DID SHE USE COUPONS? ... 9-9-9 RAISING
CAIN ... RON PAUL, NUT
Phoniest photo-op of the week: Michele Obama shopping at Target for ... cleaning supplies? Suuure ...
We just KNOW she's doing the housework at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.
Gee ... you think anybody tipped off the media that Michelle would be there, pushing a shopping cart?
The goal, obviously, was to get the sheeple thinking, "Why, that Michele, she's just regular folks."
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Further evidence that Ron Paul is a total crackpot.
He objects to our whacking of terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. Calls it an assassination.
No. Al-Awlaki was a combatant in a war declared against America by his depraved boys' club, Al Qaeda, and he paid the price of his effort to indiscriminately slaughter Americans.
It's frightening to know there are millions of people who think this erratic nut-job, Ron Paul, is qualified to be president.
And then there's the ACLU ... anti-American as ever. Arrest al-Awlaki? How? Give him a trial? "Due process"? Please! As if we tried every German or Japanese enemy combatant in every other war? It's beyond absurd!
He was a murderous, treasonous SOB and the only tragedy was that it took so long to kill him.
And why IS that murderous Muslim who slaughtered GI's at Ft. Hood still breathing, anyway?
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As interest grows in Herman Cain, WSJ's Stephen Moore outlines the candidate's 9-9-9 tax plan ...
"The 9-9-9 plan is a flat rate income tax of 9%, allowing only a deduction for charities; a 9% business value-added tax; and a 9% national sales tax. Under the plan, those three taxes would replace the personal income tax, the corporate income tax, the capital gains tax and the death tax.
"We hear that one of the unnamed economists who helped devise the plan is former Reagan confidant Arthur Laffer of the Laffer Curve, who has long supported a comprehensive flat rate tax with a VAT as a substitute for the corporate tax. Another partner in devising the plan is former Reagan supply-sider Charles Kadlec.
"The Cain campaign team tells me that the plan is "designed to be revenue neutral," and an analysis by former Reagan Treasury economist Gary Robbins concludes that the numbers add up."
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Simplified math revealing why the government CANNOT be the major job-creator:
Let's say the government "creates" a job paying $40,000 a year. Assuming zero deductions, a single taxpayer would pay a maximum of a little over $6,000 in federal income taxes. Obviously, the remainder of that $40,000 salary -- about $34,000 -- would have to come from OTHER taxpayers. The greater the percentage of government-employees in the work force, the larger the tax burden on those employed in the private sector. At some point, the economics simply don't work. Therefore, jobs payrolled by the government, be they vital or make-work, can ultimately overwhelm the economy.
Why do the Republicans have such difficulty finding candidates who can explain this in a clear, straightforward manner? I just did it in one short paragraph.
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WLS Radio in Chicago quotes the #2 Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin of Illinois, saying the votes aren't there in the DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED Senate to pass Obama's "jobs" bill. It's obviously a sham bill, designed to gull the gullible. But ... who else is left to support the Big Loser?
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Michele Malkin got a copy of "Solar Power and Me: The Inherent Advantages," the lesson plan for middle-school and high-school students. It directs them to "take note of how solar energy is incorporated into the infrastructure of various cities nationwide and write a short essay about how they would encourage solar energy use in their own town.
A question-and-answer key reads: "How would switching to solar energy affect energy use at your home and school?" Answer: "In general, switching to solar energy would lower your home's electrical costs and reduce your emissions, thus saving money and improving the environment."
But as Brian McGraw of the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute points out: "There might be a small niche market, but solar energy is still largely incapable of producing reliable electricity at rates that are even in the ballpark of cost competitiveness compared to coal or natural gas." Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the force behind billions of dollars' worth of rushed green energy loans overseen by deep-pocketed Obama bundlers, himself acknowledged that solar tech will need to improve five-fold before it even begins to have a cost-competitive shot.
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A tidbit from Rasmussen Poll ...
Nancy Pelosi is disliked by more Americans (57%) than is Russia's Vladimir Putin, ex-KGB agent and dictator-to-be (52%).
This may endanger Nancy's chances of getting elected Queen of the Prom.
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Mark Steyn checks the Obama scoreboard ...
"The way I think about it," Barack Obama told a TV station in Orlando, "is, you know, this is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft."
"He has a point. This is a great, great country that got so soft that 53 percent of electors voted for a ludicrously unqualified chief executive who would be regarded as a joke candidate in any serious nation. One should not begrudge a man who seizes his opportunity. But one should certainly hold in contempt those who allow him to seize it on the basis of such flaccid generalities as "hope" and "change": That's more than "a little" soft.
"Three years on, nothing has changed. Obama is proposing to raise taxes because of some cockamamie yarn Warren Buffett has been peddling about his allegedly overtaxed secretary. Yet the court eunuchs of the media persist in taking Buffett seriously as a archetypal exemplar of the "American business community" rather than as an especially well-connected crony."
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Thanks to Tom for calling my attention to these pungent observations from columnist Burt Prelutsky, who was kind enough to include me in his latest book, "Portraits of Success".
"Frankly, I don't know what it is about California , but we seem to have a strange urge to elect really obnoxious women to high office. I'm not bragging, you understand, but no other state, including Maine , even comes close. When it comes to sending left-wing dingbats to Washington , we're number one. There's no getting around the fact that the last time anyone saw the likes of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Maxine Waters, and Nancy Pelosi, they were stirring a cauldron when the curtain went up on 'Macbeth'. The four of them are like jackasses who happen to possess the gift of blab. You don't know if you should condemn them for their stupidity or simply marvel at their ability to form words."
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Warren, a reader, forwards this summary of just what the American suckers bought into ...
WHEN Obama wrote a book and said he was mentored as a youth by Frank (Frank Marshall Davis was his Mother’s boyfriend) an avowed Communist, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN it was discovered that his grandparents were strong socialists who sent Obama's mother to a socialist school where she was introduced to Frank Marshall Davis. He was later introduced to young Barrack Hussein Obama. People said it didn't matter.
WHEN people found out that Barrack Hussein Obama was enrolled as a Muslim child in school and his father and stepfather were both Muslims, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he wrote in another book he authored "I will stand with them (Muslims) should the political winds shift in an ugly direction" people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he admittedly, in his book, said he chose Marxist friends and professors in college-- people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he traveled to Pakistan after college on an unknown national passport, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he sought the endorsement of the Marxist Party in 1996 as he ran for the Illinois Senate, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he sat in a Chicago Church for twenty years and listened to preacher Jeremiah Wright spew hatred for America and preach black liberation theology, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN an independent Washington organization that tracks Senate voting records gave him the distinctive title as the "most liberal senator," people said it didn't matter.
WHEN the Palestinians in Gaza set up a fund-raising telethon to raise money for his election campaign, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he received endorsements from people like Louis Farrakhan and Mummar Khadafy and Hugo Chavez, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN it was pointed out that he was a total newcomer and had absolutely no experience at anything except community organizing, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he chose friends and acquaintances such as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who were revolutionary radicals, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN people started treating him as a Messiah and children in schools were taught to sing his praises, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he stood with his hands over his groin for the playing of the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he surrounded himself in the White house with advisors wanted to curtail freedom of speech to silence the opposition, people said it didn't matter..
WHEN his personal background was either scrubbed or hidden and nothing could be found about him, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he started appointing White House Czars that were radicals, revolutionaries, and even avowed Marxist/Communist, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he stood before the Nation and told us that his intentions were to "fundamentally transform this Nation" into something else, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he appointed avowed Socialist Valerie Jarrett his Senior White House Advisor, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he appointed Van Jones, an ex-con and avowed Communist as Green Energy Czar, who since had to resign when this was made known, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN his actions concerning the Middle-East seemed to support the Palestinians over Israel , our long time ally, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he started spending us into a debt that was so big we could not pay it off, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he designed plans to take over the health care system and put it under government control, people said it didn't matter.
WHEN he claimed he was a Christian during the election, and tapes were later made public that showed him speaking to a Muslim group and stating that he was raised a Muslim; was educated as a Muslim; and that he is still a Muslim-- people said it didn't matter.
These actions add up to a phenomenal score that shows Barrack Hussein Obama is determined to turn America into a Marxist-Socialist society.
All of the items in the preceding paragraphs have been put into place. All can be documented very easily by an internet search.
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In Don Quixote mode, I make this small effort to overcome a media trend of long-standing. I refer to the fact that public attention devoted to media, especially material containing any serious substance, typically declines on weekend.
