Obama goes on Arabic TV, in the hopes that groveling before America's enemies will cause them to have pity upon us.
He's failed, and this will only be the first of many, many foreign policy disaters that will imperil the United States:
US President Barack Obama's offer to talk to Iran shows that America's policy of "domination" has failed, the government spokesman said on Saturday.
"This request means Western ideology has become passive, that capitalist thought and the system of domination have failed," Gholam Hossein Elham was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.
"Negotiation is secondary, the main issue is that there is no way but for (the United States) to change," he added.
After nearly three decades of severed ties, Obama said shortly after taking office this month that he is willing to extend a diplomatic hand to Tehran if the Islamic republic is ready to "unclench its fist".
In response, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched a fresh tirade against the United States, demanding an apology for its "crimes" against Iran and saying he expected "deep and fundamental" change from Obama.
And the Iranians know how to back up their words with action:
Cypriot authorities have detained a vessel from Iran and are investigating whether it was carrying an illegal cargo of weapons, diplomatic sources said yesterday.
It was unclear where the ship was destined. Israel's Haaretz newspaper said it was loaded with weapons and heading to Syria when it was intercepted.
The Cyprus-flagged ship was suspected of carrying weapons destined for Hezbollah or for Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Haaretz quoted Israeli sources as saying. Cypriot media said the vessel was thought to be carrying gunpowder.
Cypriot President Demetris Christofias confirmed the authorities had detained a ship. He said the cargo appeared to be "in contravention of [UN] Security Council resolutions" but declined to give further details.
Weapons to kill more Jews, Jews who will be villified when they dare to fight back. If there really is sucha a thing as a "cycle of violence", Iran is the hand that continually spins the wheel. George Bush knew that a gun held to their heads was his only chance, Obama is trying a "pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top" approach.
Well, that worked out well. Now what, Baracky?
Saturday, January 31, 2009
"Destroying Detroit to Save Detroit"
With the left hand, the government pours billions upon billions of dollars of "aid" into Detroit's automakers, while with the right hand they create legislation that will bankrupt them like some kind of super-evil legislative smart-bomb. Rich Lowery calls it a "Love-Hate Affair":
A few months ago, GM and Chrysler got a federal lifeline in the form of $17.4 billion in loans, on grounds that their health is essential to the economy.
Now comes news that the Obama administration is acting quickly to approve a waiver for California to impose costly new restrictions on carbon-dioxide emissions from cars.
To combat global warming, California wants to mandate a 30 percent reduction in tailpipe emissions by 2016 and a fuel-efficiency standard of 49 miles per gallon by 2020. As many as 13 states will follow California's lead, creating a regulatory patchwork with automakers forced in practice to meet the higher standard.
Even California admits that the new strictures will add $1,000 to the cost of vehicles by 2016. (The carmakers estimate $3,000.) So, GM and Chrysler will struggle to shed labor and legacy costs - just to see new regulatory costs imposed on them by the very political authorities that are putting taxpayer dollars at risk to save them.
It's the rise of self-defeating industrial policy.....
Gateway Pundit finds this idiocy raised to the nth power in the Democratic-controlled Congress:
Democrats want to include a new car crushing plan in the "stimulus" bill where the government would buy new cars and trucks that obtain less than 18 mpg and crush them.
The so-called “Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles Act” is "Cash for Clunkers" with a twist. Instead of focusing exclusively on old cars as is typical with scrappage programs, this bill will target any vehicle with lower fuel-economy ratings. Participants will receive a cash voucher to purchase a more fuel-efficient new car or used car (model year 2004 or later) or receive credit for the purchase of public transportation tickets. Under the legislation, “fuel efficient” means at least 25% better mileage than the CAFE standard. It will be illegal to resell the scrapped vehicles. Bill sponsors want to destroy 4 million pickups and SUVs over the next four years.
Vehicles targeted for the scrap pile will likely include Chevy Blazers, Silverados, S-10s and Tahoes; Dodge Dakotas and Rams; Ford Explorers and F-Series; Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers; and any other SUV or truck that obtains less than 18 mpg.
So much for the will of the American consumer, so much for choice, so much for the free market, so much for the used car business, so much for a morsel of common sense in American economic policy.
Incidentally - the Democrats will have to pry my Jeep out of my cold dead hands:
A few months ago, GM and Chrysler got a federal lifeline in the form of $17.4 billion in loans, on grounds that their health is essential to the economy.
Now comes news that the Obama administration is acting quickly to approve a waiver for California to impose costly new restrictions on carbon-dioxide emissions from cars.
To combat global warming, California wants to mandate a 30 percent reduction in tailpipe emissions by 2016 and a fuel-efficiency standard of 49 miles per gallon by 2020. As many as 13 states will follow California's lead, creating a regulatory patchwork with automakers forced in practice to meet the higher standard.
Even California admits that the new strictures will add $1,000 to the cost of vehicles by 2016. (The carmakers estimate $3,000.) So, GM and Chrysler will struggle to shed labor and legacy costs - just to see new regulatory costs imposed on them by the very political authorities that are putting taxpayer dollars at risk to save them.
It's the rise of self-defeating industrial policy.....
Gateway Pundit finds this idiocy raised to the nth power in the Democratic-controlled Congress:
Democrats want to include a new car crushing plan in the "stimulus" bill where the government would buy new cars and trucks that obtain less than 18 mpg and crush them.
The so-called “Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles Act” is "Cash for Clunkers" with a twist. Instead of focusing exclusively on old cars as is typical with scrappage programs, this bill will target any vehicle with lower fuel-economy ratings. Participants will receive a cash voucher to purchase a more fuel-efficient new car or used car (model year 2004 or later) or receive credit for the purchase of public transportation tickets. Under the legislation, “fuel efficient” means at least 25% better mileage than the CAFE standard. It will be illegal to resell the scrapped vehicles. Bill sponsors want to destroy 4 million pickups and SUVs over the next four years.
Vehicles targeted for the scrap pile will likely include Chevy Blazers, Silverados, S-10s and Tahoes; Dodge Dakotas and Rams; Ford Explorers and F-Series; Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers; and any other SUV or truck that obtains less than 18 mpg.
So much for the will of the American consumer, so much for choice, so much for the free market, so much for the used car business, so much for a morsel of common sense in American economic policy.
Incidentally - the Democrats will have to pry my Jeep out of my cold dead hands:
Yeah, that's right, lefties. Make my f*ckin' day....Ah, I betcha just the sight of this little 17/19 MPG beast would make a liberal soil themselves and run screaming home for their wet nurse...
And could somebody please wake me when Baracky finally gets a clue?
Friday, January 30, 2009
Another Gaza Massacre ! Oh, Wait...
..if the Jews don't have an alleged hand in it, and if the media doesn't report it - or invent it out of the whole cloth - is it really happenning?
Apparently:
Evidence is emerging of a wave of reprisal attacks and killings inside Gaza that have left dozens dead and more wounded in the wake of Israel's war. Among the dead are Palestinians suspected of collaborating with the Israeli military. Others include criminals who were among the 600 prisoners to escape from Gaza City's main jail when it was bombed as the war began. Their attackers are thought to be their victims' relatives.
Nice people. Let's give them a state! That will be the tonic that cures all their ills, right?
Would be nice to see the MSM report these stories, so that people have perspective and insight the next time an Israeli/Hamas war erupts.
I know, I know - what would become of The Narrative?
Apparently:
Evidence is emerging of a wave of reprisal attacks and killings inside Gaza that have left dozens dead and more wounded in the wake of Israel's war. Among the dead are Palestinians suspected of collaborating with the Israeli military. Others include criminals who were among the 600 prisoners to escape from Gaza City's main jail when it was bombed as the war began. Their attackers are thought to be their victims' relatives.
Nice people. Let's give them a state! That will be the tonic that cures all their ills, right?
Would be nice to see the MSM report these stories, so that people have perspective and insight the next time an Israeli/Hamas war erupts.
I know, I know - what would become of The Narrative?
Super Bowl Predictions: Rush Limbaugh
Cardinals are birds—innocent beasts of nature, struggling to survive as man encroaches upon their habitat. Steelers are big, polluting industrialists whose tactics have led to lung disease, global warming, and general filth. However, the Steelers are also Big Labor, rewarded just this morning at the White House. And birds have now become an enemy of polluting jets—consider the U.S. Air flight that landed in the Hudson.
So, with killing birds to protect union pilots and flight attendants now a federal project, and Big Labor being rewarded, the Steelers will exterminate the Cardinals for the good of America, and for economic stimulus.
27-10
So, with killing birds to protect union pilots and flight attendants now a federal project, and Big Labor being rewarded, the Steelers will exterminate the Cardinals for the good of America, and for economic stimulus.
27-10
Obama take Big Labor in his hand...
...and furiously jacks them off:
President Barack Obama is playing to one of the Democratic Party's most reliable constituencies — organized labor — reversing a number of his predecessor's executive orders that critics regard as anti-union.
Labor leaders were to visit the White House for a second consecutive day Friday, where, a union official said, Obama was to abolish four Bush-era directives that unions opposed and then reintroduce Vice President Joe Biden's task force focused on the middle class.
Both were meant as a way for the new administration to connect with workers at the end of a week that has seen U.S. companies announce thousands more jobs cuts.
"Over the last 100 years the middle class was built on the back of organized labor. Without their weight, heft and their insistence starting in the early 1900s we wouldn't have the middle class we have now, in my view," Biden told CNBC on Thursday. "So I think labor getting a fair share of the pie is part of it."
So Obama's been in office nine days, and two of them have been spent yukking it up with union thugs? Good thing he has his priorities straight; and at least we know who's really in charge of things now....
And Biden is a tool. He's concerned about labor getting a "fair share of the pie"? They already get more - in health benefits, vacation, work hours, retirement, and hourly pay - than most private-sector employees do. And the preceding sentence, that refers to "thousands of job cuts" - how many of them are union, and how many of them are private-sector? And what is Biden and Obama doing for the private sector? Why, taxing them more to pay for union benefits!
