The Old Curmudgeon

Frozen brains?

2012-02-14T00:02:00.000-08:00

In Duluth, Minnesota, a group of non-profits, including four colleges, are posting billboards with the theme "It's hard to see racism when you're white".

John Hinderaker at Powerline sums it up well:

I am guessing that these billboards were paid for, overwhelmingly, with taxpayer money; i.e, yours and mine. A considerable amount of that money, if you trace it back, was no doubt borrowed from Asian banks and governments. So, consider this: Chinese peasants are saving their money so that their banks can lend many billions of dollars to the Obama administration, which in turn passes some of those dollars on to universities and other non-profits so that they can spend millions to erect billboards accusing white Americans of being racists. Is this a great country, or what?

Still a great country in spite of the efforts by the left to make it less so.

Will it happen?

2012-02-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

There's an old line that says that a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged.

Maybe we'll get that on the Supreme Court?

WASHINGTON – Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed last week by a machete-wielding intruder at his vacation home in the West Indies, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Monday.

The 73-year-old Breyer, wife Joanna and guests were confronted by the robber around 9 p.m. EST Thursday in the home Breyer owns on the Caribbean island of Nevis, spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said. The intruder took about $1,000 in cash and no one was hurt, Arberg said.

One can hope, can't they?

About contraception

2012-02-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

Again, from the wonderful Iowahawk:

Found at The Last Refuge.

Ted Nugent - Advocate

2012-02-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a video of Ted taking apart the sanctimonious Piers Morgan:

What an advocate.

All that glitters is not gold

2012-02-12T18:49:00.000-08:00

From the comment section on Ann Althouse's blog:

When are these courageous white gays going to glitter bomb the anti-gay marriage black bigot in the White House? Or is he too scary because he's black?

Excellent observation.

Religion of Peace

2012-02-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

ROP my ass.

MALE — At the Maldives' National Museum, smashed Buddhist statues are testament to the rise of Islamic extremism and Taliban-style intolerance in a country famous as a laid-back holiday destination.

On Tuesday, as protesters backed by mutinous police toppled president Mohamed Nasheed, a handful of men stormed the Chinese-built museum and destroyed its display of priceless artefacts from the nation's pre-Islamic era.

"They have effectively erased all evidence of our Buddhist past," a senior museum official told AFP at the now shuttered building in the capital Male, asking not to be named out of fear for his own safety.

"We lost all our 12th century statues. They were made of coral stone and limestone. They are very brittle and there is no way we can restore them," he explained.

"I wept when I heard that the entire display had gone. We are good Muslims and we treated these statues only as part of our heritage. It is not against Islam to display these exhibits," he said.

Five people have since been arrested after they returned the following day to smash the CCTV cameras, he said.

The authorities have banned photography of the damage, conscious that vandalism of this kind which echoes the 2001 destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan by the Taliban is damaging for the nation's image.

Read the whole disgusting story from AFP at THIS LINK.

The Nanny at the Beach

2012-02-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

No, not Fran Drescher. It's the Big Nanny called "Government".

If you haven't heard, Los Angeles County has now banned the throwing of Frisbees and footballs (and other balls) at beaches in the county. Guess that having fun is too much for the government to stand.

Adam Carolla is a podcast wonder, cranking out great material time and time again. Here he expressed what most of us truly believe deep down:

The beach is a great little microcosm of what’s going on with this country. We’re gonna save everybody because God forbid some kid could get hit with a Frisbee or someone could take in second hand smoke or some dog could run across their beach towel. Yes, its true we’ve eliminated every possibility of someone being concussed by a Nerf football, but we’ve also eliminated all possibility of fun.

The beach, which used to be six pack, couple of cigarettes, a Frisbee, your dog and some tunes cranked up … is now, turn the radio down, put the cigarette out, pour the beer out in the sand, put the dog back on the leash, put the Frisbee away and here’s a thousand dollar fine. Better or worse? Is this fucking progress to you?

We should have a fucking beach jam … we all go out to the beach armed with our cigarettes, our beer, our dogs, and our Frisbees … a million strong….

Who decided it was the government’s job to protect us from ourselves? The government fucks everything up they touch. Please stop looking to them to help you. Hope and change?

Stop looking to them to help you. So true.

Is this "Racist"? You tell me.

2012-02-12T14:41:00.000-08:00

Actor Samuel L. Jackson explains his vote for Barack Obama in 2008:

In an interview with Ebony magazine, Jackson explained, "I voted for Barack because he was black. 'Cuz that's why other folks vote for other people — because they look like them ... That's American politics, pure and simple. [Obama's] message didn't mean [bleep] to me."

Jackson then went on to drop the N-word several times when discussing Obama, telling the mag, "When it comes down to it, they wouldn't have elected a [bleep]. Because, what's a [bleep]? A [bleep] is scary. Obama ain't scary at all. [Bleeps] don't have beers at the White House. [Bleeps] don't let some white dude, while you in the middle of a speech, call [him] a liar. A [bleep] would have stopped the meeting right there and said, ‘Who the [bleep] said that?' I hope Obama gets scary in the next four years, 'cuz he ain't gotta worry about getting re-elected."

What would have been the uproar had a white actor said: "I voted for McCain because he was white"? You already know that answer.

This all goes along well with the Obama campaign group "African Americans for Obama" which started up last week. (Sorry I missed posting that during my short absence). What would the media say about "White Americans for (insert the candidate de jour)"??

Sauce for goose AND gander? Not in today's America.

Hat tip to Big Hollywood.

The Sunday Morning Lies

2012-02-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

From Mike Flynn over at Big Government:

There simply is no other way to explain the statements of White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew this morning on CNN’s State of the Union. Lew was asked by Candy Crawley about a recent statement by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicating he would not be bringing a vote on the budget to the Senate floor.

CROWLEY: “I want to read for our viewers something that Sen. Harry Reid, the Democrat Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate, who said, ‘We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year. It’s done, we don’t need to do it.’”

LEW: “He’s not saying that they shouldn’t pass a budget. But we also need to be honest. You can’t pass a budget in the Senate of the United States without 60 votes and you can’t get 60 votes without bipartisan support. So unless… unless Republicans are willing to work with Democrats in the Senate, Harry Reid is not going to be able to get a budget passed.”

This is patently false.

You can’t filibuster the budget. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 stipulates that debate is automatically cut off after 50 hours of debate. At that point, a budget can be passed by a simple majority, 51 votes. Democrats currently hold 53 seats in the Senate. They can pass a budget on a simple party-line vote.

Lew, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget, surely knows this. While the Obama Administration has regularly plumbed the depths of managerial incompetence, even they can’t be this incompetent.

That Lew prefaced this whopper with the tell-tale “let’s be honest” canard only highlights the cynical political maneuvering that is at the heart of the Administration.

So, let’s really be honest here. The latest Obama budget contains what virtually every proposed Democrat budget has for the past few decades; tax hikes, increased spending now and illusory budget “savings” some time in the ill-defined future. The Senate could pass Obama’s proposed budget within a couple weeks. The White House’s real problem is that Democrats don’t want to vote on his proposed budget.

Couldn't have said it better myself. So I quoted it verbatim. Simple truth: The Democrats will lie rather than govern. Will put staying in office above the needs of our people. I won't say that Republicans don't care about power, but given a choice between the two, it's an easy pick.

CPAC

2012-02-12T14:13:00.000-08:00

Daniel Hannan delivered a very timely and important speech at CPAC this week. Though it is long, it's worth the time if you care about America. Which this Englishman obviously does.

It is getting close to the time when it will be too late. Remember that in November - and before.

Super Bowl Ads & Politics

2012-02-05T09:05:00.000-08:00

From the folks at Powerline comes this flashback:

Courtesy of The Hill (and an Instapundit link), the following ad from MoveOn.org was rejected for the 2004 Super Bowl because it was “too political.” But they miss the obvious irony here: watch it all the way to the end (it’s only 30 seconds long), and ask yourself if MoveOn.Org would run this ad today. (In fact, it looks a lot like one of the runners-up in the Power Line video contest). Interesting how things change.

Change just ONE word, and you have the situation today. Actually, you need to increase the numbers as well, but you get my point.

Hypocrisy, thy name is liberalism.

All animals are equal

2012-02-03T23:30:00.000-08:00

The famous line from George Orwell's Animal Farm sums it up pretty well.

Just in case you still thought that Congress was just a bunch of folks representing, and representative of, the public at large, the Associated Press reminds us of seven major laws that Congress has exempted itself from.

While Congress is moving to explicitly apply insider trading laws to its members, lawmakers are exempt from provisions of other federal laws.