In the case of this column, the decline in readership is usually around 15%.
Therefore, it would be much appreciated if you would forward this column to at least one other person on Saturday, Sunday or both.
If you don't feel inclined to do it, no problem. And don't blame me if your house burns down some night.
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A cousin calls my attention to this memorable quote:
Dana Perino of Fox News describing an interview with a Navy SEAL. After discussing all the countries he had been sent to, she asked if they had to learn several languages?
His reply: "Oh no ma'am. We don't go there to talk."
(Thanks, Mike!)
EMBARRASSING WHEN NO ONE REACHES FOR
THE BILL
Does Obama REALLY want Congress to vote on his "jobs bill"? Doubtful. Certainly many congressional Democrats in both houses would prefer not to vote, because many would vote against it out of fear for their own jobs. Dick Durbin, the #2 Democrat in the Democrat-controlled Senate, has already said he doubts he could get support of enough members of his own party to pass it. The bill, and Obama's aggressive push to "pass this bill" -- are nothing more than sucker-bait for the great unwashed.
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A desperate politician's last resort. He's blamed everybody else ... he can't possibly blame himself ... so now Obama blames the American public. Hence his "gone soft" speech. The Jimmy Carter ("malaise") analogies are unavoidable.
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The current round of Republican debates has achieved what some thought impossible. It has broken the taboo on discussing the inevitable collapse of today's Social Security system, the compulsory national Ponzi scheme.
Herman Cain deserves credit for calling attention to the reforms that have worked so well in Chile, a country about which most Americans know little or nothing. Chile is a success story since extricating itself from years of dictatorship, first under the military dictatorship of Pinochet, then the Communist thug Salvador Allende.
I was there a couple of years ago and was very impressed.
How does Chile's system, installed when democracy finally came, operate? Investors Business Daily offers a brief summary of "The Chilean Model", enacted in 1981, which took government out of the pension business altogether and replaced it with a system of personal retirement accounts:
It's one of most successful fiscal reforms in history. It outperforms Social Security on returns, yielding about 9.23% compounded annual returns over 30 years under private management. That means Chilean retirees take home pension checks four times what they would have gotten if they had remained in their old Social Security system.
Workers choose the types of investments, the level of risk, the size of their contributions — 10% to 20% of salary — and the day they intend to retire. Unlike Social Security, accounts are by law property. A worker who dies early can will his account to heirs.
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John Lott has been a frequent on-air guest of mine for years. He long ago began his research into the consequences of gun ownership by law-abiding citizens as a skeptic, but the facts turned him around. On the Fox website, he points out the real-world consequences ...
"Murder and violent crime rates were supposed to soar after the Supreme Court struck down gun control laws in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
"Politicians predicted disaster. "More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence," Washington’s Mayor Adrian Fenty warned the day the court made its decision.
"Chicago’s Mayor Daley predicted that we would "go back to the Old West, you have a gun and I have a gun and we'll settle it in the streets . . . ."
"The New York Times even editorialized this month about the Supreme Court's "unwise" decision that there is a right for people "to keep guns in the home."
"But Armageddon never happened. Newly released data for Chicago shows that, as in Washington, murder and gun crime rates didn't rise after the bans were eliminated -- they plummeted. They have fallen much more than the national crime rate. Not surprisingly, the national media have been completely silent about this news."
It's only common sense to know that criminals would have second thoughts about attacking someone who might be armed. It's also only common sense to know that whatever position taken by the leftist propaganda machine, the New York Times, is bound to be idiotic. Liberal stupidity is deeply ingrained.
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Michael Goodwin (NY Post) explains what's behind the latest BofA outrage ...
"The news that Bank of America plans to charge customers $5 a month for using debit cards is producing the predictable howls of outrage and questions of “How dare they?”
"Oh, grow up. Washington’s war on wealth has brought a ton of regulations, restrictions and taxes that eat profits. The banks, naturally, look for other sources of revenue to make up the difference.
"Did you honestly think government was here to help?"
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Mangled Media Mutterings ...
You hear it all the time. The use of "criteria" for a single requirement as a necessary qualification for a task. If there's one requirement, it's a CRITERION. If there are multiple requirements, they are CRITERIA.
I know, those darned Latin plurals. The people who misuse them could fill a thousand ... stadia.
My friend the Wordman, Richard Lederer, cringes at the widespread fear to use the word "me". Just last night I heard it on TV from a presumably educated person. She said, "This would be the perfect home for my husband and I."
The easiest way to remember the I-me dilemma is to simply discard the other party from your mental sentence formulation, as a long-ago English teacher instructed me. Therefore, it would be, "This would be the perfect home for (my husband) and ME."
Rest easy, Wordman -- I'm on the case!
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Just in case you weren't old enough today, this may change your attitude. Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of this year's incoming freshmen. Here's this year's list:
The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1992 or 1993.
They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
The CD was introduced 2 years before they were born.
They have always had cable.
Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.
They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.
They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is.
They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.
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A timely reminder of the timeless wisdom of the not-late-but-still-great P. J. O'Rourke, who said, "Giving (tax) money to a politician is like giving whiskey and the car keys to a teenage boy."
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From Mike ...
While creating wives, God promised men that obedient wives would be found in all corners of the world ... and then ... He made the earth round.
MORE TO LOVE? ... DEMS RUN ON ENVY ...
NFL vs. TEACHERS
All the contrived "concern" about whether Chris Christie is "too fat to be president" reminds one of the classic story about President Taft, who tipped the scales at as much as 340 pounds during his White House years. In other words, about the same as an offensive tackle in the NFL.
During a vacation at the seashore, he was accompanied by a few members of his White House staff. Arising one morning, an aide asked another staffer about going for an early swim. "We can't," replied his colleague. "The president's using the ocean." (Rim-shot)
Conservatives should be concerned that Mr. Christie is the northeast liberals' new favorite Republican.
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The Democrats don't like to be accused of conducting class warfare with their demands for higher taxes.
Let's call it what it is: hate as an offspring of envy. Obama has said as much, himself, with his statements about successful people just being "fortunate" rather than acknowledging that success just might be the result of hard work, dedication, thrift and plain old "smarts".
Of course, speaking from his own experience, he may well be right. Being groomed by rich leftists certainly was fortunate for him.
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Your suspicions were correct. The White House did tip off an Associated Press photographer about Michele's much-ballyhooed "shopping trip" to a Target store.
Were there actually dummies who believed otherwise?
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Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton nails the teachers' union in the Wall Street Journal ...
"Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he's an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player's been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay. The only difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league is a few years of step increases. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct.
"If you haven't figured it out yet, the NFL in this alternate reality is the real-life American public education system. Teachers' salaries have no relation to whether teachers are actually good at their job—excellence isn't rewarded, and neither is extra effort. Pay is almost solely determined by how many years they've been teaching. That's it. After a teacher earns tenure, which is often essentially automatic, firing him or her becomes almost impossible, no matter how bad the performance might be. And if you criticize the system, you're demonized for hating teachers and not believing in our nation's children.
"The results we're looking for are students learning, so we need to reward great teachers who show they can make that happen—and get rid of bad teachers who don't get the job done. It's what we do in every other profession: If you're good, you get rewarded, and if you're not, then you look for other work."
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Speaking of football ... two early nominees for Flop of the Year are the high-priced (with free-agent signings) Eagles and blowhard Coach Rex Ryan's New York Jets. I know, I know ... we're only a quarter-way thru the season and anything can happen ...
By the way ... those new officials' uniforms, in both college ball and the NFL, look like warm-up outfits from K-mart.
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Another vivid portrayal of the state of the economy was on display at yesterday's NASCAR race at the Dover, Delaware "Monster Mile". Thousands of empty seats, even on the usually-sold-out Turn Four.
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All the political bluster about "getting tough with China" is hollow nonsense. We aren't going to "get tough" because we're up to our eyeballs in debt to them, and a sudden large sell-off of U. S. government bonds by the Chinese would finish what's left of the job of trashing our economy. "Get tough" is just a phony appeal to the gullible.
Unlike a U.S. government that, for decades, has rewarded our enemies, the Chinese government acts exclusively in its own interests.