But hey - if I may go local, New Jersey is way ahead of the curve on this one. Glance at the New Jersey Supreme Court - if you dare - to see how this stupidity ends up. You see, in New Jersey striking workers are now eligible for unemployment benefits! Via Garden State Patriot:
Unemployment benefits are normally reserved for people who are forced from their jobs, not people who simply walk off their jobs — except in New Jersey, that is, where all common sense was toppled this week in an odd and strained ruling by the state’s Supreme Court, which determined that nurses who went on strike at a South Jersey hospital are entitled to receive jobless pay. As troubling, the decision upheld a backward state law that says strikers can receive unemployment benefits so long as their company remains open.
It is a “pro-labor decision,” said Fred Askin, a professor at Rutgers Law School in Newark. “It’s a progressive decision.”
Yeah. "Progressively" driving the state - and, under Obama's sticky hand, the nation - into another Great Depression...
President Barack Obama is playing to one of the Democratic Party's most reliable constituencies — organized labor — reversing a number of his predecessor's executive orders that critics regard as anti-union.
Labor leaders were to visit the White House for a second consecutive day Friday, where, a union official said, Obama was to abolish four Bush-era directives that unions opposed and then reintroduce Vice President Joe Biden's task force focused on the middle class.
Both were meant as a way for the new administration to connect with workers at the end of a week that has seen U.S. companies announce thousands more jobs cuts.
"Over the last 100 years the middle class was built on the back of organized labor. Without their weight, heft and their insistence starting in the early 1900s we wouldn't have the middle class we have now, in my view," Biden told CNBC on Thursday. "So I think labor getting a fair share of the pie is part of it."
So Obama's been in office nine days, and two of them have been spent yukking it up with union thugs? Good thing he has his priorities straight; and at least we know who's really in charge of things now....
And Biden is a tool. He's concerned about labor getting a "fair share of the pie"? They already get more - in health benefits, vacation, work hours, retirement, and hourly pay - than most private-sector employees do. And the preceding sentence, that refers to "thousands of job cuts" - how many of them are union, and how many of them are private-sector? And what is Biden and Obama doing for the private sector? Why, taxing them more to pay for union benefits!
But hey - if I may go local, New Jersey is way ahead of the curve on this one. Glance at the New Jersey Supreme Court - if you dare - to see how this stupidity ends up. You see, in New Jersey striking workers are now eligible for unemployment benefits! Via Garden State Patriot:
Unemployment benefits are normally reserved for people who are forced from their jobs, not people who simply walk off their jobs — except in New Jersey, that is, where all common sense was toppled this week in an odd and strained ruling by the state’s Supreme Court, which determined that nurses who went on strike at a South Jersey hospital are entitled to receive jobless pay. As troubling, the decision upheld a backward state law that says strikers can receive unemployment benefits so long as their company remains open.
It is a “pro-labor decision,” said Fred Askin, a professor at Rutgers Law School in Newark. “It’s a progressive decision.”
Yeah. "Progressively" driving the state - and, under Obama's sticky hand, the nation - into another Great Depression...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The More That Things "Change"...
...Obama gets ugly, quickly, and the media cheers him on:
After a failed "charm offensive," US President Barack Obama and his allies unleashed a hard-hitting campaign Thursday to break defiant Republicans' thus-far united opposition to his economic stimulus plan.
The strategy called for millions of labor union members to telephone Republicans from hard-hit states, coupled with an aggressive television advertising campaign targeting potentially vulnerable Republican senators.
The ad featured Obama's warnings about the economic crisis he inherited from George W. Bush and invited viewers in Maine, New Hampshire, Alaska, and Iowa to tell their senators "support the Obama plan for jobs not the failed policies of the past," according to the script.
And the White House did not deny a report by Politico.com that it planned a state-by-state effort, highlighting job losses, to pressure lawmakers on the stimulus plan.
The aggressive tactics came after Obama's week-long charm offensive failed to win over even a single Republican when the House of Representatives voted 244-188 to pass the 819-billion-dollar measure...
Some thoughts:
-I like the line "...he inherited from George W. Bush". Just to make sure nobody had any doubts!
-why is the media (or the Obama White House, they are indistinguishable) using the language of war?
"Offensive", "allies", "campaign", "defiant" ? What happened to our era of national reconcilliation? Or is it only terrorist states we need to suck up to, while we mow down our fellow Americans?
-again, the phrase "Obama Plan" freaks me out a bit. Actually, lots of things about Obama freak me out. These guys read Ayn Rand, and are hell-bent on proving her bad guys were actually right. We'll see. Remember, Rand's liberals destroyed America in Atlas Shrugged . See here for more.
Finally - Obama has the wind at his back right now, as he should. But like all sailors, he should remember how quickly that wind can die down, and turn against him. See how far the ship of state sails in those waters...
After a failed "charm offensive," US President Barack Obama and his allies unleashed a hard-hitting campaign Thursday to break defiant Republicans' thus-far united opposition to his economic stimulus plan.
The strategy called for millions of labor union members to telephone Republicans from hard-hit states, coupled with an aggressive television advertising campaign targeting potentially vulnerable Republican senators.
The ad featured Obama's warnings about the economic crisis he inherited from George W. Bush and invited viewers in Maine, New Hampshire, Alaska, and Iowa to tell their senators "support the Obama plan for jobs not the failed policies of the past," according to the script.
And the White House did not deny a report by Politico.com that it planned a state-by-state effort, highlighting job losses, to pressure lawmakers on the stimulus plan.
The aggressive tactics came after Obama's week-long charm offensive failed to win over even a single Republican when the House of Representatives voted 244-188 to pass the 819-billion-dollar measure...
Some thoughts:
-I like the line "...he inherited from George W. Bush". Just to make sure nobody had any doubts!
-why is the media (or the Obama White House, they are indistinguishable) using the language of war?
"Offensive", "allies", "campaign", "defiant" ? What happened to our era of national reconcilliation? Or is it only terrorist states we need to suck up to, while we mow down our fellow Americans?
-again, the phrase "Obama Plan" freaks me out a bit. Actually, lots of things about Obama freak me out. These guys read Ayn Rand, and are hell-bent on proving her bad guys were actually right. We'll see. Remember, Rand's liberals destroyed America in Atlas Shrugged . See here for more.
Finally - Obama has the wind at his back right now, as he should. But like all sailors, he should remember how quickly that wind can die down, and turn against him. See how far the ship of state sails in those waters...
"The Obama Plan"? Tell It To John Galt...
You gotta love the headline:
GOP defies Obama overtures
Were the table turned, you would have "Dems stand tall against Bush intimidation"....but that's a post for a different day.
This is what I found interesting:
MoveOn, Americans United for Change, AFSCME and SEIU will be announcing a new ad campaign targeting moderate Republican senators who might support the stimulus.....
The ad, which will run in the Washington market and in those states, consists of clips of the president talking about the stimulus, followed by the male voiceover, “Tell Congress to support the Obama plan for jobs, not the failed policies of the past.”
Letters on the screen say: “Tell Congress to support the Obama Plan.”
Of course, it is a line straight out of Rand's Atlas Shrugged, where the looter government of the United States (sound familiar?) is trying to convince the American people they have a sound plan to save the floundering economy. First, the last honest man, John Galt, speaks to the nation from a secret hideout:
John Galt tells the world about the strike [of the mind] and his reasons for it. He reveals the philosophical meaning and cause of the world's crisis and the cure: "We are on strike against self-immolation. We are on strike against the creed of unearned rewards and unrewarded duties. We are on strike against the dogma that the pursuit of one's happiness is evil. We are on strike against the doctrine that life is guilt."
Galt is captured by the government, who begs for his help so that they may maintain their power without sacrificing their philosophical underpinnings. Galt refuses. Finally, they have had enough:
Galt is ordered to put on formal dinner clothes. He's led to the hotel ballroom by a man who presses a hidden gun into his ribs. They enter to the standing ovation of five hundred guests, and Galt is seated as the guest of honor, between Mr. Thompson and the goon. After dinner, television equipment rolls forward, and an announcer welcomes everyone to the inauguration of "the John Galt Plan." Speakers commend him for his genius as a planner, his practical know-how, his selfless leadership....
Of course, there is no plan, it's just a charade to give those in power an opportunity to stay there for a few more minutes, so that they may gain even a greater control over the government, so that their power can become more absolute, despite the fact that it is painfully obvious that it their plan and philosophy that is driving a once-great nation to ruin. Of course this doesn't stop Rand's "speakers" from commending this illusary plan, just as it doesn't stop the Democrats, the media, and liberal PACS from demanding we accept the genius of "The Obama Plan".
Is there a John Galt out there to save us? One can only hope...
GOP defies Obama overtures
Were the table turned, you would have "Dems stand tall against Bush intimidation"....but that's a post for a different day.
This is what I found interesting:
MoveOn, Americans United for Change, AFSCME and SEIU will be announcing a new ad campaign targeting moderate Republican senators who might support the stimulus.....
The ad, which will run in the Washington market and in those states, consists of clips of the president talking about the stimulus, followed by the male voiceover, “Tell Congress to support the Obama plan for jobs, not the failed policies of the past.”
Letters on the screen say: “Tell Congress to support the Obama Plan.”
Of course, it is a line straight out of Rand's Atlas Shrugged, where the looter government of the United States (sound familiar?) is trying to convince the American people they have a sound plan to save the floundering economy. First, the last honest man, John Galt, speaks to the nation from a secret hideout:
John Galt tells the world about the strike [of the mind] and his reasons for it. He reveals the philosophical meaning and cause of the world's crisis and the cure: "We are on strike against self-immolation. We are on strike against the creed of unearned rewards and unrewarded duties. We are on strike against the dogma that the pursuit of one's happiness is evil. We are on strike against the doctrine that life is guilt."
