Author Archives: E the Wise
Workers of the World Unite!
This is an outrage!Scores of Carlsberg workers walked off their jobs in protest Thursday after the Danish brewer tightened laid-back rules on workplace drinking and removed beer coolers from work sites, a company spokesman said.The warehouse and production workers in Denmark are rebelling against the company’s new alcohol policy, which allows them to drink beer only during lunch hours in the canteen. Previously, they could help themselves to beer throughout the day, from coolers placed around the work sites.
The only restriction was “that you could not be drunk at work. It was up to each and everyone to be responsible,” company spokesman Jens Bekke said.
Laverne and Shirley would never stand for this. Yet another example of the bourgeousie keeping the proletariat down.
March Madness (Hitler style)
I love when these get posted so here is another one. This is about how I felt upon realization that I didn’t pick a single final four team. NOT ONE!! The last 30 seconds are priceless.
This is a fun little video of a cousin I have (by marriage) that plays pro ball in Taiwan. He’s the black dude making the clown pass about 15 seconds in. I used to coach him so I take credit for his skills. . .
On peasants and pitchforks. . .
On another thread, Dave made a comment that struck me as both full of emotion and full of historical ignorance. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling Dave ignorant. In fact, I think he is fairly learned about most things historical. But if one is going to use history as a basis for the current political climate, he should understand what he talks about. Here is an excerpt:
You bet the peasants are pissed and storming the castles of the corrupt feudal lords who are holed up in their castle on the hill. Excuse me for not being polite to them or giving them the benefit of the doubt. Do you think I would have felt badly yesterday if every congressional office had been stormed by an angry mob? Probably not. Even Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple. Righteous anger and indignation is a fire that should be stoked, not extinguished. If all I can be and contribute is a keyboard crusader for the cause, then so be it. There is no shame in that but we all must do what we can to defeat the ideological barbarians in our midst.
Ah, the old “storming the castle of the feudal lords” bit. Something akin to Pat Buchanan’s “peasants with pitchforks.” Now this was a fun analogy to use when I was a twenty year old college student. But a funny thing happened on the way to adulthood: I actually learned that when those peasants had some success occupying the feudal castle, the nobles with horses and arms promptly cut them down, took off thier heads and made splendid examples of them at the gates. Hell, even Martin Luther condemned such nearsighted tactics!
As for “feeling bad if every congressional office were stormed by an angry mob” again, you make light of situations that could possibly lead to the death of many of your ideological bretheren. No one “storms” congressional offices at the Capitol or Hart buildings. And if they do in a Congressman’s district, they would be better off using their talents to vote the scoundrel out of office rather than sit in a jail cell.
Finally, when you claim that “righteous indignation is a fire that should be stoked, not extinguished” keep in mind that the workers of industrial Russia, the bourgeousie of revolutionary France, and peasants of 1524 Germany were all full of “righteous indignation.” In each case, tens if not hundreds of thousands lost their lives at the hands of their own countrymen.
UPDATE: If legislation cannot be enacted without a fringe minority always threatening violence then the republic is in trouble. House Democrats Face Violent Threats After Health Care Vote.
In one case, a gas line was cut outside the Virginia home of Rep. Tom Perriello’s brother after a conservative activist posted the address online, mistakenly thinking it was the congressman’s house. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating.
He’s right about that
Biden’s gaffes are awesome! And in this case, this is, in fact, a big f- – - ing deal!
E’s Fearless Winter Olympic Predictions
Well, I thought it would be appropriate for me to wheel out a Winter Olympic prediction post. I know you are all itching to know what to watch for and how to analyze the events, so fear not. . . I am here.
Lets start with a few obvious ones.
In Figure Skating - The American gay guys will continue to dominate the gay guys from other countries. Their flamboyance will be something to behold and they will skate rather well.
Some girl will capture gold before she captures her drivers license.
Skating will continue to piss me off as it is shown on prime time every freaking night.
And just when you think skating will be over, the little girls and gay guys will get yet another night of prime time for their fancy dance shows to jazzy musical numbers like Footloose. Of course those won’t be for medals but they’ll show all the joy and happiness anyway.
In Skiing - American hot female skiiers will dominate in looks only. They will be injured or they’ll crash or they won’t feel good but they will look like a million dollars in a swimsuit. But when the gate drops, their performance will be subpar.
American bad boy skiiers will also suck again. They’ll look cool and have all the swagger but in the end they will just be douchebags.
American skiiers dominate in the tricky jump stuff though. Put them on moguls with a ramp and lookout! Ask them to go a certain distance with that jump? Not so good. Look for some Swiss guy to fly the farthest in the air on skis.
Oh, and lets not forget skiiers and shooters. Americans will suck at that too. If you want to ski and shoot or just ski over a flat surface you better be German or Dutch to be good.
Speed Skating - Some Asian folks will be good on the short track. I’m not sure what nation they will represent but look for the winners to be Asian.
On the long track, look for an American or Dutch guy or girl to win.
Snowboarding - The American pot smokers will demolish all other nations pot smokers. Count on it!
Curling - The Canadian old guys will kick the shit out of the Finnish old guys. Every Conclubber will watch at least 5 minutes of curling just to see the age of the “athletes” and because they are wondering what brooming the ice really does.
Hockey - I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Canada.
Sledding - We will all watch a whole bunch of sledding events and as much drama as they try to spin it with, in the end it is just one to four people sliding down a hill really fast.
General - The olympic logo will be stupid but people will pretend it has some deep meaning.
There will be a heartwarming story every night about how some person overcame their terrible life to be an olympian. Think Haitian bobsled team or cross-country skier from Kiev.
Did I miss any events? Any other predictions?
“Oh then you ain’t gettin’ no flight. Know what I’m talkin’ about?”
I’m reminded of this scene from Caddyshack when I think of Muslim scholars that don’t want to get scanned before getting on an airplane:
In a move that could complicate airport screening, a group of Muslim-American scholars issued a religious ruling this week that called upon the faithful to not go through body scanners because the scholars said the machines violate Islamic rules on nudity.
I love Caddyshack.
Put a fork in Keith Olbermann
You remeber Keith don’t you? Yeah, one time he ginned up some fake outrage and got a few people to watch him in an election year. And now it appears no one is watching anymore.
In the most desirable TV demographic of 25-54, which Keith will soon outgrow himself, “Countdown” lost 44% of its audience from the beginning of President Obama‘s term until this year. It could have been worse — say, 45%.
Olbermann averaged 268,000 viewers last month in that sector. That’s just several thousand sets of those eyes more than Campbell Brown over on CNN. According to one count, Keith even finished in that time slot behind Nancy Grace. Nancy Grace!
And she’s on Headline News, Headline News, the repetitious TV channel the repetitious TV channel inflicted on all U.S. airline travelers within any boarding area around the clock so that when, at least an hour late, each person is finally crammed into plane seats between professional wrestlers, they feel relief.
The old argument for right wing talk radio was that liberals were just too smart or too busy to listen. They had jobs unlike conservatives. I wonder how you explain this? Overtime I guess.
Weekend Wuss Rock
Remember, wuss rock isn’t necessarily bad rock. This little diddy gets turned up when I hear it in the car.
SOTU. OMG!
Is Obama trying to be a stand up comedian? This is as bad and uncomfortable a speech as I have ever seen him give.
Update: I don’t recall seeing a President call out a previous administration like an elementary school teacher and two seconds later call out the Supreme Court. Wow.
Update #2: Christ Almighty! Can he stop talking down to people? This is a disgrace!
Update #3: Seriously, I know more about the last eight years than this guy. Bitching about needing super majorities? Really? The speech writer’s head should roll. This must be a talk radio host’s wet dream!
Update #4: Now he is talking about supporting the troops “when they come home” right after discussing HIS ending of the Iraq War. Are you friggin kidding me? Oh… oh, now you roll out Ronald Reagan’s name as you discuss your diplomacy? Great. I should turn on the XBox and play Modern Warfare 2. It’s more realistic than this speech.
Update #5: Scoring political points with the left by boasting about repealing the ban on gays in the military or prosecuting civil rights violations isn’t really what Americans want to hear. That is campaign fodder.
Update #6: He may cry. This speech is choppy and Obama looks like an empty suit.
Final Update: If I’m just being a partisan hack, by all means let me know. But I saw Clinton give some great speeches in the past. Comparitively speaking, this was shit.
Tim Tebow riles pro-choicers
Just when you thought that our beloved Scribe was the only person who hated Tim Tebow, along comes Focus on the Family to turn this saint into a feminist sinner. Yes folks, it turns out that nothing makes a liberal woman more upset than when someone urges another woman not to have an abortion. In case you missed it, Tebow is scheduled to appear in a Super Bowl ad for Focus on the Family. The ad is part of a “celebrate life, celebrate family” campaign that Focus is launching. A few anonymous donors are ponying up the estimated $2 to $3 million for the coveted 30 second spot.
After learning of the ad late Monday, Women’s Media Center (speaking on behalf of the National Organization for Women, the Feminist Majority Foundation and other organizations) asked CBS to pull the ad. It also questioned how and why the network, which used to forbid “advocacy” advertising, agreed to air Focus on the Family’s spot, which is valued at $2.5 million to $3 million.
“An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year — an event designed to bring Americans together,” Jehmu Greene, president of the Women’s Media Center, said in a statement.
I thought all advertising was “advocacy” advertising, but what do I know. Apparently, the Women’s Media Center is okay with scantily clad Go Daddy girls. And hell, I can’t blame them. I am okay with them too. But it does show just how divisive a simple message like, “I didn’t whack my own kid in 1987″ and “oh and spend time with your family” can be. Oh the hand wringing! Oh the gnashing of teeth!
The reality of the situation is that I will only have a problem with Tim Tebow ads if he starts preaching abstinence in one breath while getting his photo taken on the red carpet with that smokin hot broad pictured above. That would just be wrong advocacy advertising.
Evangelicals shift to gentler tone
Today’s Denver Post has an interesting look at a small but newsworthy shift that is taking place within the Christian right. Much of it seems to be taking place within the age group of the Christians represented here but it is newsworthy nonetheless because we are now raising the next generation of possible Christian conservatives.
It turns out that we are not dead after all. Oh sure, there were plenty of proclamations following the elections last year, but the election of Scott Brown and the resurgence of the activist ‘teaparticans’ should dispell any notions that the Christian or “religious” right is in retreat.
Read the rest of this entry
The Era of Transparency part deux
The first Era of Transparency post was penned by the Scribe last July. In it, Damien documented the fact that the Obama administration isn’t really giving us two choices regarding Cap and Trade and health care. He is pulling out the best of alternative scenarios and saying that Americans can have it all!
Read the rest of this entry
About that change. . .
A week from Friday is the deadline for emptying the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, a cutoff that the newly inaugurated President Obama established as one of his first acts in office. No one seriously expects his administration to meet the deadline, and Huffpo’s Nathan Harvey wails that it may take yet another year to figure it out. “By all accounts we are not going to make it. In fact, the Obama administration has asked for another full year to do so.”
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Dave’s quote of the day – by E
“I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse.”
– Charles V
Be careful what you wish for
GOP calls for Harry Reid to step down over remarks
Part of me says that a Republican offensive is just what the doctor ordered in response to Harry Reid’s goofy comments regarding then candidate Obama. That part of me wants to get back at the Dems for the scores of times that anyone with conservative credentials has been made to feel bad or resign from whatever post they held over remarks that were not cleared by the sensitivity police at various universities.
And then there is part of me that wonders when and if we will ever get over the nonsensical tit-for-tat in racial politics. Needless to say, if Reid were speaking of a candidate from a southern state and said that “he did not have a redneck dialect, unless he wanted to have one” this wouldn’t even be an issue. And isn’t that really the way it should be?
If everytime someone makes heretical statements regarding race, should they be forced to give up a little something in order to atone for that sin? And shouldn’t the Republicans want a very unpopular and vulnerable senator to continue holding his post as majority leader heading into an election cycle? Both he and Pelosi are very good faces to attach to the utter incompetence of the “most ethical Congress in history.”
Which part of me is correct?
