Monthly Archives: October 2010

So the Beast was clicking through various stories on Real Clear Politics.com, drinking coffee and gradually returning to full consciousness, when he followed a link to a story at web site for the Las Vegas Sun newspaper. Look what he found (click on the picture to view it in full glory):

This web page for this newspaper is so draped and bedecked with anti Sharon Angle banners, that when you first enter the site you have to look hard for a moment or two to identify the spot on the page where the actual news content begins. This is a news site? It looks more like a popup ad to the kind of web page that installs malware on your computer. And serendipitously, once you sift through the anti Angle stuff, the content you find is an opinion piece titled “Atmospherics are terrible for Reid, but he will hold on.“. Seriously, if Reid does hold on you won’t need to read this piece to see why. All you have to do is look at the website itself. And what does it take to essentially hijack the web site of an entire Newspaper, two days before election day? Reid’s got some serious juice, man.

UPDATE: the main site even has an anti Sharon Angle drop-down. Check out this screen capture:

To give a disclaimer, this post is coming from a solely Christian point of view.  And as you read this, you will realize why many would call me a Fundie, Conservative, “Holier-than-thou”, and even a religious extremists.  And those are the nice titles.  I have debated with many, many people on a number of subjects–some are political,  but most are of a religious nature.  And the one thing I constantly hear is “Why can’t you be more tolerant?”  This coming from people who usually end up calling me vile names and such.  Yeah, real tolerant.

So, let’s look at the idea of tolerance.  Typically, the person preaching tolerance is using this definition of it:   sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).  That’s well enough.  Unfortunately, from my experience, most people preaching tolerance are far from being tolerant themselves because they have no sympathy for my beliefs that differ from their own.  But can true tolerance be practiced by anyone?  The only way I see it is if people do not debate or come against another person’s view or belief.  Not likely.  Our country was built on intolerance.  It was intolerance that started the Revolutionary War.  It was intolerance that started the Civil War. 

But what we have today, is a bunch of eunical (I’m being “tolerant” of people’s sensitivity) humanists pushing a perverted form of tolerance on everyone.  For example, many times I have had a somewhat intense debate with someone.  After some time, they grow frustrated and say something like “You really should learn to be tolerant.”  I reply “Maybe you should be too.”  They typically respond something with something like “I am tolerant!  Just not with people who believe like you!”  Huh?  Let me repost the definition of tolerance:   sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own. (emphasis mine).  So what many people mean, when they say they’re “tolerant”, is that they are tolerant of you….as long as you don’t disagree with them. 

The other argument I get (typically from a religious person, or someone who attends church only on Easter and Christmas and don’t even know where they stashed their Bible) is this.  “Well, if you really are a Christian, you’d be tolerant like Jesus was.”  To which I respond…”I am” or, sometimes if I’m really punchy, I’ll just be blunt and say “What an ignorant thing to say.”

Now, I could get into some spiritual teaching on Jesus’ first coming and second coming, the purpose of both, and the Lamb of God vs the Judge of Humanity and yada yada yada.  But that would take some time.  Perhaps I’ll do a quick teaching on it on my other blog someday.  But, sufficeth to say that even during Jesus’ time on here, He showed His intolerance.

Jesus said “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’  But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’” (Luke 13:24-27)  “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:22)

There are many people who say “God would never send a “good” person to hell.”  Jesus’ response is “No one is good but One, that is, God.”   And Jesus also said “ I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” and “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  So, again, we see that Jesus is not very tolerant.

“But Jesus ate with the drunks, tax collectors, and prostitutes!” is another argument from people trying to proclaim that Jesus was tolerant.  Which that statement is true.  Jesus did eat with those people.  But to what end?  Not to justify, endorse, or encourage their sin.  But rather to draw them out of their sin.  Zacchaeus and Matthew are two great examples of this.  Jesus even explained why He ate with the sinners.  “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”

“But what about the prostitute that was to be stoned?  Jesus said ‘You who are without sin, cast the first stone.’”  True.  But Jesus still didn’t condone her sin.  If you recall His last words to her were “Go and sin no more.”  So, again, Jesus is not tolerant.  Not only that, but this event was an example of the difference between the first covenant and the second covenant. 