Equally futile: the perennial complaints about "waste, fraud and abuse". Unfortunately, all are facts of life and no national political figure has ever made much headway in eliminating them. Only starry-eyed optimists believe such promises. Give politicians and bureaucrats control of the checkbook -- an essential part of government -- and you WILL get a certain amount of "waste, fraud and abuse". It's inevitable. It could only be curtailed by frequent, serious prosecution and punishment ... highly unlikely.
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The Chicago Board Options Exchange, the world’s largest futures exchange operator, may be headed for Florida or Texas now that its longtime home state is pushing for a 25% tax increase on the operation. If it goes, so do thousands of jobs.
Illinois has already been tagged as one of the three worst states in which to do business (California and New York are the other two), a natural consequence when you consider that Chicago, around which Illinois business revolves, has long been run by a consortium of union thugs and crooked Democrat politicians.
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Question: are the Arab Palestinians offering to pay back the money they so eagerly took from Jews for land at Israel's founding if those Jews should agree to vacate the land they bought from those Arabs? (Strictly hypothetical. Never happen.)
One reason to see that part of the world is the vivid contrast between Israel, made verdant and productive by Jews and the Arab lands that remain largely barren wasteland. It's a study in green on one side ... dull brown on the other.
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This is a letter to his employees written by the head of an engineering firm in North Carolina. It's long, but you may find it interesting reading ...
There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job.
What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. Of course, as your employer, I am forbidden to tell you whom to vote for - it is against the law to discriminate based on political affiliation, race, creed, religion, etc.
Please vote for who you think will serve your interests the best. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interest. First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back-story.
This back-story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You saw my big home at last year’s Christmas party. I'm sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life. However, what you don't see is ... the back-story.
I started this company 12 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living space was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.
My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.
Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's.
My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business --- with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.
So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9 am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5 pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to me like a 1 day old baby.
You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... You never realize the back-story and the sacrifices I've made. Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail out all the people who didn't.
The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for. Yes, business ownership has its benefits, but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:
I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.
The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check?
Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country. The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy. Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.
When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the mud of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine.
Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep. So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem anymore. Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire.
You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.
While tax cuts to 95% of America sounds great on paper, don't forget the back-story: If there is no job, there is no income to tax. A tax cut on zero dollars is zero. So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, who understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of saving your job. While the media wants to tell you "It's the economy, Stupid" I'm telling you it isn't.
If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrollered the Constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me in the South Caribbean sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about.
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A timeline correction in yesterday's column. In Chile, the Allende communist government preceded Pinochet's military dictatorship. They both bungled the nation's economy.
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Ostensibly from a man, but relayed by Sheila ...
"I know I'm not going to understand women. I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider."
SLIDING DOWN THE POLL ... JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT RACISM ...
ALL OF HANK'S ROWDY FRIENDS PO'd
ALL OF HANK'S ROWDY FRIENDS PO'd
The Big O's descent continues. Just 37 percent of people in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll say they expect Obama to win re-election; 55 percent expect the Republican nominee to win. Only 58% of Democrats, whistling past the graveyard, expect their hero to prevail. Among independent voters, the key swing vote, it's believed he'll be a one-and-done president by a margin of 54%-46%.
Can it be that a majority are finally awakening to the reality that the affirmative-action presidency has been a colossal failure? Clearly, Obama had no qualifications for the job. He came with nothing but a radical leftist agenda. The tragic legacy of this debacle may be the likely closing of the the door on eminently qualified blacks for years, if not decades.
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There is growing evidence that Eric Holder, Obama's ultra-leftist Attorney General, was lying when he denied knowledge of the idiotic gun-running scheme that smuggled weapons to Mexican drug gangs. The reality of his race-based Justice Department operation has been evident since he refused to prosecute the Philadelphia Black Panthers who were threatening white people who tried to vote in the 2008 election.
By the way ... seen those photos of Obama at a Black Panther rally? They're circulating on the internet, thanks to Andrew Breitbart.
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ABC-TV's ESPN didn't use the Hank Williams, Jr., opening for Monday Night Football last night for the first time in twenty years. Seems Hank had gone on Fox News and compared Obama to Hitler. From years of being employed by ABC Radio when it was also owned by Disney, I could've told ol' Hank it was inevitable. The suits who run that Disney/ABC outfit are frightened to death by anything that upsets their liberal PC view of the world. They used to tremble every time I upset the Media Matters leftists propaganda mill funded by George Soros -- which was often.
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The delusional crackpots demonstrating on New York's Wall Street in favor of a communist dictatorship have somehow convinced themselves that armed U.S. Marines are coming to protect them. Let's hope they DO hold their breath until it happens.
It tells you all you need to know about that bunch of useless, parasitic rabble that their front-man is now Van Jones, who was briefly one of Obama's "czars" and got pushed out of that job because of his openly self-avowed Communism.
It's very revealing that these sillies liken their "movement" to the "Arab spring", either unknowing or uncaring that all that "spring" has accomplished is a growth of fanatical Islamic fundamentalism.
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Can there be a more embarrassing job in Washington than one that requires a person to go before the press daily and lie? Poor Jay Carney is Press Secretary for the Big Nothing. I mean, can't you see the poor dope almost cringe as he peddles nonsense like -- for example -- trying to sell the idea that one of the Solyndra scam-artists visited the White House repeatedly to talk about his ... CHARITABLE DONATIONS?!
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Coincidence? Michele Obama goes on a contrived photo-op "shopping trip" to Target. A couple of days later, her clothes designer friend Jason Wu is announcing a big deal to provide a clothing line to ... Target stores. Hmmm ....
- - - - -
An argument can be made that, on average, we got better presidents in the days of convention wheeling-and-dealing and arm-twisting in smoke-filled rooms than in today's hysterical, media-driven primary campaigns. I can't prove it, but I'm inclined to believe it.
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If many college students often behave like young hysterics at a meeting of the Young Communist League, it's unlikely that they were influenced in that direction by their parents. So that leaves ... ? Ah, yes ... those tenured, overpaid college professors, insulated from the real world by that tenure.
Parents, don't you just love spending up to fifty grand a year to have your offspring brainwashed into being an utter lunatic?
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Every poll shows that a majority of Republicans would prefer somebody other than Mitt Romney as their standard-bearer next year, but who's the alternative? If it isn't Herman Cain, who's left that could remotely be called "viable"? And is HE viable? Rick Perry obviously isn't ready for the center-ring in our big quadrennial political circus; he suffers from a serious case of hoof-in-mouth disease.
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Is there a business owner in the land who would be stupid enough to hire Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to so much as water the plants in the office? This fool is ruining the value of the dollar and the scum in Washington do nothing about it.
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The wisdom of Burt Prelutsky ...
"Black and Latino politicians like to focus on the large financial gap between their constituencies and white Americans. What they choose to ignore is the humongous gap in education. Although I regard the first four years of liberal arts instruction as an unholy waste of time and money, the way the system is set up, one has to slog through them before going on to become a physician, mathematician, architect, surgeon, lawyer, engineer or CPA. But when most members of the two largest minority groups in America don't even make it through high school, how on earth can they possibly wind up wealthy unless they are adept at hitting, shooting, running or passing some type of ball?
"It's not bigotry, as the race hustlers and assorted liberals would have it; it's reality.
"Instead of comparing themselves to rich white people, they should compare themselves to the only minority group that editorial writers and various leftwing sob sisters elect to ignore; namely, Asians. In spite of coming to this country generally speaking a foreign language, they and their children apply themselves and, more often than not, wind up out-earning white Americans by out-learning them."
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Our government is reportedly weighing the question of whether or not to continue giving aid to the Palestinians. Call me uncharitable, but I vividly recall the repulsive Muslim hyenas dancing in the streets in celebration of the 9/11 mass murders in virtually every Muslim center in the world, from Damascus to Detroit. I thought then, and think now, "What kind of idiot government do we have that gives aid to people who celebrate the slaughter of innocents?"
And then there are the new reports of the long-covered-up incidents of Pakistani troops shooting across the border at our GIs in Afghanistan. And we STILL give aid to the lying, treacherous Paks.
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Amanda Knox beat the murder rap on appeal in Italy. I trust that henceforth she'll be more discriminating in her choice of companions and not hang out with murderers who kill for sexual thrills.
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A reader who signs himself "dumbplumber" responds to the oft-repeated Obama claim that Muslims have been a significant part of American history ...
"I’m still digesting the notion that America is a Muslim nation. And here’s why.
"How many Muslims are buried at Gettysburg? How many Muslims are buried at Arlington?