Galt is captured by the government, who begs for his help so that they may maintain their power without sacrificing their philosophical underpinnings. Galt refuses. Finally, they have had enough:
Galt is ordered to put on formal dinner clothes. He's led to the hotel ballroom by a man who presses a hidden gun into his ribs. They enter to the standing ovation of five hundred guests, and Galt is seated as the guest of honor, between Mr. Thompson and the goon. After dinner, television equipment rolls forward, and an announcer welcomes everyone to the inauguration of "the John Galt Plan." Speakers commend him for his genius as a planner, his practical know-how, his selfless leadership....
Of course, there is no plan, it's just a charade to give those in power an opportunity to stay there for a few more minutes, so that they may gain even a greater control over the government, so that their power can become more absolute, despite the fact that it is painfully obvious that it their plan and philosophy that is driving a once-great nation to ruin. Of course this doesn't stop Rand's "speakers" from commending this illusary plan, just as it doesn't stop the Democrats, the media, and liberal PACS from demanding we accept the genius of "The Obama Plan".
Is there a John Galt out there to save us? One can only hope...
Sign Me Up For Their Biggest SUV !!
Ford is losing money, just like GM and Chrysler, yet they won't go begging from their no-longer-so-rich Uncle Sam for a handout:
Ford Motor Co. says it lost $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter but it has no plans to seek federal aid unless economic conditions worsen.
The second-largest U.S. automaker says it burned through $5.5 billion in cash during the quarter...
Reminds me of some tough times I went through; yet whenever my well-meaning dad would offer me a quick $100- or so to get me through to payday, I would always - always - turn it down. I thought it important to learn from my privitation, and I knew that when I succeeded in life, that victory would be mine, and not owed to any other.
GM and Chrysler will always be beholden to the government now, and like the Soprano family, the government will never fail to call in a debt for repayment, with some serious interest payments to boot. All this, of course, comes complete with the spectre of "dire consequences" if you don't pay ball...
Ford, if they stay their current course, will not have that albatross, and will be free to design whatever automobiles the public wants, as opposed to what the government tells the other two companies that the people allegedly need.
So who will be the winner in five years? Ford seems to have a long-term plan, while GM and Chrysler are just junkies, careening from failure to failure, and whining for more cash when they inevitably hit the wall. Someone should remind them that even a rich uncle has his limits.
In the meantime, I'll look at a Ford first next time. Shoot, just sign me up for this one....
Ford Motor Co. says it lost $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter but it has no plans to seek federal aid unless economic conditions worsen.
The second-largest U.S. automaker says it burned through $5.5 billion in cash during the quarter...
Reminds me of some tough times I went through; yet whenever my well-meaning dad would offer me a quick $100- or so to get me through to payday, I would always - always - turn it down. I thought it important to learn from my privitation, and I knew that when I succeeded in life, that victory would be mine, and not owed to any other.
GM and Chrysler will always be beholden to the government now, and like the Soprano family, the government will never fail to call in a debt for repayment, with some serious interest payments to boot. All this, of course, comes complete with the spectre of "dire consequences" if you don't pay ball...
Ford, if they stay their current course, will not have that albatross, and will be free to design whatever automobiles the public wants, as opposed to what the government tells the other two companies that the people allegedly need.
So who will be the winner in five years? Ford seems to have a long-term plan, while GM and Chrysler are just junkies, careening from failure to failure, and whining for more cash when they inevitably hit the wall. Someone should remind them that even a rich uncle has his limits.
In the meantime, I'll look at a Ford first next time. Shoot, just sign me up for this one....
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Obama Brings Forth Bi-Partisanship !
Although this is probably not the kind he was thinking of:
In a swift victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House approved a historically huge $819 billion stimulus bill Wednesday night with spending increases and tax cuts at the heart of the young administration's plan to revive a badly ailing economy. The vote was 244-188, with Republicans unanimous in opposition despite Obama's frequent pleas for bipartisan support.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.):
"I am glad that this vote demonstrated bipartisan opposition to the bill, instead of bipartisan support."
See? Obama can bring Democrats and Republicans together - in opposition to him!
In a swift victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House approved a historically huge $819 billion stimulus bill Wednesday night with spending increases and tax cuts at the heart of the young administration's plan to revive a badly ailing economy. The vote was 244-188, with Republicans unanimous in opposition despite Obama's frequent pleas for bipartisan support.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.):
"I am glad that this vote demonstrated bipartisan opposition to the bill, instead of bipartisan support."
See? Obama can bring Democrats and Republicans together - in opposition to him!
Obama=Carter; Iran Demands an "Apology"
Somebody please smack this neophyte Barack Obama upside the head and tell him: "Bush was right!":
Iran said on Wednesday it would welcome President Barack Obama's offer of a change in U.S. policy provided it involved a withdrawal of U.S. troops from abroad and an apology for past "crimes" against Tehran.
"When they say policy would change, it means they would end America's military presence around the world," he said, referring to U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world.
Those who say they want to make change, this is the change they should make: they should apologize to the Iranian nation and try to make up for their dark background and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said.
Crazy Ahmadinjed knows exactly who he's dealing with here. After all, as part of the hostage taking group that imprisoned 52 Americans for 444 days back in the dark days of the Jimmy Carter administration, he played the Democratic president like a fiddle:
Carter would latch on to a deal proffered by a top Iranian official and grant minor but humiliating concessions, only to have it scotched at the last minute by Khomeini....
Will Obama suffer the same fate? He's setting himself - and America - up for it, like the straight man in a vaudville production...
Iran said on Wednesday it would welcome President Barack Obama's offer of a change in U.S. policy provided it involved a withdrawal of U.S. troops from abroad and an apology for past "crimes" against Tehran.
"When they say policy would change, it means they would end America's military presence around the world," he said, referring to U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world.
Those who say they want to make change, this is the change they should make: they should apologize to the Iranian nation and try to make up for their dark background and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said.
Crazy Ahmadinjed knows exactly who he's dealing with here. After all, as part of the hostage taking group that imprisoned 52 Americans for 444 days back in the dark days of the Jimmy Carter administration, he played the Democratic president like a fiddle:
Carter would latch on to a deal proffered by a top Iranian official and grant minor but humiliating concessions, only to have it scotched at the last minute by Khomeini....
Will Obama suffer the same fate? He's setting himself - and America - up for it, like the straight man in a vaudville production...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Obama on Iran, Iran on Iran, Palestinians on Obama
And out of all of this, the American president comes out looking the most clueless of all.
Barack Obama, being asked about Iran yesterday while being interviewed on Arabic network Al-Arabiya (via Gateway Pundit):
I do think that it is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress. And we will over the next several months be laying out our general framework and approach.
And here is Iran talking to us, and to the world, and telling us exactly where they stand:
Iran's government spokesman on Tuesday branded the Holocaust a "big lie" created to place the Islamic republic's arch-foe Israel in the Middle East, the state IRNA news agency reported.
"The Holocaust is a concept coming from a big lie in order to settle a rootless regime in the heart of the Islamic world," Gholam Hossein Elham told a conference on Gaza in central Iran's religious city of Qom.
Iran does not recognise Israel, and since his election in 2005 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attracted international condemnation by repeatedly predicting that the Jewish state is doomed to disappear.
In late 2005 Ahmadinejad branded the Holocaust a "myth." His comment was followed by a conference in Tehran in 2006 that brought together Holocaust deniers and revisionists.
So Barack - is this "where are differences are", to use your phrase ? Or can we just agree to disagree whether there even was a Holocaust, and whether or not Ahmadinejad will precipitate a second (or first, depending on your outlook)?
The cynics in Gaza get it, better than the American media and their liberal supplicants:
"I can't be optimistic until I see something tangible," said Hatem al-Kurdi, 35, a Gaza City engineer who saw parts of the interview. "Anyone can say nice words, but you have to follow with actions."
"He seems very interested in the Middle East issue but he didn't say exactly what he's going to do about it," Kurdi added.
Sorry to disappoint you, Hatem, but Americans have decided to elect a leader who knows nothing except words, having taken very little action on anything for the whole of his life. But at least you understand the difference betwen the two.
Barack Obama, unfortunately, does not. And it will be to our peril, and Hatem's as well....
Barack Obama, being asked about Iran yesterday while being interviewed on Arabic network Al-Arabiya (via Gateway Pundit):
I do think that it is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress. And we will over the next several months be laying out our general framework and approach.
And here is Iran talking to us, and to the world, and telling us exactly where they stand:
Iran's government spokesman on Tuesday branded the Holocaust a "big lie" created to place the Islamic republic's arch-foe Israel in the Middle East, the state IRNA news agency reported.
"The Holocaust is a concept coming from a big lie in order to settle a rootless regime in the heart of the Islamic world," Gholam Hossein Elham told a conference on Gaza in central Iran's religious city of Qom.
Iran does not recognise Israel, and since his election in 2005 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attracted international condemnation by repeatedly predicting that the Jewish state is doomed to disappear.
In late 2005 Ahmadinejad branded the Holocaust a "myth." His comment was followed by a conference in Tehran in 2006 that brought together Holocaust deniers and revisionists.
So Barack - is this "where are differences are", to use your phrase ? Or can we just agree to disagree whether there even was a Holocaust, and whether or not Ahmadinejad will precipitate a second (or first, depending on your outlook)?
The cynics in Gaza get it, better than the American media and their liberal supplicants:
"I can't be optimistic until I see something tangible," said Hatem al-Kurdi, 35, a Gaza City engineer who saw parts of the interview. "Anyone can say nice words, but you have to follow with actions."
"He seems very interested in the Middle East issue but he didn't say exactly what he's going to do about it," Kurdi added.