So, to wrap up up this post, let me recap.  No, God is not tolerant of immorality and neither am I.  God is, however, tolerant of people (as am I).  And, if you’re going to preach at me about being tolerant, then practice it.  And how do you tell who those are that are truly tolerant?  They’re the ones not arguing with you.

Taking a break from the election (is it Tuesday, yet?), the Beast took advantage of a rare no-child weekend to zip a half hour north today to Lake Winnipesaukee. The lake itself is closed to fishing but a tributary river that flows into it is open for two more days. It’s a special season, fly fishing only, catch-and-release, barbless hooks. He was only there for an hour but he managed to catch two salmon. The first was a hen, very dark for the breeding season.

The Beast manage to get a nearby fisherman to hold it so he could get this shot (click on the pic to see it full size):

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This is one of the local 9-12 group leaders and his wife out walking my precinct the other day (I’m the precinct committeeman along with Clint’s sister). They were profiled by none other than an AlJazeera reporter. I was supposed to be a part of this story but they had canceled the walk/story twice and then on that particular Saturday morning, while they were out enjoying the beautiful sunshine, I was stuck at my desk at work (I have to work every fifth Saturday). But, you can see a quick glimpse of my home, wife, and youngest child starting at :31 seconds into the video. Sometimes other people just have all the luck. By the way, don’t I have a nice big porch?

“I think everybody on the planet understands the Republican Party has gone hard right.”

- Charlie Crist

Really? Haven’t we heard this argument before? Over and over again since the time of Reagan. Didn’t the squishes, the media, and GOP defectors to Obama say the same thing two years ago when McCain (McCain of all people), the squishiest of the squishes and famed for his “moderation,” was the Republican nominee for president? Such rhetoric seems to be owned by those who are frightened to take a strong stand on the issues of the day, mere opportunists, the media in their never-ending quest to smear the Right, and those who don’t seem to understand that the only things in the ‘middle of the road’ are yellow lines and dead skunks. And what, pray tell, is so ‘hard right’ about the Republican party this cycle? Objecting to trillions of dollars of debt and the endless bondage and lower standard of living for our descendants? Ok. Check. Experiencing some discomfort with the concept of big government bailing out big business and big banks with billions of taxpayer dollars?  Check. Not embracing Obama as The One? Check and double check. Objecting to the government taking over entire industries because they are “too big to fail?” Check.

As best I can tell, running a few non-careerist politicians for office (i.e. a few “real” people), insisting on fiscal responsibility, daring to challenge politics as usual and the status quo, not excusing illegal immigration, and being suspicious of any and all attempts to turn the US into a European-style dependency and entitlement state is now labeled as “hard right.” Amazing. What one would think would merely be called common sense or being responsible is now ostracized with vulgar regularity.

The ‘social issues’ have basically been playing second fiddle to the above issues and are completely ignored by the TEA party and 9-12 movements. So that can’t be the heart of the ‘hard right’ scorn. Besides, showing hesitancy to officiate at a lesbian wedding or cheerlead the wacking of babies in the womb is hardly something new this mid-term election or part of a sudden ‘hard right’ turn by certain elements of the GOP but instead standard stands on these issues for decades.

For those who loosely associate themselves with conservatism it is important to remember that if you are attacking people to your Right more than those to your Left then you have probably moved too far to the Left yourself.

Crowd demands to say Pledge of Allegiance. God Bless America! God Bless this crowd!

Beautiful. Powerful. Please vote November 2nd.

“Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive. In the middle of the Civil War you had a guy named Lincoln paying people $16,000 for every 40 miles of track they laid across the continental United States. No private enterprise would have done that for another 35 years.”

Vice-President Joe Biden 10-26-2010

Really? Wow. Call me a nitpicker but try telling that to Eli Whitman, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, the Wright brothers, Alexander Graham Bell, Samuel Morse and even people like Bill Gates.  And the list goes on and on and on.

These people will not rest until they have managed to turn this country into a socialist, entitlement, European-style state with the government regulating and controlling every aspect of your life.