In 1995, the House and Senate passed the Congressional Accountability Act, which did apply many civil rights, labor and workplace safety statutes to the legislative branch.

Specifically, members of Congress are exempt from:
The Freedom of Information Act.
Investigatory subpoenas to obtain information for safety and health probes.
Protections against retaliation for whistleblowers.
Having to post notices of worker rights in offices.
Prosecution for retaliating against employees who report safety and health hazards.
Having to train employees about workplace rights and legal remedies.
Record-keeping requirements for workplace injuries and illnesses.

This list seems to focus on workplace and OSHA issues, and is just a start. Remember the bigone - Congress exempted itself from Obamacare. Guess that some really are more equal than others.

Hat tip to Big Government.

Encouraging the dole

2012-01-29T12:06:00.000-08:00

News that our nanny government wants even more people on the public dole.

Over the last three years, the number of Americans on food stamps has skyrocketed by two-thirds and stands at a record-high 46 million citizens, or one out of every seven people in the United States. Despite the historic rise in food stamp use, however, the Obama Administration believes not enough people are receiving food stamps who should be and is offering $75,000 grants to groups who devise “effective strategies” to “increase program participation” among those who have yet to sign up.

So, lets' get this straight. Our government, which can't pay it's bills without borrowing even more and more money, is paying groups to find even more people to put into subsidized programs. Rather than encouraging the citizenry to be productive members of society, it wants to put more and more of the population into dependency on Washington. With the resultant election behavior of rewarding their benefactors.

Read the whole story by Wynton Hall at Big Government.

The mirror never lies

2012-01-27T17:31:00.000-08:00

From Michelle Obama's Mirror.

College education and the Feds

2012-01-27T17:07:00.000-08:00

News from Michigan:

President Barack Obama Friday told an enthusiastic crowd of students at the University of Michigan that extra taxes on millionaires should help subsidize their futures.

Without mentioning Gov. Mitt Romney by name, Obama used his campaign-style event to urge higher taxes on the nation’s most prosperous to reduce student loan-payments, increase student grants, fund universities and pay for high-tech research.

Excellent commentary from Sundancecracker:

This argument has frustrated me for years. The reason colleges are able to raise tuition costs is specifically because the federal government underwrite student loans and guarantees payment. There is no supply/demand equation in the pricing process. The colleges can charge whatever rates they want. The student goes to the federal government and gets loans for the cost. The loans are determined by the cost of the education. If the free market was allowed to work, colleges would immediately have to lower tuition costs in order to attract students. Alas, POTUS would never be honest about that. It is the subsidization of tuition that raises the rates.

Who says this isn't all about class warfare?

What a dfference three years makes

2012-01-27T16:37:00.000-08:00

From Howie Carr:

How profoundly America has changed since January 2009.

I was pondering this the other night during the State of the Union address. Did you know that our elite military units like the Navy SEALs are now examples of America at its absolute finest? Why, wasn’t it just a few years ago that Sen. Dick Durbin was comparing these very same troops to the Khmer Rouge and Joe Stalin’s Red Army?

What used to be Dick Cheney’s hit squad is now a beacon of freedom.

But now of course the president is a Democrat. When Durbin spoke a Republican resided in the White House.

Remember when Theo Epstein snubbed Republican George W. Bush when the rest of the Red Sox went to the White House after the 2007 World Series? Nobody said boo. Now Bruins goalie Tim Thomas does the same thing to our PC president and — hey, somebody get a rope!

Since January 2009, natural disasters are no longer the personal fault of the president.

Now that Obama is president, Gen. “Betrayus” is once again Gen. Petraeus, the greatest American military genius since MacArthur, no make that U.S. Grant.

George W. Bush played 30 rounds of golf in eight years and it was dereliction of duty. Obama’s played 80 in three years and it’s a well-deserved rest from his terrible burden of world leadership.

On Jan. 20, 2009, all the homeless people went home. Inflation ended that same day. No longer do dying Americans have to travel to Canada to buy affordable prescription drugs.

The Tea Party — violent rhetoric. Occupy Wall Street and the publicly defecating hippies — in the finest tradition of our Founding Fathers.

Bush mispronounces nuclear — idiot. Obama butchers corpsman — misspoke.

Raising the debt ceiling under Bush — the worst kind of fiscal irresponsibility. Raising the debt ceiling under Obama — a valiant effort by our young president to save the world economy.

McDonald’s jobs under Bush — “burger flipping.” McDonald’s jobs under Obama — entry-level jobs with one of America’s noblest public corporations.

Unemployment rate of 4.5 percent under Bush — “jobless recovery.” Unemployment rate of 8.5 percent under Obama — the new normal.

The Patriot Act under Bush — incipient fascism. The Patriot Act under Obama — yawn.

Words and phrases you haven’t heard since January 2009: no blood for oil ... Cindy Sheehan ... not one more dime ... quagmire ... atrocities ... candlelight vigils ... not on our watch ... waterboarding ... Abu Ghraib...

Ah yes, the amazing way media perception turns on a dime.

Via The Feral Irishman.

What we are

2012-01-27T15:11:00.000-08:00

From the Plumb Bob Blog:

The fact is that conservatives are not “stupid, racist, greedy and unfair.” We’re thoughtful, compassionate, ordinate in our desires, and stand for truth and liberty. It is Progressives who have lost their minds, who represent the worst of seething hatred, avarice, envy, lust, arrogance, self-righteousness, and dishonesty, while pretending to stand for the opposite. The contrast between the Tea Party and #Occupy demonstrates this amply. We’re looking for public champions to say so credibly.

Yes, where are those public champions that we need??

The Vote Pump

2012-01-27T14:45:00.000-08:00

From Firewall with Bill Whittle:

Follow the money. Never truer than today.

Juxtaposition of the Day

2012-01-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

State Of The Union, Jan 24, 2012;

"In three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries."

State Of The Battery, Jan 26, 2012;

Obama-backed electric car battery-maker files for bankruptcy

From Small Dead Animals.

By the Numbers

2012-01-27T13:06:00.000-08:00

Kinda says it all. Well, not really, there's even more that's wrong.....

From Conservative Manifesto, via American Power.

Yeah, let's encourage small business

2012-01-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

From Dan Danner at Big Government:

Imagine for a moment that you are a small-business owner looking to hire a new employee. As tough as the economy has been, you’ve managed to put your firm on track to expand.

Now imagine facing a lawsuit for requiring perhaps one of the most basic qualifications for job applicants – a high school diploma. You don’t have to imagine that last part. It’s now an unfortunate reality thanks to guidance recently issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The “informal discussion letter” states that requiring a high-school diploma as a qualification for employment may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, which the EEOC enforces. Therefore, an employer must prove a high school education is “job related and consistent with business necessity,” or face potential fines or lawsuits brought under ADA.

So, not having a high school diploma puts you in a protected class for discrimination enforcement from the EEOC? Under the Americans with Disabilities Act? Have we gone mad? (or just madder?)

It's all part of the war against business being waged by this administration. Read the whole thing HERE.

On the courthouse beat

2012-01-27T11:12:00.000-08:00

From Keith Koffler at White House Dossier:

A hearing in Atlanta on whether President Obama meets the Constitutional requirements for the presidency ended at midday without a ruling by the judge.

Georgia Administrative Hearings Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi gave no indication when he will rule or whether he will sanction President Obama and his attorneys, all of whom refused to attend the hearing.

Of course, we know what would happen if one of us "little people" would miss a subpoenaed hearing, or even not have counsel present.

Advanced Economics??

2012-01-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

President Obama said at a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada:

"I laid out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last, that has a firm foundation. Where we're making stuff and selling stuff and moving it around and UPS drivers are dropping things off everywhere."

Making stuff. Selling stuff. Yep....the smartest president we've had.

Now I know why the transcripts haven't been released.

Quote of the Day - II

2012-01-25T20:45:00.000-08:00

From the comment section of Ann Althouse's excellent blog. Written by "Dan in Philly"

Let me be clear, O is and always has been an ordinary political hack who was picked up by a brilliant campaign because he happened to be in the right place at the right time. This brilliant campaign ran him, and ever since he's bee trying and failing to lead the country. He's been a failure from the beginning because he's been a fraud from the beginning.

Sums it up in my book.

Hat tip to Instapundit.

The logic within the SOTU??