Sorry to disappoint you, Hatem, but Americans have decided to elect a leader who knows nothing except words, having taken very little action on anything for the whole of his life. But at least you understand the difference betwen the two.
Barack Obama, unfortunately, does not. And it will be to our peril, and Hatem's as well....
...If it was Bush, they'd show the coke spoon up his nose...
Welcome to the responsiblities of an actual job, Baracky:
Maybe we shouldn't have started him out as POTUS?
Remember -the cooler they come, the more shattering the eventual nervous breakdown!
Hope he keeps a psychiatrist nearby....
Maybe we shouldn't have started him out as POTUS?
Remember -the cooler they come, the more shattering the eventual nervous breakdown!
Hope he keeps a psychiatrist nearby....
Monday, January 26, 2009
Change of Fools...
Change, as we often noted prior to the election, is not always for the better, and change for its own sake can lead you down many an unpleasant path.
Here's what change has bought us so far:
So President Obama promised virtue and transparency, and declared war on lobbyists. Thus far, we've got a tax cheat headed for Treasury, a man who lied under oath headed for Justice, and two celebrated lobbyists headed for the #2 slots at Defense and HHS.
Well, that certainly is change. George Bush usually did not nominate people like Obama's motley crue for top-level posts, and when, on occasion, it turned out that he had, said appointees were asked to step off immediately. Obama has made no such requests of the corrupted peoples he has tasked with running much of the government. After all, he won.
And change has also purchased us an empowered Nancy Pelosi, who has decided the best way to stimulate the economy is with a draconian China-like population control program:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi boldly defended a move to add birth control funding to the new economic "stimulus" package, claiming "contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."
Pelosi...seemed to imply babies are somehow a burden on the treasury....
Well, we wanted some change, and it sure looks as though we bought ourselves a lemon. And as "Lemon Laws" do not strictly apply to politicians - they have mandatory minimal ownership requirements, usually 2-6 years, before another change is allowed - we are going to have to stick this one out for a while, and hope it doesn't decide to drive us right off a cliff....
Here's what change has bought us so far:
So President Obama promised virtue and transparency, and declared war on lobbyists. Thus far, we've got a tax cheat headed for Treasury, a man who lied under oath headed for Justice, and two celebrated lobbyists headed for the #2 slots at Defense and HHS.
Well, that certainly is change. George Bush usually did not nominate people like Obama's motley crue for top-level posts, and when, on occasion, it turned out that he had, said appointees were asked to step off immediately. Obama has made no such requests of the corrupted peoples he has tasked with running much of the government. After all, he won.
And change has also purchased us an empowered Nancy Pelosi, who has decided the best way to stimulate the economy is with a draconian China-like population control program:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi boldly defended a move to add birth control funding to the new economic "stimulus" package, claiming "contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."
Pelosi...seemed to imply babies are somehow a burden on the treasury....
Well, we wanted some change, and it sure looks as though we bought ourselves a lemon. And as "Lemon Laws" do not strictly apply to politicians - they have mandatory minimal ownership requirements, usually 2-6 years, before another change is allowed - we are going to have to stick this one out for a while, and hope it doesn't decide to drive us right off a cliff....
Barack And Michelle Make a Porno?
Less than ten seconds in...
Yeah, I know I don't feel "physically bonded" with my significant other unless our fists are firmly planted up each other's....
Yeah, I know I don't feel "physically bonded" with my significant other unless our fists are firmly planted up each other's....
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Bring On the Fairness Doctrine!
So I'm in my Jeep, driving to the local Kwik-E-Mart to grab the Sunday papers, and I turn the radio to WHTG/106.3, an indie-rock station based out in Eatontown, New Jersey. The only true "alternative" remaining on my Central Jersey FM dial, Sunday mornings are always classic, with an '80's era "Breakfast Club" theme or alternative acoustic classics.
But not today.
I hit the volume, and what to I get? Kelly Clarkson! Irony, kitsch, camp - I tell myself frantically, wating for the next song to reveal the joke.....
No. Didn't recognize it, but it had lots of shrieking girls, a thumping dance beat, and lyrics that seemed to include "baby, baby" over and over again.
My worst fears were realized when the electronic DJ informed me I was now listening to"Hits106", with more top-40 hits on the way!
I turned off the radio, and nearly had to pull over on Route 9 South, so overwrought was I that overnight, I had lost my best friend on the radio, never to return, with not even a chance to say a final good-bye....
The ownership blamed its lazy fans for its failure to pull sufficient ratings:
While we know that G-Rock had a wide audience, unfortunately our extensive research shows this same audience is often reluctant to fill out Arbitron diaries so that we can get proper credit for the associated ratings,'' said McAllen in the letter, posted on the radio's Web site, www.grockradio.com. "As an industry the radio business is heavily reliant on Arbitron ratings. Further, Arbitron's diary methodology is extremely random and hence trying to appeal to a niche audience is extremely difficult from a ratings perspective.''
But not today.
I hit the volume, and what to I get? Kelly Clarkson! Irony, kitsch, camp - I tell myself frantically, wating for the next song to reveal the joke.....
No. Didn't recognize it, but it had lots of shrieking girls, a thumping dance beat, and lyrics that seemed to include "baby, baby" over and over again.
My worst fears were realized when the electronic DJ informed me I was now listening to"Hits106", with more top-40 hits on the way!
I turned off the radio, and nearly had to pull over on Route 9 South, so overwrought was I that overnight, I had lost my best friend on the radio, never to return, with not even a chance to say a final good-bye....
The ownership blamed its lazy fans for its failure to pull sufficient ratings:
While we know that G-Rock had a wide audience, unfortunately our extensive research shows this same audience is often reluctant to fill out Arbitron diaries so that we can get proper credit for the associated ratings,'' said McAllen in the letter, posted on the radio's Web site, www.grockradio.com. "As an industry the radio business is heavily reliant on Arbitron ratings. Further, Arbitron's diary methodology is extremely random and hence trying to appeal to a niche audience is extremely difficult from a ratings perspective.''
Really. Also interesting to note is how the new station is using the satellite-fed “Hits Now!” format from Dial Global Networks.
My question now is this:
Under the "Fairness Doctrine" being pushed by liberal Democrats to force stations to run counter-programming to successful conservative talk shows, couldn't this station be forced to change its format back to alterna-rock? It went from providing a beloved service to a loyal minority group of residents to mimicking a mainstream format available on at least a dozen+ stations on the local dial. To make matters worse, all creativity has been forcefully eliminated, replaced by a generic pre-programmed music feed that research shows will (apparently) enable people to better fill out ratings books.
And of what matter is ratings in this case, anyway? Under the "Fairness Doctrine", radio stations will be forced to give equal time to notoriously low-rated liberal yakkers to offset the time given to profitable conservative talkies. If talk stations should be forced to air low-rated, low-income programming to serve an allegedly underserved niche, why shouldn't WHTG-FM be forced to provide offsetting musical content to its "Hits" format to the underserved Central New Jersey alternative-rock aficianado?
I'm waiting....
Overheard on Inaguration Day
You can learn so much from watching TV! Sometimes more about the people who are delivering the news than those whom the news is allegedly about...
10:06 a.m. - CNN, Wolf Blitzer: "All of us are gonna have an opportunity to tell our friends and family - children, David, and grandchildren our own personal stories - how we got - here!
10:07 a.m. - CNN, Blitzer: "As I look at the crowd, Soledad, it's, you know, a lot of African-Americans. But there are a lot of white people. A lot of Asians."
1:06 p.m. - CNN, Blitzer: "If you've ever seen Barack Obama's signature, he-he is very precise when he writes. Uh. And it's uh, and if he writes - if he scribbles some words before he signs an autograph, for example - his penmanship, I must say - and I've seen it - is really excellent."
1:51 p.m. - WCBS-2, station break. We watch a Brooklyn band rehearsing for the inauguration, nearly missing a live shot of the outgoing president getting on a plane to go back to Texas.
2:07 p.m. - CNN, reporter Brianna Keeler speaks to Bronx citizens in the crowd:
Reporter: "Deshawna, what does it mean for you to be here?"
Citizen one: "I don't know. I'm just really happy and - I don't know."
Reporter: "Tell us. Tell me about - is it sort of a feeling of community?"
Citizen two: "Yes. Joyfulness."
Reporter: "Justine, what would you like to see accomplished?"
Citizen three: [No answer. Three seconds pass.]
Reporter: "Kathy, what would you like to see?"
Citizen four: "Education. Like, I wanna see, like, they worry more about education and, like, help schools and stuff."
Reporter: "All right, so a lot of young, uh, young people here - very excited, uh, Anderson, and uh they have definitely some issues on their mind
2:30 p.m. - CNN, Blitzer: "You have so many police officers who have been brought in from other parts of the country. And to a certain degree, at least I discovered this morning, just tryin' to get to where we are, you know what, you gotta talk to some of these cops and let 'em know who ya are and they might let ya through! Did you have that experience?"
Don Lemon: "I did have that experience. And it helped when people said, 'Hey, Don Lemon, CNN,' and they go 'OK, all right, we'll let you go through.' "
Blitzer: "The good news is, we all made it."
4:58 p.m. - NBC, Tom Brokaw: "It occurred to me that if [Vice President Biden] were to encounter Governor Palin, which is unlikely, during this course, she would not be able to say to him, 'Can I call you Joe?' She'd have to say to him, 'Can I call you Mr. Vice President?' As opposed to when they met on the stage for the first time."
What a pathetic display. As much self-respect as a drunken boob-exposing co-ed in New Orleans at Mardi Gras...
More sorriness here....
10:06 a.m. - CNN, Wolf Blitzer: "All of us are gonna have an opportunity to tell our friends and family - children, David, and grandchildren our own personal stories - how we got - here!
10:07 a.m. - CNN, Blitzer: "As I look at the crowd, Soledad, it's, you know, a lot of African-Americans. But there are a lot of white people. A lot of Asians."