‘These aren’t the droids you’re looking for’
Mind-reading systems could change air security
A would-be terrorist Jedi knight tries to board a plane imperial ship, bent on mass murder helping a princess. As he walks drives in some cool hovercraft through a security checkpoint, fidgeting and glancing around, a network sentry of high-tech machines storm troopers analyzes his body language and reads his mind magically change their minds. Screeners pull him aside The guards say ‘Move along.’
Tragedy is averted in fact, just around the corner. . .
I feel safer already!
E’s Bold 2010 Predictions
So the bold 2009 edition was not so bold. But in sports I was pretty close including picking the baseball, NCAA basketball, football and NBA champions. The great minds of Conclub have been making predictions for years now; mostly with mixed results. So I would be remiss to let the New Year pass without throwing in my oh-so-bold predictions for the new decade.
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What it takes to get 60 votes; the wages of sin
On an earlier post by Sting, Dave and I have a comment exchange that goes something like this:
Dave: Al Franken sucks
Me: true but lots of Senators suck.
Dave: no, but Al Franken is really bad.
As it turns out, Franken may be one of the more noble Dems in the Senate. At the very least, he hasn’t sold his own reservations about Obamacare in exchange for a few hundred million dollars of pork. In all fairness, this isn’t even really “Obamacare” in the truest sense. It is some coagulation of spending and restrictions and restructuring made to look like the Senate has “done something.” In truth, as with everything else, they have done nothing but spend.
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Failblog.org – My new favorite blog
Besides Conclub of course.
I’m absolutely hooked. This is a hilarious site and I am quite angry that my students told me about it. Go there now.
More proof that the gun debate is over
Once upon a time, this resolution would have been destroyed by the same margin that it passed. And standing in firm support of it would have been three lonely conclubbers arguing in vain for a resolution they know would never pass.
My how things have changed:
Student leaders at Colorado State University voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night in favor of a resolution asking school president Tony Frank to continue to allow people with concealed-weapon permits to go armed on campus.
“I feel students have a right to have a measure of self-defense on campus,” said sophomore Cooper Anderson, a student senator representing the College of Agriculture Sciences and a co-author of the resolution.
“It’s a fact that crime doesn’t stop at the university’s doorstep.”
We would have had quite a night of binge drinking had we been able to secure a resolution with 27 – 3 passage. Hats off to the Rams!
Minutes of the Meeting; 11/26
As always, I try to include a musical rendition that encapsulates the evening. This song was the first song we heard that night on the jukebox. It was popular when we were in college and the group happens to be from Fort Collins. So hit play, sit back, and envision three guys sitting at some hole in the wall American Legion bar.
Conclub conclave 11/26
Back to the Duke of Windsor Wednesday evening at 6:30. The Grand Triune will be in attendance. Guru, you in town?
The playoff run continues
So I’ve been a bit busy lately. The goal of every high school football coach is to be coaching on Thanksgiving. The Scribe beat me to it a few years ago when he fell short in the championship game coaching for a mid-sized Catholic school in 2005. Now I have a the opportunity for a Thanksgiving that begins with practice and ends with turkey. Two days later we will be in Boulder playing for a chance to get to Invesco Field for the state title.
Stay tuned. . .
Filling in for the humble messenger
An Orchid will get you two to life
There can be no argument that I am unfit to be Your Humble Messenger. Enraged by our deletion controversy, the true messenger has abandoned us in a fit of righteous rage. Perhaps if he knew how everyone here loves him so, he might feel compelled to enlighten us yet again. . .
Speaking of deletion controversies, it appears House liberals are all atwitter over the deletion of abortion from the final healthcare bill:
Reps. Diana DeGette (Colo.) and Louise Slaughter (N.Y.) led the group of Democrats in writing to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) threatening to withhold support for a final conference report if it strictly prohibits federal funding for abortion services.
Your messenger finds it curiously amusing that the Maine “Republicans” are in line with these ladies.
Last week I didn’t want to get too political about the Ft. Hood shootings, but the cat is now out of the bag. From Cal Thomas:
The federal government at all levels has hired and promoted Muslims to influential positions. It requires “sensitivity training” for federal employees, including those who work at the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Last week, the House Judiciary Committee, dominated by liberal Democrats, defied the White House and removed from the USA Patriot Act a tool for tracking non-U.S. citizens in anti-terrorism investigations. As our enemies grow stronger and more emboldened, they see us becoming weaker and less committed.
As Cal said: suddenly gays in the military doesn’t seem so threatening.
Your messenger also stumbled upon this gem from last week. It is a piece entitled ‘Criminalizing everyone’ and details an old man being locked up for two years because he didn’t follow protocol on importing orchids. No seriously. When Dave writes of bad case scenarios, this is they type of stuff he is refering to.
Mrs. Norris testified before the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime this summer. The hearing’s topic: the rapid and dangerous expansion of federal criminal law, an expansion that is often unprincipled and highly partisan.
Imagine that. There can be political motivations for being locked up. I am just your messenger here.
Surfacing in the news again is the uber-hot ex-Miss California. Apparently she is having a Bill Clinton moment and she “did not have sexual relations in that video.” Your messenger thinks none of this would be an issue if she were a lefty that believed marriage was a union of whoever feels the itch at the moment, but what does he know.
And for you sports fans, it appears that Tennis’ Marat Safin, a Frenchman Russian, believes American Andre Agassi should give his titles and his money back. Apparently, he doesn’t get how we do it here in the U.S.; inject, win, and listen to everyone else bitch about it. The opposite side of the spectrum are the French Russians. They inject, lose and bitch about the Americans for winning.
Sincere apologies to PG for butchering his baby. But there is a way to change the humble messenger. . .
A sad day for the military. Is this a glimpse of today’s army?
I would certainly never imply that today’s army is not a well honed fighting machine. Our armed forces are still the greatest in the world. But when a member of the officer corps opens fire on a base killing 12 and wounding many others, a serious look at the process of selecting and recruiting officers as well as evaluating their mental fitness is in order. Preliminary reports indicate that Maj. Nadal Malik Hasan, a Muslim, was wounded but captured alive. Worse, he was a psychiatrist that did not get very good reviews and was set for deployment to a war he verbally critisized.
U.S. officials said Hasan was an Army psychiatrist, NBC News reported. Defense officials said Hasan, 39, arrived at Fort Hood in July after practicing for six years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, which included a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry.
At Walter Reed, Hasan received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
There was no official word on motive. But Hasan was scheduled to be deployed overseas on Nov. 28, officials said. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said military officials had told her that Hasan was “pretty upset” about his deployment, which she said was to be to Iraq.
The Associated Press, quoting federal law enforcement officials, said Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats. The officials said they were still trying to confirm that he was the author.
I know its early and I wouldn’t want to get too political in the immediate aftermath of such a stunning tragedy. But our armed forces need to evaluate a few things here. 1) why are we sending officers that are disgruntled and in charge of the mental states of their inferiors overseas. 2) should we not monitor those with poor performance reviews and suspected writings of suicide bombings and other threats much more closely?? Even if it means immediate release? 3) The inescapable truth is that the shooter was a convert to the ‘religion of peace.’ There must be immediate policies put in place for how we deal with disgruntled soldiers who happen to be Muslims.
I hope that our army has not become so steeped in political correctness and being as non-offensive as possible that they fail to take basic precautions to protect the men and women that have enlisted to serve this nation. Thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families.
Weekend Wuss Rock – 90′s style
Oh, don’t think I forgot. This could be the king of 90′s wuss rock. Open a new browser while this plays and listen to some soothing wussness while you read the other comments.
Weekend Wuss Rock – 80′s Edition
Let the Showdown begin!
Post your favorite 80′s pussy song. But post only one song per weekend. Voting begins Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. EST and ends Monday morning at 2:00 a.m. EST. You may not vote for your own pussy song. Contributors add to this post and commenters may submit to the thread. Person with the most votes gets the satisfaction of having posted the most deliciously queer song of the week. Trash talking encouraged and posted songs are no indication of the posters’ like or dislike of the song. In fact, it may be a guilty pleasure that gets the volume turned up on posters car radio. Read the rest of this entry
On the Fox News snub
I’m surprised that we haven’t had anyone on here chime in on the Fox News snub by all things Obama. Like our own DFV the Scribe, Obama and Co. have had a hard time distinguishing between the actual news shows (Special Report and their evening news) and the prime time opinion shows (Beck, O’Reilley and Hannity). And because the opinion shows don’t fawn over Obama, Democrats are threatening to abandon the network. When Obama does the media tour, appearing on five Sunday shows in September to push health care, but snubs Chris Wallace, he demonstrates his willingness and ability to lash out at anyone that doesn’t ‘get with the program.’ And when the President of the United States lashes out at networks or media, we creep ever closer to the Sedition Acts of John Adams’ days.
When MoveOn encourages all Democrats to abandon Fox News, one can easily laugh it off. After all, the horses asses that brought us “General Betray Us” deserve about as much respect as the clowns that staged the balloon boy incident. But be wary if the anti-Fox chorus continues to grow. Jacob Weisberg of Newsweek thinks exactly the way MoveOn does. In his most recent column, Weisberg tells his readers that “respectable journalists” like Mara Liasson should stop appearing on Fox News. He whines that Fox News is too slanted and argues that the only elixer to the problem is for Dems to stop appearing on Fox News. Apparently Wiesberg wants Fox to be more slanted!
The irony to all this is that when Democrats are not the party in power, they seek more dialogue. They love to espouse bi-partisanship and have a knack for getting out the message through the ‘grass roots.’ But now that they are in power, they want to paint the opposition as factually wrong. They challenge credibility. They launch assaults on those that are not loyal. They desire equal time-all the time. And they seek to destroy those that won’t act as the administration mouthpiece. But if you give Obama an hour long special on health care or let him appear on your network’s late night variety show, you’re golden.
I don’t have a problem with Obama and the left using the bully pulpit to abandon Fox News. They have ended up looking small and thin-skinned. But can we at least not pretend that the other networks are bastions of objective reporting?
Re: Bread – to PG
Okay so it’s not really ‘to: PG from: E.’ It’s more like this song is to PG from E. No, no, no. . . It’s not from E in the real sense, it’s more of an ethereal thing. . . I mean, I’m not really giving you a Kasey Kasem long distance dedication, I’m just throwing this song out there to you because it’s not ZZ Top. So PG, here’s your song.
But it isn’t really from me. Even though it sort of is.
Still another idiotic teacher puts a decision into the hands of an idiotic administrator who then passes the buck to an idiotic school board
There is nothing worse than schools and districts that fail to use even the most base level of common sense. Routinely, I post on the stupidity of administrators and teachers that haven’t the sense that God gave them. Education should be about teaching kids proper decision making and yet schools and districts often respond by suspending kids that bring a G.I. Joe gun to school or expelling those that give their friend ibuprofen.
So it is with great sadness that this teacher must once again expose how ignorant and stupid many of his contemporaries are. Behold the case of the Cub Scout menace!
Zachary, an A student who sometimes wears a shirt and tie to school just because he likes to, told Vieira he put the tool in his pocket on Sept. 29 for a very simple reason: “To eat lunch with. I had absolutely no idea this was going to happen. I wasn’t thinking about this. I was thinking about having lunch with it.”
But when the tool fell out of his pocket on the bus and he walked off the vehicle with it in his hand, a teacher intercepted him. “She said, ‘Can I have that?’ ” Zachary recalled.
What Zachary didn’t realize was that he had fallen afoul of the Christina School District’s zero-tolerance policy toward weapons in school, one of many such policies implemented in the wake of such incidents as the Columbine High School massacre. The policy does not allow teachers or administrators to take into account intentions or the character of the student; if a student has a knife, suspension and subsequent assignment to the district’s “alternative placement school” — aka reform school — is mandatory.
Re: Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse
Sorry Dave but I think I have bested you my friend. This is much more ridiculous than your Wal-mart/Dollar store news brief.
Set the DVR for ‘Community’
New to the fall lineup this season is a witty and funny comedy starring the Soup‘s Joel McHale. Since reality television seems to be going by the wayside and premium channels on cable are drawing ever larger shares of sitcom viewers, the traditional networks have had to come up with better shows to compete. This is one such show. Watch the teaser and you can catch the two or three shows you have missed on Hulu or NBC.com. Then set the DVR.