2012-01-25T20:40:00.000-08:00

From Hugh Hewitt comes this logical arrangement of initiatives put forth in yesterday's State of the Union speech. It's a bit long, but worth following. Because it truly points out that the SOTU was nothing more than a laundry list of political talking-points and campaign slogans. This was written by Clark Judge:

But let me get this straight:

1) banks will be punished (do I understand this right, by a committee headed by Eric Holder?) if their lending is too risky,

2) and they will be required (by the same committee) to give more home loans (meaning, it must be, to people who would otherwise not qualify for the loans, or else the government would not have to be involved) at lower rates (which means rates that do not compensate them as much as the market says they need to be compensated for the risks they are taking, all of which sounds like a new edition of the policies that brought on the financial collapse),

3) which must mean that they will have to pull back on risky lending someplace other than homes,

4) the only place that most banks would be able to pull back on riskier customers would be loans to small and new businesses,

5) but these are the businesses that have created just about all the jobs over the last 20 years and he said early in the speech he wants to encourage them,

6) so maybe their growth capital will come from selling stock to the kinds of people who invest in new and small businesses,

7) but through the Buffet Rule he’s going to double the tax rate on investment income for those people, meaning that, like the banks, they can’t be fully compensated for the risk of backing small and new businesses,

8) so they will not invest more in small and new companies but in big established firms,

9) so more of those small and new firms will have to turn to the government for capital,

10) which luckily he said would up its investing in early stage businesses with “the best” ideas,

11) “the best” ideas meaning, I guess, as with Solyndra, ideas that advance his agenda through companies whose owners support his candidacy), 11a) or maybe it would be companies that agree to invite unionization (since the unions have failed to organize the new and dynamic sectors of the economy, which is why they have been shrinking),

12) but then with the big businesses, he wants to punish American companies if they invest overseas,

13) and he wants to increase exports,

14) but being competitive in the global markets often means having part of your production near your markets, which is why many companies have opened production facilities abroad and many foreign companies (BMW and Honda, for example) have opened their facilities here,

15) so he’ll make these companies less competitive, meaning less able to export anything that might be paired with some other product the company makes abroad in order to attract buyers,

16) and it also means he’ll have the U.S. ignoring many of the international trading rules of which we have been the principal sponsor since the end of WWII, rules that have led to an incredible growth in widely shared wealth all over the planet,

17) which means that, if he follows through, he’ll blow up the post-WWII global economic system,

18) which in the very short run may help the uncompetitive American labor unions but in the not-so-long run would devastate every economy on earth,

19) but it would also mean he would be in a position to decide where big companies could invest, and when, just as he’ll be in control of all new and small businesses, too,

20) meanwhile he is going to tell states and localities what their budget priorities should be,

21) and make them adopt his policies for running their schools, leaving me to wonder, when he’s through, what won’t he control?

That's what's known in my book as a logical fisking.

Coincidence? You tell me.

2012-01-25T20:17:00.000-08:00

Or was it intentional that the study's conclusion matched the objective of the administration? You be the judge. A sample:

The Department of Education has acknowledged using flawed data in a study on the impact of race on student loan repayment rates, having omitted black students from its calculation. The analysis was conducted during the debate over gainful employment regulations, in response to complaints that the rules would hurt colleges that enroll relatively high percentages of minority students.

Read the whole article from Inside Higher Ed.

Hat tip to Small Dead Animals.

Same ol', same ol'

2012-01-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

Same old themes, same old rhetoric, same old "government is the answer" message.

Good thing he wore a different tie so we could tell the difference.

Quote of the Day

2012-01-25T11:52:00.000-08:00

If they wanted him (Obama) to close Gitmo they should have put a factory there, or an oil rig.

-- Dan McLaughlin

Hat tip to Proof Positive.

From Orlando

2012-01-21T13:57:00.000-08:00

News report:

President Obama was in Disney World where he unveiled his new plan to create jobs. He was joined by Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse but not Goofy. He had to stay behind to tend to his vice presidential duties.

The Beer Parable of Taxation & Tax Cuts

2012-01-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

This has been circulating around the 'net, and the stated author (an economics professor) has denied writing it. But it still rings true.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this…

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing
The fifth would pay $1
The sixth would pay $3
The seventh would pay $7
The eighth would pay $12
The ninth would pay $18
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59
So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with thearrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. “Since youare all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of yourdaily beer by $20″. Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So thefirst four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But whatabout the other six men ? How could they divide the $20 windfall so thateveryone would get his fair share?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted thatfrom everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each endup being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s billby a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of thetax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts hesuggested that each should now pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% saving).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued todrink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare theirsavings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20 saving,” declared the sixth man. Hepointed to the tenth man,”but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar too.It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!”

“That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back, when Igot only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t getanything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks so the nine sat downand had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, theydiscovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all ofthem for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how ourtax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes willnaturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much,attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. Infact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhatfriendlier.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the attributed author actually did write this, but later denied it to keep up his credibility in the ivory towers of academia.

Good intentions

2012-01-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

Andrew Klavan looks at how the road to hell is paved.

Watch it a second time and keep your eyes on the graphics along the sides of the road.

Now, if only he would do these same sendups for ads in the November election.

13 Politically Incorrect Gun Rules

2012-01-21T12:20:00.000-08:00

A compilation from various sources, put together on the Daily Caller:

1. Guns have only two enemies rust and politicians.
2. It’s always better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
3. Cops carry guns to protect themselves, not you.
4. Never let someone or something that threatens you get inside arms length.
5. Never say, “I’ve got a gun.” If you need to use deadly force, the first sound they hear should be the safety clicking off.
6. The average response time of a 911 call is 23 minutes; the response time of a .357 is 1400 feet per second.
7. The most important rule in a gunfight is: Always win – cheat if necessary.
8. Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets . . . You may get killed with your own gun, but he’ll have to beat you to death with it, because it’ll be empty.
9. If you’re in a gunfight:
- If you’re not shooting, you should be loading.
- If you’re not loading, you should be moving.
- If you’re not moving, you’re dead.
10. In a life and death situation, do something . . . It may be wrong, but do something!
11. If you carry a gun, people call you paranoid. Nonsense! If you have a gun, what do you have to be paranoid about?
12. You can say ‘stop’ or ‘alto’ or any other word, but a large bore muzzle pointed at someone’s head is pretty much a universal language.
13. You cannot save the planet, but you may be able to save yourself and your family.

Juxtaposition

2012-01-18T17:57:00.000-08:00

Sundancecracker over at The Last Refuge has this observation:

February 2nd 2012, Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address will occur on the same day. This is an ironic juxtaposition of events.

One involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to an increasingly insignificant creature of questionable intelligence for prognostication.

The other involves a groundhog.

Why couldn't I have been so observant?

To follow up

2012-01-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

In addition to the news about the Solyndra auction, there was this report from last week:

Now seems an unlikely time for handing out bonuses at bankrupt Solyndra LLC, but that’s the plan of company attorneys intending to dole out up to a half-million dollars to persuade key employees to stay put. Nearly two dozen Solyndra employees could receive bonuses ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 each under a proposal filed by Solyndra’s attorneys in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

The attorneys say the extra money will add motivation at a time when workers at the solar company have little job security and more responsibilities because so many of their colleagues have been fired.

I guess the failure to attract any bids to take over the company might put a damper on those bonuses. One can only hope.

Sourced from the Washington Times.

But it's Green energy

2012-01-18T08:47:00.000-08:00

News item of the morning:

(Reuters) – Solyndra LLC failed to attract any bids on Tuesday from buyers who could have restarted production, brought back some laid off staff and kept the bankrupt solar panel maker operating, according to a company adviser.

Solyndra, which owes more than $500 million to the U.S. government, has said a turnkey buyer is the best hope for getting the most money for the government and other creditors. However, no turnkey bids were submitted by a Tuesday deadline, said company adviser Eric Carlson of Imperial Capital LLC.

It's such a great business, in a booming vitally important field. Not to worry - somehow those loans will be repaid to the taxpayers.

Yeah, right.

Milton Friedman on "Greed"

2012-01-18T00:42:00.000-08:00

Milton Friedman had a wonderful way of taking complex economic issues and distilling them into conversations that the common man could understand. Not with demagoguery, not with double talk, but with a straight-forward presentation of facts and logic. This short exchange with Phil Donahue is just one example (courtesy of Powerline).

I just discovered that Friedman's classic 1980 television series "Free to Choose" is available through Google Video. In addition, the 1990 follow-on, plus some recorded interviews, are also available to watch for free. You can see them through THIS LINK to miltonfriedman.blogspot.com.

Well worth your time. Watch it with your family. Send the links to your friends. It's not too late.

The quote that sums it all up

2012-01-17T20:18:00.000-08:00

Though I have 'issues" with his candidacy and some of his positions (and to a similar extent, that's true for all of the declared candidates for the GOP nomination), Rich Santorum nailed it on the head with this quote in South Carolina:

“We’re the wealthiest country in the world and the world is wealthier because they have become more like us. We’ve transformed humankind. And we have a president who sees all of that as a mistake.”