1:06 p.m. - CNN, Blitzer: "If you've ever seen Barack Obama's signature, he-he is very precise when he writes. Uh. And it's uh, and if he writes - if he scribbles some words before he signs an autograph, for example - his penmanship, I must say - and I've seen it - is really excellent."
1:51 p.m. - WCBS-2, station break. We watch a Brooklyn band rehearsing for the inauguration, nearly missing a live shot of the outgoing president getting on a plane to go back to Texas.
2:07 p.m. - CNN, reporter Brianna Keeler speaks to Bronx citizens in the crowd:
Reporter: "Deshawna, what does it mean for you to be here?"
Citizen one: "I don't know. I'm just really happy and - I don't know."
Reporter: "Tell us. Tell me about - is it sort of a feeling of community?"
Citizen two: "Yes. Joyfulness."
Reporter: "Justine, what would you like to see accomplished?"
Citizen three: [No answer. Three seconds pass.]
Reporter: "Kathy, what would you like to see?"
Citizen four: "Education. Like, I wanna see, like, they worry more about education and, like, help schools and stuff."
Reporter: "All right, so a lot of young, uh, young people here - very excited, uh, Anderson, and uh they have definitely some issues on their mind
2:30 p.m. - CNN, Blitzer: "You have so many police officers who have been brought in from other parts of the country. And to a certain degree, at least I discovered this morning, just tryin' to get to where we are, you know what, you gotta talk to some of these cops and let 'em know who ya are and they might let ya through! Did you have that experience?"
Don Lemon: "I did have that experience. And it helped when people said, 'Hey, Don Lemon, CNN,' and they go 'OK, all right, we'll let you go through.' "
Blitzer: "The good news is, we all made it."
4:58 p.m. - NBC, Tom Brokaw: "It occurred to me that if [Vice President Biden] were to encounter Governor Palin, which is unlikely, during this course, she would not be able to say to him, 'Can I call you Joe?' She'd have to say to him, 'Can I call you Mr. Vice President?' As opposed to when they met on the stage for the first time."
What a pathetic display. As much self-respect as a drunken boob-exposing co-ed in New Orleans at Mardi Gras...
More sorriness here....
Saturday, January 24, 2009
"Atlas Shrugged" - From Fiction to Fact in Fifty Years !
As any reader of this blog knows, I am a huge favorite of the works of novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand. I vainly tried to spread the gospel and warned of its coming many times on the campaign trail, specifically (but not exclusively) here, here, and here.
Good to see that the Wall Street Journal is on the same page as I am; as they come to the realization that the events foretold in Rand's seminal novel, Atlas Shrugged, are coming to life:
I recommend all of Rand's work, but it is Atlas Shrugged that may be required reading for those whom want to see how the Age of Obama will unfold. It's 1200 pages of tough reading, with long monolouges, speeches, and stilted dialogue. Still - the ideas that seemed almost laughable when the novel was first published now plays out daily in the New York Times, without a word of caution from our self-proclaimed intellectual elite.
I'll leave you with this thought, which you can replay over and over in your head every time you hear Obama piously informing us that he will require "sacrifices":
"It only stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of service and sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.”
Good to see that the Wall Street Journal is on the same page as I am; as they come to the realization that the events foretold in Rand's seminal novel, Atlas Shrugged, are coming to life:
I recommend all of Rand's work, but it is Atlas Shrugged that may be required reading for those whom want to see how the Age of Obama will unfold. It's 1200 pages of tough reading, with long monolouges, speeches, and stilted dialogue. Still - the ideas that seemed almost laughable when the novel was first published now plays out daily in the New York Times, without a word of caution from our self-proclaimed intellectual elite.
I'll leave you with this thought, which you can replay over and over in your head every time you hear Obama piously informing us that he will require "sacrifices":
"It only stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of service and sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.”
Friday, January 23, 2009
Did you hear the one....
....about how after Barack Obama became president this week he found out the economy was worse than he thought—so he had to lay off a over a dozen people at the Washington Post and another sixteen at the New York Times?
Melodramatic? Perhaps Not....
That was my first thought when I read the last sentence of this post over at The Corner:
A week ago, former Vice President Cheney advised the incoming president to take some time and look carefully at the policies and institutions the Bush administration had put in place to protect the country before following through on campaign pledges to dismantle them....
Less than 48 hours after taking office, Obama has begun dismantling those institutions without time for any such review. The CIA program he is effectively shutting down is the reason why America has not been attacked again after 9/11. He has removed the tool that is singularly responsible for stopping al-Qaeda from flying planes into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, Heathrow Airport, and London’s Canary Warf, and blowing up apartment buildings in Chicago, among other plots. It’s not even the end of inauguration week, and Obama is already proving to be the most dangerous man ever to occupy the Oval Office.
OK, well, it has been only 48 hours, and that is a bit much, right?
So then I read this, and I realize why Mr. Marc Thiessen posts at The Corner and I do not:
An Internet posting purportedly by al-Qaida in Yemen says the group's No. 2 is a Saudi national who is a former Guantanamo detainee.
The Yemeni group — known as "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula" — posted the statement this week on a militant Web site that regularly carries al-Qaida messages.
It says the man returned to his home in Saudi Arabia after his release from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba about a year ago and from there went to Yemen to join the terror group.
The Internet statement identified the man as Said Ali al-Shihri and says his prisoner number at Guantanamo was 372.
Obama defiantly tears down the protective wall that George Bush so labouriously built around this nation in order to please the know-nothings (celebrities, professors, and the mainstream media) that constitute the bulk of his base, while he rams a socialist spending bill through Congress filled with such pork and waste that it is much more likely to deal an economic death blow to this country than provide any type of stimulus.
Or is this just a case of ideology trumping reality? Demanding the closing of Gitmo as previous prisoners, now released, take the reins of al-Qaeda shows a future where Democrats will revert to the failed policies of the past because...they are Democratic policies.
Is Obama being constructive by being destructive of all that was done before him? It's change, all right, but it leaves me with little hope....
A week ago, former Vice President Cheney advised the incoming president to take some time and look carefully at the policies and institutions the Bush administration had put in place to protect the country before following through on campaign pledges to dismantle them....
Less than 48 hours after taking office, Obama has begun dismantling those institutions without time for any such review. The CIA program he is effectively shutting down is the reason why America has not been attacked again after 9/11. He has removed the tool that is singularly responsible for stopping al-Qaeda from flying planes into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, Heathrow Airport, and London’s Canary Warf, and blowing up apartment buildings in Chicago, among other plots. It’s not even the end of inauguration week, and Obama is already proving to be the most dangerous man ever to occupy the Oval Office.
OK, well, it has been only 48 hours, and that is a bit much, right?
So then I read this, and I realize why Mr. Marc Thiessen posts at The Corner and I do not:
An Internet posting purportedly by al-Qaida in Yemen says the group's No. 2 is a Saudi national who is a former Guantanamo detainee.
The Yemeni group — known as "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula" — posted the statement this week on a militant Web site that regularly carries al-Qaida messages.
It says the man returned to his home in Saudi Arabia after his release from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba about a year ago and from there went to Yemen to join the terror group.
The Internet statement identified the man as Said Ali al-Shihri and says his prisoner number at Guantanamo was 372.
Obama defiantly tears down the protective wall that George Bush so labouriously built around this nation in order to please the know-nothings (celebrities, professors, and the mainstream media) that constitute the bulk of his base, while he rams a socialist spending bill through Congress filled with such pork and waste that it is much more likely to deal an economic death blow to this country than provide any type of stimulus.
Or is this just a case of ideology trumping reality? Demanding the closing of Gitmo as previous prisoners, now released, take the reins of al-Qaeda shows a future where Democrats will revert to the failed policies of the past because...they are Democratic policies.
Is Obama being constructive by being destructive of all that was done before him? It's change, all right, but it leaves me with little hope....
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Like Living in Orwell's Freakin' "1984"
I swear to God...
A long day of work has come to a merciful conclusion; and I stand shivering on a cold subway platform, watching the rats scurry in half-frozen puddles amongst the filth in the track-bed.
The "E" train (or "the crazy train", as some have dubbed it) slowly, with an agonizing metal-on-metal shriek, pulls into the station. I enter the car, ablaze with light (at least compared to the damp murkiness of the NYC underground), and am suddenly thrust into an Orwellian nightmare. For what greets my eyes is so disturbing I recoil with visceral disgust, and yet everywhere I attempt to set my eyes I am assaulted by the same surreal imagery:
In blind terror, I wheeled around to face my fellow passengers in what had rapidly evolved into a Twilight Zone episode on fast forward - their faces, their faces, what would I see? Bland, unemotional smiles like those of lobotomized mental patients? Or the blank, lifeless faces of those humans who fell prey to the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"?
Relief. It was still a NYC subway train, and smiles were interwoven with expressions of boredom, exhaustion, and (only occasionally) rage.
Still...it concerns me that Pepsi thinks the best way to sell soft drinks is by using fascist-like sloganeering embossed with the imprintuer of a President 58 million people did not vote for (with good cause?), a President that has been accused, even by his supporters, of allowing an unprecedented cult of personality to surround him.
"Hoo-Ray"? How about "F*ck You!"? That's a slogan I'll think of any time I have a choice between a Coke and a Pepsi...
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Media and The New Boss
Want to know what "reporting" will look like in The Age of Obama?
Why do I have the distinct impression that "humor" and "grace" were two words never used in the same sentence as "President Bush"? A man who was well-liked by all who personally met him - even those who disagreed with him - was ruthlessly tagged as an ignorant incompetent by those who could not fill his jockstrap. And Obama, who still has accomplished nothing in life - besides gettting elected to office via empty rhetoric - is full of "humor and grace".
Well, we'll see how long he can maintain it.