Shocker! In President’s speech to Congress, he *lied*
Remember when Democrats were the party of truth-telling? When they stood as the watchdog ready to correct the Republican spin masters and blow the whistle on evil Dick Cheney types everywhere? Well, now it appears the days of truth telling have been temporarily suspended. Michael F. Cannon and Ramesh Ponnuru have detailed no fewer than 20 *misleading* statements in the President’s speech to Congress. Here are three such *lies*:
#4 “One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy. . . . They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it.” He didn’t die because of it. The originator of this false claim, a writer for Slate named Timothy Noah, has admitted he got it wrong.
#12. Requiring insurers to cover preventive care “saves money.” Nope. According to a review in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Although some preventive measures do save money, the vast majority reviewed in the health economics literature do not.”
#15. “Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” Unless Obama refers to some draft legislation inside his head, this claim is false. The House bill allows the “government option” to pay for abortions directly from the U.S. Treasury. Both the House and Baucus bills would subsidize private insurance that cover abortions. (See Douglas Johnson’s comment on this article.)
Why you should vote Republican in 2010
Biden on 2010: If GOP Succeeds, It’s ‘The End of the Road for What Barack and I Are Trying to Do’
Oh the hubris!
Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.
Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping these seats.
An interesting argument: Let Pandas die out
A little environmental cost-benefit analysis?
Conservationists should “pull the plug” on giant pandas and let them die out, according to BBC presenter and naturalist Chris Packham.
“Here’s a species that, of its own accord, has gone down an evolutionary cul-de-sac,” Packham told Radio Times magazine. Packham believes that money spent on conserving the panda would be better invested in other animals as the species is not strong enough to survive alone.
How to alienate your friends and empower your enemies
Elect the softest and most apologetic of all Democrats, of course!
In an unprecedented move that tells our most vulnerable allies in Eastern Europe to effectively ‘kiss off,’ President Obama scrapped the European missile shield. This shield would have symbolically, if not effectively, told Poland and others that we will never abandon you again. If this isn’t the most disgraceful captitulation to the re-emerging power in the east, I don’t know what is.
But naturally, Obama was able to spin the details by saying we will actually be safer because of him. Just as he does with distubing news about the economy or unemployment or taxes or health care, Obama has managed to spin the negative to suit his party’s true political goals.
Obama promised a redesigned defensive system, saying it would be cheaper, quicker and more effective against the threat from Iranian missiles. The Bush-era plan had complicated ties with Russia, which objected to where the shield installations would be built.
Anticipating criticism from the right that he was weakening America’s security, Obama said repeatedly that this decision would provide more — not less — protection.
The inability to stand up to Russia is nothing short of cowardice. Remember when Democrats used to throw around catchy buzz words like “unilateralism” and “alienating our allies?” Well how’s this for alienation?
Obama said the plan was scrapped in part because, after a review, the United States has concluded that Iran is less focused on developing the kind of long-range missiles for which the system was originally developed, making the building of an expensive new shield unnecessary. New technology also has arisen that military advisers decided could be deployed sooner and more effectively, he said.
Oh I see, I’m sure the Czech Republic and Poland were real concerned about long range missiles from IRAN! These two nations have put their asses on the line by forming alliances with us and hosting our defense systems. And now the President of the United States pulls the rug out from under them while a growing menace lurks to the east. Unreal.
The Montana Standard introduces its newest columnist
Today, The Montana Standard launches a new weekly columnist for its editorial page Byron York will serve as a conservative voice every Tuesday, just as Leonard Pitts gives the more liberal view on Mondays.
York, a staunch conservative, presents his arguments in a thoughtful, measured fashion, rather than resorting to cheap personal attacks on President Obama and others in the Democratic Party that seem to be the hallmark of the GOP these days, said Standard Editor Gerry O’Brien.
Nothing like calling attention to the “cheap personal attacks” with a cheap personal attack. More interesting is that he would choose to alienate the very people he hopes to draw to Yorks column! What a maroon!
Hey Steve, what’s with your state?
WOLVERINES!
I think I like the films that are a little less popular. I wasn’t crazy about Ghost or Red Dawn and I thought To Wong Foo was sub-par. But The Outsiders and Road House were very entertaining. And who in my generation doesn’t watch Dirty Dancing when it makes its occasional appearance on TNT?
R.I.P. Patrick Swayze.
On Dave and his red pen
In an earlier comment, Phooey asks Dave some simple questions about speeches other presidents have given to American school children. Now since I am the most fair minded individual here, I think Phooey is comparing apples to oranges. Those speeches were not meant to be broadcast during school and the education ‘czar’ didn’t put out lesson suggestions in those days urging kids to write a letter on how they can help Presidents Reagan or Bush. Phooey would create comments and posts similar to Dave if a conservative president had the temerity to speak to American children, therefore Phooey has little room to nitpick Dave. But make no mistake about it. . . Dave has gone off the deep end.
I’m actually embarassed for Dave that he advocates open rebellion of Obama. And why does he do this? Because there are leftists out there who really really like Obama and want the country remade in his vision. A few of those nutjobs even make children sing songs about him. And the people that do that rightly get made fun of on youtube.
Well guess what Dave. I really really like Ronald Reagan. I want his agenda re-enacted. I want airports and schools and streets and towns named after him. And if he were alive today addressing school children and Phooey posted how terrible it is that we let kids see his speech, I would be embarassed for him too.
I might have more faith in Dave if he were to let his own kids see the speech at home and have an engaging and spirited discussion about why he disagrees with the Obama agenda (or God forbid, why he thinks some of what the President said makes sense). But Dave doesn’t want that.
Like Andre and Phooey, Dave lives in an ideological vacuum that regards anyone he disagrees with as “the enemy.” Since 2003 I have made scores of posts deriding the fact that leftists actually believed that President Bush woke up every morning trying to figure out how he can take more freedom away, give more power to Halliburton, hurt workers, empower the military, torture enemy combatants, let big cities hit by natural disasters drown or burn, kill Iraqi citizens for oil, and blindly do everything Dick Cheney said. Dave is the right wing version of these people. He doesn’t put up much of a fight when the scoudrels that spend the money like drunk sailors or act like pricks have an ‘R’ after their name. But woe to the man or woman that dares spend frivolously and lurk among Democrats.
I believe that most of what Obama has done has been flat wrong. From the stimulus to cap and trade to pushing health reform to kow tow-ing to foreign governments. I think it is stupid and dangerous. But I refuse to sheild the ears of my kids or my students because I have become a crazed and myopic ideologue. Using your red pen to filter out what others hear, despite what you think Dave, is not conservative nor American. It is childish and dangerous. And it should be fought regardless of who weilds the red pen.
All-American summer
Just a few shots of some summertime activities. It’s good to be a teacher because I can take quick trips that other desk jockeys don’t have the luxury of doing. I labelled the pictures but you have to drag your mouse across the photo to see the label. We were able to do quite a bit for not a lot of money. In June we went to Cody, Wyoming and Yellowstone. And in July we camped twice and had a family gathering in Breckenridge, CO.
I’ve learned a few things this summer as the kids get older: 1) I like the age 13 about as much as I like camping in the rain. 2) When kids compete over who gets to mow, you’ve done something right. 3) I suck at playing and teaching golf. My boy is funny because he thinks when we go golfing he is competing against me. I have tried to convince him that the battle is not with me but with himself. I know how Obi-Wan or Yoda must have felt. 4) Kids love to fish, and my kids like stream fishing better than lake fishing. 5) I will one day look back at these pictures and wish to God I had it all back this way.
Life is good!
Hurry up, then wait. . . an ironic prelude to our future health care system
There is something very disconcerting about a system that would allow money intended for economic growth to be put into signs that tout their own majestic agenda. No, I’m not making that up. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is spending $60,000 of its stimulus money on $2,000 road signs to highlight projects funded by the massive economic recovery package. The signs will have the logo of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and are meant for high visibility projects. Personally I think the Act should have its own Facebook page so that it can tell all of its ‘friends’ what a marvelous job it is doing.
But such frivolity highlights why an increasing number of Americans are growing skeptical of a government run health care “option.” Worse, Obama knows this and has put his efforts at overhauling the system into high gear. In a manner that is a mirror reflection of the aforementioned American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, the passage of health care reform must be done with speed. But as with the stimlus, signs should be created; ones that say STOP! or YIELD, or HOLY SHIT, HAVE WE REALLY THOUGHT THIS THROUGH?
When the 1000 plus page stimulus flew through Congress, few bothered to actually read it and find out that it was festooned with liberal government programs that made the New Deal look downright sensible. And this is why it flew through with such great speed. Why bother bringing a program to the people that the pesky talking heads on the Sunday news shows will expose as a fraud? Why bother defending that which is indefensible?
But already, people are starting to notice that what is aging in Congress is not fine wine but stale bread. When David Broder of the Washington Post has questions about your proposals, perhaps you ought to take another look at what is being rammed through Congress. Among Broders observations:
CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf told the Democrats that they were about to bust the budget. None of the bills he had seen contain “the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount.”"And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs,” he said. . .
. . .All this left Obama facing a choice. He could encourage his congressional allies to push ahead quickly with plans that pretty clearly are badly flawed and overly expensive. Or he could ask them to reconsider and step up to the structural changes that could deliver the kind of reform voters want — and might actually be able to afford.
On Friday, Obama urged lawmakers not to slow down — even as doubts grow about the path they are on.
Ramming through health care at a break neck speed is absolutely what should not be done. It won’t address rising costs. It will result in rationing. And it will belie all of Obama’s signature quotes on health care thus far. When he says “you can keep your doctor,” or “if you like your current coverage, keep it,” Obama demonstrates that he has a flawed understanding of the way government works. Or does he? I think Obama just might understand that bureaucracies don’t operate for profit and will invariably hold sway over the entire market. Nothing he has done thus far has convinced me he doesn’t seek anything less that complete transformation of the power of the federal government. The details of how that will be accomplished are secondary. Thus the need for quick passage.
With Obamacare passage, we will surely be a few short years from the health care rationing and waiting that plagues other western nations. It will do nothing to address rising costs and will undermine the ability of people to make sound economic choices. But as long as the signature is on the Bill by Labor Day, we can all hail another “historic” moment by our President. And then we’ll wait until the bill comes due.
Softball coaches fired because of idiotic administration
I hold out hope that there will be a year when I don’t have to read about public education administrators that make boneheaded decisions that clearly serve no educational purpose and instead actually hurt kids. Alas, I suppose I’ll have to wait until next year.
In Maryland, Walkersville High School girls softball coach Brad Young had a little June celebration at his home. The pool party and cookout was attended by players and a few parents who brought beer. Naturally, alcohol is prohibited at ANY school function and the simple misunderstanding led to a softball coach and his J.V. coach being dismissed from their coaching duties. Oh, by the way, the coach didn’t even take a sip.
Young and team parents said none of the students at the party drank or had access to alcohol. The letter Young received from the school system does not allege that any students drank or had access to alcohol at the party. None of the adults at the party were intoxicated, the parents and coach said.
The simple truth of the matter is that zero tolerance policies are rules that are created and enforced by complete morons. The intent of the alcohol ban, while noble, is designed to keep teachers and coaches from being intoxicated in the presence of their students and players. And yet the rule has been twisted to prevent well-intentioned parents from celebrating a good season. And why? Because goody-goody administrators (who are not even puritanical and have no religious motivation) feel like they should montior the examples that other law abiding staff sets for the kids. Nevermind the fact that the best example an adult can set is that it is okay to imbibe in an adult beverage responsibly and in moderation.
Ultimately the policy and all such inane rules like it, serve only to punish the very people it intends to protect. The young ladies on the team now have to find a replacement coach to attempt to guide them to another 2A western region title.
McNally described Young as a “great role model for those kids,” and “a mentor who gives 150 percent” for the students-athletes in his charge.
“It wasn’t an intentional violation,” NcNally said. “The punishment doesn’t fit the crime.”
McNally, along with Glade Valley Athletic Association softball coach Ken Sowers and Sarah Tuck, whose daughter Karson was named county player of the year, described Young as a coach who goes out of his way to assist student-athletes with college applications and scholarship opportunities.