Joy Behar seems to have had some sort of mental breakdown on The View. The Left is in meltdown mode and what little personal restraint they are occasionally able to marshal is crumbling rapidly. The fact is, if you are conservative or a true Christian these people absolutely HATE YOU. We see how the Left has treated a folksy hockey mom from Alaska or a born-again Christian in Delaware. And apparently they aren’t so fond of a home-schooler from Nevada who is now four points up on Harry “I saved the world” Reid who has helped shepherd the Obama agenda onto the American people. Take a look and decide for yourself if I am exaggerating. Behar owes Angle one heck of an apology after this temper tantrum tirade.

Love it or hate it, her ad is true. Pointing out the truth can really fire some people up. And apparently it isn’t hurting Angle at all. The big red wave is breaking against Reid now. One week to go. If she pulls this off I’ll be a happy man.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-25/treasury-draws-negative-yield-for-first-time-during-10-billion-tips-sale.html

Ever happy to parrot the latest Democratic Party talking point, Bob Schieffer launched into Karl Rove today about his PAC and its “Anonymous Donors”. Rove then proceeded to carve him into little, sticky pieces.

Click on image to watch at off-site link.

It seems the towns in my home county are at odds with this issue. Let’s hear it… What do you think?

NPR has given the walking papers to frequent lefty FOX News contributor Juan Williams. It’s no secret they’re unhappy that he appears so regularly on the network the left loves to hate, these are the same people who called for Mara Liasson (another NPR Reg) to stop going on FOX, too, but she reused. And why not? One stint on cable news giant FOX probably nets her and Williams tens of thousands more views than a year on NPR. Why would she give up a gigantic TV audience for a couple dozen elderly hippies tuning in on the radio in their aging SAAB?

Apparently Williams made the mistake of agreeing with Bill O’Reilly on the Muslim flap set off by comments made by O’Reilly on a recent appearance on The View (in which two of the menopausal harridans demonstrated the virtues of tolerance and comity by marching out of the studio in a huff). From Power Line:

Big Journalism reports that NPR has fired senior news analyst Juan Williams for thought crime committed on Fox News. Williams concurred with Bill O’Reilly on “the Muslim dilemma” posed by O’Reilly. Williams admitted that, despite his prolific admiration of the civil rights movement, “when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

That’s worth losing your job for? It just goes to show how ideologically rigid the left has become, although they usually excuse their own for this sort of stuff. Usually it’s only right wingers who get attack for sloppy speech. But since NPR, like many organizations run by lefties, probably doesn’t have any conservatives on staff to fire, so they’re now reduced to jettisoning fellow libs who aren’t pure enough. Expect to see a lot more of this sort of thing in the future – when you’ve been pushed back to the Bunker, there’s no room for any but the truest believers.

If FOX News is smart they’ll sign Williams right away, a bitter lefty screwed over by his own makes for great TV. Actually, this is probably a boon for Williams’ career: getting tossed out of a dying ideology just days before it goes flatline could be interpreted by some as very good luck, indeed.

UPDATE: Media Critic and author of “Bias” (which blew the lid off media bias back in 2001), Bernie Goldberg weighs in:

What makes this so crazy — and so sad — is that liberals are the open-minded ones, the ones who cherish the free exchange of ideas, the smart ones. And if you don’t believe me, just ask any liberal, who will be glad to tell you how smart and open-minded he or she is. But these are the kind of people who believe in “free speech” only as long as they agree with you.

Only about 20 percent of Americans identify themselves as liberals. Liberalism was once a great American movement. It led the fight for civil rights, the most important issue, as far as I’m concerned, of the 20th century.

It’s a shame that liberalism is dying in this country. It’s an outright crime that liberals are killing it.

For years Juan Williams has descended into the belly of the Fox-Beast and battled with the right (often outnumbered three to one), defending the left flank. Even if you disagree with him you have to admit he’s gutsy. And how does the left thank him for this service?

Right now, conservatives are defending liberal Juan Williams (and doesn’t that just drip with irony), it will be interesting to see if any libs besides Goldberg (who is a bit of a heretic) come forward for Juan, too. Or maybe this is meant to chill their spines and force them to hunker down and shut up.  This could galvanize a major media revolt in the news biz – if the Beast were a reporter/commentator, he’d be pretty PO’d. Beware the backlash, liberal media – you may have just crossed the line.