And for those out there who seem to think that the honeymoon with the press is over, and the media will return to the hard-hitting investigative journalism it once specialized in...you are kidding yourself. Expect four more years of the above, no matter what state the nation finds itself in.
In Defense of Partisanship
Written in the post-inagural glow:
Tomorrow, no doubt, Obama will sign some papers putting the United States firmly behind international abortion efforts again, and will begin the work of enacting a massively wasteful spending bill, and our politics will begin again to take up the great arguments that have long given it shape: about the proper relationship of the state and the citizen, about America’s place in the world, about the regard and protection owed to every human life, about how we might best reconcile economic prosperity and cultural vitality, national security and moral authority, freedom and virtue.
These are divisive questions of enormous consequence, and they are neither petty nor childish. They are the substance of the political life of a healthy and thriving democracy, and Barack Obama, whether he likes it or not, has just thrown himself into the middle of them all. God bless America.
Looking for a place to fight the battle of ideas, and ideal? Let's start here:
Military judges will consider Wednesday whether to halt the Guantanamo war crimes trials after President Barack Obama ordered prosecutors to request a 120-day suspension during a review of the system used to try suspected terrorists.
The motions, filed just hours after Obama's inauguration, will be heard in the cases of five men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks...
Tomorrow, no doubt, Obama will sign some papers putting the United States firmly behind international abortion efforts again, and will begin the work of enacting a massively wasteful spending bill, and our politics will begin again to take up the great arguments that have long given it shape: about the proper relationship of the state and the citizen, about America’s place in the world, about the regard and protection owed to every human life, about how we might best reconcile economic prosperity and cultural vitality, national security and moral authority, freedom and virtue.
These are divisive questions of enormous consequence, and they are neither petty nor childish. They are the substance of the political life of a healthy and thriving democracy, and Barack Obama, whether he likes it or not, has just thrown himself into the middle of them all. God bless America.
Looking for a place to fight the battle of ideas, and ideal? Let's start here:
Military judges will consider Wednesday whether to halt the Guantanamo war crimes trials after President Barack Obama ordered prosecutors to request a 120-day suspension during a review of the system used to try suspected terrorists.
The motions, filed just hours after Obama's inauguration, will be heard in the cases of five men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks...
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Better Man
As the clock passes noon, the United States has a new President, one Barack Hussein Obama.
I wish him well. As a patriot and a man who loves his nation right or wrong, I can say sincerely that I hope Barack Obama turns out to be the best president this nation has ever had. I hope he fixes the economy, I hope he finishes off the Taliban, I hope he can bring together the warring parties in the Middle East and forge peace. Because I really want nothing less for my country - and for most of the world in general - than the best.
President Obama enters the White House at a time of unprecedented challenges, as warfare rages across the globe and tens of millions are losing their homes and life savings in a financial collapse unprecedented in recent years. To wish him anything less than the best of luck is just rooting against yourself - for spite's sake.
Think of the last eight years, as the media and the Democrats had the long knives out for President Bush from the moment he took office, and looked to defy him every step of the way in every which way they could. He wants to lower taxes? The Left demanded they be raised. He wanted to strike back against our enemies? The Left demanded surrender. He wanted to fight on to victory in Iraq? The Democrats - and the media - demanded defeat. Bush wanted to nominate so-and-so to such-and-such a position? N-O, said the Democrats, delaying various appointments and denying good people jobs in public service because defiance was the point, not good government.
And defiance became partisnaship thick with hatred and rancor - almost all of it emenating from the Left, and their mouthpieces in the Democratic party. It was not about serving the American people, not about finding common grounds, but about holding congressional hearings and threatening criminal prosecution for those whom held differing politcal beliefs than the Democratic party. Remember, it was DNC Chairman Howard Dean who said, "I hate Republicans!". No one from the right has ever emitted such a noxius statement as Dr. Dean has, and yet Republicans are somehow held equally culpable for the Red vs. Blue divide that still scars the nation. Well, if there is any division in the national soul, it was one party that held the carving knife in its hand, and now they demand that we coalesce beneath them - allegedly for our good, but apparently for their good.
Well. We'll see about that.
Still, I wish Obama the best and root for his success.
That's what makes me the better man, incidentally. Liberal bloggers, commentators, and media folks would gladly have plunged forks into their own eyes if they believed George Bush could - for one moment - feel their searing pain. Liberals proudly announced their intention to move to Canada should Bush get re-elected, or McCain elected, displaying proof of the widely held belief that the Left only loves its country when - like an infant - it can do exactly what it wants to do, and everyone has to follow. Every curse imaginable was rained down about Bush and Cheney's head, every lie was reprinted, every verbal slipup a front page headline (until a certain candidate began to do it on a daily basis!), and thus they became caricatures rather than real people, and their efforts at moving the country forward became seen as such.
And some folks wonder how we got where we are today? Look in the mirror, and see what you've done.
Yes, Obama has a chance to fix things, but only if people like me support him when he is right and criticize him on the merits of his ideas when he is not. If he too becomes seen as nothing more than a black Jimmy Carter, nice but too liberal and essentially ineffectual, we are all doomed.
The Left is lucky that the better men are on the Right. It is our patriotism, and desire for our country to succeed, that gives Barack Obama a fighting chance...
I wish him well. As a patriot and a man who loves his nation right or wrong, I can say sincerely that I hope Barack Obama turns out to be the best president this nation has ever had. I hope he fixes the economy, I hope he finishes off the Taliban, I hope he can bring together the warring parties in the Middle East and forge peace. Because I really want nothing less for my country - and for most of the world in general - than the best.
President Obama enters the White House at a time of unprecedented challenges, as warfare rages across the globe and tens of millions are losing their homes and life savings in a financial collapse unprecedented in recent years. To wish him anything less than the best of luck is just rooting against yourself - for spite's sake.
Think of the last eight years, as the media and the Democrats had the long knives out for President Bush from the moment he took office, and looked to defy him every step of the way in every which way they could. He wants to lower taxes? The Left demanded they be raised. He wanted to strike back against our enemies? The Left demanded surrender. He wanted to fight on to victory in Iraq? The Democrats - and the media - demanded defeat. Bush wanted to nominate so-and-so to such-and-such a position? N-O, said the Democrats, delaying various appointments and denying good people jobs in public service because defiance was the point, not good government.
And defiance became partisnaship thick with hatred and rancor - almost all of it emenating from the Left, and their mouthpieces in the Democratic party. It was not about serving the American people, not about finding common grounds, but about holding congressional hearings and threatening criminal prosecution for those whom held differing politcal beliefs than the Democratic party. Remember, it was DNC Chairman Howard Dean who said, "I hate Republicans!". No one from the right has ever emitted such a noxius statement as Dr. Dean has, and yet Republicans are somehow held equally culpable for the Red vs. Blue divide that still scars the nation. Well, if there is any division in the national soul, it was one party that held the carving knife in its hand, and now they demand that we coalesce beneath them - allegedly for our good, but apparently for their good.
Well. We'll see about that.
Still, I wish Obama the best and root for his success.
That's what makes me the better man, incidentally. Liberal bloggers, commentators, and media folks would gladly have plunged forks into their own eyes if they believed George Bush could - for one moment - feel their searing pain. Liberals proudly announced their intention to move to Canada should Bush get re-elected, or McCain elected, displaying proof of the widely held belief that the Left only loves its country when - like an infant - it can do exactly what it wants to do, and everyone has to follow. Every curse imaginable was rained down about Bush and Cheney's head, every lie was reprinted, every verbal slipup a front page headline (until a certain candidate began to do it on a daily basis!), and thus they became caricatures rather than real people, and their efforts at moving the country forward became seen as such.
And some folks wonder how we got where we are today? Look in the mirror, and see what you've done.
Yes, Obama has a chance to fix things, but only if people like me support him when he is right and criticize him on the merits of his ideas when he is not. If he too becomes seen as nothing more than a black Jimmy Carter, nice but too liberal and essentially ineffectual, we are all doomed.
The Left is lucky that the better men are on the Right. It is our patriotism, and desire for our country to succeed, that gives Barack Obama a fighting chance...
In Praise of George W. Bush - or, The Hero Wears a White Hat
(bumped up from yesterday)
It's the last full day of President Bush's second term, and I will stand up and say I am sorry to see him go. As much as the hard-left despises him (and so much of that filters through the media as they are on the same page), his historical recognition will come much earlier than his detractors dare admit.
He was The Man when we were attacked on 9/11, and even many a diehard Democrat was willing to admit in those terrifying days that Bush would answer that attack properly, and secretly thanked God for again providing this nation with the leadership it needed when an existential crisis arose.
While some may fault his military decisions, his approval of The Surge in Iraq, when the Democrats and the media (and Barack Obama) were demanding defeat, may represent a turning point in American and Middle Eastern history. It proved that a Western military could engage and defeat an irregular counterinsurgancy, it showed that American would not "cut and run" after getting a bloody nose, and it shows a wealthy and progressive democracy can exist within the confines of a Muslim-majority country.
Not only did Bush win militarily in Afghanistan and Iraq, he forced a surrender from Lybia (and a re-enrty of that country into the world community) and threw a scare into the rest of Middle East so profound that no nations (with perhaps the exception of Iran) were willing to host terrorists plotting against America, lest their rulers suffer Saddam's fate.
It's the last full day of President Bush's second term, and I will stand up and say I am sorry to see him go. As much as the hard-left despises him (and so much of that filters through the media as they are on the same page), his historical recognition will come much earlier than his detractors dare admit.
He was The Man when we were attacked on 9/11, and even many a diehard Democrat was willing to admit in those terrifying days that Bush would answer that attack properly, and secretly thanked God for again providing this nation with the leadership it needed when an existential crisis arose.