RIP Michael Jackson
I suppose it has been chic to make fun of the quirky, often circus-like, life of Michael Jackson. But those in my generation cannot escape the fact that our cultural lives were transformed immensely by the ‘King of Pop.’
When I was about twelve and cable television arrived in my neighborhood, the first thing I did was turn to Mtv (ch. 46) and the first video I saw that day was Thriller. It was fitting that the first video I saw on my own cable television set was the greatest video.
Long after the sad carnival that surrounded his life was played out, his music was always going to endure. Michael Jackson died today of an apparent heart attack. As it is when any icon of our youth passes away, a small part of us goes with him. Rest in peace.
Senator Boxer is a clown
Imagine if you knew a guy who was offended when being referred to as ‘mister’ or ‘sir’ in the course of a conversation. Every American instinctively understands that these are terms that convey respect and would therefore never correct the usage of them unless he wanted a person to be more informal. Now reverse the scenario.
Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh was following military protocol last week when he repeatedly called Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., “ma’am” at a Senate hearing.
But during a line of questioning on protecting and restoring the Louisiana coast, Boxer interrupted Walsh.
“Do me a favor,” she asked him. “Could you say ‘senator’ instead of ‘ma’am’? It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it.”
“Yes, senator,” replied Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers.
This short dialogue is instructive in two ways. First, it shows that Boxer has absolutely no clue about how military people address each other. It would have been perfectly acceptable for the General to have been addressed as ‘sir’ or by the title ‘General.’ And when military personnel speak to females that outrank them, they use the term ‘ma’am.’ But second and more importantly, it shows just how low the bar has been set in California and across America by those with a liberal axe to grind. It has become taboo to call an unmarried woman ‘Miss’ or a married woman ‘Mrs.’ We instead are forced to deal in the nonsensical and made-up ‘Ms.’ Boxer’s attitude is an indictment of how ridiculously brainwashed feminists have become when they can’t even decipher that ‘ma’am’ is a term of respect.
Orton vs. Cutler and 11 game win streaks
At Friday’s conclave, it became abundantly clear that the Bronco faithful among us have taken a Bob Marley view on the state of the team. In essence, these brainiacs are sticking to the mantra of ‘don’t worry about a thing, everything’s gonna be alright.’ I’m not so optimistic but I hold out hope that they are correct.
I bring this up because yesterday Kyle Orton was named the starting quarterback of a franchise that is still in the throes of turmoil. Aside from an inexperienced head coach that drove off the franchise quarterback, the Broncos are trying to revamp perhaps the worst defense in the league, retool a horrific running game, and reign in a talented but uncontrollable receiver. But the optimists among us are unfazed. They point to the records of both QB’s as starters. Orton has been something like 21 - 13 to Cutlers 17 – 20 as a starter. They point to McDaniel’s ability to develop quarterbacks. They point to Cutler’s problems in the red zone, or his immaturity, or the fact that he has yet to win wherever he has been. I don’t really dispute any of this, and in fact, take solace in their arguments. But the NFL is about the ability to thread the tough pass, lead, have the respect of your teammates, and show that you have the ability to win. Cutler had all of those things. And can anyone claim that Cutlers record would not have been better had Denver even been mediocre on defense? Would Cutler not have won more if he hadn’t unknowingly battled diabetes during the 2007 season? Ultimately the points are moot. I am just not yet sold on McDaniels. Or Orton.
On a more positive note, the hottest team in baseball is the Colorado Rockies. Propelled by stellar pitching, the Rox have put together an impressive eleven game win streak. But if they are going to be serious in September, I predict that over the next four weeks they need to cut their deficit to the Dodgers in half. So about a week after the all-star break, we’ll know if the not-so-kid-Rocks are just temporarily filling seats or making a serious run.
Impromptu Conclave; up to the minute minutes of the meeting
At noon today, I called DFV to arrange our bi-annual Conclub Conclave. After several tense minutes of negotiation, we were able gather a quorum by getting both Dave and Steve to agree to appear. These are the minutes of that gathering.
6:45 DFV and E arrive at the Cork in Ft. Collins. They scan the place, settle in, and order a couple of Bud Lights. It is the beginning of the second period of game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
7:25 Dave arrives. He fails to bring his usual trinkets. DFV and E pay no mind. Usual pleasantries are exchanged. Shots of Jaeger bombs flow smoothly
7:35 E goes to help rummage up some food. Pizza, Wings, and cheese fries are on the menu. Pittsburgh is up 2 – 0.
7:45 Food is served. Dave elects not to eat. Discussion turns to why Dave and DFV refuse to post their required posts. DFV falls back on the excuse of no liberals posting = no fun. Wes is gone. Andre is gone. Phooey can’t post. Therefore, there is no enlightening discussion. E counters that their posts spark the discussion regardless of the politics. Dave is about 80% done with his book and uses this as an excuse (along with his farming operations).
8:30 The Pens win the Stanley Cup. Another Jaeger bomb for all. Out to smoke
8:50 Guru Steve arrives. All move inside to re-locate in the bar. More discussion of posting, twitter, other sites like twitter, and computers ensue.
9:15 E posts the Louis CK post. All must see it.
9:27 Steve, Dave, and DFV go outside to smoke and look at Louis CK video on DFV’s iPhone. E stays inside to guard drinks from the riff-raff that is starting to inhabit the bar.
9:41 DFV, Steve and Dave come back in and discuss cancer and other modern issues.
9:53 Scotty arrives. Pleasantries are exchanged. More discussion. Topics include family guy and the Simpsons, former conclubber Jamie, Sarah Palin and the Rockies (who won their 9th straight game by the way).
10:40 Guru Steve adds a picture of a handsome individual posting minutes on his computer. Talk turns to talk radio, the Broncos and Brandon Marshall, Knowshon Moreno and other Bronco topics.
Update:
11:35 The five engage in various discussion mixed in with bouts of smokes on the back porch. One of the main topics is the state of the Republican party. This discussion takes up a significant amount of time as Dave sticks by his assertion that the GOP cannot surrender its values to become Republican-light. Damien doesn’t really see politics that way and argues that there is always going to be coalitions that guide policy. In essence, there will always be Olympia Snowes but she is a useful idiot anyway because she still caucuses with Republicans.
11:55 Shots of some 100 proof schnaps that made our breath minty fresh.
Sometime between midnight and 1:35 Scott departs. Topics: Shots of Jaeger. Beer. Jobs. Rockies. Post more. Liberals on the site.
Depart at 1:35
Overall it was a great time to be had by all. Little business was accomplished other that E harping on Dave and DFV. Both eventually gave in and agreed. We still need a webmaster that can implement our ideas. In keeping with tradition I thought I would include a song that best incapsulates the evening. Think Heineken beer. Cheers!
Hilarious: Eco-sailors rescued by oil tanker
That sound you hear is me laughing hysterically!
An expedition team which set sail from Plymouth on a 5,000-mile carbon emission-free trip to Greenland have been rescued by an oil tanker.
Raoul Surcouf, Richard Spink and skipper Ben Stoddart sent a mayday because they feared for their safety amid winds of 68mph (109km/h).
I wonder what the carbon footprint was of the vessels that heeded the eco-lunatics’ call. Thankfully the Skipper, Gilligan, and the rest of the ships passengers were okay.
One man’s empathy is another man’s apathy
Shortly after David Souter announced his retirement, we were treated to the legal worldview of President Obama. Far from being an advocate of sound constitutional legal reasoning, Obama indicated he would look for other “qualities” more suited for the legislature than the bench:
“We need somebody who’s got the heart to recognize–the empathy to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old. And that’s the criteria by which I’m going to be selecting my judges.”
Profound.
Can anyone think of a worse way to select someone who will then determine the Constitutionality of law? Better put; where does empathy on the bench fit when the Court decides it’s most recent cases involving identity theft, environmental clean up liability, and juvenile sentencing (this fall)? In a case involving a homeowner, should the empathy lie with the tenant or the landlord? When Obama spouts nonsense about empathy, he is clearly playing to the base that wrongly believes the Supreme Court was created to decide nothing but abortion and civil rights cases. In fact, the staple of the SCOTUS diet is administrative law, bankruptcy, civil procedure, securities regulation and other boring procedural battles that require less empathy and more knowledge.
I have no illusions that Obama will appoint a strict Constitutionalist cut in the mold of Roberts or Alito. But with his nonsensical statement, it is clear that he is likely to appoint someone who is only there to appease the braying masses calling for judicial payback.
But at least they will be empathetic to teenage girls or old people.
‘A Chilling Effect on U.S. Counterterrorism’
Last week, PG stated unequivocally that the release of the so called “torture memos” have “damaged the country.” There is no question that Obama will be walking a tight rope with no net on this issue. PG correctly pointed out that Obama has backpedaled on his commitment to not prosecute over the matter, demoralized the intelligence community, polarized the country, and emboldened our enemies.
Not to be outdone, resident naysayer and thorn-in-the-side of conservatives, Phoenecian (Phooey), challenged PG to come up with evidence that supported PG’s assertion that the intelligence community was “demoralized.” The exchange proceeded as such:
Phooey: Cite your sources, please. (Hint hint: anecdotes are not data)
PG: dude, should I just give a bad link like you do, with demonstrably misleading information, or should I provide real support? Here is one Phooey… *PG then went on to post two more
Phooey: Hint hint: anecdotes are not data. Also hint hint – the directors do not always speak for the workers.
PG: What part of its “my observation of the available comments” do you not understand son. I gave you some of those comments. If you fail grasp that I can not help you. If you disagree with that then that’s fine with me Phooey. If you can find comments contrary to my position then more the better. If you find my argument unsupported that is all cake to me.
Well, unfortunately for the United States, it appears that PG actually knows what he is talking about. Global Intelligence think tank Stratfor writers Fred Burton and Scott Stewart had this to say about the topic:
Politics and moral arguments aside, the end effect of the memos’ release is that people who have put their lives on the line in U.S. counterterrorism efforts are now uncertain of whether they should be making that sacrifice. Many of these people are now questioning whether the administration that happens to be in power at any given time will recognize the fact that they were carrying out lawful orders under a previous administration. It is hard to retain officers and attract quality recruits in this kind of environment. It has become safer to work in programs other than counterterrorism.
The memos’ release will not have a catastrophic effect on U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Indeed, most of the information in the memos was leaked to the press years ago and has long been public knowledge. However, when the release of the memos is examined in a wider context, and combined with a few other dynamics, it appears that the U.S. counterterrorism community is quietly slipping back into an atmosphere of risk-aversion and malaise — an atmosphere not dissimilar to that described by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission) as a contributing factor to the intelligence failures that led to the 9/11 attacks.
If you care about our counterterrorism efforts, you must read the entire link. It is a fascinating, non-partisan look at how legal and political considerations may be trumping our ability to effectively fight terror abroad.
Thursday Crude Humor
Offended by foul language? Don’t click play. Like to laugh a whole bunch? Enjoy some Onion news!
Card check personified
For better or worse, one of the results of living in the digital age today is that there is no political speech, no event, and no rally that is attended solely by “your kind.” There are always going to be political operatives lurking at political events with a camera attempting to capture that ‘gotcha’ moment. Matt Milner is one of those operatives for the Colorado Republican party.
At an AFL-CIO townhall event here in Denver, Senator Michael Bennet was the guest speaker. He was being “tracked” by Milner. Then the goons came out:
The 5-foot-6-inch Milner found himself surrounded as the event wound down, he said.
“This hulking guy comes flying at me, and he’s yelling ‘Who are you with?’ There’s a flurry of F-words,” Milner said. “They circled around me. I’d try to move, and they’d move to block my path.”
Cerbo, one of the five men who spoke to Milner after Bennet’s speech, disputed that version of events Sunday. He said the young interloper was aggressive and tried to provoke a confrontation, though he declined to say how.
“He came in uninvited. . . . I’d call him a trespasser,” Cerbo said. “He didn’t get the incident he wanted, so he’s clearly lying about what happened.”
By Cerbo’s recollection, Milner offered to erase his tape because he hadn’t been invited to the event. Milner says he was barred from leaving until he agreed to erase the recording and that one of the men briefly took his camera to make sure it was.