There, in three short sentences, is the essence of what motivates and drives Barack Hussein Obama.

Whether the nominee is Santorum or someone else, that quote should be a part of EVERY campaign speech, every campaign flyer, every press release. Nothing spells out it out quite so succinctly, quite so clearly.

Originally reported by The Other McCain; hat tip to The Camp of the Saints.

It's the spending!!

2012-01-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

From Investors.com comes this frightening news about our Congress:

Despite endless talk of spending cuts and fiscal restraint in Washington over the past year, lawmakers continued to act as though the government doesn't spend nearly enough.

They introduced 874 bills in the House and Senate that would have boosted annual federal spending by more than $1 trillion if they'd all been signed into law, according to an analysis done for IBD by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

In contrast, lawmakers offered up just 215 bills to cut spending last year that would have reduced federal outlays by about half a trillion had they all been signed into law.

The analysis also found that for every dollar in cuts, lawmakers in the House proposed nearly $3 in spending hikes, and in the Senate $1.40 in hikes.

Personally, I'm rooting for a Greek default 47 days from now. Maybe that will shock both voters and their representatives into some sense.

Read the whole story HERE.

Two sides of the mouth....again

2012-01-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

The Daily Show's John Oliver skewers Froma Harrop of the Civility Project.

I guess this means "We're all for civility, unless we need to slam our opponents".

More "Do as I say" from the left.

Sunday Hypocrisy

2012-01-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

It's amazing to me how Democrats can say what they do with a straight face. Which is the party that screams the loudest about separation of church and state? Which says that religion should have no part in the political process? Could it be those folks with the (D) after their name?

Which makes this story all the more disgusting:

On the Sunday before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett visited Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to give a political speech, in support of her boss (Barack Obama) and congressional Democrats:

"Teachers, and firefighters, and policemen, whose jobs are now in jeopardy because Congress--well let me be specific--because the Republicans in Congress," Jarrett told the crowd. According to the CBS affiliate in Atlanta, at this point, "Before she could finish her sentence, people in the congregation were laughing, and applauding."

At the Sunday service, Jarrett also brought up Osama bin Laden's death in order to praise the president. "We all sleep a little better atnight knowing Osama Bin Laden and his lieutenants are not plotting a terrorist attack against the United States," Jarrett said. Then she pivoted to Iraq: "I saw so many soldiers returning home from their last tour of duty in Iraq, in time for the Christmas holidays."

At the end of Sunday's sermon, after Jarrett had delivered her remarks to the congregation, the church held a voter registration drive.

Thanks to the folks at The Weekly Standard for bringing this latest hypocrisy to light.

Follow the money

2012-01-16T10:53:00.000-08:00

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. One of the most underappreciated lines in movie history, IMHO.

From the New York Post, news of another pious Kennedy do-gooder:

Professional do-gooder Kerry Kennedy — Gov. Cuomo’s ex-wife and the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy — has called the oil-drilled rain forests of Ecuador “the biggest corporate environmental disaster on the face of the Earth, in the history of the world.”

The human-rights activist penned opinion pieces and lobbied officials to voice her outrage at the damage oil companies have caused to the town of Lago Agrio, where 1,700 square miles of rain forest have been destroyed and people sickened.

What Kennedy has never mentioned during her campaign is that she is being paid handsomely for her seemingly selfless advocacy.
Kennedy, 52, was secretly hired as a “public-relations consultant” by the lawyer representing the Ecuadoreans in an $18 billion lawsuit against Chevron, according to court documents.

Cashing in on her respected family name and legacy, Kennedy raked in tens of thousands of dollars and was given a 0.25 percent stake — worth as much as $40 million — if the $18 billion judgment handed down by an Ecuadorean judge is ultimately upheld. (Chevron has not yet paid pending its countersuit in Manhattan federal court.)

Read all about the hypocrisy HERE. Hat tip to Powerline.

Of course, it's just me

2012-01-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

John Hinderaker over at Powerline summarizes my feelings well.

As you may have heard by now, Newsweek’s forthcoming issue headlines, “Why are Obama’s critics so dumb?”

Well, sure. We who are unhappy that unemployment has increased on Obama’s watch, that over-regulation has stymied economic growth, that our children now owe a $15 trillion debt that we can’t pay–hey, we’re just dumb! We obviously aren’t smart enough to understand how devastating our economy, unemploying millions of Americans and burdening our children with trillions of dollars in debt is really a great idea.

If that’s what you think, you are a liberal and you may take Newsweek seriously. The rest of us remember when the publication sold for $1. Hey, we Power Liners may be stupid, but we actually operate in the black. And, more broadly, the time when liberals could seriously try to peddle the lie that conservatives are stupid is long, long gone.

There was a time when I enjoyed reading Newsweek. Had a subscription and looked forward to insightful analysis of the events of the world arriving in my mailbox each week.

I also had a television with vacuum tubes. Both have passed into irrelevancy.

Everyone should see this video

2012-01-14T22:38:00.000-08:00

This is a short satiric piece translating the Federal budget to a family budget scenario. They just dropped NINE digits from the fed numbers.

Put in these terms, even the most economically illiterate should grasp the problem we are facing.

Then again, they did vote for BHO in 2008, so I may be a bit optimistic.

Volt = Obama??

2012-01-13T14:55:00.000-08:00

Sundancecracker over at Last Refuge gets it right:

Everything about the Chevy Volt is a metaphor for the Obama presidency. A product that everyone thought was great until they tried it out, now no-one wants it. It costs way too much. The performance reviews are horrible. It was overpromised and profoundly under-delivered. Less expensive competition can go twice as far, and if you’re not careful with it, it just might kill you while you’re sleeping.

Yep, a sh!t car for a sh!t presidency.

Read the whole article HERE.

Your goverment in action

2012-01-12T23:21:00.000-08:00

Might as well be mandating the use of unicorn piss. From (gasp) the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law.

But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.

In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, which is made from wood chips or the inedible parts of plants like corncobs. Refiners were required to blend 6.6 million gallons into gasoline and diesel in 2011 and face a quota of 8.65 million gallons this year.

“It belies logic,” Charles T. Drevna, the president of the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association, said of the 2011 quota. And raising the quota for 2012 when there is no production makes even less sense, he said.

So let's see if we have this straight. The federal government mandates that oil companies put a product into their gasoline. Only it doesn't exist. And then the government fines them for not using a non-existent item.

And they want to run your healthcare?? And some think these brainiacs know how to do that better??

Read the whole disturbing story HERE.

Finally, an honest politician???

2012-01-12T22:48:00.000-08:00

I've given up believing the campaign promises of politicians, if only because it's better for my stomach. If something good comes along, all is well. Mostly I just hope that they don't screw things up too badly. Amazingly, the American system of business and community seems to be quite resilient to deal with mediocrity in government.

In any case, news today from the office of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. From Politico:

Freshman Sen. Rand Paul is making good on his promise to cut federal spending. The Kentucky Republican and tea-party favorite said Thursday he’s returning $500,000 to the U.S. Treasury — money from his operating budget that his office never spent.

and

“I ran to stop the reckless spending. And I ran to end the damaging process of elected officials acting as errand boys, competing to see who could bring back the biggest check and the most amount of pork,” Paul said at a news conference in Louisville, where he presented taxpayers with a massive mock check for $500,000.

Maybe there is someone who carries through on their promises. We shall see.

Back again from the Unknowns

2012-01-12T22:44:00.000-08:00

Well, a multiple year hiatus. A couple years of frustration with not just our government, but with the madness of much of the world. Time to get back to the keyboard.

Need to clean up some things....blogs on the blogroll that have passed into history. Other "stuff" as well. Now to have the discipline to write regularly.

Sensitivity 101 for a Friday

2009-01-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

There are Canadian loons in places other than on their money:
Where else but Canada would it be considered "inclusive" to ban the national anthem?

The CBC reports that a school in New Brunswick no longer requires students to sing the anthem every day, in order not to upset some parents who might not like it:

Erik Millett, the school's principal, said he made the decision partly to accommodate parents who didn't want their children taking part in the daily anthem. He would not say why the parents didn't want their kids taking part, citing privacy reasons.

"We try to balance the needs of every student, and we want every student to feel welcome in our school," Millett said.

"If we need to make some accommodations or exceptions, then we'll try to put those in place regardless of what the issue is."

That's right: in Canada it's imperative to accommodate everyone, no matter what their request might be. And it's more important to respect their "privacy" than to explain why they might object. Because it's just a country; it's not like it's important or anything.