While some may fault his military decisions, his approval of The Surge in Iraq, when the Democrats and the media (and Barack Obama) were demanding defeat, may represent a turning point in American and Middle Eastern history. It proved that a Western military could engage and defeat an irregular counterinsurgancy, it showed that American would not "cut and run" after getting a bloody nose, and it shows a wealthy and progressive democracy can exist within the confines of a Muslim-majority country.
Not only did Bush win militarily in Afghanistan and Iraq, he forced a surrender from Lybia (and a re-enrty of that country into the world community) and threw a scare into the rest of Middle East so profound that no nations (with perhaps the exception of Iran) were willing to host terrorists plotting against America, lest their rulers suffer Saddam's fate.
The economy - well, despite losing two major American cities in his first five years in office, Bush kept the economy going strong until the last few months of his term, when a massive default on loans - many made through Democratic-controlled government agencies such as Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae - caused a financial upheavel. One which he may have prevented from getting worse with his bailout - much unloved, granted, but better than a total collapse of the American banking system a la 1929.
Is his laisse-faire approach to capitalism still the best in these times where the air is filled with cries for more regulation? Well, consider how expensive gas was early this summer - $4 a gallon, no? Bush did...nothing. Price of gas in New Jersey this morning? $1.55/gallon for 87 octane. If we had instituted a government program, do you think my gas would have been that affordable today? Or would I have been ponying up closer to $5- per? That's an easy one...
The change in perception of Bush has already begun - the AP attempts a hit peice on Iran and Bush policy, and get this from the Persian nation's younger generation:
"America is a superpower. It is a mistake not to restore ties with America," said Minu Samadi, a 24-year-old art student. "The embassy seizure was necessary 30 years ago. Now it is necessary to restore relations."
"....The election of Obama is only one factor," said Reza Sharifi, a member of Iran's main reformist student body. "Healing ties also greatly depends on who takes power in Iran."
And the Dali Lama, much to Richard Gere's dismay:
The Dalai Lama, a lifelong champion of non-violence on Saturday candidly stated that terrorism cannot be tackled by applying the principle of ahimsa because the minds of terrorists are closed. "It is difficult to deal with terrorism through non-violence," the Tibetan spiritual leader said...
The head of the Tibetan government-in-exile left the audience stunned when he said "I love President George W Bush."
Et Tu, Barack Obama?
Obama also said he thought Bush made "the best decisions that he could at times under some very difficult circumstances."
And that's much better than poor decisions made under difficult circumstances - see Carter, Jimmy or Clinton, Bill.
So I wish President George W. Bush the best as he rides off into retirement, and I humbly thank him for his service to this great nation over the past eight years - as a leader, as a commander-in-chief, and as a example of moral clarity and the importance of inner strength . For a man to stick to his guiding principles for so long when "from the day President Bush took office, the long knives were out for him", speaks to a courage that not many of us can admit to possess.
Good-bye, W. , and thank you. You will be missed:
"The Hero always wears a white hat..."
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Hitler Dances a Jig...
Shoot, I've been saying for a while that Europe is partying like it's 1941 all over again. May I quote myself for a moment?
Europe, secretly ashamed not of the Holocaust nor of their role in it, but of their inability to finish the job, have outsourced it to the Muslims, and like cowardly poussaint nobility, cheer on the victories of their mercenaries. Unaware, of course, that these armies of the damned will turn on them once they have emerged victorious.
Sometimes they do a bit more than cheer...in Germany, where the seeds of anti-semitism run too deep to ever to be fully eradicated, the police respond forcefully to the sight of the Star of David. From Gateway Pundit:
During an anti-Israeli demonstration organized by the radical Islamic group, Milli Görüs, which attracted 10,000 protesters last Saturday in Duisburg, two police officers stormed the apartment of a 25-year-old student and his 26-year-old girlfriend and seized Israeli flags hanging on the balcony and inside a window.
...When asked if the Duisburg police plan to confiscate Israeli flags from supporters who demonstrate against an anti-Israeli protest slated for this coming Saturday, Ramon van der Maat, a Duisburg police spokesman, told The Jerusalem Post that, "we have to see what is expected" at the protest, adding, "It depends on the situation and one cannot, across the board" say that Israeli flags will be permitted.
Amazing. One would think that the Germans might be a bit more sensitive here, given their propensity for slaughtering Jews whenever the mood strikes. But in the name of the Second Holocaust (blessed be Allah), much latitude is given.
Is there any doubt that somewhere - in whatever rung of hell he might exist - this man is still dancing a jig, much as he did in the heady days of 1941?
Europe, secretly ashamed not of the Holocaust nor of their role in it, but of their inability to finish the job, have outsourced it to the Muslims, and like cowardly poussaint nobility, cheer on the victories of their mercenaries. Unaware, of course, that these armies of the damned will turn on them once they have emerged victorious.
Sometimes they do a bit more than cheer...in Germany, where the seeds of anti-semitism run too deep to ever to be fully eradicated, the police respond forcefully to the sight of the Star of David. From Gateway Pundit:
During an anti-Israeli demonstration organized by the radical Islamic group, Milli Görüs, which attracted 10,000 protesters last Saturday in Duisburg, two police officers stormed the apartment of a 25-year-old student and his 26-year-old girlfriend and seized Israeli flags hanging on the balcony and inside a window. ...When asked if the Duisburg police plan to confiscate Israeli flags from supporters who demonstrate against an anti-Israeli protest slated for this coming Saturday, Ramon van der Maat, a Duisburg police spokesman, told The Jerusalem Post that, "we have to see what is expected" at the protest, adding, "It depends on the situation and one cannot, across the board" say that Israeli flags will be permitted.
Amazing. One would think that the Germans might be a bit more sensitive here, given their propensity for slaughtering Jews whenever the mood strikes. But in the name of the Second Holocaust (blessed be Allah), much latitude is given.
Is there any doubt that somewhere - in whatever rung of hell he might exist - this man is still dancing a jig, much as he did in the heady days of 1941?
As the years have passed, we have been handed a revised history book, one which seems to tell us there were many "good Germans" who opposed Hitler and his aims, and secretly tried to help the Jews.
So where are they now, when the spirit of the Reich rises in their streets once again?
Sorry. The good German is a myth. Just like the French Resistance. Merely yarns that the guilty spin after the fact, to make themselves feel less awful in being a willing participant to a genocide...
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Joe Biden: Blithering Idiot
Let us join hands and pray, pray for the health and well-being of Barack Hussein Obama, because the current alternative is way, way.....stupider.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” Mr. Biden said in an interview Wednesday. “The Bush-Cheney relationship hasn’t tasted very good. Not a single person you can name for me” — at this point, he leaned forward in his chair, jabbed his finger in the air and punctuated his words sharply. “Look at me, now — a single one can tell you that the pudding has tasted good.
Ooooookaaaaay...Whatever you say there, Crazy Joe!
More babblings from Delaware's Finest:
He said he would bring more to the job than any of his predecessors, except possibly Lyndon B. Johnson. "I know as much or more than Cheney," Mr. Biden said. "I'm the most experienced vice president since anybody."
Does he sound like Fredo Corleone to you?
I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says... like dumb... I'm smart and I want respect!
Ladies and gentlemen, our Vice President...Fredo "Crazy Joe" Biden!
I like it!
UPDATE: Irrelevent but fascinating info on John Cazale/Fredo Corleone here
The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” Mr. Biden said in an interview Wednesday. “The Bush-Cheney relationship hasn’t tasted very good. Not a single person you can name for me” — at this point, he leaned forward in his chair, jabbed his finger in the air and punctuated his words sharply. “Look at me, now — a single one can tell you that the pudding has tasted good.
Ooooookaaaaay...Whatever you say there, Crazy Joe!
More babblings from Delaware's Finest:
He said he would bring more to the job than any of his predecessors, except possibly Lyndon B. Johnson. "I know as much or more than Cheney," Mr. Biden said. "I'm the most experienced vice president since anybody."
Does he sound like Fredo Corleone to you?
I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says... like dumb... I'm smart and I want respect!
Ladies and gentlemen, our Vice President...Fredo "Crazy Joe" Biden!
I like it!
UPDATE: Irrelevent but fascinating info on John Cazale/Fredo Corleone here
Friday, January 16, 2009
Obama's Inauguration - Boy, Is That Gonna Leave a Mark!
...well, a footprint. A carbon footprint. And an especially large one, which is all the more galling since the proletariat is always told that we are to blame - with our SUVs and houses heated to 7o degrees - for this "global warming" we are allegedly experiencing.
The carbon footprint of Barack Obama's inauguration could exceed 575 million pounds of CO2. According to the Institute for Liberty, it would take the average U.S. household nearly 60,000 years of naughty ecological behavior to produce a carbon footprint equal to the largest self-congratulatory event in the history of humankind.
The same congressfolk who are now handing out thousands of tickets to this ecological disaster only last year mandated the phased elimination of the incandescent light bulb — a mere carbon tiptoe, if you will. The whole thing seems a bit unfair.
Tiny cars and freezing cold homes for thee, but not for me. That's the liberal way! And speaking of galling:
...on the day millions of Americans were freezing their collective backsides off, new Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman announced that Congress would fast-track climate change legislation. Waxman claimed "inaction on the climate issue is causing uncertainties that make it more difficult to emerge from the recession"...
What does that mean, exactly? Are investors looking at 30-year climate models before buying shares of Apple or Intel?
I think Obama's biggest problems won't come from the Republicans; they're still too busy licking their wounds to come up with a comprehensive counterattack. It'll be fighting back the Waxmans and the Reids and Pelosiniks that will be his biggest challenge. If he loses - and look how easily Obama was rolled by Blago in Illinois - and gets tarred by Congress' liberal idocy, he'll be a lame duck by summertime, no matter how much the media tries to cover.
And throwing a huge inagural - expensive and ecologically runious - while the rest of us shiver and suffer is not really such a smart way to kick off your regime, Baracky.