No, better yet, how many Muslims are buried in the 136 National cemeteries from the Abraham Lincoln National to the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery?
"These cemeteries are occupied by hundreds of thousand, if not millions, of military personnel. And that’s just within our borders. And we should never forget the hundreds of thousands of Americans buried in foreign lands, lands that they gave their lives to protect us from the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito and Kaiser Wilhelm II. And I would suggest that there aren’t enough Muslim bodies buried among them, that if resurrected, could run a Seven Eleven franchise.
"Moreover, contrary to the popular notion among liberals that the Civil War was fought over slavery (which it wasn’t; slavery was an ancillary issue) slavery would not have existed were it not for Muslims. Yes my unwashed, uninformed, mentally challenged critics, it was Muslims that rounded up the natives and paraded them to the shores of Africa to be “cord-wooded” onto slave ships and sent to America and other shores for sale.
"Indeed, Muslims were routinely gathering and selling slaves as far back as 700 A.D, if not earlier, to fulfill the demand for labor to oppressive regimes in Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean.
"So to imply that America is a Muslim nation reveals a serious level of historical ignorance, as well as a twisted attempt to rewrite America‘s past. On a good day, at best, we could credit Muslims for supplying the labor to make tobacco and cotton our biggest export of the 19th century. But hey, I could be wrong."
Footnote: Muslims are still active in the slave trade, primarily in the African nation of Sudan.
- - - - -
How's the all-electric Chevy Volt selling? Not well. For the month of September sales totalled 723. Total.
Nationwide. Even with enormous government subsidies that hide the real price. But the ridiculous "green" fantasy continues.
- - - - -
So Madonna's going to be the half-time entertainment at the Super Bowl. Ooookay ... Instead of a snack before the TV during the intermission, I'll be dining leisurely in another part of the house. With the sound off. Madonna??!!
Give her this, though: the woman is a monument to the triumph of willpower over lack of talent.
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The news that American Airlines is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy reminded me of my last experience on a really, really long-haul flight on American. The route was Tucson to Dallas to Buenos Aires. We were seated in the second row of business class, seats 2-A & B. Dinner is served. The menu showed a choice of the usual chicken, beef or something else.
I'm not a big meat-eater, but the other dishes didn't appeal, so I asked for the beef. The flight attendant says, "We're out of that." What?? This is the second row, and they're out after serving only the six people in row one, assuming they ALL chose beef?
"Okay, I'll have the chicken." "We're out of that, too."
The hell with it. I flew all the way to Buenos Aires without dinner.
I flew back on Delta (via Santiago, Chile). Better seating, better service -- and actual food.
Ordinarily I'd sympathize with American employees as the company faces possible bankruptcy, but it's difficult to do so since most of my encounters with their ticket-counter and onboard personnel in recent years have involved listening to their litany of complaints about the company.
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How the world works; natural laws ...
Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.
Law of Probability - The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.
Variation Law - If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now (works every time).
Law of Close Encounters - The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.
Law of the Theater & Sports Arena - At any event, the people whose seats are farthest from the aisle, always arrive last. They are the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, beer, or the toilet and who leave early before the end of the performance or the game is over. The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs or big bellies and stay to the bitter end of the performance. The aisle people also are very surly.
Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy - As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it.
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Dabo Swinney. Just because.
- - - - -
A reader, Sam, forwards this English lesson that explains why "complete" and "finished" are not snyonyms ...
No English dictionary has been able to explain the difference between the two words, 'complete' and 'finished' in a way that's so easy to understand: Some people say there is no difference between COMPLETE & FINISHED, but there is.
When you marry the right one, you are COMPLETE....
And when you marry the wrong one, you are FINISHED.....
And when the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are... COMPLETELY FINISHED.
PLAYING AT "REVOLUTION" ... BIDEN THE
BOOB ... OBAMA STIMULATES HIMSELF
Harrison Schultz, an organizer of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests, to Al Sharpton on MSNBC:
" I think that this is the beginning of a revolution in this country . . . We're all for change. We all want something different. We all want something better. As far as the specifics, as far as how we go about doing that, we don't know yet. Part of the problem, part of the issue is that I think that a lot of the people that are here are in fact anarchists, are in fact revolutionaries. And putting a revolution, putting a revolutionary change into political terms is very difficult to do. Because we're trying to get away from all the problems. Again, we don't really want to fix them: it's revolution, not reform."
No interpretation or analysis required.
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Rich Lowry of National Review with perspective on the Wall Street Wailers ...
"In the Occupy Wall Street movement, the Left thinks it might have found its own tea party.
"MoveOn.org and some unions have embraced the protesters. The left-wing Campaign for America’s Future is featuring them at its conference devoted to reinvigorating progressivism. Liberal opinion-makers have celebrated them — Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne welcomes their spirit, and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof compares them, astonishingly enough, to the demonstrators at Egypt’s Tahrir Square.
"This is a sign either of desperation to find anyone on the left still energized after three years of Hope and Change, or of a lack of standards, or both.
"Occupy Wall Street is both more self-involved and more ambitious than the Tea Party. It represents an ill-defined, free-floating radicalism. If elected Democrats dare associate their sagging party with this project, they need immediately to consult their nearest psychiatrist and political consultant, in that order.
"Occupy Wall Street is toxic and pathetic, the perfect distillation of an American Left in extremis."
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Len checks in with a haiku ...
Wall Street invasion.
Protests against high incomes.
Beats looking for work !!!
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Bloomberg biznews reports more than twice as many job cuts in September as in August. Meantime, the demagogue in the White House continues to blame Republicans for not passing his "jobs bill", even as the #2 Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin of Illinois, publicly admits he doesn't have enough DEMOCRAT votes to pass it even though his party has the Senate majority.
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We have another chapter for the inevitable book, "Joe Biden is a Moron".
Asked about the rabble demonstrating on Wall Street, he said he didn't know who Van Jones is.
The self-proclaimed communist, Jones, was Obama's "green jobs" czar until his radicalism generated too much heat for even Obama to keep him on the payroll. And Boob Biden was unaware of this?
Unanswered: is Biden capable of walking and chewing gum simultaneously?
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Florida moves its Republican primary forward ... the other early-primary states move even farther forward. The net result is even less time for any late entrants to organize a campaign. That, in turn, means a lot of people will make a "lesser of evils" choice. Not unusual in American politics. It's been years since I voted on any basis other than, "Which of these weasels do I dislike less?"
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His withdrawal from consideration for a presidential nomination renders this observation moot ... nevertheless, I am not an admirer of Chris Christie. I'm a conservative, he isn't. But since columnist Michael Kinsley feels free to attack the New Jersey Governor for obesity, let me feel equally free to pose this question: If you look up the word "geek" in the dictionary, do you find Kinsley's picture beside it?
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Have we heard enough juvenile nonsense about "stimulating" the economy? How's this for a novel approach?
Get the government out of the way and let the time-tested laws of supply and demand start the motor again. That's pretty much what was done during the Reagan administration, which even the Obamunists now purport to admire. Let's face the reality that many of the clowns in government, both elected and appointed, would be busy getting rich in the private sector if they were half as smart about the economy as they pretend to be.
Instead, we have these diploma-laden Ivy League phonies trying to tell better people how to live, largely by encouraging more dependency on government. And that dependency foments what the know-it-alls REALLY want -- more government control. Which puts the idiots -- them -- in charge.
For further details, examine the record of Obama's Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, godfather of the Solyndra debacle and another idiotic appointee of the subversive Marxist in the White House. If we had a rational government, he'd be facing prosecution for his wildly irresponsible handling of the public's money.
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West Virginia's Democrat acting governor held on to win narrowly (50%-47%) over his Republican challenger. Not much of a victory, considering that Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1 in the state.
- - - - -
Some serious saber-rattling from China. The official Chinese Communist Party newspaper Global Times carried this headline: "The time to use force has arrived in the South China Sea; Let's wage wars on the Philippines and Vietnam to prevent more wars."
The story continues, "The South China Sea is the best place for China to wage wars. Of the more than 1,000 oil rigs there, none belongs to China; of the four airfields in the Spratly Islands, none belongs to China; once a war is declared, the South China Sea will be a sea of fire [with burning oil rigs]. Who will suffer the most from a war?"
What must Vietnam think of this intimidation by their former patron?
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The party's over for Greece. Years of tax avoidance, cushy government jobs and early retirement with generous benefits have destroyed the economy and the well has gone dry for more borrowing from other countries. Expect political chaos in the near future and the likely emergence of a demagogic Communist leadership. (Maybe they could borrow Obama.)