Unfortunately, that same idea probably appeals to many on this side of the border as well.

From the National Post.

Pinnochio of the Day Award

2009-01-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

Maybe more like of the week....or month. But there's much competition for that grand an award.

Nonetheless, we submit this gem for your consideration. From Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House:

I didn’t come here to be partisan. I didn’t come here to be bipartisan. I came here, as did my colleagues, to be nonpartisan, to work for the American people, to do what is in their interest.

Right....and just how much is that bridge in your district's backyard going for these days??

From the NY Times, via Drudge.

And it's only January

2009-01-28T07:22:00.001-08:00

The Gateway Pundit tells of the growing "Culture of Corruption" that is sweeping through city halls in America:

Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez was busted on bribery charges today. He joins three fellow democratic mayors caught in scandal this year. Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon was indicted Jan. 9, 2009, by a grand jury on 12 counts, including perjury, theft and misconduct in office. Racine Mayor Gary Becker was arrested on charges of attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child, child enticement and possession of child pornography. Portland Mayor Sam Adams, the first openly gay mayor from a major American city, admitted last week that he had sexual relations with a teen intern.

Of course, there's that one common thread, but we'd have to be insensitive partisans to mention it. All are liberal democrats.

Full Disclosure??

2009-01-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

The mayor of Hartford Connecticut surrendered on corruption charges yesterday. The real story is about the lapses in the news coverage. Initial stories managed to "omit" the party affiliation of the mayor, with later stories burying the news that he is a Democrat in the 13th paragraph.

There's actually a good formula that one can use to discern the unmentioned party of officials in news stories. If the story is negative and no party is mentioned, one can reliably assume the offender is a Democrat. If the story is positive and no party is mentioned, it's a Republican. That is, if a positive story about a Republican even sees the light of day in the MSM.

Hat tip to the boys at Power Line.

From the Gipper

2008-11-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

From Ronald Reagan in 1975 at CPAC:

A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.

I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.

Hat tip to ScrappleFace for the quote.

Look at this....

2008-11-06T18:36:00.000-08:00

The Dow Jones Industrial Average from Election Day to now:

So, where are the comparisons to Herbert Hoover? Oh, I forgot - we only make those statements when they're about a Republican politician.

I'm just holding on to my stocks for the long haul....which is looking longer every day.

Another hat tip to Flopping Aces.

Now they're asking??

2008-11-05T23:15:00.000-08:00

From Dan Balz in the Washington Post:

At home, Obama must revive an economy experiencing some of the worst shocks in more than half a century. Abroad, he has pledged to end the war in Iraq and defeat al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He ran on a platform to change the country and its politics. Now he must begin to spell out exactly how.

So let's get this straight....the Washington Post has no idea of what Obama is going to do.

Mike's America put it well over at Flopping Aces:

You mean the guy was campaigning for years and even the Washington Post doesn’t know what he would do once elected? All those debates. All those speeches. All those press conferences (oops! scratch that, he has held so very few) and we don’t know what Obama would do once he’s in office?

What were all those thousands of reporters doing when they weren’t busy investigating Sarah Palin’s children or Joe the Plumber? Don’t you think they could have asked Obama a question about the economy, Iraq or the Taliban?

Another example of the end of journalism by the traditional press.

Steyn on "being offended"

2008-11-05T14:25:00.000-08:00

From Mark Steyn's column in the August issue of Imprimis:

I started keeping a file on pig controversies a couple of years ago, and you would be surprised at how routine they have become. Recently, for instance, a local government council prohibited its workers from having knickknacks on their desks representing Winnie the Pooh’s sidekick Piglet.

As Pastor Martin Niemoller might have said, "First they came for Piglet and I did not speak out because I was not a Disney character, and if I was, I’d be more of an Eeyore. Then they came for the Three Little Pigs and Babe, and by the time I realized the Western world had turned into a 24/7 Looney Tunes, it was too late, because there was no Porky Pig to stammer, ‘Th-th-th-that’s all folks!’, and bring the nightmare to an end."

All in order to keep Muslims in England from being "offended". Watch out, America....it's coming here soon.

Wednesday morning pick-me-up

2008-11-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

Paul Mirengoff at Powerline had the silver lining of the morning:

One should never say "never" in politics. However, Barack Obama's victory almost certainly means that neither Hillary Clinton nor Al Gore will ever be president of the United States.

Small consolation.

Journalism RIP

2008-11-04T21:55:00.000-08:00

In a self-congratulatory mode, the press will be sure to make the Obama victory the number one story of the year. Or more likely, the decade. But the biggest story is one that won't be found on the pages of the NY Times or the Washington Post. Or on 60 Minutes. No, the story is the death of journalism.

Victor Davis Hanson has it pegged. You need to read the whole piece, and shake your head muttering as it sinks in. You can find it HERE.

Thanks to Peg Kaplan at what if? for the heads up on the article.

Back to try to help save America

2008-11-04T20:24:00.000-08:00

Well, the American people demonstrated that Will Rogers was correct when he wrote: “In America, anyone can grow up to be President: it’s a risk we all take.” They bought the image, and will come to know the reality soon enough.

It's enough to bring me back to blogging. We need sensible voices from "the wilderness" and hopefully, I'll provide one.

See you around.

Fred vs Moore -- The Smackdown

2007-05-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

Michael Moore has challenged Fred Thompson to a debate on Cuba and the Cuban healthcare system. Well, Fred put out a video response - 38 seconds of cool, refined smackdown.

See the response HERE.

More and more, I'm thinking that Fred may be that clear-talking, non-triangulating candidate to inspire America. It is 18 months til the presidential election, and a lot can happen in that time. Thompson is in a position to make this an election on just what America is about.

Right now, I want these "debates" to winnow out the obvious chaff in the candidate ranks. I'm not going to make any kind of final endorsement, nor will I be a one-issue voter (aside from national security, which should be a given for all candidates). But I want someone who will be an inspiring candidate, not the safest one.

Word Substitution

2007-05-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

I was listening to Mitch Berg and Ed Morrissey (from Shot in the Dark and Captain's Quarters respectively) this morning. They have a great radio program from the Twin Cities every Saturday as part of the Northern Alliance Radio Network.

During the show, they discussed the situation at Tufts University and the university's Islam Awareness week. A thought crossed my mind, and in the interest of sharing truths about modern language, I give it to you now.

Every time you hear the term "awareness" spoken/written/issued by a liberal or liberal organization, merely substitute the words "whitewashed praise and promotion". So we get the following:

Islam awareness week becomes Islam whitewashed praise and promotion week.

Womens awareness week becomes Womens whitewashed praise and promotion week.

Black awareness month becomes Black whitewashed praise and promotion month.

Hispanic awareness month becomes Hispanic whitewashed praise and promotion month.

You get the picture.

Thinking alike

2007-05-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I talked about the need for a straight-talking candidate who can clearly articulate a vision for America.

Seems that the Draft Fred Thompson website has similar thoughts:

We want a nominee who can carry a vision of a great America with clarity and conviction and who can translate this vision into meaningful public policy.

Fred Thompson’s record is solid. He does not waffle. He knows where he stands because he is sure of what he believes.

I won't say that Fred would be the perfect candidate. But think back to the 1980 election. GHW Bush was the "resume candidate" with all the right "background". Reagan was the "actor turned politician". In the primaries, who gave the vision for America, won the nomination, and later won the presidency?

The more this goes on, the more viable he looks - if only in comparison to the mediocrity that clogs this field.

Three Questions

2007-05-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton visited a primary school in Ithaca, New York, to talk about her job as a senator. After her talk, she offered question time. One little boy put up his hand and the Senator asked his name. “Kenneth,’ he replied. “And what is your question, Kenneth?” she asked.

Kenneth answered, “I have three questions:
“First…..whatever happened to your medical health care plan?
Second…..why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office?
And third…..whatever happened to all those things you took when you left the White House?”

Just then the bell rang for recess. Senator Clinton informed the kiddies that they would continue after recess. When they resumed, she asked, “Okay, where were we? Oh, that’s right…..question time. Who has a question?”

A different little boy raised his hand; Hillary pointed him out and asked him his name.
“Larry,” he replied. “And what is your question?” continued the Senator.

“I have five questions,” he answered,
“First…..whatever happened to your medical health care plan?
Second…..why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office?
Third…..whatever happened to all those things you took when you left the White House?
Fourth…..why did the recess bell go off 20 minutes early?
And fifth…..what happened to Kenneth?”

Stolen from The Confabulator.

Fear is the last refuge....