So at a public union gathering, thugs surround a guy and make him erase his video of our own Senator. What do you suppose will happen when these same goons hand someone a card to sign?
Employee free choice my ass!
It’s like ‘Mission Accomplished’ only more pathetic and self serving
- I think I might have cle
ared a skyscraper too
What would the reaction be if this had happened last July during Bush’s final months? I don’t suppose Huffpo and Kos threads would light up, right?
On Monday morning, one of the 747s used to ferry around the U.S. president was dispatched to the Statue of Liberty, escorted by a fighter jet. Assignment: Get some fresh glamour shots of the plane.
The Air Force said the flight needed to remain confidential. So while New York police knew about it, as did at least one person in the mayor’s office, regular New Yorkers remained in the dark.
As a result, to onlookers Monday all across downtown Manhattan — where the World Trade Center once stood — the photo shoot looked like a terrorist attack. People watched in horror as a massive aircraft, trailed closely by an F-16 fighter jet, banked and roared low near the city, in a frightening echo of the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Fearing the worst, thousands of people streamed out of the skyscrapers and into the streets. Some buildings ordered evacuations. “Oh God, it was mayhem in here, just mayhem,” says Rubin Shimon, manager of Styling Haircutters, a barbershop near Ground Zero. Many people took shelter in the shop to call loved ones on their cellphones.
It should be noted that when Bush landed on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, he never set off mass panic. But it may demonstate just how trivial the Obama Administration takes the threat of terrorism today. In light of the Obama repudiation of Bush’s anti-terrorism policies, look for the American public to quickly grow tired of Obama should, God forbid, terror reach our shores once again.
No shock here: Specter switches parties
From MSNBC:Veteran Republican Sen. Arlen Specter announced Tuesday that he is switching parties, a move would give Democrats a filibuster-proof 60 seats if Al Franken is seated in the Minnesota race.
“I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary,” the Pennsylvania senator said in a statement.
“I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans,” Specter said, adding that the “change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans.”
Actually, Specter has been a consistent party line voter for the Dems for quite some time.
The bottom line is that Specter has been a disgrace to the GOP for some time and belongs with his cohorts on the left.
Earth day: so the self-important can feel good
An Infidel babe of the day?
I despise being told what I should care about and I hate the notion that someone elses alarmist rhetoric is my problem. That is why I hold earth day and global warming nutjobs in rational contempt. Perhaps the greatest marketing coup over the past decade has come from the Al Gores of the world convincing us all that we are in immenent danger from environmental catastrophe. Somehow they have managed to convince the self-loathing western democracies that their behavior needs to change. In reality, they are convincing the west to commit political, social and economic suicide. They are impolitely asking the west to step aside so the third world can assume the role of polluters, population boomers, and economic leaders. And why? Because we should have some guilt complex associated with our polluting habits.
But the reality is often quite different from the truth. I would say that the environmental stewardship of our own ‘Farmer Dave’ or fisherman Hairy Beast is equal to that of the self-annointed nannies. And despite the notion that only aggressive economic engineering at the hands of the social democracies of the world can save mother earth, I believe that capitalism has done quite well. Consider the following editorial in IBD:
Buried beneath all the badgering and fear-mongering about lavish Western lifestyles is a reality that the stuck-on-green left won’t talk about and the average American isn’t aware of: The world, especially in developed nations, is a cleaner — and greener — place than it was when the environmental movement began.
Every year Steven Hayward, a scholar at the Pacific Research Institute and the American Enterprise Institute, compiles his Index of Leading Environmental Indicators. And every year, his findings contradict the alarmists’ warnings that the world is on the edge of environmental cataclysm.
From evidence “that tropical rain forests may now be expanding faster than they are being cut down” to the improving health of U.S. ocean fisheries to better outdoor air quality in American cities with the worst air pollution, Hayward shows there’s more to be optimistic about than there is to be troubled about.
The Environmental Protection Agency has also published its own Report on the environment. Last year’s report, the most recent, indicates outdoor air quality has improved, there’s been a net gain in wetland acreage, public-source drinking-water problems are uncommon and forest land is expanding after declining for a century.
Despite the gains, the dupes will still feel angry at capitalism because a hurricane strikes some coast. They will still volutarily sit in the dark for an hour just to prove they can. They will still believe that creating stagnation in western economies will keep the poor polar bears alive. And they will still celebrate a ‘Holy day’ that teaches children what they should already be taught at home: throw away your trash, be a good steward of all things, and play nice.
Happy earth day suckers!
Cost-benefit analysis more appropriate in light of recent “torture” memos
Looking more smug than correct, Wes made the following observations the other day:
Nobody’s going to mention that we can now verify that the US created very detailed procedures for torturing people? Or that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded not once, not thrice, but at least 183 times in one month? Not to say he didn’t deserve it, but still, that not only is unquestionably severe torture, that’s also pretty much proof that torture doesn’t really work to deliver quick, actionable intelligence. Or at least was definitely not part of anywhere near a sort of “ticking time bomb” scenario.
The news of the memos didn’t really shock me for its content nor for its barbarity. In fact, the memos show that we are a nation of laws that struggles in dealing with the lawless. Certainly we would never, and can never, treat our own accused citizens in this way. But while others define torture through the lens of a camcorder with a serated knife sawing someones head off, we continue to be a nation of laws debating reasonable ways to get actionable intel from those who do not abide by laws.
Our “torture” techniques are certainly arguable. But at Gitmo we maintained a standard to ensure that the techniques wouldn’t cause severe mental pain or suffering. For example, only Americans would torture with a physician on duty; in case a waterboarded suspect didn’t regain consciousness. Only Americans would consider “walling” a terrorist by wrapping a towel around his neck to guard against whiplash before slamming him against a “flexible, false wall.” And only Americans would torture using bugs ensuring that they make it clear to the detainee that the bug doesn’t sting.
In some cases, the memos address specific interrogation plans. When the CIA proposed putting an Al Qaeda suspect in a small box with an insect, the Justice Department endorsed the idea but added conditions it said were necessary to keep the agency from violating the international convention against torture.
“If you do so . . . you must inform him that the insects will not have a sting that would produce death or severe pain,” said a 2002 memo sent to the CIA’s acting general counsel. A footnote clarified that the CIA never carried out the insect interrogation plan.
Ultimately, if we are going to release memos that are political and designed to provide fodder for the perpetually outraged, then Dick Cheney is absolutely correct in saying that we need to release the positive intelligence we were able to gain from these methods. Rather than listening to President Obama engaging in the knee-jerk, “this is horrible and someone must be prosecuted” reaction, the public has a right to know if these interrogation techniques were valuable and what type of domestic terror activity was averted because of them.
Instead of being treated to a valuable debate on the future of rough interrogation on lawless terrorists, we will be subjected our own form of intellectual torture. That torture will come in the form of grandstanding by those who trip over themselves to condemn rough interrogations of people who want to destroy the west.
On Congressional hypocrisy
I’ve always enjoyed reading many of the Conclubbers here but I especially enjoy the nuanced and dynamic views of PG, DFV and Jeff. They are generally tolerant people that are intolerant of political corruption on both sides of the aisle. I don’t always agree with them, but at least they are not so firmly entrenched in their ideology that they refuse to see the corruption in the guys that they vote for. Contrast that with Wes or Phoenecian. Their guys can generally do no wrong and are bastions of light in a dark and cloudy world.
I’m reminded of this because I believe that for the Republicans to rise again, they must be willing to completely clean house and return to their core ideology of lower taxes and less spending. They must also stand firm against the overwhelming tide of special interest, earmarks, kickbacks, double standards and big government. And it’s clear that the current crop is just not up to the task:
The U.S. Senate last month passed a measure limiting “luxury” spending for corporate travel by recipients of federal bailout funds. Two weeks later, about two dozen senators of both parties left town for political meetings on the Florida coast.
Hotel-industry leaders are seizing on those trips as ammunition in a campaign to get lawmakers and Obama administration to tone down the rhetoric against business travel, which they say is adding to their economic difficulties.
“It’s just the hypocrisy,” said Frank Fahrenkopf, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee who is president of the Washington-based American Gaming Association, one of the groups urging politicians to moderate the criticism. “We’ve got to have Washington stop beating up on us.”
If both Republicans and Democrats want to enact their agenda through a legitimate process that involves debate, brokering and the formation of coalitions, then have at it. If the Dems want to raise taxes, raise spending, and create more reliance of government, then so be it. I don’t like it, but that is the spoils of victory for them. But for Congressmen to engage in public relations campaigns intent on destroying the images and structures of corporations that largely followed policies put in place by Congress, that is a problem. For representatives from both sides of the aisle to rail against corruption while engaging in those same behaviors rubs me wrong.
And at this point, there are only a few people willing to criticize members of their chosen ideology for such hypocrisy.
AIG bonuses show just how stupid some really are
Sometimes the populist rhetoric of the morons sinks so low that one has to wonder how much longer our country can sustain itself. Such is the case of the AIG execs who are now being hounded in their own homes by busloads of jackasses hellbent on making life more equal for all.
A busload of activists representing working-class and middle-class families paid visits Saturday to the lavish homes of American International Group executives to protest the tens of millions of dollars in bonuses awarded by the struggling insurance company after it received a massive federal bailout.
First, to say these idiots “represent working-class and middle-class families” is laughable. They sure as hell don’t represent me. And while I’m not thrilled with the bonus situation, I would like those self-annointed representatives to find their way over to the homes of congressional Democrats that failed to write provisions into the bailout that prevented such bonuses. At least direct your anger at the appropriate party! But what is really indicative of the entire scenario are these words from Emeline Bravo-Blackport:
We think $165 million could be used in a more appropriate way to keep people in their homes, create more jobs and health care,” said Emeline Bravo-Blackport, a gardener.
She marveled at AIG executive James Haas’ colonial house, which has stunning views of a golf course and the Long Island Sound. The Fairfield house is “another part of the world” from her life in nearby Bridgeport, which flirted with bankruptcy in the 1990s and still struggles with foreclosures and unemployment.
“Lord, I wonder what it’s like to live in a house that size,” she said.
Golly! I wonder what it’s like to attend an Ivy League school, get the best education in the world, and then magically end up with a high paying job! Where is the justice? I just wish those rich folks would invest their salaries and bonuses into money-making ventures like government run health care and keeping people who can’t afford their homes from going into foreclosure! And there certainly are no Democratic politicians that live in colonial homes with golf course views.
At the end of the day, there is nothing more pathetic than those who seek to cut into the successes of the rich just to satisfy their Freudian Id, “workers of the world unite” mentality. It doesn’t work. Just ask Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Cuba, and now Fairfield, Connecticut.
The ugly double standard continues
I’ve said before that I really despise the corruption and lack of ethics generally displayed by both parties (particularly in Congress). The most recent example is the omnibus spending bill which was laden with billions of dollars in pork (&7.7 billion to be exact). Republicans accounted for about 45% of that pork thereby taking away any ability to say that they are the party against wasteful spending. The joke in Washington is that there are actually three parties in Washington; Democrats, Republicans, and Appropriators.
Ethical spending dilemmas aside, what I really detest is the policy-makers and spin doctors that say one thing while doing something entirely different. And while Republicans are not immune to the double standard, it is the left that seems to consistently tread in the murky swamps of duplicity. Here are a few of my favorites. Add more if you feel so compelled:
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, just minutes before learning of the terrorist attacks on America, Democratic strategist James Carville was hoping for President Bush to fail, telling a group of Washington reporters: “I certainly hope he doesn’t succeed.”
“The most influential Republican in the United States today, Mr. Rush Limbaugh, said he did not want President Obama to succeed,” Carville railed on CNN recently. “He is the daddy of this Republican Congress.”
In 2006, 51 percent of Democrats wanted Bush to fail, according to a FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll
“Earmarks is the responsibility of the Congress. We should earmark even more. We should earmark every penny. So, that’s the principle that we have to follow and the — and the responsibility of the Congress.” Ron Paul, March 10, 2009 whose earmarks totalled $79 million.