In a country heavily dependent on tourism, why would they expect visitors to come now when the threat of strikes renders questionable the ability to (A) even get there and (B) get from the airport to the city, or the port?
Recent generations of Greeks are a disgrace to the historical memory of the founders of democracy.
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The always-insightful Thomas Sowell, one of my heroes, at Townhall.com ...
"If there was ever any doubt that the Democrats take the black vote for granted, that doubt should have been put to rest when Barack Obama told the Congressional Black Caucus, "Stop whining!"
"Have you ever before heard either a Democratic or a Republican leader tell his party's strongest supporters, "Stop whining"?
"Blacks have a lot to complain about, not just about this Democratic administration but about many other Democratic administrations, national and local, over the years.
"Unfortunately, black voters, like many other voters, often judge by rhetoric, rather than realities. When it comes to racial rhetoric, the Democrats outdo the Republicans by miles.
Even Ronald Reagan, the great communicator, had problems communicating with black voters, as I pointed out years ago in my book "A Personal Odyssey" (pages 274-278).
"All this came back to me during a recent cleanup of my office, which turned up an old yellowed copy of the New York Times with the following front-page headline: "White-Black Disparity in Income Narrowed in 80's, Census Shows" (July 24, 1992).
"How many people in the media have pointed out that the black-white income gap narrowed during the Reagan administration, just as it has widened during the Obama administration? For that matter, how many Republicans have pointed it out?
"The Reagan administration did not have any special program to narrow the racial gap in incomes. The point is that the kinds of policies followed in the 1980s had that effect, just as the kinds of policies followed by the Obama administration had opposite effects. But just listening to rhetoric won't tell you that."
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Judicial Watch checked and found that the cost for the airplanes alone transporting Michele Obama, her kids, relatives and assorted hangers-on their trip to South Africa and Botswana in June was $424,142. That doesn't include the food, lodging, and ground transportation for the 21 family and staff members. The Maximum Mama listed her daughters and her dear old mom as "senior staff members".
But the main thing is ... she ENJOYED it!
And what the hell -- it's only taxpayers' money.
Can we now accept that the era of fantasy called "respecting the presidency" is now over?
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London Dave with a sales analysis about GM's Chevy Volt all-electric vehicle, quoting yesterday's column ...
"How's the all-electric Chevy Volt selling? Not well. For the month of September sales totaled 723. Total."
Dave writes, "Oddly enough, 7 hours 23 minutes is also how long it takes to 'fill her up' via a socket in the wall.
"Imagine if it took even ONE hour to fill up a car with gas? And that gave a range of about 50 miles. Great selling points -- if you're stupid.
"I wonder how much in electricity that costs?"
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It's a new TV season. New shows come ... and some quickly go. NBC's "The Playboy Club" is history after only three episodes with shrinking ratings.
What's happened to American culture when there's no demand for bodacious ta-tas?
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Despair. My local supermarket is out of Dabo Swinney.
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Some thoughts on health and exercise, from a reader ...
If walking/cycling is good for your health,the postman would be immortal.
A whale swims all day, only eats fish, drinks water and is fat.
A rabbit runs and hops and only lives fifteen years, max.
A tortoise doesn't run, does nothing ...yet lives more than 400 years.
Draw your own conclusions!
JOBS. WELL DONE ... DEMOCRATS EMBRACE
WALL STREET CRAZIES
Steve Jobs. Fifty-six years well spent. Wouldn't we all wish for such an accounting of our lives?
And he did it all without a penny of government "stimulus" money. Investors saw the potential in a combination of inventive genius coupled with hard work, funded his ideas that satisfied a publicly-perceived need ... and all involved prospered. From the start of Apple in the family garage to Steve Jobs' standing at the apex of a technological revolution, his story -- like that of Thomas Edison and other people of real genius -- is a repudiation of the whole ridiculous idea of government-led "partnerships" with business.
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Now some heartbroken diehards will want Sarah Palin to front a third-party campaign. They might well recall Ross Perot's legacy. Bill Clinton.
And just how much political influence does Mr. Perot have today?
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With the Rasmussen Poll showing that ANY Republican would decisively beat Obama, little wonder so many House and Senate Democrats facing next year's election are staying as far away as possible from the policies of their failed leader. Aligning themselves with the bogus phony in the White House is the political equivalent of buying a ticket on the Titanic.
- - - - -
Barack Obama is increasingly exhibiting what many of us knew was there all along: the instincts of a tyrannical demagogue. He is a dangerous, dangerous man, and this presidency will not end well for the country.
More than half of the voters in 2008 chose to overlook Obama's long relationship with the race-crazed preacher, Jeremiah Wright, and delivered to the nation its first black racist president possessed by delusions of grandeur.
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I'm as annoyed as any fair-minded person over the gutter tactics used by Democrats and their media suck-ups in attacking Rick Perry. But he's brought his problems with Republican voters upon himself with disappointing debate performances and a Texas-strut attitude that simply annoys many people. "What we did in Texas" is not the answer to every question about his plans for the country as a whole.
So ... in every poll, Romney's back on top. But he is still not supported by most Republicans and he needs a stern warning that if he doesn't shed some of his RINO positions and pledge to eliminate Obamacare instead of giving "exemptions", he's going to have a much shorter honeymoon than the Democrats have given their dead-weight leader.
- - - - -
Ben Shapiro at Townhall.com summarizes the Romney weakness ...
"Mitt Romney suffers from an enthusiasm gap. He seems to be everybody's second choice. He is few people's first choice. And that is a major problem for him. People pound the pavement for their favorite candidates. They work phone banks for their favorite candidates. They vote for their second favorite candidates -- but they don't work for them.
"Republican Romney supporters seem to be counting on sheer dislike for President Obama to carry Romney to victory. That logic is not compelling. Democrats thought the same thing when they nominated John Kerry against the unpopular incumbent George W. Bush. But an empty suit will not beat an unpopular incumbent.
"In short, the grassroots think he's a flip-flopping stiff allied with corporate cronies, not a principled leader in a crucial time."
To many Republicans, Romney still fails the old Nixon test, "Would you buy a used car from this man?"
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Where, by the way, is the presidential candidate who'll state clearly, "If elected, I will do everything in a president's power to get the evil, corrupt, leeching, despotic UN out of the U.S. and get us, U.S., out of the UN."
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James Robbins, the Senior Editorial Writer for the Washington Times, offers this observation about the current crop of nut-jobs demonstrating against success ...
"The Occupy Wall Street protest is reminiscent of the scene in the 1953 film “The Wild One” where a young woman asks a motorcycle gang leader played by Marlon Brando, “Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?” Brando deadpans, 'Whaddaya got?'”
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Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal visiting with a few of the "revolutionaries" whose behavior is endorsed by some Democrat "leaders" ...
"'Occupy Wall Street,' the protest movement that settled into lower Manhattan nearly three weeks ago, is making headlines the world over. But if you actually happen to live in the neighborhood, as I do, the protesters can be easy to miss, since what they occupy is nothing more than little Zuccotti Park. After dropping off my kids at school yesterday morning, I decided to check it out.
"What I found were 60 or so protesters, most of them in their early 20s. A drum circle had set up on one corner of the square, banging out a rhythm to which a young woman in a flowing purple dress twirled in the style of a Sufi mystic.
"Walking into the square, I stopped to chat with a bearded man in his 20s. I also asked him to tell me a little bit about himself. He said he had been in the Army but had been dishonorably discharged after refusing orders to shoot innocent women and children.
"Really?" I asked. "Where did that happen?"
"Afghanistan," he replied.
"Where exactly in Afghanistan?"
"Kuwait," he replied.
"Kuwait?"
"Yeah, Kuwait."
Kuwait, Afghanistan -- whatever. When you're trying to start a revolution, such distinctions hardly seem to matter."
- - - - -
It speaks volumes about our deceitful media that they're rushing to embrace the numbskulls in the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, especially over their opposition to the bail-out of the big banks ...
... but where was all that media enthusiasm when the Tea Party objected early enough that it could have been stopped?
- - - - -
Mark Steyn in NRO summarizes nicely ...
"Is there anything as hilarious as anarchists demanding more total government control, which is in essence what 'Occupy Wall Street' boils down to?"
- - - - -
Who's thrilled by the anarchist rabble? Barack Obama, whose only hope for re-election lies in a major distraction to take away scrutiny of his wretched job performance.