2007-05-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

For a failing candidacy. Taking a page from many campaigns here in America, a candidate for the presidency of France played the fear card:

Socialist opponent Segolene Royal said on Friday that France risks violence and brutality if her opponent right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy wins Sunday's presidential election.
On the last day of official campaigning, opinion polls showed Sarkozy enjoyed a commanding lead over Royal, who accused the former interior minister of lying and polarizing France.
"Choosing Nicolas Sarkozy would be a dangerous choice," Royal told RTL radio.

"It is my responsibility today to alert people to the risk of (his) candidature with regards to the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country (if he won)," she said.

As I noted in a previous post, it's the hope for a better future that truly resonates with an electorate. Royal hasn't been able to articulate a new future for France, continuing to rehash and update the old government statism of the past. Facing defeat at the polls, the only tool left is a last-minute gasp to try to instill fear.

We've seen this here in America with the accusations that blacks will be killed, grandmothers will freeze in the winter, and gays will be systematically persecuted -- all if a Republican is elected. Nice to see that the left has a multi-cultural playbook that gets used in both America and in Europe. I just wish they would find some other argument to try to advance their agenda.

Thanks to Reuters for the report.

Verizon does the right thing

2007-05-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: It seems that Verizon may still be sponsoring Akon through his association with the Gwen Stefani tour, which is being sponsored by Verizon. No word whether V is going to push for his removal from the tour. So hold off on buying those new mobile phones.
END UPDATE

I was about to post about Verizon's arrangement with Akon, when Verizon released the following:

Verizon decided this week to end its support and sponsorship of Akon.
Jim Gerace
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Verizon Wireless

Apparently enough people complained about Verizon's business arrangements to make it an issue worth addressing. Now comes the tricky part....will Verizon keep to the straight and narrow down the road?

I'll go back to considering Verizon - they just laid fiber cable in front of my house this week. Time for even faster internet??

H/T to Michelle Malkin for the news.

Candidate's debate

2007-05-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

Much is being written on who won, who lost, who gained ground, who looks good, who needs a new haircut....the usual stuff. My quick view - I wasn't impressed. Too much posturing, too much CYA.

I worry that the Republicans in the field are trying to out-nuance the Democrats, long the masters of such double-talk. Following the polls and trying to appeal to ever-increasing subsectors of the electorate is a losing strategy. Catering to (and throwing money at) special interest blocs is the modus operandi of the Democratic party, and any attempt to emulate that direction is a fool's choice.

What this country needs is a candidate who will speak what he truly believes, lay down a vision for the country's future, and promise to always put the interests of the nation, and thus its people, first. Straight talk (not the Express), no bull, no nuances, no hedging. Here is where I stand, why it is right, and what I am going to do. Figure out how to say it in a few clear and concise paragraphs, then never stop repeating those principles. If the people can't know what you stand for, you'll never win their hearts or their votes.

Reagan did just that. He wasn't a wonk with tons of statistics, or a policy paper on everything, or a new program to throw money out the door. He had something far more compelling - an articulated vision that gave hope and promise for the future. And he delivered.

I'm still looking for that in a declared candidate on the Republican side.

From the mouth of an Iraqi

2007-05-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post published a great piece today. An Iraqi write on why the USA, and the world, should not give up on Iraq. Some of the column:

So why should the world remain engaged in Iraq?

There is no denying the difficulties Iraq faces, and no amount of good news can obscure the demons of terrorism and sectarianism that have risen in my country. But there is too much at stake to risk failure, and everything to gain by helping us protect our hard-won democratic achievements and emerge as a stable, self-sustaining country.

We remain determined in spite of our losses. Spectacular attacks may dominate foreign headlines, but they cannot change the reality that Iraq has made steady political, economic and social progress over the past four years. We continue to strengthen our nascent democratic institutions, pursue national reconciliation and expand Iraqi security forces. The Baghdad security plan was conceived to give us breathing space to expedite political and economic development by "securing and holding" neighborhoods across the capital. There is no quick fix, but there have been real results: Winning public confidence has led to a spike in intelligence, a disruption of terrorist networks and the capture of key leaders, as well as the discovery of weapons caches. In Anbar province, Sunni sheikhs and insurgents have turned against al-Qaeda and to the side of Iraqi security forces. This would have been unthinkable even six months ago.

Read the whole article and ask yourself why the front pages aren't saying these things. Why does it only get one column on page A23?

H/T to AJ Strata over at The Strata-Sphere.

We Win, They Lose

2007-05-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

You know, it's as simple as that. And if you think that's the way it should be, head on over to We Win, They Lose and sign the petition. Make your voice heard that there is no alternative to victory.

The petition:

To: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
Harry Reid, U.S. Senate Democrat Leader

Congress has passed and President Bush has vetoed H.R. 1591, the Iraq Surrender Act of 2007.

This legislation, which you worked to pass, sets a timetable for surrender. It pulls the rug out from under our troops. That is shameful and wrong.

Your actions have already emboldened the enemy. Violent jihadists now know that the elected leadership of Congress would undermine the troops by holding their funding hostage to demands for surrender.

This Congress would bring us back to the dark days of the 1970s, when the world doubted our staying power. Except only much worse. Withdraw in April 2008, and on May 1, Iraq becomes an unchecked den of terrorism at the heart of the Middle East -- a new base for the same people that struck our homeland on September 11th.

I stand with our troops. I stand for victory. I support the President's veto and will urge my representatives to vote to sustain it.

There can be one and only one outcome in Iraq: We win, they lose.

At the Bar

2007-05-02T22:43:00.000-07:00

A man enters a bar and orders a drink. The bar has a robot bartender. The robot serves him a perfectly prepared cocktail, and then asks him, "What's your IQ?"

The man replies "150".

The robot proceeds to make conversation about world economic factors, quantum physics and spirituality, biochemistry, environmental interconnectedness, string theory, nanotechnology, and sexual proclivities.

The customer is very impressed & thinks, "This is really cool." He decides to test the robot. He walks out of the bar, turns around, and comes back in for another drink.

Again, the robot serves him the perfectly prepared drink and asks him, "What's your IQ?"

The man responds, "about 100."

Immediately the robot starts talking, but this time about football, NASCAR, baseball, supermodels, favorite fast foods, guns, and women's body parts.

Really impressed, the man leaves the bar and decides to give the robot one more test. He heads out & returns.

The robot serves him and asks, "What's your IQ?"

The man replies, "Er, 50, I think."

The robot says... real slowly, "So... is.. your... party... gonna... nominate... Hillary... for...president ???"

A Dr. Seuss ditty for our Senator Harry

2007-05-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

Mike at Flopping Aces penned this classic:

Harry Reid: Where Will You Fight Al Queda?

You won't fight Al Queda in Iraq. Will you fight them in Iran? Would you fight them in Afghanistan?

Will you fight them here or there? Will you fight them anywhere?

Would you fight Al Queda if they bomb our trains? Would you fight Al Queda if they hijack our planes?

Will you fight them like a mouse? Or will you just fight the White House?

Would you fight them with General Petraeus? Or will you just let Al Queda slay us?

Where will you fight Al Queda Harry Reid?

Will you fight them in our malls? Would you fight them in school halls?

Will you fight Al Queda at all? Or just let the President's plans stall?

Would you put our heads on the chopping block? And let Al Queda lop them off?

Are you here to play political games? Do you not care if the country goes up in flames?

Will you gut the Patriot Act and wait until we next get whacked?

Have you gone so far 'round the bend that you cannot give Iraq a chance to mend?

When will you learn? What will you do? How will you keep us safe? Do you have a clue?

Answer us please as time grows short. Al Queda is coming and we need a report. Will you fight them now or later? Will you wait until the cost is greater?

The full post has links to Dr. Seuss illustrations from World War II. One of those is here:

Just as appropriate today as it was 65 years ago.

Quote of the Day

2007-05-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

From Techography:

Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented immigrant" is like calling a drug dealer an "unlicensed Pharmacist."

I gotta like that one.

Germany in 1945 - Iraq in 2007

2007-05-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

Varifrank has an excellent post, entitled Mission Accomplished.

Rather than try to paraphrase it, or short quotes, go and read the whole thing. It will be worth your time.

Guess it's time to add Varifrank to the blog listing.

Quote for today

2007-04-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

"Virginia Tech has no more to do with gun rights than 9/11 had something to do with the licensing of pilots"

H/T to Varifrank.

More Sparta

2007-04-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

Varifrank has posted a great article entitled More Sparta, Less Athens. Unfortunately, there's no email link on his page, as I wanted permission to reprint the entire piece. So here are a few choice paragraphs:

It seems to me that 'self defense' is not considered an option in polite society. It is time we learned (or relearned) the need to sometimes be a little more "sparta" and a little less "athens".

and

- Do not consider the feelings of the madman in your acts, his goal is to kill you, your goal is to stop the killing by any means necessary.
If you can disrupt Ann Coulter when she comes to campus or the ROTC when they recruit on campus, you can stop or disrupt a madman when he comes to kill you and your classmates.