…He’d join this guy in: “The Rent Is Too Damn High Party”

Scott McInnis

For any who have been following the Colorado gubernatorial race it as been an ugly, disastrous, GOP bungle in the middle of what should only be a Republican year. The hand-picked GOP establishment candidate was former congressman Scott McInnis. I actually like the guy, but he tended to be a flip-flopper and the TEA party types didn’t trust him. He was opposed by no-name businessman Dan Maes who came out of nowhere riding the anti-establishment mood to emerge from the state convention with strong backing and a place on the primary ballot. Within just a few days the press launched a well-placed and apparently true story about a plagiarism charge against Scott McInnis which had occurred for his work on water issues for an obscure foundation.  What isn’t really known is that the $300,000 “fellowship” was little more than ”pay-for-play” influence money for wealthy Muslim Pakistani Seeme Hasan to get her son Ali into Colorado Republican politics with the help of a fairly popular former congressman.

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Obama to appear on episode of ‘Mythbusters’

The Beast’s fourteen year old son absolutely adores Quentin Tarantino’s “IngloriousBasterds”. Whenever it’s on (and it’s always on) he insists we watch it. Which is fine, the Beast enjoys it too, and there are more than enough filmmaking flourishes packed into the movie to make it worth repeated viewing, if only to discover and appreciate tiny details that were missed in previous watchings. That said, there’s a central element of the film that always bothers the Beast and last night it finally came into focus, when we watched it again for the umpteenth time.

The Germans are charming, sincere, heroic, fully fleshed out-characters. The Basterds are brutal, bloody cartoon figures. The Germans adore their heroes and their artists. The Basterds murder and mutilate their prisoners, dead and alive. Was ist los?

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Palin: “We Are An Exceptional Country And That Is Nothing To Apologize For”

She seems to be honing the fine art of sarcasm rather well, don’t you think?

Like one who, on a lonely road,
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And, having once turned round, walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

“Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” -Friedrich Neitzsche

If you’re a Democratic candidate right now, you’re haunted by a sense of impending doom. Your numbers are down, the hair on the back of your neck is up, your base is dispirited, the party bosses yanked your ad money lifeblood to pink up Barney Frank’s sinking cheeks and where’s the leader of your party? Where’s the President Of The United States Of America? Where’s your hero, come to save the day?

He’s in somebody’s Midwestern back yard, sans suit, sans tie, head bobbing between the Teleprompters secreted in the Azalea Bed, preaching fire and thunder down upon the newest Demon in the Democratic Necronomicon, the slimiest serpent in the Garden of Eden,  the Hardest Working Hellspawn Horror On This Side Of The Seven Dimensions!

Devils and Demons, Witches And Warlocks, CAP-tains And Ten-ILES!

We give you now the Master of Lies, The Lord Of The Flies, The Spawn Of The Squid With A Thousand Eyes! Hand up your souls to the One Who Dares Not Even Speak His Own Damn Name…

The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce!

Seriously?

Yes, these guys:

Scary, huh?

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I can understand getting bent out of shape after receiving an $18,000 phone bill. Sure. What I am not completely clear on is how or why the telecommunication industry is responsible for holding my hand to ensure I know what the hell it is that I am doing. Like many of you out there, I have contracted for telephone service of some sort for many, many years. Unlike some, apparently, I ask the pertinent questions sooner, not later.

The proposed regulation of phone companies and their billing practices sounds a lot like the recent credit card disclosure overhaul. I never understood how people could be “surprised” by finance charges, late fees, over-the-limit fees, etc. appearing on their credit card bills. Were they in an Ambien-induced zombie state from the time they applied for said credit cards until the time of the shocking “awakening”?

We are faced with yet another shrugging-off of personal responsibility here. The handful of “zombies” getting shocking phone bills may get an immediate reprieve in their pocketbooks, but the ensuing legislation and possible fallout will only lead to increased costs for every consumer.