When John McCain’s economic adviser Phil Gramm said that this country is a “nation of whiners” when it comes to the economy, the Washington Post featured its 1100 word story on Gramm’s controversial remark on the front page: “Gramm Remark Adds to McCain’s Difficulty Addressing the Economy“
Workers still lack the freedom to form unions.” - UAW President Ron Gettelfinger complaining that a union organization election is only held when 30% of workers sign a union card (emphasis mine).
“they (the UAW) created a hostile work environment” through relentless pressure to sign cards. - So much for freedom
“The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.” Nancy Pelosi, Nov. 2006
“It is my understanding that there are no [Gulfstream] G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess,” the staffer complained. “This is totally unacceptable…The Speaker will want to know where the planes are.” email from Pelosi’s office to the Pentagon.
Paul Harvey – “Good Day”
Are there any among us who didn’t grow to love the tales woven by Paul Harvey? I can say that I never turned the radio off when I heard the words “Hello Americans. . .” If I was in the car and I arrived before the story was over I would sit in the car until I heard the signature sign off (Paul Harvey. . . Good day!) and then I would feel like it was okay to turn off the car. The stories that involved the famous and the infamous always had the effect of making me feel like the extraordinary was possible by the ordinary. As his stories wound to their inevitable ‘feel-good’ conclusion, I was often able to guess who he was talking about. But far from being let down, I always found the story to continue to be captivating. I still found the tales of Abraham Lincoln or FDR or John Lennon or Thomas Edison great even when I knew who he was talking about. And his rundown of daily news and jargon with the trademark declarations of the pages that he was reading from was always entertaining. And although his voice was still strong, it was easy to tell that he was beginning to fade. You can almost hear the signature sign off as he passes to the ages.
Paul Harvey - 1918 – 2009
Dealing with adversity
I took this some time ago but recently ran across it. This is the fish that was given to my boy but the wife ended up caring for the dumb thing. I hated the fish because she alway kept it in the kitchen. Since fish = clutter, clutter must go.
Now normally when I see our dumb cat on anything other than the floor, I attempt to punt the thing. But I had to laugh when I saw her using the fish bowl as her water bowl.
Unfortunately, the fish, under my dear wife’s tender care, lived another year and a half (I think in fish years the beta was about 310). Worthless cat.
Palin to Judd: Shut your yap!
Isn’t it fun to be a hollywood leftist that fronts for fringe groups who have no clue about real life? Ashley Judd continues to demonstrate just what a tool she really is as she condemns Sarah Palin and the practice of wolf hunting for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. The focus is on aerial killing from helicopters. I suppose this might be seen as an unfair advantage those of us at the top of the food chain have, but hey, if wolves could kill moose from a helicopter, I suspect they would.
But its so chic to be alarmed and flabbergasted by the horrific practice when you are a lunatic that takes marching orders from those that wave red flags while wearing Che Guevara shirts. It could be that Judd has an affinity for Buck the dog in Call of the Wild but I doubt it.
Anyway, it was good to see Palin fire back today when she said, “Alaskans depend on wildlife for food and cultural practices which can’t be sustained when predators are allowed to decimate moose and caribou populations.”
She added: “Shame on the Defenders of Wildlife for twisting the truth in an effort to raise funds from innocent and hard-pressed Americans struggling with these rough economic times.”
Aren’t leftists supposed to care about the caribou in Alaska? I thought that was why ANWR was off limits.
Proud Atheists, poor arguments
Whenever I log into the wordpress site, I sometimes scan the ‘Hawt Posts’ section just to see other blogs. When I went to check ConClub today, I was drawn to the site Proud Atheists in that section with the title: “Only in America.”
Now normally I don’t get upset enough to even comment on sites I disagree with. But the point of his post was to show how bad the combination of America and religion have been. He uses such stellar facts as America ranks #33 in acceptance of evolution, some kids wear shirts with the message “God Hates Fags,” and the fact that we only have 5% of the worlds population but 25% of the worlds incarcerated population.
I was so incenced by this enlightened soul that I fired off this reply:
So does being atheist mean that you are required to create the most obvious straw man arguments known to man? Frankly, I am disappointed in the intellectual level of your discourse. You take the lowest common denominators in society and equate them with religious teachings and doctrines. For example:
America claims to be religious yet they have lots of prisoners, and, some very vile people wear ‘God hates fags’ shirts”
Despite my Christian leanings, I haven’t the slightest desire to debate your dogmatic atheism. But could you at least read something by Christopher Hitchens and learn how to articulate a common sense atheist argument before you embarass yourself with your vacuous arguments? Thanks so much.
I don’t really care much if you don’t believe in God or are a leftist or hate America or think Bush should die a terrible death. None of that really gets to me. But please, please make a rational argument if you are going to put your shit out there. This is why I love the bloggers from both the left and right on this site. They at least bring it.
BTW, that comment is awaiting moderation. We know how well our past comments have been treated on sites we oppose. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: I just checked the status of my comment and it apparently didn’t make the cut. The author left a quick statement that said “EtheWise, I will admit my writing could use improvement, but I am not a fan of Hitchens. He is a war supporter.” And just as quickly as I saw that reply, he pulled it. I guess you now know why I rarely comment on sites of those with which I disagree. They pull most comments, even respectful ones, of their ideological foes.
UPDATE: After two more attempts of wondering aloud why the dude wouldn’t even display my comment, it is clear that he didn’t like his arguments called into question. He responded but quickly pulled the response (see above). I suppose we can chalk this clown and his site up as another leftist echo chamber where those that proffer polite yet scathing observations will be scrubbed from the dialogue.
BTW, WordPress is a joke for “randomly” prominently displaying retards that can’t make coherent arguments.
Reflections on Gran Torino
I miss my grandparents. I feel fortunate to have grown up as a young child in the 1970′s still being able to see them in a real American setting. The setting was not idyllic nor glamorous. It was real. They were real. He was a WWII hero, she was one of last riders of the infamous orphan trains. With each passing year, I appreciate them more and more. I appreciate that house where the flag always proudly flew.
They lived in north Denver throughout my young life at a time when the neighborhoods were transforming from predominantly Italian ones to the current Mexican ones. To be certain, the ethnicities are each unique and carry with them their own cultures and stereotypes. Both groups have a proud heritage that shows in the small shops, restaurants and churches. I think my grandfather would have been content to simply have the neighborhood remain Italian. I think they often felt helpless at some of the demographic changes that occured around them. But through it all, my grandparents steadfastly remained in that small, well kept house on 35th amidst all the changes.
I think Walt Kowalski also felt helpless too. Walt is not real in the traditional sense; although he is as real as you or I. Walt is the person that Clint Eastwood portrays in the movie Gran Torino. Walt is a Korean War hero who has seen his urban Detroit neighborhood transformed from the “all-American” haven for returning vets of the 1940′s and 1950′s to a gang-infested hotbed of inner city turmoil. Like many men of his generation, I think Walt probably felt a deep sense of pride. Pride in his work as an auto assembly lineman. Pride in the nation he defended. Pride in having a wife and kids and a small plot of land he could call his own. Through it all he rarely bitched about that work or boasted about that service or doted on those kids. He clocked in and clocked out, drank the same beer for decades (PBR) and went to church because his wife wanted him to.
So when the changes occuring around Walt begin to confront Walt, he is understandable frustrated. He speaks in the plain words that the men of his generation spoke; language that enlightened liberals of today would deem intolerable. They would wrongly believe that Walt was evil for lamenting the “zipperheads,” “slopes” or “gooks” that have moved in around him. They would demand sensitivity training for Walt because he has contempt for the “spooks” or “beaners” that harass others. He lives by the rules and expects others to do the same.
Everyone should see Gran Torino not because it is a good movie with a nice message. They should see it because it gives a healthy glimpse at what is becoming of American cities today. They should see what fatherless households are turning our society into. They should see the vets that still proudly fly that flag. And they should come to see Walt. And get a look at the man I knew as grandpa.
Big Buck Hunter – Timewaster
Since it is sort of like Sunday for us teachers and assorted public servants I bring you the environmentally insensitive big game hunting timewaster. The only thing that might make it better is if the carcasses were left on the field. . . or if these does were playing with you.
Line rider
There have been few Sunday Timewasters of late so I thought I would throw one out that I picked up from some students. It’s like golf. You’ll be stymied at first but all at once you’ll find you enjoy the hell out of it.
In case you were wondering, here is an extreme case of line riding:
Eric’s Bold 2009 Predictions
Sometimes I look back at my past predictions and wonder why I am not working as a financial planner or psychic. My brilliance is eerie. My prediction that the Cubs wouldn’t win the World Series? Who knew! And how about the bit about a contentious presidential race? Weird.
Okay, so maybe I wasn’t that good. But being mostly wrong never deters me from making the next round of predictions 52 weeks later. So without further rambling. . .
On the economy: Thrift is in and ostentatiousness is out. When I stood in line at the Starbucks the other day, the guy with the Dolce and Gabana sunglasses just looked like a dork. I know I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Be prepared to be overwhelmed by value meals, rebates, and coupon deals. Women will be at the head of this thriftiness. Guys might just drink cheaper beer.
On the same note, look for simplicity in business. Complex deals, accounting practices, acqusitions, buyouts, etc. will be shunned in favor of the simple or thrifty. Woe to those corporate officers who defy this credo as more CEO’s stand to go to jail for simply presiding over a failed corporation.
As stated by everyone else but me (call me the echo chamber) Obama will be praised when economic indicators are good and Bush will be vilified when they are bad. Bush needs to be prepared to be blamed at every turn.
In technology: The digital television conversion will be so small potatoes that almost every American will wonder why the hell the media has been mentioning it on newscasts for the past six months.
Online video and game ordering through your Wii or PS3 will become all the rage. Soon, you will be able to watch movies that have just been released to DVD for $1. And you won’t have to take the movie back. Ever.
Apple will end its exclusivity agreement with AT&T and make the iPhone available to all. In two years, I will get one and hook it into my T-mobile account.
Speaking of Apple, ground to pieces by Mac and its own Vista operating systems nightmare, Microsoft will roar back in the summer with its latest system.
In Politics: The Republicans will temporarily split for the next two years. There will be those that want to get along with an Obama administration (McCain) and those that obstruct much of his agenda. Things won’t soon get better for the GOP and despite predictions last year, the Republicans won’t make substantial gains come 2010.
In Obama’s first State of the Union Address, Dems will practically wet themselves. Several members on the Democratic side will cry. Just like they did for Obama’s election, and inauguration, and first speech from the White House, and first press briefing and first ride in Air Force One. . .
Despite the mantras of 2008, there will be no real “change.” Dems will have to waken to the sobering effects of this thing called “leadership.” There will be no stability in the Middle East, the “good war” in Afghanistan is going to continue to plod along with no real results, Pakistan will be no help, Iran will be as bellicose as ever and on several occasions, Ahmadinejad will call out Obama by insulting his race or religion, Iraq will be just fine with a smattering of car bombings and skirmishes. Ultimately, it will continue to march into the 21st century by exploiting more oil wealth. Obama will be praised for his leadership in Iraq. Everyone, including Obama will know the truth.
All of those nifty campaign promises are just empty rhetoric. Health care, the new energy economy, investing in education, and middle class tax “relief” are already in the shredder. Because of this, there will be a degree of disharmony between Obama and loudmouths in his own party.
In Sports: The Florida Gators will win the “national title” as will the Utah Utes. College football will still be a joke. And I will watch it as always. In 50 years our grandkids will laugh at our generation for such a ridiculous system.
The Carolina Panthers will win their first Super Bowl by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In March UConn, Duke, Carolina, and Texas will ride #1 seeds into the tourney. Of course Carolina will win (the easiest prediction of all).
In June, the Lakers will defeat the Celtics in the NBA championship.
The Yankees will win the World Series.
Next?
Sporting fun
Colorado Avalanche Kills 2 Snowmobilers - headline, Associated Press, Dec. 28
Apparently coach Tony Granato couldn’t be reached for comment
Dolphins Found Dead at New Jersey Shore - headline, FoxNews, Dec. 26
Somehow they still managed to beat the Jets and make the playoffs
Dolphins’ Chad Pennington Gets shot to show Jets fans what they’re missing - headline, Palm Beach Post, Dec. 27
Plaxico Buress did the same thing. I wouldn’t recommend it.