Read the whole article and pass it on to those whom you want to stick around. Especially if they are in a "safe" gun-free zone.

UPDATE: Mister Bear at has a post referencing another similar article from Mitch Berg at Shot in the Dark. Berg is harsher than Varifrank and right on the money - especially about "officials" in these situations.

One of his teachers

2007-04-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

One of the VT shooter's teachers had this to say:

She said she notified authorities about Cho, but said she was told that there would be too many legal hurdles to intervene. She said she asked him to go to counseling, but he never did.

A couple of observations. First, that a judgment was made by authorities not to try to go through the legal troubles to intervene. But, perhaps even more important, was the presence of all of those legal hurdles themselves. Just what does it take anymore to prevent a tragedy before it can happen?? Is the desire to have "protections" for the individual so strong that it prevents protecting the public at large?

Thanks to ABC News for the reporting.

From a VT Student

2007-04-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

From an op-ed in the Roanoke (VA) Times:

Of all of the emotions and thoughts that were running through my head that morning, the most overwhelming one was of helplessness.

That feeling of helplessness has been difficult to reconcile because I knew I would have been safer with a proper means to defend myself.

I would also like to point out that when I mentioned to a professor that I would feel safer with my gun, this is what she said to me, "I would feel safer if you had your gun."

This was written by a VT student who was licensed to carry a concealed weapon. However, carrying a weapon is forbidden on the VT campus, with the possibility of expulsion as punishment. So, this student (who carries on a regular basis elsewhere in his daily life) was unarmed. And helpless. Who knows how many others were in the same position. And how many victims as well.

Read his entire op-ed HERE. H/T to Instapundit.

Another Double Standard with a motive

2007-04-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

From the Manchester Union Leader:

The Imus standard: You can't say that
Radio talk show host Don Imus called Rutgers' mostly black women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" and got fired. Al Sharpton falsely accused a white man of rape and incited a race riot that left several dead. Jesse Jackson called Jews "hymies." And yet they still mingle at the highest circles of Democratic Party politics.

Imus' comments were indefensible. Even if the women did have tattoos and look a bit street-tough, as Imus was trying to say, calling them whores was an insult too far. But is it a fireable offense for a "shock jock" who has built his career uttering juvenile comments, including regularly making what he calls "n----- jokes"?

What Imus said was a great deal tamer than what is routinely uttered by rappers who call women "bitches" and boast about using and abusing them. It is tamer than the misogynistic and even racist jokes numerous stand-up comics make a living uttering. How did this offensive but comparatively tame comment get a major radio host pulled from the air? Fellow syndicated radio host Neal Boortz has a theory.

Boortz thinks that the Left has finally figured out how to bring down talk radio: accuse the hosts of racism. Unable to compete with talk radio, the Left has opted to play thought police. Racial prejudice is the last free speech taboo in America. Peg a broadcaster as racist, and you can bring him down.

"Liberals see this whole Imus situation as a way to rid themselves of the problem of talk radio ... they will turn their attention to the rest of us. The tape recorders will be running. There is not one single significant right-of-center radio talk show out there that is not going to come under fire."

Boortz has a point. Calling black women "hos" is not offensive to the cultural Left. If it were, there would be boycotts of rap stars and record labels. But if it presents an opportunity to go after a non-liberal talk radio host, the Left will take it. With one notch on their belt, they'll be sure to seek others.

Meanwhile, the same people who demanded Imus' head on a pike will continue to give platforms to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as legions of rappers provide the misogynistic background music.

Copyright, Manchester Union Leader, 2007

Thanks to Neal Boortz for the quote.

Memo to Al

2007-04-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hey Dude,

This Global Warming thing isn’t working. Should I drive my SUV around a bunch to help out? I’m frakkin’ freezing here.

Stolen from When the Smoke Clears. Thanks to the Grouchy Old Cripple for the link.

Joe Biden, it's Katie on line 1

2007-04-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

Captain Ed over at Captain's Quarters has the story on perky Katie and her childhood library days. The only problem is, the words aren't Katie's and neither it the original thought.

Ed has the same view that I do....that Katie is an empty suit (though definitely a well-tailored one) with no background as a journalist. She's that cute, perky face that just makes you want to believe everything that comes out of her mouth. Blecchh!!

He caps off his post with this conclusion:

The irony comes from the fact that even with all of these efforts to build Katie into a reporter, the public still finds Couric and CBS less than credible. Her ratings tanked shortly after joining CBS as the anchor as the Tiffany Network switched to softer news on her arrival. Now that the plagiarism has pulled back the green curtain, Couric is exposed as an empty suit -- emptier even than her colleagues on network news broadcasts. She's the new gold standard for phoniness.

Read the whole thing in The Empty Suit Parade.

From the StrataSphere

2007-04-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

AJ Strata has a post that puts a lot of the 2008 race into perspective for "conservatives". He writes:

Far right (or hard right) Republicans/Conservatives have a decision to make: either purity or Power.

Personally, I have always been a "Half a Loaf" personality -- I'd rather have the half than get nothing and just complain about it. Also, if you have the half, it's easier to try to get more of the other half that's still out there.

Read the whole post HERE.

Dennis Miller on Pelosi

2007-04-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

I've always enjoyed Dennis Miller, especially post 9/11. The scales came off the eyes.

Via Newsbusters, comes this little snippet on Pelosi:

Look at Pelosi for God’s sakes. Can you take her, what’s with the blinking? She always looks to me like she’s signaling the Carpathia that she’s hit an iceberg or something. You know, the whistle on that train of thought is barely audible off in the distance, okay. This woman has gone through the Peter Principle like Gene Hackman under the El tracks in “French Connection.” You know why people love her so much? The political cartoonists can use her actual photo. That’s why they love her.

You can see the complete clip through MsUnderestimated.

The Price of Destruction

2007-04-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

If one person goes on a rampage and destroys private property, he's looking at some serious price to pay for his behavior. But, if you can do it in a group, and have a political "message" as a motivation, it can be a profitable endeavor.

From the Seattle Times:

The city of Seattle will pay $1 million to WTO protesters who were arrested in Westlake Park seven years ago and will clear their records, in a settlement announced today.

The money will cover the plaintiffs' legal fees, with the rest divided among 160 protesters, who will get roughly $3,000 to $10,000 per person, said Mike Withey, their attorney.

This is just simply abhorrent in my view....and if anyone needs to be reminded of scenes from that protest:

They had best not try this here

2007-04-04T19:09:00.000-07:00

From RIA Novosti:

BRUSSELS, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - The government of Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia, which has a population of about 4 million, has approved a tax on barbequing, local media reported.
Experts said that between 50 and 100 grams of CO2, a so-called greenhouse gas, is emitted during barbequing. Beginning June 2007, residents of Wallonia will have to pay 20 euros for a grilling session.

The local authorities plan to monitor compliance with the new tax legislation from helicopters, whose thermal sensors will detect burning grills.

Then again, they don't celebrate the 4th of July, Memorial Day and Labor Day like we do.

Thanks to the WorldwideStandard for the tip.

Just what is it about "tolerance"

2007-04-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

Thomas Mann on tolerance

"Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil."

Thanks to Scribal Terror for the quote.

Do as I say....

2007-03-31T10:45:00.000-07:00

From Breitbart:

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday dismissed any comparison between the firing last fall of eight U.S. attorneys with the replacement of 93 U.S. attorneys when her husband became president in 1993.
"That's a traditional prerogative of an incoming president," Clinton said in an interview with The Associated Press. Once U.S. attorneys are confirmed, they should be given broad latitude to enforce the law as they see fit, she said. "I think one of the hallmarks of our democracy is we have a devotion to the rule of law," Clinton said.
She conceded that should she win the presidency in 2008, she likely would replace all of the U.S. attorneys appointed by President Bush. She said that's merely following traditions in which presidents appoint prosecutors of their own party.

So, with a wave of the hand, it's all so clear. We can name who we like, but if you make any change....

Hillary would want US Attorneys who would represent the positions and policies of the Democratic party. That's OK. But for GWB to want US Attorneys who represent the policies of the Republican administration, that's wrong.

I guess that talking out of both sides of the mouth just comes naturally to her.