Where does it end? Can we somehow get something going in Washington to regulate regulation? I am a consumer. Am I the only one who declines federal consumer protection and the associated costs to my neighbors?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-13/at-t-verizon-may-have-to-warn-mobile-phone-users-topping-limits.html

… for the extended absence. Things have been extremely hectic, but I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel…

Professor Harold (Hal) Lewis is one of America’s most distinguished physicists. He has been a member and major contributor to the American Physical Society for 67 years! Yet he resigned his membership in that organization in protest over the politicization of climate research and the stifling of scientific debate. He claims that global warming has become a “scam” driven by “trillions of dollars” which has “corrupted” scientists; calling man-made climate change “the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud” he has ever seen. Note his age: he is 87. He has very little to lose (mostly his reputation among those who don’t know him)–but he stands to gain far less! So why would he do this? And why do so many old scientists renounce propagandist science? Maybe it’s because their conscience demands they speak out against the lies and corruption. Maybe, in the end, they want a legacy that is good and true. But, I think it’s mostly because going public any earlier demands significant job changes!

As a scientist and science educator, I would personally argue in favor of the Darwinian model of speciation for the title, “the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud,” but I’d certainly give global warming very high standing (in the pseudo-science-serving-social(ist)-policy department).

There is a great deal of money to be made and literally billions of people to be enslaved by advancing the agenda of global warming. A number of other Ph.D. scientists in climatology, mathematics, economics, biology, geology and other fields have come out against it. Some argue that America is the only hold-out. In reality, our universities house such a high percentage of the world’s great minds, that it’s really more accurate to say that our “wise-as-a-serpent:docile-as-a-sheep” ratio is too high to get America onboard with a number of idiotic global initiatives (the Kyoto protocols and universal acceptance of Darwinism being two fine examples).

I say, Bravo Dr. Lewis, it may be late (in your career), but we’re glad you made it nevertheless! Perhaps some of your younger colleagues would care to join us for a couple of toasts.

Here’s to open inquiry and honest science–wherever it leads us!

Here’s to Truth, may she be never hidden and ever victorious!

You can learn more about this at Suite101.com, Global Warming Policy Foundation, WUWT, and Escape Tyranny.com.

To God alone be the glory!

Another conspiracy theory quashed…

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-12/high-frequency-order-cancellations-had-no-role-in-may-crash-exchanges-say.html

Monday, two weeks ago, the Beast toddled out of his trundle bed and cranked up his wheezing 4 year old Acer laptop to read the news and drink coffee before work. Instead of the usual wheezes and creaks, the machine booted smoothly into the BIOS and then went black. Nothing. No checking the disk for bad clusters, no warning screens, no C drive grinding away like a hamster wheel full of gravel. Nada. Nichts.

No C drive at all. His hard drive was now an ex-parrot.

A decade ago, in his behemoth desktop days, the Beast would have known what to do. Take a moment of silence to grieve the loss of his data, then pop over to Best Buy, grab a new hard drive for sixty bucks, install it, reload windows from CD and move on. But this time there was a problem – no copy of windows to load. because nowadays you don’t get Windows, you get a restore disk that doesn’t install windows on a virgin drive. And how much is a standalone copy? Two hundred bucks! So for two hundred and sixty bucks you get a functioning puter with a new hard drive and the same crappy outdated four year old processor. Drop another two hundred, though and you get a whole new system with snappy duo core processor that runs at light speed! And since prices have tumbled in the last half decade, the five hundred dollar laptop you take home will run as good if not better than the three thousand dollar behemoth you bought back then!

Of course, this necessitated a bit of a wait for funds, so the Beast has been gone for a while, in the throes of full white-knuckle internet withdrawal. But the wait is over now, he’s got his works back and he’s posting again. So, apologies to all for the unintentional sidelining, but we’re entering the fourth quarter of what’s turning out to be a winning game for the GOP and it’s time to rock and roll!

ruling, see #3, judge included policy and the law. (10 USC 654)

(1) DECLARES that the act known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” infringes the fundamental rights of United States servicemembers and prospective servicemembers and violates (a) the substantive due process rights guaranteed under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and(b) the rights to freedom of speech and to petition the Government for redress of grievances guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
(2) PERMANENTLY ENJOINS Defendants United States of America and the Secretary of Defense, their agents, servants, officers, employees, and attorneys, and all persons acting in participation or concert with them or under their direction or command, from enforcing or applying the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Act and implementing regulations, against any person under their jurisdiction or command;
(3) ORDERS Defendants United States of America and the Secretary of Defense immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding, that may have been commenced under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Act, or pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 654 or its implementing regulations, on or prior to the date of this Judgment.

