .  oh, wait, that’s an everyday recipe.  Never mind.

 Read the whole thing HERE.

Fair and Balanced??

If you need any more proof that the big networks have their own agendas (and they aren't for the people), look no further than how they treated a recent murder conviction in North Carolina.  You see, the guilty party was none other than Crystal Mangum, who falsely accused college students at Duke with the charge of rape.

When Crystal Mangum falsely accused several Duke lacrosse players of rape in 2006, there were 160 major television news stories in the first five days after the players were arrested, but in 2013, when Mangum was convicted of murder and sentenced to 14 years in prison, there were only 3 major television news stories, a difference in coverage of 5,233%.

You see, if it doesn't fit the narrative, it doesn't see the light of day.

Transportation and Secret Police

Moving on to the international beat.  Word is in of an airline crash in Russia.

MOSCOW –  A Boeing 737 jetliner crashed and burst into flames Sunday night while trying to land at the airport in the Russian city of Kazan, killing all 50 people aboard in the latest in a string of deadly crashes across the country.

The Tatarstan Airlines plane was trying to make a second landing attempt when it touched the surface of the runway near the control tower, and was "destroyed and caught fire," said Sergei Izvolky, the spokesman for the Russian aviation agency.

Hmmm.  Touched the surface and caught fire.  Destroyed.

The ministry released a list of the dead, which included Irek Minnikhanov, the son of Tatarstan's governor, and Alexander Antonov, who headed the Tatarstan branch of the Federal Security Service, the main successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB.

Why do I have some questions swirling around?  Those in the FSB don't die in their sleep, not in Russia.

Just food for idle speculation on this Sunday.

Story at Fox News.

Doing the Right Thing

Most of the time, the OC points out the stupidity and corruption of our governmental "leaders".  But every now and then, I'm happy to point out when old-fashioned common sense prevails.

Take this story from Georgia.  In the city of McDonough, between Atlanta and Macon, a hot-dog restaurant was cited for "code violations" for flying flags that honor the branches of our military.  However, there is a happy ending, or at least a move towards one.

City Administrator Frederick Gardiner reportedly was unaware that CJ’s was cited and later told Miller (OC note: the owner) that he’s asking for the citation to be voided. Gardiner says the ordinance classifying flags as signs is too vague and should be rewritten.

 Could rational law be making a comeback?

H/T to Fox News.

Toe the Line

For speaking the truth about the new Obamacare "fix" declared by our dear leader, the District of Columbia Insurance Commissioner has lost his job.  From Fox News:

The District of Columbia’s insurance commissioner says he was fired after questioning President Obama’s plan to fix ObamaCare and saying the city might not follow his suggestions.

Yep....can't make mention of the emperor's clothes.  Gotta keep everyone on the plantation.  Oops, guess that last line means I'm one of those racists who oppose Obama.

Oprah

While in the UK to promote her factually-inaccurate movie "The Butler", Oprah Winfrey decided to let the British people know a little bit about how things are here in the Colonies.  While on the BBC, Oprah blasted the American people.  According to her, the criticisms and falling poll numbers for Obama are the result of.....drum roll please.....racism.

Over at NRO Corner, Victor Davis Hanson takes apart Ms. Winfrey.  In part, he writes:

Aside from her historical ignorance, Oprah Winfrey has increasingly turned to the race card to explain the president’s plummeting polls. In her race-obsessed world, Syria, Benghazi, the NSA, IRS, AP, and ACA messes do not explain why a reelected president crashes from a recent 60 percent approval rating to less than 40 percent in less than a year.

Instead, in Oprah’s no-win, racialist world, to the degree that Obama is popular, Americans are considered for the time being as not racist; to the degree that he is not, the country suddenly is collectively under suspicion (e.g., “everybody’s thinking it”).

That Obama might be utterly inexperienced in the manner of Jimmy Carter, less than veracious in the manner of the impeached Bill Clinton, or suffering the same second-term blues of Ronald Reagan during Iran-Contra or popularity crash of George W. Bush after Katrina simply cannot for Oprah be true of an African-American president, who for some reason must not suffer the same fate and treatment as almost all who have held the highest office. Instead, in this raciallyobsessed world of Oprah, that Obama is faring no different from his predecessors is now the country’s fault. And as remedy, he must be given deference if the country wishes to avoid the latest therapeutic rant from Oprah.