It daily becomes more evident that this administration is going to provide decades of employment for writers and researchers digging into what may well turn out to be the most corrupt presidency in history.
PS--Look for more of Obama's New Black Panther buddies to be a presence, weapons in hand, at many more polling places next November. It's going to get ugly!
- - - - -
Talk about confusion in the ranks! Obama publicly admits Americans are NOT better off than they were four years ago, but the latest wacko flake to Chair the Democratic National Committee, the raving loony from Florida, Cong. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, exhibits her incredible silliness by saying that that “anyone can see that the economy is improving."
It's obviously in the Democrat DNA to place mentally disturbed people in party positions of prominence.
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The stock market is no longer a place for investors. It is a giant gambling casino for speculators, running on computerized buy/sell programs. In this arena, the machines HAVE taken over.
- - - - -
As American Airlines confronts the possibility of bankruptcy, the question arises about the Aadvantage mileage program: Would holders of all those miles lose them? Based on precedent, probably not. Other big airlines have gone thru bankruptcy -- at one time, more than half of all airline flights were being flown by carriers in Chapter 11 -- and either maintained their mileage programs or those miles were transferred to another airline in case of total failure or merger.
- - - - -
It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.
He did this because he said in words to this effect: 'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.'
He was correct, of course. Even now, Britain is debating whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred.
- - - - -
Reader Rick offers a solution to the health care situation ...
So you're a sick senior citizen and the government says there is no nursing home available for you, what do you do?
Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets. You are allowed to shoot four Congressmen.
Of course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will get three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating, air conditioning and all the health care you need. Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That's great. Need a new hip, knees, kidney, lungs or heart? They're all covered. And, as an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you as often as they do now.
And who will be paying for all of this? It's the same government that just told you that they cannot afford for you to go into a home.
Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any income taxes anymore, and still draw a social security check.
Is this a great country or what?
- - - - -
Steven Chu, the dope running Obama's Energy Department, was poised to loan the Solyndra scam-artists another $469 million of your tax dollars after auditors had already made it clear the business was failing.
Okay, Dems, you got your wish when some of the people involved in the Enron scandal went to prison. So ... when do you want to start locking up the Obamunists who perpetrated this ripoff of the public?
- - - - -
By the way ... have they put Ben Bernanke's photo next to the word "stupid" in the dictionary yet?
- - - - -
The worsening economic crisis in Greece, accompanied by strikes, demonstrates, etc., prompts this query from Wes in Mesa, Arizona ...
" We have the msn home page and today it has a big ad on winning a trip to Greece. I wonder if first prize in a one week all expense trip and second prize is a two weeks all expense trip."
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"If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send 150 lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, & talk by the hour? That 150 lawyers should do business together ought not to be expected." -- Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, 1821
-- thanks, Dan --
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If you were waiting for cooler weather to visit Arizona, now's the time to come. The winds of autumn swept up from the mountains of Mexico overnight, bringing us highs today in the low 70's here in the Sonoran desert. As this is written, the early-morning temperature is in the '50's.
- - - - -
Resolving the farther/further dilemma: if the distance, time-span, etc., can be measured with a tangible result -- miles, inches, feet or hours --it's farther. If a a concrete measurement is not applicable, it's further.
- - - - -
I got lost briefly. I think I made a wrong turn at Dabo Swinney.
And reader Arthur reports that he's caught between a rock and Dabo Swinney.
- - - - -
Jimmy Fallon --
"President Obama did take Michelle out to a lovely dinner on their anniversary. It was a little awkward, though. When the bill came, Obama just put it on the tab of the Chinese couple sitting next to them."
REVOLUTIONARIES FOR HIRE ... PELOSI
PREVARICATES
The Rent-a-Mob business is flourishing again. From the Daily Caller ...
"A liberal organizer told the Daily Caller on Thursday afternoon that he paid some Hispanics to attend 'Occupy DC' protests happening in the nation’s capital.
" Asked why they were there, some Hispanic protesters holding up English protest signs could not articulate what their signs said.
"Interviewed in Spanish, the protesters told conflicting stories about how their group was organized. Some said it was organized at their church, and that they were there as volunteers. Others, however, referred to the man from the DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition — the only Caucasian in the group — as their 'boss.'
"The Daily Caller asked that organizer whether he was paying the group to attend the protest, and he conceded that some protesters 'aren’t volunteers.'"
This will come as no surprise to anyone who's ever lived in San Francisco, as I did for twenty-five years. The local newspapers there routinely carry classified ads offering to hire professional protesters, some even offering job benefits like health care, pension plans, etc.
- - - - -
Nancy Pelosi, who has a serious case of the Democrat Disease, the symptoms of which include making up numbers with no basis in fact, now tells gullible media that without the failed Obama "stimulus" plan, unemployment would have reached 14.5%. Contrarily, WITH the plan ... who says it won't?
- - - - -
It is comforting to note that Steve Jobs will be remembered for his real accomplishments long after Barack Obama is little more than a sorry footnote to a period of utter mindlessness on the part of American voters.
- - - - -
From the Center for Immigration Studies ...
New Center for Immigration Studies' analysis of Census Bureau data shows the nation’s immigrant population (legal and illegal), also referred to as the foreign born, reached 40 million in 2010, the highest number in American history. Nearly 14 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) settled in the country from 2000 to 2010, making it the highest decade of immigration in American history.
Of the 40 million immigrants in the country in 2010, 13.9 million arrived in 2000 or later making it the highest decade of immigration in American history, even though there was a net loss of jobs during the decade.
Knowing that some immigrants make a real contribution to the economy, while many others make up a parasitic element, draw your own conclusion as to whether this is a net plus, or minus.
- - - - -
Ann Coulter points out a contradiction in the so-called "thinking" of the Wall Street protest mob ...
"Wall Street protesters say they want Obama re-elected, but claim to hate "Wall Street." You know, the same Wall Street that gave its largest campaign donation in history to Obama, who, in turn, bailed out the banks and made Goldman Sachs the fourth branch of government."
Annie's right. They ARE a bit confused.
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Dave checks in from London with this observation ...
"I was reading a report about the illiterate neo-commies on MOB-WALL STREET, something along the lines: 'The smell of urine was pervasive...', as it always is with lefty mobs. I know the media have been looking for similarities with the ultra-clean Tea Party.
"So ... I guess that makes the neo-commies the PEE PARTY?
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It is typical of the blundering boobs who infest Washington during this dark era of Obamunism that they talk about a surtax on "millionaires". They apparently MEAN people who earn more than a million dollars per year, but the term "millionaire" applies to people who have accumulated -- often over many years -- a net worth of a million dollars or more. And the stupid media go along with this farce, with no attempt at clarification.
If you have a child who is a habitual liar, fear not for his/her future. "Journalism" beckons, offering boundless opportunities to butt-kiss the biggest hypocrites in the nation.
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Taking shots at China's undervalued money may make a lot of Americans feel good, thus it's a convenient political vehicle. But be aware of this: if we try to hit products made in China with tariffs because we're irate over their cheaper labor, the jobs lost there are NOT coming here. And ultimately American consumers will be buying the same products coming from Honduras or Haiti or Malaysia ... wherever labor is even cheaper than in China, which is far from being the world's lowest-cost labor market.
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Jay Nordlinger of National Review Online sees yet another similarity between Obama and Jimmy Carter ...
"I don’t think he (Carter) ever quite forgave the American people for 'firing' him in 1980. I think he has taken it out on us ever since. I think Rosalynn was even more unforgiving.
"And if Obama loses in 2012, I think he’ll be much the same kind of ex-president as Carter — in attitude, I mean."
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Has anyone called it "The Cain Mutiny" yet? Rick Perry continues to bleed support to the man who "made his bones" (don't we love Mafia lingo?) as a corporate success, Herman Cain. Perry has money enough to continue to wage a high-powered campaign, but if his answers to questions he should have anticipated don't improve drastically, he's toast.
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Another warning against falling in love with the latest "flavor of the week" politician.
When Scott Brown, who put an (R) after his name, got Tea Party support and won his race for the old Ted Kennedy Senate seat in Massachusetts, there was an outburst of "Scotty for President" nonsense from the ultra-naive.
Now that he's been in the Senate long enough to compile an actual voting record, that Tea Party enthusiasm has greatly diminished as they realize that he's just another RINO. He may not even win re-election over a typical wild-eyed Massachusetts liberal Democrat, Elizabeth Warren from Hah-vuhd.