So it appears that a reather confused, but activist, San Francisco (lesbian?) judge banned “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” apparently leaving us with “Don’t don’t ask, and don’t don’t tell. Confused? So should we all.

Article I Section 8 “ The Congress shall have the Power ….. To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;” Congress makes the rules, not some judge.

Seems pretty clear, doesn’t it? Let’s see what congress has had to say about those who practice homosexual behavior in the military.

The law is this:

 Under the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice), as currently approved by congress.

§ 925. Art. 125. Sodomy(a) Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.(b) Any person found guilty of sodomy shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. 

By the way, the military is basically bound by the UCMJ, not the Bill of Rights. Try exercising that “freedom of speech” thing with a drill seargent.

Civilian courts hold no authority over military courts, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This is all political, and this low-level judge is not empowered to tell military courts-martial what they can and can’t do. The military operates under a different set of rules. Congress in 1993 explicitly banned homosexuality in the military while Clinton’s executive policy is popularly known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” If you remove “don’t ask, don’t tell” you really default to the congressional law outright forbidding homosexuality in the armed forces. In reality this judges decision should mean that according to this court, President and Commander-In-Chief Obama needs to start enforcing the law as written.

What It Will Take To Win

Health Care Reform: Where’s the Equal Treatment?

When it comes to Obama’s new health care plan, he’s giving an exception to the biggest contributor to his health care plan.  It seems that some of the biggest companies can’t foot the bill for ObamaCare.  Anyone else not suprised?  But isn’t it interesting that a group, like this teacher’s union, would support a bill that they can’t afford?  I don’t know.  Either this teacher’s union is completely inept at financial management, or this “exemption” was something already agreed upon by both parties previously.

Either way, Obama is playing favorites.  I just got my paycheck, with my deduction for medical insurance.  It’s gone way up, and I can’t afford it anymore.  You think Obama will give me an exemption?  Or do I need to contribute millions of dollars to his cause first?  Either way…I end up screwed.

Can’t teach religion in public schools?  No problem!  We’ll just send them on a field trip to the local mosque where we’ll give them a religion immersion experience!  ROFL.  Where’s the ACLU on this one?  Cowering in the corner, afraid that some muslim extemist is going to kill them if they protest?  Yeah, I’d like to see them try and send a class on a field trip to full pentacostal church service!  The ACLU would be there, banging down the door before you could even get to the “meet and greet” part of the service.

*Sigh*  Such ineptness and double standard from our own citizenry and local, self-appointed, anti-religion brute squad.  But, hey!  At least it wasn’t in school!  So maybe that makes it alright.  If this had happened in my kids’ school, they never would have made it to the mosque.  They wouldn’t have made it off of the school property.  I would have contacted every TV news station, news paper, city official, government officials, National Inquirer, and Redbook.

This ain’t going down in my town! 

Ok. I’m done.  Anyone got a spare Ihram?

Barack Obama is being politically crushed in a vise. From above, by elite opinion about his competence. From below, by mass anger and anxiety over unemployment. And it is too late for him to do anything about this predicament until after November’s elections.

With the exception of core Obama Administration loyalists, most politically engaged elites have reached the same conclusions: the White House is in over its head, isolated, insular, arrogant and clueless about how to get along with or persuade members of Congress, the media, the business community or working-class voters. This view is held by Fox News pundits, executives and anchors at the major old-media outlets, reporters who cover the White House, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and governors, many Democratic business people and lawyers who raised big money for Obama in 2008, and even some members of the Administration just beyond the inner circle.

- Time’s Mark Halperin

A couple days ago my oldest daughter had the opportunity to participate in a rather interesting and innovative learning experience. She is thirteen and in the eighth grade. Her history class is currently learning about the Revolutionary War in rather great detail. The teacher decided to put on what I believe to be one of the more interesting hands-on learning demonstrations I have ever heard of; a Sock War – Revolutionary War style.