The only legitimate argument against Rick Warren to date
Of course it comes from Christopher Hitchens.
A few weeks ago, DFV said of Hitchens that “there are precious few men in public affairs today who more zealously seek the truth than Mr. Hitchens, and none I’m aware of who possess his intellect and knowledge.”
I don’t know about the “seek the truth” part. I do know there are few who more zealously seek to be critical of people of faith. To him, all pastors and religious leaders are charlatans and the faithful are ignorant. But his logic on a variety of topics is unflappable and his use of the written word is in the stratosphere of Victor Davis Hanson and George Will.
So far, the only criticisms against Warren giving the inauguration invocation have been from the left. They are upset that Warren doesn’t embrace the radical homosexual agenda and so this pastor must be unfit to offer a prayer to the Almighty. *yawn* But Hitchens gives us a reason to legitimately question Warren.
In one of those Pelosi/Sean Penn moments, Warren travelled to Syria to meet with Bashar Assad in 2006. Now generally, elites like Hollywood leftists or businessmen or legislators don’t travel abroad unless it advances some agenda of theirs. So the first thing that popped into my mind was that Pastor Warren wants to tell the flock he was on the road to Damascus like Saul of Tarsus (Paul). Hitchens thought the same thing:
“Syria,” he told his viewers back home by video, is “a moderate country, and the official government rule and position is to not allow extremism of any kind.” This is a highly original way to describe a regime that is joined at the hip with the Iranian theocracy, that is the patron of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and that is the official and unabashed host of the fugitive Hamas leadership whose military wing directs massacre operations from Damascus itself. . .
. . .I can absolutely see what Warren hoped to get out of this sordid little trip, the evidence of which he vainly tried to conceal when it threatened to become embarrassing. He wanted to be on video for his open-mouthed followers as he posed “on the road to Damascus.” And he didn’t care what deals he had to make, with Baath and Toothbrush Central Command, in order to bring off such a fundraising coup. But now it’s the sandals of Obama that are being exploited by the same tub-thumper, and one has not merely a right but a duty to object to having as an inaugural auxiliary a man who is a pushover for anti-Semitism, Islamic sectarianism, “rapture” theology, fascist dictatorship, 10th-rate media trade-offs, and last-minute panicky self-censorship all at the same time.
It always bothers me when people cozy up to dictators and proclaim that “all is well” when the exact opposite is true. When Nancy Pelosi acts as a pseudo foreign minister in the Middle East or when Sean Penn snaps photos of poor children in Iraq there is something disgraceful at play. And when Rick Warren says that Syria is a moderate nation and oh by the way, turn to the Book of Acts for today’s message from God, there is also something disgraceful at work.
Its okay for Warren to pastor a mega-church and be a best selling author. But if in the pursuit of those ends he ignores the crimes of brutal gangsters posing as heads of state, he endangers the mission of that work and undermines his own credibility.
Who’da thought? “God will punish Rick Warren”
In matters of faith on this site, I take a precarious role. On one hand, I am often a vigorous defender of Protestantism and the Christian faith and I side with fellow believer and buddy Dave. On the other hand, in my old age (37) I have grown somewhat tired of some blaring inconsistencies in the way believers exercise their faith and therefore find myself in agreement with the self-professed secularist, Damien.
Today I take the role of the critic and for good reason. It appears that since Rick Warren is giving the invocation at Obama’s inauguration, he is now doomed to hell. Or punishment. Or some undisclosed wrath from God that this guy thinks is coming:
Southern Baptist Pastor Wiley Drake bashed Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren this week, saying “God will punish” Warren for agreeing to give the invocation at President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration next month.
“I pray He is kind to you in this punishment that is coming,” Drake wrote in a widely-released e-mail. In it, the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park pastor criticizes Warren’s “recent plan to invoke the presence of almighty God on this evil illegal alien,” a reference to Obama.
Drake, who made last November’s ballot as a vice-presidential candidate for the American Independent party, is a party to a lawsuit claiming Obama was born outside of the U.S., and is therefore ineligible to serve as president. Obama has a Hawaiian birth certificate, which Hawaiian officials have said is genuine. Drake said Warren, also a Southern Baptist minister, is “hurting our denomination, and the Lord’s work.” He continued: “God will deal with you on this … God will not wink at this.”
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing the faith here. Just this ass clown and the morons that follow him. He has positioned himself with silly rhetoric in a way that is inconsistent with the faith. Like the overwhelmingly radical fringe we now call the homosexual community, he decries harmless acts of reconciliation and union as an affront to their political and social agenda. And in the process, he only shows that he cares not about spiritual matters but political ones. Pretending to know God’s will and future punishments for praying for a political foe is the height of arrogance and stupidity.
An ‘A’ in my class
I never cease to amaze myself at my own ability as a teacher to awaken the mind, dazzle the senses, sow the seeds of critical thinking, raise up future leaders, make great students feel as if they could have tried harder and not-so-great students feel as though they just reached the moon.
Okay, perhaps I’m overdoing it a bit.
But I gave this project where my sophomore World Study II students had to create a movie maker project that told the story of the Cold War in about three minutes. The parameters were simple: learn the process, tell the story using words or voice overs, use images from history, set it to music for mood, etc.
Here is one student’s sample. And why teaching can be very rewarding. . .
Ponzi schemes illegal. . . unless of course the Feds run them
From Utpal Bhattacharya in today’s New York Times:
Say I convince my friend Elvis to invest $100 with me, promising to double his money in a month. Next I convince my friends Simon and Garfunkel. They each give me $100, and I use the $200 to pay off Elvis. Elvis is impressed and tells all his friends. I take $100 each from four of them — John, Paul, George and Ringo — and use the $400 to give back $200 each to Simon and Garfunkel. Suddenly everyone wants to invest with me. I take money from eight of them, then 16, then 32, and so on. When a lot of people are involved, I disappear with the money that I raised in the last round.
The scheme that I have just illustrated is called a Ponzi scheme. It is named after Charles Ponzi, who raked in $15 million in nine months in 1919 and 1920. At the height of his success, Mr. Ponzi was hailed by those he was cheating as the greatest Italian who ever lived. “You’re wrong,” he said modestly, “there’s Columbus, who discovered America, and Marconi, who discovered radio.” “But, Charlie, you discovered money,” they told him.
What is being called the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time was uncovered just a few days ago. The Wall Street legend Bernard Madoff is reported to have told influential investors that he could guarantee them a 1 percent monthly return. That promise probably sounded too good to be true — and it was.
Unfortunately people conveniently neglect the fact that the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time is perpetrated by the Federal government and affectionately called “Social Security.” Right now, the people at the bottom of the pyramid are in their 30′s.
Beware of the Doghouse this Christmas!
Just a friendly reminder that we men are subject to certain mental lapses. I’m sure Mo K would never send Mr. Mo K to the doghouse!
Every guy will love and appreciate this video.
Polis turns out to be straight shooter
Most of you are unaware that in Colorado’s second congressional district, a Democrat named Jared Polis was elected to replace Mark Udall (who is Colorado’s newest Senator). CO-2, which includes Boulder, is second only to CO-1 (Denver) in it’s liberal leanings. Naturally, when Polis got through the primary, the race was essentially over. Polis is wealthy, gay and ambitious. So it is with pleasure that I report he already has established himself as a Democrat with a great degree of economic clarity and sobriety; a trait seldom seen among liberals.
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal last Wednesday, Polis expressed exactly the type of economic thinking that has been missing from the Democratic party (and the Republicans of late). Polis boldly swims against the tide of his own party to propose a cut in capital gains taxes on all investments in the automobile industry. In doing so, Polis essentially concedes that such taxation acts as a disincentive to investment and curtails job creation.
If we as a society place a public premium on “saving” the automobile industry from its default reorganization under Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy — which has been good enough for the steel and airline industries, among others — then a better manner in which to express that premium might be to establish special tax consideration for those who are willing to take on the risk. One way of doing that is to provide an exemption from capital-gains taxation on all debt or equity instruments used in the next six months to invest in the troubled auto makers.
By waiving the future capital-gains tax on all investments in the automobile industry, we enhance the projected return models and therefore the likely occurrence of a privately funded “bailout.” There are turnaround firms and funds, and they are experts at what needs to be done. Tax exemption for gains would certainly get their attention. It also wouldn’t cost taxpayers anything because it only forgoes future government revenues that wouldn’t exist absent this incentive.
Though Polis is most assuredly a committed social liberal, it is refreshing to see a guy who hasn’t yet taken office weigh in on the economic issue of the day in an independent manner. Though he is a businessman, he clearly understands the need for Congress to stay out of the business sector.
Most members of Congress and staffers on the Hill are smart people, but we should not pretend that we are better at what are so clearly other people’s jobs. One of the tremendously difficult tasks that we are ill-equipped to successfully orchestrate is restoring these three failing companies to health. As one of the members of Congress with a strong business background, I know what I don’t know in business. While I hold my colleagues in great esteem, I doubt their abilities as turnaround artists are very much superior to mine. Any pretension of a government bailout being a good deal for taxpayers should be abandoned for the insincere (or perhaps ignorant) rhetoric that it is.
Horowitz: Shut up about Birth Certificate “scandal”
In a post a few days ago, Dave seems to ride the fence between being upset that Obama may have been born in Kenya (and therefore Constitutionally unfit for office) and resignation that it is no big deal. I tend to think that Dave is more intellectually curious about the in’s and out’s of how it is all playing out than feeling outraged by some possible birth requirement, but I could be wrong. When I said that Obama’s mother was from Kansas and the point is moot, Dave wrote:
There is a bit more to it than that E, and Obama’s mother and her various residencies in Kenya and Indonesia and her age at that time do not fall within “the rules” for little Barry to be an American citizen if he was, indeed, born in Kenya.
For the record, I think the Presidential requirment to be born in the United States is as dumb as the 18th Amendment. And it just so happens that the same type of people who supported the Volstead Act also believe that Obama should be disqualified from office. Ultimately, I think David Horowitz sums the argument up nicely:
The continuing efforts of a fringe group of conservatives to deny Obama his victory and to lay the basis for the claim that he is not a legitimate president is embarrassing and destructive. The fact that these efforts are being led by Alan Keyes, a demagogue who lost a Senate election to the then-unknown Obama by 42 points, should be a warning in itself.
. . .The birth-certificate zealots are essentially arguing that 64 million voters should be disenfranchised because of a contested technicality as to whether Obama was born on U.S. soil. (McCain narrowly escaped the problem by being born in the Panama Canal zone, which is no longer American.)
What difference does it make to the future of this country whether Obama was born on U.S. soil? Advocates of this destructive campaign will argue that the constitutional principle regarding the qualifications for president trumps all others. But how viable will our Constitution be if five Supreme Court justices should decide to void 64 million ballots?
Conservatives are supposed to respect the organic nature of human societies. Ours has been riven by profound disagreements that have been deepening over many years. We are divided not only about political facts and social values, but also about what the Constitution itself means. The crusaders on this issue choose to ignore these problems and are proposing to deny the will of 64 million voters by appealing to five Supreme Court Justices (since no one is delusional enough to think that the four liberal justices are going to take the presidency away from Obama). What kind of conservatism is this?
The evolution of football continues
Earlier this year, the high school football team that I coach entered a week seven game against our cross-town rivals with an undefeated record. Like any game against your rivals, you expect a degree of trick plays. But nothing could prepare us for what we perceived at the time, as a concession that we were tougher and more physical. Yet what they did was institute what may be the next phase of football; the A-11 offense.
To its proponents, the A-11 represents the logical and inevitable evolution of a game that is becoming faster and more spread out at all levels. The alignment diminishes, or eliminates, the need for a traditional offensive line, where players can weigh 300 pounds even in high school. And, coaches say, it reduces injury because it involves glancing blows more than smash-mouth collisions.
To its detractors, the A-11 is a gimmick that cleverly but unfairly takes advantage of a loophole in the rules. To these critics, the offense places an inequitable burden on defenses to determine who is eligible for passes and makes the sport nearly impossible to referee.
Perhaps I am just sore at the fact that we lost to the team we despise. Or maybe it is that they unveiled the offense against us (this means we had no film of it) and won. Some might even say that I need to accept the inevitable. Thoughts?