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Wily ol' Wes Pruden of the Washington Times evaluates Mittens as seen by the media ...
"Mitt Romney becomes the odds-on favorite in the Pundit Primary. He’s the least threatening to the elites, mostly because at one time or another he has said all the right things about the things that matter to the elites. He won’t frighten the horses, spill the non-alcoholic punch on the White House carpets or make a noise after 9 o’clock. He’s not dull, exactly, but he could always be counted on to keep his clothes on when everybody went skinny-dipping. He tells the story that when he once asked his wife Ann whether in her wildest dreams she ever imagined that she was married to a man who might be president, she replied: 'You have never been in my wildest dreams.'”
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Another actor-idiot: film tough-guy Samuel L. Jackson, who offhandedly observes that, "Of course, Tea Party people are racist." Does no one near him have the sense, or the cojones, to tell this blowhard that Tea Party folk overwhelmingly support Herman Cain for president?
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BTW (texting shorthand for "by the way"), the Hollywood Reporter is ... reporting ... that Tinsel Town liberals are concerned that blatantly leftist lies and propaganda by some of their stars are causing conservatives not to pay to see them. Gee ... what a novel concept: "I think you're an anti-American wacko, and I choose not to add to your already-inflated income."
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Just so you know ... George Soros, the big-money man behind several left-wing front organizations such as Media Matters, IS a convicted crook. He has lost his case at the European Court of Human Rights to have his criminal conviction for insider dealing quashed. (Former cringing management hacks at ABC Radio who tried -- unsuccessfully -- to force me to apologize for on-air remarks made about Mr. Soros a few years ago ... take note. You creeps give cowardice a bad name.)
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Oh, goodie! The corrupt Greek government and bureaucracy now has high hopes that international investors will pour money into the country to build a "green energy" industry based on its abundant sunshine.
I live in Arizona, where daily sunshine is a given. A neighbor -- a scientist, yet -- poured thousands into installing solar panels. He was going to live "off the grid". His wife threatened to leave him if he didn't have the electricity and gas lines re-connected because she was tired of taking cold showers, and the forest of solar panels on the roof caused structural damage.
She also figured out that he'd have to live to about age 120 for the investment in "green" equipment to pay off.
Lunacy abounds ...
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With the example of Greece (crazed government spending, pampered unions) right before us, is it not astounding that Obama & Co. are determined to follow the same path to economic suicide?
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Naive, or just stupid? I refer to the nearly half of Americans (47%) who told the Rasmussen Poll they believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary.
And who DECIDES what is qualified to fit either category? The ... GOVERNMENT? A-HA! It's an idiot's answer.
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A cautionary reminder about buying overseas property ...
The communist government of Venezuela is expropriating private homes on offshore islands.
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Something to think about in an idle moment ...
What IS the proper punishment for city officials who have so bungled their jobs that they're stacking dead bodies two-to-a-tray at the city morgue?
This is precisely what is going on in Chicago, a city eternally run by an alliance of Democrat thieves and political goons.
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From a reader ...
"Witnessing the Republicans and the Democrats bicker over the U.S. debt is like watching two drunks argue over a bar bill on the Titanic."
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Notice how public interest in the "global warming" bull(bleep) has almost vanished, now that people have something REAL (Obama's failed economy, jobs) to worry about?
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Today's travel tip ...
If you are ever vacationing south of the border, never, EVER, begin a sentence with the words, "Su madre".
If you don't know why, ask any Spanish-speaker.
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Thanks to the Sorkin source for passing along these (purported) actual test answers from 6th-graders (read carefully) ...
"In war time children who lived in big cities had to be evaporated because it was safer in the country."
More on history ...
"Sometimes in war that take prizners and keep them as ostriges. Some prizners end up in constipation camps."
"I asked my mom why we say 'old men' at the end of prayers. I don't know any old men besides grandpa."
"When Joan of Arc met her end, she was burned as a steak."
"In Scandanavia the Danish people come from Denmark, the Norwegians come from Norway and the Lapdancers come from Lapland."
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Jay Leno --"Amanda Knox is finally home and she says she doesn’t want to do anything that reminds her of Italy. So last night, they went to the Olive Garden."
MYSTIFYING MITT ... MOB MADNESS ...
MORE MIDDLE-EAST MAUNDERING
MORE MIDDLE-EAST MAUNDERING
Herman Cain's continuing rise in the polls clearly puzzles some political insiders and their media hand-puppets who can't understand his appeal. Simple, really. What he may lack in, say, foreign policy expertise is counter-balanced by Mitt Romney's lack of principles, illustrated by his repeated flip-flops. Mr. Cain appears not to harbor such deficiencies and thus comes across as the straight-shooter. Meantime ... how is Mittens' search for a backbone going?
The Cain surge is coming primarily from Rick Perry's support. This is propelling Mr. Perry's slide from poll leader to also-ran at a Kentucky Derby pace.
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Three weeks into the “Occupy Wall Street” protests, the disorganized mob of shiftless protesters is receiving fresh shock troops from Big Labor. An article at Business Insider lists the new arrivals: “United NY, SEIU 1199, United Federation of Teachers, Working Families Party, and MoveOn.org. The Transit Workers and AFL-CIO are also expected to participate.”
Occupy Wall Street sounds utterly nuts, but there are people like the AFL-CIO, and the degenerate hard-left Democrat Party, who have plenty of uses for stupid and crazy foot soldiers, after “liberal thinkers” and helpful media allies have cleaned them up a bit. — John Hayward, Daily Events
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What do the anti-Wall Street demonstrators want? Jonah Goldberg elucidates ...
"A widely circulated 'proposed list of demands' calls for 'Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the 'Books.'
"Even if you break the crazy pill in half and simply talk about forgiving all mortgages and consumer credit, we're still probably talking about the utter destruction of the global financial system. U.S. mortgage debt alone is roughly equal to our entire GDP."
But Obama, some Democrats, union bosses and their fellow nuts in the media support these lunatics!
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Barack Obama, liar. He lied about meeting a teacher named Robert Baroz who, despite impressive credentials, was losing his job to Republican-inspired budget cuts. Lies, part one: they never met. Lies, part two: Mr. Baroz did NOT lose his job. But the fools who still support our Demagogue-in-Chief probably swallowed whole the entire charade. There are times -- and this is such a time -- when the word "dumb" is inadequate.
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There's little doubt that Obama and his fellow leftists are enjoying the useless rabble and their "Occupy this-or-that" nonsense. Consider the absurdity that these political phonies, starting with the Big Nothing, pretend to believe that the "revolutionaries" represent "the American people". The fools who support(ed) this regime have unleashed a plague upon the nation.
If you want a clear example of where such "revolutionary" thinking leads, observe events in Venezuela where communist dictator Hugo Chavez, a soul-brother of Obama, is seizing private homes to give them to "the poor".
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There is a growing consensus that the U.S. economy will never recover as long as we have a destructive, egomaniacal, economically-illiterate quasi-Marxist in the White House. Even some Democrats in both the House and Senate have figured that out, which is why they won't support his demagogic "jobs" plan.
If Obama's goal is to wreck the largest economy the world has ever seen to satisfy his own ideological urges, nurtured since childhood by communists, he's making strong headway.
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Between sending guns to Mexican criminals, lying by the Justice Department, obvious payoffs in the Solyndra case ... how long before even the dumbest Democrat figures out that this is one of the stupidest, most corrupt administrations in history? It's populated by a mob of lying, racist, freeloading criminals.
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General Stanley McChrystal was in charge of our military effort in Afghanistan in 2009-10. Now retired, he says we're "just over halfway" to achieving our goals in that ten-year-old war.
I submit that anyone who suggests we continue losing lives, limbs and billions of dollars in that sewer for another ten years is stark raving mad. It's time to get back to the basics of war: If you're not in it to win it, don't get in it at all.
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Tyree Appleberry, 42, of Albuquerque made a bad choice when he chose to pull over a car while pretending to be a police officer. The driver of the other car was a REAL police officer who not only busted Tyree for impersonating a cop, he also found that the Great Pretender had an outstanding warrant for his OWN arrest.
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Have a heaping helping of mind-food ...
If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-- Mark Twain
A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. -- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
-- thanks, Mike --
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Don't spread the word, but I've found that just across the border in Nogales, Mexico, I can obtain Dabo Swinney without a prescription.