And yet I keep hearing how bright this guy is....maybe that word does not mean what you think it means?
The carbon footprint of Barack Obama's inauguration could exceed 575 million pounds of CO2. According to the Institute for Liberty, it would take the average U.S. household nearly 60,000 years of naughty ecological behavior to produce a carbon footprint equal to the largest self-congratulatory event in the history of humankind.
The same congressfolk who are now handing out thousands of tickets to this ecological disaster only last year mandated the phased elimination of the incandescent light bulb — a mere carbon tiptoe, if you will. The whole thing seems a bit unfair.
Tiny cars and freezing cold homes for thee, but not for me. That's the liberal way! And speaking of galling:
...on the day millions of Americans were freezing their collective backsides off, new Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman announced that Congress would fast-track climate change legislation. Waxman claimed "inaction on the climate issue is causing uncertainties that make it more difficult to emerge from the recession"...
What does that mean, exactly? Are investors looking at 30-year climate models before buying shares of Apple or Intel?
I think Obama's biggest problems won't come from the Republicans; they're still too busy licking their wounds to come up with a comprehensive counterattack. It'll be fighting back the Waxmans and the Reids and Pelosiniks that will be his biggest challenge. If he loses - and look how easily Obama was rolled by Blago in Illinois - and gets tarred by Congress' liberal idocy, he'll be a lame duck by summertime, no matter how much the media tries to cover.
And throwing a huge inagural - expensive and ecologically runious - while the rest of us shiver and suffer is not really such a smart way to kick off your regime, Baracky.
And yet I keep hearing how bright this guy is....maybe that word does not mean what you think it means?
The Stimulus Package: An American Nightmare
The only thing this package appears to be designed to stimulate is the nether regions of various congresspeople who get off on finacially abusing the the American taxpayer. Take a look at some of the items in the so-called "stimulus" package, and explain to me how this really does sustainable good for the economy:
-$6 billion to weatherize "modest income homes." (how is "modest" defined, exactly?)
-$6 billion to provide internet in "underserved" areas (like to see which districts are underserved - should be interesting)
-$6 billion for "higher education modernization." (college modernization? aren't most of them private institutions?)
-$20 billion to increase food stamp funding (so it's a welfare bill now?)
-$600 million for the federal government to buy brand new energy efficient cars (new Prius for everyone!)
-$400 million for state and local governments to buy brand new energy efficient cars (new Prius for everyone!)
-$2.4 billion for carbon capture demonstration programs ($2.4 billion on liberal propoganda is supposed to stimulate the economy how?)
-$350 million to research using energy efficient technology on military bases (that's just for the research, folks!)
-$300 million for grants and loans to state and local governments for projects that reduce diesel emissions, "benefiting public health and reducing global warming" (Global Warming - the trillion dollar myth?)
-$500 million for energy efficient manufacturing demonstration projects. (demonstrations? for who? will you give me a dishwasher free for a year so you can demonstrate what the savings costs may be?) -$400 million to build major research facilities "that perform cutting edge science" (define that for me a bit more specifically, please...what's that? Whoever wants to open up a lab in your District is "cutting edge"? Thought so...)
-$400 million "to put more scientists to work doing climate change research" (oh, God...)
-$600 million for satellite development and acquisitions, including climate sensors and climate modeling.
(maybe then someone can tell me why the f**k it's been such a cold winter?)
$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (and that stimulates the economy how again?)
-$1.5 billion to help local communities build and rehabilitate low-income housing using green technologies. (welfare+warming mythology = waste)
More, plus a link to the bill, here. This isn't a stimulus bill. It's a Democratic welfare package on a vaster economic scale than has ever been attempted before, written on a blank check with no funds to back it up. It's the iceberg that will sink the good ship America; one can only hope our bureaucrats and elected officials will be able to get away fast enough in their taxpayer-purchased hybrids.
As a certain Colonel Kurtz once said, "The horror... the horror..."
-$6 billion to weatherize "modest income homes." (how is "modest" defined, exactly?)
-$6 billion to provide internet in "underserved" areas (like to see which districts are underserved - should be interesting)
-$6 billion for "higher education modernization." (college modernization? aren't most of them private institutions?)
-$20 billion to increase food stamp funding (so it's a welfare bill now?)
-$600 million for the federal government to buy brand new energy efficient cars (new Prius for everyone!)
-$400 million for state and local governments to buy brand new energy efficient cars (new Prius for everyone!)
-$2.4 billion for carbon capture demonstration programs ($2.4 billion on liberal propoganda is supposed to stimulate the economy how?)
-$350 million to research using energy efficient technology on military bases (that's just for the research, folks!)
-$300 million for grants and loans to state and local governments for projects that reduce diesel emissions, "benefiting public health and reducing global warming" (Global Warming - the trillion dollar myth?)
-$500 million for energy efficient manufacturing demonstration projects. (demonstrations? for who? will you give me a dishwasher free for a year so you can demonstrate what the savings costs may be?) -$400 million to build major research facilities "that perform cutting edge science" (define that for me a bit more specifically, please...what's that? Whoever wants to open up a lab in your District is "cutting edge"? Thought so...)
-$400 million "to put more scientists to work doing climate change research" (oh, God...)
-$600 million for satellite development and acquisitions, including climate sensors and climate modeling.
(maybe then someone can tell me why the f**k it's been such a cold winter?)
$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (and that stimulates the economy how again?)
-$1.5 billion to help local communities build and rehabilitate low-income housing using green technologies. (welfare+warming mythology = waste)
More, plus a link to the bill, here. This isn't a stimulus bill. It's a Democratic welfare package on a vaster economic scale than has ever been attempted before, written on a blank check with no funds to back it up. It's the iceberg that will sink the good ship America; one can only hope our bureaucrats and elected officials will be able to get away fast enough in their taxpayer-purchased hybrids.
As a certain Colonel Kurtz once said, "The horror... the horror..."
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The Jews May Be Descended From....
...apes and pigs, as the enlightened Muslim community seems to tell us ad naseum, but if so, then the Big Gorilla in the sky must really like them a lot. The track record of past civilizations peoples, and so-called empires who have tried to wipe out the Jews is rather grim:
I think listing Hamas as "in-process" is a bit too narrow - I have the feeling that when their filthy hides are wiped off the planet - which is not soon enough - Hezbollah and the Iranian Mullahocracy will likely follow in short order....
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
"Runners Whom The Race Outran...."
I'm talking Osama bin Ladin (who?):
It is pathetic that the only way he can show the world he exists is by releasing occasional taped statements on events he is really not involved with and cannot influence. He is like a color commentator who has long since left the game and only states the obvious when on screen, but whose previous track record and personality keeps him bankable; and who knows, maybe someday he'll do something memorable again. Meanwhile it's jihad this, ummah that, Al Aqsa and the other thing — it's a shame we haven't been able to terminate his contract.
Post title is a Simpsons reference, of course...
It is pathetic that the only way he can show the world he exists is by releasing occasional taped statements on events he is really not involved with and cannot influence. He is like a color commentator who has long since left the game and only states the obvious when on screen, but whose previous track record and personality keeps him bankable; and who knows, maybe someday he'll do something memorable again. Meanwhile it's jihad this, ummah that, Al Aqsa and the other thing — it's a shame we haven't been able to terminate his contract.
Post title is a Simpsons reference, of course...
Best Insult-String of the Day...
...comes from the ever-pleasant Camile Paglia, who rips a well-deserved new one into legend-in-her-own-mind Katie Couric:
...let me take this opportunity to say that of all the innumerable print and broadcast journalists who have interviewed me in the U.S. and abroad since I arrived on the scene nearly 20 years ago, Katie Couric was definitively the stupidest. As a guest on NBC’s ‘Today’ show during my 1992 book tour, I was astounded by Couric’s small, humorless, agenda-ridden mind, still registered in that pinched, tinny monotone that makes me rush across the room to change stations whenever her banal mini-editorials blare out at 5 p.m. on the CBS radio network . And of course I would never spoil my dinner by tuning into Couric’s TV evening news show. That sallow, wizened, drum-tight, cosmetic mummification look is not an appetite enhancer outside of Manhattan or L.A. There’s many a moose in Alaska with greater charm and pizazz.”
Jennifer Rubin comments:
If they gave Oscars for insults, Paglia would have a closet full.
May she never hear of me....
...let me take this opportunity to say that of all the innumerable print and broadcast journalists who have interviewed me in the U.S. and abroad since I arrived on the scene nearly 20 years ago, Katie Couric was definitively the stupidest. As a guest on NBC’s ‘Today’ show during my 1992 book tour, I was astounded by Couric’s small, humorless, agenda-ridden mind, still registered in that pinched, tinny monotone that makes me rush across the room to change stations whenever her banal mini-editorials blare out at 5 p.m. on the CBS radio network . And of course I would never spoil my dinner by tuning into Couric’s TV evening news show. That sallow, wizened, drum-tight, cosmetic mummification look is not an appetite enhancer outside of Manhattan or L.A. There’s many a moose in Alaska with greater charm and pizazz.”
Jennifer Rubin comments:
If they gave Oscars for insults, Paglia would have a closet full.
May she never hear of me....
"This Is Our Enemy, And This Is How They Fight"
Israeli Lt. Barack Haz has a captured Hamas battlefield map, and he displays with sickening clarity the deliberate use of Gazan civilians by Hamas as pawns in their sick war against the Jews:
Incidentally, it seems as if the IDF has taken the reins of the story this time (unlike the 2006 war w/Hezbollah), and is countering Big Media's pro-Palestinian propoganda with their own unwired network of video and narrative. One hopes American intelligence is taking notes....
Incidentally, it seems as if the IDF has taken the reins of the story this time (unlike the 2006 war w/Hezbollah), and is countering Big Media's pro-Palestinian propoganda with their own unwired network of video and narrative. One hopes American intelligence is taking notes....