Fighting back against multiculturalism

2007-03-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

I've always had the jaundiced eye whenever I hear the terms "multiculturalism" and "diversity". So I had a particular pleasure when a German judge tried to use the Koran (and I use that spelling intentionally) to justify a ruling in a divorce case. There was outrage and the judge was removed from the case. Over at FrontPage, they wrote:

Judge Datz-Winter’s decision caused a furor in Germany, and she was quickly removed from the case. That may be one small sign that Europe is inching toward throwing off its multiculturalist blinders and recovering the spirit of General Sir Charles James Napier, the British Commander-in-Chief in India from 1849 to 1851. It is said that a Hindu delegation protested against the British prohibition of sati, the practice of burning a widow to death on her husband’s funeral pyre, by telling Napier that it was part of their cultural custom. Napier famously responded: "You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

Time for more people to think, and act, like Napier.

Photos regarding the new Congress

2007-03-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

Over at the Power Line Forum, there's a humorous, yet telling, series of photos. Take a gander at this link and don't think it couldn't happen.

Al Gore Defined

2007-03-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

I love a well-turned phrase, and this description of Al Gore truly hits the spot:

"A desperate hunger for greatness malnourished by the thin gruel of mediocrity."

A true hat-tip to Dafydd ab Hugh over at Big Lizards for supplying those words. The link to the post is HERE.

Another long absence

2007-03-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it was another long absence, and one that I am ashamed of. Procrastination is one of my biggest failings in life, so I really need to force myself to just sit at the keyboard and write. Not that there is any shortage of material rolling around in my brain. Just the discipline to write.

However, now that the political scene is heating up for 2008, it's tough to sit back. So, the doors are open again. Let the cynicism begin!!

Quote of the Week

2006-05-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

From the blog Discriminations:

Senator Arlen Specter to Senator Russ Feingold, after a shouting match that ended when Senator Feingold left the hearing room:

"I don't need to be lectured by you. You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I."

How true -- and how sad.

Be careful what you say

2006-05-21T19:04:00.000-07:00

The liberal leadership in Washington has been busy trumpeting their "Culture of Corruption" theme - though I haven't seen much aside from Cunningham (who was a true crook) and Abramoff (who was an equal opportunity bagman, serving both sides of the aisle).

AJ Strata has a post about a part of that "Culture" that Pelosi and Reid probably won't be talking about:

A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.

At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company’s deal for work in Africa.

Now today, Jefferson has a news conference and announces that, rather than resigning, he's even more committed to serving his constituents. More like serving himself, if you ask me.

Slimy lawyers getting theirs

2006-05-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

I read this post at Captain's Quarters with a great deal of delight.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment alleging fraud, corruption, and kickbacks at one of the most prominent legal firms in the class-action lawsuit industry. Milberg Weiss also has two of its partners under personal indictment for a criminal racketeering conspiracy, and the feds want over $200 million in restitution

Seems that these lawyers had their own stable of plaintiffs willing to sue for just about anything.

Of course, reading this also makes me sad that the US judicial system has degenerated into this sorry state. In some ways, I wish that 5 wise justices would sit on the SCOTUS bench and say "You know....all that Stare Decisis crap had gotten us in a lot of stupid positions. Let's just scrap a bunch of the silly stuff that has sent us down the slippery slope and start over."

They did it with Brown vs Board of Education and some other cases....why not now???

News that you don't get from the MSM

2006-05-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

A US Navy warship is being made in New Orleans using steel from the World Trade Center.

A] ship has begun to rise from the ashes of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Bringing together Americas two great calamities of the 21st century, the USS New York is being built in New Orleans with 24 tonnes of steel taken from the collapsed World Trade Centre.
[T]he girders taken from Ground Zero have been treated with a reverence usually accorded to religious relics. After a brief ceremony in 2003, about seven tonnes of steel were melted down and poured into a cast to make the bow section of the ships hull.

Some shipworkers say the hairs stood up on the backs of their necks the first time they touched it. Others have postponed their retirement so they can be part of the project.

Hat tip to the crew at Power Line.

Mencia on the military

2006-05-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

Go here for a video clip of Carlos Mencia doing a routine on why the US military is so powerful. You'll get a laugh while hearing some real truths.

Thanks to Jay Tea at Wizbang for the story with the link.

A glossary

2006-05-03T15:39:00.000-07:00

From the folks at StrangePolitics come a post about the REAL "Liberal" Meanings of Words". Written by Rachel Marsden, it was originally on the Canadian website Canoe.ca.

Some of the gems from the article:

Here's my handy glossary of commonly used leftist terms, and what they really mean:

Social justice: Spreading the misery of socialism equally throughout society.

Balance: Left vs. far-left (e.g., Hillary Clinton debating Ted Kennedy).

Environmentalists: Celebrities who brag about their environmentally friendly hybrid cars while tooling around the world in gas-guzzling private jets. Liberals who can't afford a car also use this label so they don't appear pathetic to friends.

Freedom fighters: Terrorists whose goal is to destroy Western democracy.

Terrorist: George Bush, or anyone who wants to harm "freedom fighters."

Torture: Frat-party activities that occur on foreign soil, in the presence of U.S. military personnel. Murder, rape and violence perpetrated by communist regimes don't count.

And of course, the best is saved for last:

Bush lied: A catch-all that means, "I have no idea how to debate this issue intelligently."

Be sure to read, and save, the whole list.

Undocumented?

2006-05-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

Stefan Sharkansky over at Sound Politics has a thought provoking post about the whole issue of "undocumented".

Yesterday, while our government officials and government employee unions were marching in the streets with the "undocumented immigrants", I was filing my quarterly B&O tax returns. And that led me to think: Gee, wouldn't it be nice if I could be an undocumented business owner? Just as the "undocumented workers" opted to avoid the expense and inconvenience of obtaining proper documentation, I too would prefer to avoid the expense and inconvenience of operating as a documented business. But if nobody bothered to get themselves documented, who would pay for all of these wonderful social programs that some in government want to lavish on the undocumented?

I'd like to be "undocumented" every April 15th. I assume that the IRS would be interested in an amnesty for anyone who just didn't go through the trouble of filing a 1040 -- it's not like we are hurting anyone -right?

Now, if someone speaks up and says that not paying taxes is "illegal", I'll ask why it is OK for a Mexican to be called "undocumented" (even though they have violated Title 8, Chapter 12, Subchapter II, Part VIII, § 1325 of the US Code) while my actions would be called "illegal".

Monday's numbers

2006-05-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

So, let's assume that a million people marched on Monday (and I'm not sure about that). With an official USA population of 298 million, that means that 99.66% of America DID NOT march in support of those who are here illegally.

Sounds like a mandate to me.

Where's the free speech on campus?

2006-04-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

Michelle Malkin reports on more political-correctness censorship at Penn State:

For Penn State student Josh Stulman, years of hard work ended in disappointment yesterday when the university cancelled his upcoming art exhibit for violation of Penn State's policies on nondiscrimination, harassment and hate.
Three days before his 10-piece exhibit — Portraits of Terror — was scheduled to open at the Patterson Building, Stulman (senior-painting and anthropology) received an e-mail message from the School of Visual Arts that said his exhibit on images of terrorism "did not promote cultural diversity" or "opportunities for democratic dialogue" and the display would be cancelled.

You apparently can't express an opinion about terrorism if it doesn't bow to the gods of diversity and tolerance. But I'm not surprised. I'm glad that I managed to escape academia years ago - with my values and intelligence intact. Read the whole article and see that Penn State's academic integrity has hit bottom.

Keystone Jihadists

2006-04-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters thinks that al-Qaeda has a strange way of conducting an offensive against the West. I have to agree - unless this is some really obscure "deep game within a deep game within a deep game" type of strategy. And I can't come to believe that.

Read it all HERE.

PS: By the way, Captain Ed was named the "Blogger of the Year" by The Week magazine. And he well deserved the honor.

All the Jihad, All the time

2006-04-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

Joe over at Joe's Dartblog has an interesting observation about the al-Jazeera television network. He says that there's only one place in America that has 24/7 continuous access to the network, and that's in the hills of New Hampshire. More specifically, at Dartmouth. You can read more from his post.

Personally, I'd have suspected Harvard or the offices of the DNC.

Sonny Perdue for President??

2006-04-18T22:24:00.000-07:00

Michelle Malkin posts on a story from Reuters regarding the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act. The law denies many state services to people who are not in the USA legally. It puts in new restrictions on companies doing business with the state, and requires law enforcement to inform immigration officials if illegals are charged with a crime.

This is a great change - with luck, it will be the start of many other states using their own powers to make illegal entry into the USA less attractive. Captain's Quarters also reports on Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's vow to veto legislation that would allow children of illegals to receive in-state tuition at all Minnesota public universities and colleges.

Too bad that both Georgia and Minnesota aren't along our southern border.