Say goodbye the drink we dared not drink
The Long, Slow, Torturous death of Zima
Many drinkers assume that Zima vanished shortly thereafter and has since existed solely as a punch line. But Zima actually survived for more than another decade, until MillerCoors pulled the plug on Oct. 10. Rarely has such a famously maligned product enjoyed such a lengthy run—a testament to its brewers’ Madonna-like knack for reinvention. The Zima that died a quiet death last month bore little resemblance to the
malternative that swept the nation during President Clinton’s first term. . .
. . .To Coors’ horror, Zima proved most popular among young women—a demographic that, while generally fond of getting tanked, just doesn’t have the same thirst for hooch as its male counterpart. And once the ladies took a shine to the stuff, the guys avoided Zima as if it were laced with estrogen.
I think every guy in our generation can safely say that have had one Zima in their life. But if you have had any more than one then your sexuality and gender will be called into question. In any event, I’m always intrigued by the phases that young drinkers go through. As a freshman in college I recall “Ice brewing” turning out products like Bud Ice and Miller Ice (it was just re-labelled beer). The clear phase in the aforementioned time of the mid 90′s saw a resurgence a year or two ago with the Smirnoff products. About five years ago, martini’s were all the rage. Now its power drinks that include some kind of Red Bull or energy drink. Did I miss any drink ‘phases?’
Minutes of the meeting; Nov. 26, 2008
As always, the task of recording the all-important discussions of the Conclub triune falls on me. I suppose I am the James Madison of Conclub. For those unaware, Constitution Club officially meets on the 1st Friday in June and the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
4:45 - Eric drives to DFV’s house. Knocks on doors and calls. No answers. E knocks louder and continues to call. No answer. Then, using some deductive reasoning, Eric goes into DFV’s unlocked car, pushes the garage door open, goes downstairs, bangs on the bathroom door, and wakes DFV up. In case you didn’t know, DFV can fall asleep at a moments notice. He is a bit of a narcoleptic. He must have fallen asleep on the can!! E affords DFV all of the dignity he possibly can but, really, who falls asleep on the can?
6:00 – Traffic sucks on the way up to Ft. Collins.
6:45 – Eric and Damien arrive at the Cork. At about the same time, Scott arrives. All exchange pleasantries. Scott has a Coors light, DFV has a Bud light, E has a 7 & 7. E’s brother also brings some Jaeger bombs and they toast to Thanksgiving. Conversation immediately goes to our jobs, families, and original Conclub founder Jamie. There is no band playing and no music blasting at all. The bar is quiet and dead. Only a few patrons scatter the joint.
7:15 - Dave arrives late as usual. Once again, pleasantries are exchanged and beers are ordered. Dave joins the Coors Light crowd and E orders up a Bud Light. Since the bar was extremely slow, E was able to just pour the beers himself. He then went downstairs to cook up a pizza and some wings (its good to be related to the owner). Only Scott and Eric eat. Dave usually arrives with some form of coin for the people but this time he must have forgot. It goes unnoticed by all but the secretary.
7:43 - While eating, conversation turns to the recent election. Scott tells stories of how he went to both a Sarah Palin appearance and a Barack Obama appearance. It turns out that the Palin rally was good but totally disorganized. The Obama rally was packed and ran fairly smoothly. All concluded that this is very indicative of the overall organization of the campaigns. Discussion moves to the Obama reactions and how it is important to support the P.O.T.U.S. Dave doubts the sincerity of the tears of many when Obama is elected, E and Scott beg to differ. (update by Dave, I was more disgusted by than doubting of said tears)
8:05 – More beer. Side discussion and smokes.
8:30 - More beer. Discussion turns to West wing and other assorted topics like China, college, Congressional idiots, smart people in political office, Lets get retarded music video, West wing again (isn’t there a statute of limitations?)
9:05 - Scott throws out the idea of a political reality show that traces a candidate through running for office to getting into office.
9:15 - Conversation takes a serious dive as E exposes DFV’s narcoleptic tendencies to the gathering (and now the world). DFV says that the problem with a reality show on politics is that people won’t let themselves and their seedier motivations and strategies be exposed.
9:35 - More beers and drinks. By now, DFV is drinking his 3rd scotch and water, E is on 7 & 7, and Scott and Dave continue to power Coors Light.
9:45 - DFV and Dave smoke, Scott and E play some hunting video game.
10:10 - the foursome look at some platforms for ideas for the new and improved site. They get diverted to some Youtube video. Among them is ‘show them to me.’
10:25 - Discussion turns to the site name. Most agree that THEconstitutionclub.com is fine. E doesn’t really like “The,” but it isn’t really a big deal. Quickly the discussion morphs into college drunken stories and adventures involving seizing flags.
11:20 - Scotty departs. The trio begins serious discussion about the blog look. The discussion quickly morphs into how sensitive Dave was to PG’s criticisms. DFV and E get all over Dave for chasing PG away.
11:55 - The remaining three cash out and leave early with their senses in tact and their dignity in place (unless you count DFV who slept his dignity away). For the most part, the social gathering accomplished little in the way of business but as always, it is always good to get together with the guys. The song of the night and the tone of the evening was told in this whimsical diddy. Enjoy!
In the name of “fairness” and “equality” eHarmony forced to compromise principles
In our sporadic discussions on gay marriage the conversation seems to always turns to this main point; what should society morally tolerate and why do conservatives care? One of the latest posts on Keith Olbermann and his tearful defense of gay marriage demonstrates this point. In it, Andre ponders: I guess the one thing I still don’t get is why this is so important to people on your side of the aisle. If you really want to protect marriage, where are the bans on no-fault divorce? On the same link, DFV wrongly declares that, “it’s just that with me being the increasingly faith-deprived, secular humanist that I am, I tend to value the collective wisdom of the many over the declamations of the few. Right.
I might have some cause to sympathize with their views if I hadn’t read Michelle Malkin’s piece on the eHarmony shakedown. In case you were unaware, here is what has happened: eHarmony, a Christian based website that caters to those looking for serious relationships has been successfully sued by a gay man named Eric McKinley because they do not provide services for ‘men seeking men.’ Tragic indeed! According to Malkin:
Neil Warren, eHarmony’s founder, is a gentle, grandfatherly businessman who launched his popular dating site to support heterosexual marriage. A “Focus on the Family” author with a divinity degree, Warren encourages healthy, lasting unions between men and women of all faiths, mixed faiths, or no faith at all.
This is the classic case of the oppressed (McKinley and all other gay people) vs. the oppressors (eHarmony and Warren). Except in this case, McKinley is far from oppressed and has plenty of other dating web site options. In a story by USA Today, we learn that McKinley had gotten his little feelings hurt when he discovered that eHarmony had no options for men to meet men on their website. When McKinley saw that only straight couples could meet on eHarmony he found it “very frustrating… very humiliating to think that other people can do it and I can’t.”
But what the militant wing of the gay community will never publicly acknowledge is that they probably have more options for dating than the average Christian single person. Match.com and other lesser known sites have included men looking for men for years. But militant gays aren’t happy with having only some options available to them – they want all options available to them. Regardless of who owns the sites (or businesses), and regardless of what religious affiliation that site (or business) might have, every knee shall bow to the gay agenda or face discriminatory charges. For the Left, its all about creating a new agenda, not introducing and arranging marriages for couples in the name of love. Moreover, the tactics of the Left are not only anti-choice, but anti-free market. Militant gays most certainly could have launched a gay web site to compete with eHarmony. But instead, they go to court in an attempt to change social behavior. They opt not for competition but political and judicial coersion.
This is all the same twisted logic that has infected our classrooms, playgrounds, athletic fields, and now our businesses and halls of Congress. At the heart of the issue is that there are things that necessarily exclude some people. The response is then to attempt to make those things inclusive through the courts or through legislation, or to shut them down entirely. The Left will use the ‘fairness doctrine’ in this same nefarious way. Even though the Left already has liberal talk radio via taxpayer funded N.P.R. and the awesome “Air America” network, which has proven unable to attract the advertising dollars necessary to pay staff salaries, they want to tell the rest of America’s radio station owners what can and cannot be aired based on political ideology. It’s not that they will then listen to the stations; it’s just that they want to control the stations.
In the end, all of the discussions about the humanity, the love, the legalities of gay marriage ring hollow. When Andre wonders why conservatives even care and when DFV harps about the consensus of European society, the true objections I have are that these things are simply a means to an end. They are power plays designed to completely transform our society into a socialist wasteland where citizens and businesses kneel at the altar of secularism. After the settlement was announced (eHarmony has to pay New Jersey $50,000 and McKinley $5,000) McKinley called it “fabulous” and said he was happy with the outcome. In fact, he was so excited that he is “considering signing up for the new site once it launches.” So after all of the litigation, all of the cost, all of the discrimmination and all of the ”humiliation” (McKinley words) that has now been solved, McKinley might use the site.
But it never was about using the site at all. They just wanted to know they could.
Just don’t question their patriotism
When Michelle Obama proclaimed that “for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is making a comeback,” conservatives took note of the extremely narcissitic and self-centered view of the most free and pluralistic nation the world has ever known. Clearly, she could only muster pride in this nation when her husband’s run for president became a success. Naturally, this conditional patriotism is now evident throughout the country. But don’t take my word for it, listen to the ‘new patriots’ of the left:
Ronnie Chapman has hidden away his American flag for much of the past eight years. “I felt it was no longer a symbol of the country I love, but of Bush and support for his war,” said the 48-year-old pharmacist from Cary. “The first thing I did the morning after the election was take it from my den and fly it proudly in front of my house.”
Chapman’s response to the presidential election reflects the emergence of an unusual — and some might say contradictory — new figure: the flag-waving liberal.
After a divisive presidency and strident campaign in which patriotism was used as a wedge issue, supporters of President-elect Barack Obama are hanging flags, donning Old Glory lapel pins and humming the national anthem.
“We just feel this pride and this swelling of joy,” said Cheryl Kimmel, 49, of Cary, who worked on Obama’s campaign with her 18-year-old daughter, Jeanelle Alexander. “We’re extremely proud to be Americans today.”
“For years it’s felt like patriotism was a Republican thing,” said Raven Moeslinger, 21, a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill. “Now I feel like we’ve reclaimed it.”
“The night after the election, I got in bed and started reading the Declaration of Independence for the first time in a long time,” said Sherry Harmon, 55, of Cary. “I felt I needed to touch base with our roots because I think we need to refresh our ideas of who we are as Americans.”
For the last eight years, whenever Republicans have questioned the support of the left for the war or for legislation that will secure our country, the right has been greeted with the standard response. The left, perhaps justifiably, have said that there is no disconnect between loving your country and disagreeing with the policies of its leaders. Yet while this is true, it is obvious that many Obama supporters view their support of this great nation as conditional. In the same way that elections are peachy if their guys win (or “stolen” and “illegitimate” if their guys lose), this nation is just splendid when their guys are in power (and evil when their guys are not).
Conclub Conclave
As always, I must inform the public of the impending semi-annual Conclub Conclave. The Thanksgiving meetings always take place on the Wednesday night prior to Thanksgiving. We will be in Ft. Collins around 6:00 at the Cork.
If you can’t make it, don’t fret. The Grand Triune of Conclub will be in attendance and will certainly take care of the beverage consumption. On the docket will be a discussion of a domain name redirect and getting a web person that DFV knows who can remake our site. I need DFV (the head of the web functions committee) to call the wife of his friend prior to this meeting to give us specifics and costs.
Also, if there are other concerns to be addressed, your comments are always valuable.
The Sage
Steve
E the Wise
DFV the Scribe
hairybeast
Mo K.
Sting the Away
Rudy
Voice of Reason
Anthony Rogers
Vérité
Isaiah's Cry
danagall
Hal Jordan
The Rat
Aquinas Shrugged
jackcurtis
a west texas view
pino
Cultural Limits
Regalo Di Spine
Tokyo Tengu
Short Little Rebel
AWOL Civilization
SeePamBlog
rogueoperator
provider4many
jimmullen1
thomaspaine2nd
badoracle
ljponders
weeicemon
Daniella Nicole
plainansimple