The rules are fairly simple. Two classes of children face off. One side dressed in red t-shirts representing the “Red Coats” and the other dressed in blue t-shirts representing the Colonials. The infantry for each side line up in two tight ranks. March and formation discipline is stressed and enforced. Each “soldier” is armed with nine rolled up socks to represent musket weaponry. The line is marched up across the gym or field until close enough to the enemy to fling a volley of socks upon command (in this case by high school “referees” who also served as untouchable generals). Anyone hit by a sock must immediately fall down as a casualty and the rear rank needs to close up any gaps asap for reasons soon to be revealed.

On each side of the infantry formation is a child who is allowed to run. They represent the cavalry and are there to exploit any gaps or weakness in the enemy. If they are able to run through any gap in the enemy line or next to an isolated enemy combatant they can strike them with a outstreached arm and “saber” the enemy soldiers.

Behind each line are three children armed with water balloon launchers. These are the artillery and the goal for them is to launch water balloon barrages over the heads of their own infantry while hopefully opening gaps in the enemy line for the cavalry to exploit or to otherwise inflict as many general casualties as possible. The side with at least one infantryman standing at the end of the battle wins.

My daughter was a Redcoat and each side fielded about 28 soldiers on the battlefield. Two cavalrymen, three artillerymen, and the rest as infantry. She said it was incredibly fun. They fought several battles with each one allowing the infantry to march somewhat faster. It started out at 30 steps per minute up to eventually 180 (the quick step). She was felled twice by “musket balls” to the head and once by a deadly friendly fire incident from an artillery shell that fell short and hit her in the back. Apparently, a great time was had by all.

What a great teaching exercise and one that teaches old battlefield tactics and history in general far better than some dry reading could ever achieve. You know that had to be a lot of fun.

“To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.”

-Margaret Thatcher

Another fun little video for you all.

The question in my mind has been about how much a Republican House (and close to evenly divided Senate) would be able to effectively put a break on the Obama agenda. Obama clearly knew after his election that he had a very limited time to enact the major pieces of his liberal agenda. The results were attempts at cap-and-trade, massive stimulus spending, corporate bailouts, the de facto nationalization of the mortgage and automotive industries in many respects, and socialization and federal control of the entire health care system. This election will show that he may have over played his hand by moving so quickly but I have no doubts that he has some back up plans to continue to enact his progressive agenda. This article is well worth the read. Be sure to read the entire thing.

Obama Considering Rule by Executive Order in 2011

Where does the president derive these dictatorial powers? Simple: he claims them. Article II of the U.S. Constitution delegates to the president only the powers to act as commander-in-chief of the military, grant pardons, make treaties (which must be approved by the Senate), appoint ambassadors and Supreme Court justices, and give the State of the Union address.

And, if necessary, the “right” to be impeached.

If a system of unelected, sometimes unconfirmed czars does not violate the Constitution, the assumption of imperial powers by the executive branch should.

Barack Obama is dedicated to use whatever time he has in office forcing as much of his agenda on the United States – and so transforming the economic and electoral make-up of our nation – that his radical vision can be foisted upon Americans as a fait accompli.

Many Americans believed the velvet words of hope and change during the 2008 campaign. If the thuggishness of the past two years has not convinced them of his disregard for popular will, the U.S. Constitution, and the rule of law, two years of radical, royal decrees may.

Image via Wikipedia

I always knew that most of the “endangered” animals where a ploy for wacked out environmentalists.  But this article from the Daily Mail, cracks me up to no end:

Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said.

A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well.

SO… per the article, 1/3rd of these “extinct” animals are coming back to life?  Or are people just not that observant?  Hmmm, I am thinking the latter.  And this is the reason why it irks me when you have the environmental wacko’s say it is all about Global Warming, the whales and the Polar Bears are going to go extinct!  The only reason a whale is going to become extinct is due to the problem of people eating them!  Or the Polar Bears becoming extinct due to bad garbage.  If you don’t know, Polar Bears in Alaska and in Canada are known to raid above ground garbage dumps because the environmentalists won’t let the Native people bury their garbage.  Does anyone else see a problem with this?

Now, with this small commentary from myself.  Does anyone wonder if we are going to have to live in caves again?  Fire will be our only source of heat and we might be lucky to live off berries and twigs!  I for one think the environmentalists need a dose of reality.  I suggest we put them on an island and let them live out their fantasy and leave the rest of the world… alone.

Anyone else agree?

http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=0861ff3eabea1ceb73e4