In fact, Oprah has no record of worrying about the level of disrespect shown the office. If she did, she might have said something a few years ago when her president was routinely being compared to a Nazi, and often by her own fellow celebrities, writers, politicians, civil-rights activists, and filmmakers. That she said nothing then, but now says a lot, explains not America’s problem with race, but her own race obsessions, which have blinded her to her own prejudices and hypocrisies.

Hanson calls it "The Moral Decline of Oprah".  I'll be a bit more direct.  It's the reverse racism of a privileged liberal who sees racism everywhere except in the mirror.

Read the whole NRO piece HERE.  And VDH has a regular column at PJ Media, Works and Days, which can be found HERE.

The Metaphor

Wesley Smith had a short post on NRO Corner that was too good to summarize.  So here it is in its entirety:

I have been trying to think of a good metaphor for the Obamacare debacle. I think I found it in the Vasa.

Vasa was a Swedish warship launched in 1628 — only to sink after sailing less than a mile. It is so apt! Here’s the Wikipedia recounting:

Vasa was built top-heavy and had insufficient ballast. Despite an obvious lack of stability in port, she was allowed to set sail and foundered only a few minutes after she first encountered a wind stronger than a breeze.

The impulsive move to set sail was the result of a combination of factors: Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, who was leading the army on the continent on the date of her maiden voyage, was impatient to see her join the Baltic fleet in the Thirty Years’ War; at the same time, the king’s subordinates lacked the political courage to discuss the ship’s structural problems frankly or to have the maiden voyage postponed. An inquiry was organized by the Swedish privy council to find personal responsibility for the disaster, but in the end no one was punished for the fiasco.

Perfect! We have seen the same exact arrogance, stupidity, and lack of accountability in Obamacare — the public-policy Vasa of our times. 

 Original post can be found HERE.

Saturday Funnies

Culled from the Powerline weekly collection:

And, for some good news in all this mess:

No Shame

As a followup to the Sheila Jackson Lee video (seen below), John Hinderaker of Powerline had this to say:

I have long been struck by this difference between Democrats and Republicans: Republican elites are deeply embarrassed by stupid Republicans, of whom there are, undeniably, a few. They go to great lengths to disassociate themselves from Republicans who are dumb, or are perceived as such, and consider low-information Republicans to be a serious blight on the party. Democrats, on the other hand, are completely shameless.

Have you ever heard any Democrat express embarrassment at any other Democrat, no matter how stupid, and try to disassociate himself from the ignorant elements of his party? No. There are a number of Democrats in Congress, not to mention the rank and file, who are complete morons. Sheila Jackson Lee has lots of company. But do smarter Democrats care? Do they shiver with embarrassment when a member of their party worries that Guam may tip over, or thinks Obama is going to fill up her gas tank, or doesn’t know the difference between Mars and the Moon? Not at all! This difference between the parties strikes me as profound, but its full elucidation will have to await another day.

Food for thought.  But then, that seems to predominantly happen on our side of the aisle.

Box of Rocks

Time for a blast from the past video.  Though this is several years old, just remember -- these are the Democrats that keep voting for imposing more and more government on you.  They know better.  But what do they really know.

H/T to the Powerline boys

Life Happens

Some major crap happened in my life.  Obama's re-election didn't help any, but I am over that.  No, not really.  He still has a way of just grating on me....the sound of that smug voice is just like fingernails on a chalkboard.  I have to remember the cost of that big-screen TV every time I want to throw a shoe at him on the screen.

Anyhow, I'm back from the kinda-dead.  I know that I'm going to have to take a 7 week hiatus in late January, but we'll see how it goes before then - and after.

As for the kinda dead:  I still have some health insurance for now, so I'm back seeing my doctor again.  BP is too high, ditto on cholesterol and glucose.  New meds, need to lose some weight, do more activity and, gasp, exercise.  I don't like going to a gym, and the weather is getting worse.  Maybe I'll spring for some of that cold-weather gear from REI or Cabelas, so I won't have that excuse.

In any case....see you around.