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Sam reminds us of back-to-school days ...
On the first day of school, the children brought gifts for their teacher.
The supermarket manager's daughter brought the teacher a basket of assorted fruit.
The florist's son brought the teacher a bouquet of flowers.
The candy-store owner's daughter gave the teacher a pretty box of candy.
Then the liquor-store owner's son brought up a big, heavy box. The teacher lifted it up and noticed that it was leaking a little bit..She touched a drop of the liquid with her finger and tasted it.
"Is it wine?" she guessed. "No," the boy replied. She tasted another drop and asked, "Champagne?”
"No," said the little boy............."It's a puppy!"
DUMB VOTERS ... SUNBURNED BY SOLYNDRA
...
TAKING ON THE TARANTULA
TAKING ON THE TARANTULA
A disturbing indicator of how many Americans vote from sheer ignorance is revealed in a Rasmussen Poll that finds only 10% know that the government can -- and does -- spend the fictitious Social Security "trust fund" on anything it pleases. They naively believe those funds can only be used to pay SS benefits. In fact, the "trust fund" as defined as a specific, isolated accumulation of money does not exist, and never has. It's just another blatant government lie for the Great Unwashed.
No wonder such an ill-informed electorate so often makes such stupid choices.
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There is no reason why anyone knowing of Barack Obama's background as a "community organizer" (read, "rabble rouser") should be surprised that he's thrown in his lot with a bunch of street-bums, freeloaders and scum of the earth. After all, they're losers who want to mooch off productive people. And that's his entire Marxist ethos: the bums should be allowed to leech off people who actually accomplish. Lenin never stated it better.
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Venezuelan communist dictator Hugo Chavez has spoken out in support of the U.S. street rabble. Anyone surprised?
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Deroy Murdock in National Review summarizes the "green" silliness that possesses Obama ...
"Solargate is just the tip of the iceberg.This cliche within a mixed metaphor reflects the madness of President Barack Obama's obsession with "green jobs." It would be bad enough if this disaster were limited to possible criminality at Solyndra -- the California-based solar-panel maker that Obama stimulated with loan guarantees, despite repeated internal warnings. Solyndra's August 31 bankruptcy transformed 1,100 green jobs into pink slips and marinated taxpayers in $527 million of red ink.
"Undeterred, the president chases the Sun, like a motorist speeding west across the desert as dusk approaches. Obama swears that the Sun is within his grasp. Yet it stubbornly remains just beyond the horizon.
Too bad Barack Obama won't finance his self-defeating solar road trip with his own money."
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Definition of political sleaze: Harry Reid. The Republican Party in Nevada had every opportunity to dislodge this creep, but entrusted their fate to a raving nut-job who was on-record as saying utterly crazy things -- and got their butts kicked. Now he'll be around for another five years ... in the minority, it is to be hoped.
The loud but loony Republicans who actually want another crackpot, Ron Paul, as a presidential nominee had better consider that Nevada outcome and rethink their position.
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As we sense the clock running out on us, many choose to "put their affairs in order." Few can, or do, lay plans into the future as thoroughly as Steve Jobs apparently did. Not only will his family be well taken care of, he charted a four-year future for the company he founded with a plethora of new ideas.
Observers of both business and the human condition will watch with interest to see how many of his plans will be successfully carried out by his successor(s).
Meantime, those who root for the underdog will cherish the memory of Steve's upstart little company leaving the then-giant of the computer field, IBM, in the dust.
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Speaking of underdogs ...
We who instinctively root for the team less-favored by either payroll or market-size are delighted to see the experts' "favorites" for the World Series, the Yankees and Phillies, dispatched from the playoffs in Round One. TV network executives, of course, are reaching for their antacid pills. If they had their way, only teams in the top four markets -- New York, LA, Chicago and San Francisco -- would EVER make the championship game in any team sports, simply because those cities supply more viewers, which translates into higher ratings and more advertising dollars. Which is why I would be delighted if teams from, say, Kansas City and Cincinnati made it to the Big Game every year.
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Congressman Tom McClintock of California, who would have been governor of that state had not a bunch of star-struck sillies voted for the unprincipled lout Schwarzenegger, had these remarks for some policy-makers visiting his failing home state ...
"I want to welcome this groundbreaking scientific expedition to the savage lands of the Left Coast. You are here in California to answer an important theoretical question and now you have your answer.
"Yes, this is what Barack Obama’s second term would look like.
"Study it. Fear it. And then go home and make sure that it never happens to the rest of the country.
"Of course, in spite of all of its problems, California is still one of the best places in the country to build a successful small business. All you have to do is start with a successful large business."
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Pianist Louis Weertz was born in Omaha 87 years ago. He passed away of cancer yesterday. You knew him better as Roger Williams, whose piano flourishes embellished standards like "Autumn Leaves."
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Our letter carrier is a very nice and accommodating person. On several occasions lately she's had to leave her vehicle and hand-deliver our mail to the door, entailing a walk of a hundred yards or so.
This situation came about because a sizable tarantula had taken up part-time occupancy in our mailbox. It's the large, rural variety, provided capacious living quarters for he/she/it.
Generally speaking, Susan and I take a live-and-let-live attitude toward earth's other creatures unless they represent a real and immediate threat. If time and circumstances allow, we'll call the local snake patrol if a rattler pays a visit to our little piece of Arizona. (The venom is extracted for medical use, then the crawly critter is released far away -- or perhaps taken to a permanent home in the Desert Museum. If you are ever in the Tucson area, the Desert Museum is very much worth a visit.)
Our letter carrier, perhaps thru oversight or policy by the Post Office, has apparently never been issued a 007-type License to Kill. So Susan decided to relieve her from the walk and visited the mailbox yesterday. Sure enough, there he/she/it was. A tarantula of impressive size.
A shot of bug-spray was sufficient to annoy our tenant enough to come outside, but he/she/it decided to make a stand. Mistake.
I search for a genteel expression to conclude my account of this drama. The only one that comes to mind is an old CIA expression that may now even be obsolete. It was used occasionally by my late business partner, who had some experience with "the company".
The tarantula was ... terminated with extreme prejudice.
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Words to remember ...
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." – Benjamin Franklin
(thanks, Todd!)
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Anybody have a six-pack of Dabo Swinney?
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From the Sky-guy ...
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan. She asked the class, "If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?"
A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, "I think I'd throw up."
ACCESSORIES TO MURDER ... WHAT IS A
CULT? ...
WHEN THE GLORY'S GONE
WHEN THE GLORY'S GONE
The LA Times reports on the Obama/Eric Holder gun-running operation:
"High-powered assault weapons illegally purchased under the ATF's Fast and Furious program in Phoenix ended up in a home belonging to the purported top Sinaloa cartel enforcer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, whose organization was terrorizing that city with the worst violence in the Mexican drug wars."
This is so outrageous, somebody needs to be given serious prison time. And the Attorney General's lies accumulate.
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Dipping a toe into dangerous waters, I offer this for your consideration in light of (renewed) charges that Mitt Romney's Mormon faith is a "cult".
Viewed with detachment, ANY religion could be regarded as a "cult", since all depend on faith rather than objective, verifiable fact; tangible evidence. (What may be one person's evidence could well be someone else's myth.)
The vital reality to humankind rests upon the goals and activities undertaken in the name of that faith. The obvious example lies in the fact that Christianity, Judaism and many other religions have a basis in caring about other human beings, whether or not attempting to convert them thru persuasion.
The unfortunate fact, conversely, is that some interpretations of Islam rely on forced conversion and the murder of those who view life differently. It is an established fact that much of the fund-raising undertaken by Muslims in the name of charity and caring for unfortunate people is really used to finance indiscriminate murder. Suicide bombings are the extreme example.
And therein lies the source of conflict that may yet take the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust -- a conclusion actually desired by the fanatics of that faith.
I can think of several good reasons to question Mitt Romney's suitability as Republican candidate for president. His Mormonism is not one of them. And in any case, he represents far less of a threat to the nation than continuance of the lunacy that now prevails in Washington.
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Mark Steyn in National Review Online reminds us of the roots of one of the spokesmen for the "Occupy" rabble ...
"Do you remember Van Jones? He was Obama’s “green jobs” czar back before “green jobs” had been exposed as a gazillion-dollar sinkhole for sluicing taxpayer monies to the president’s corporate cronies. Oh, don’t worry. These cronies aren’t “corporate” in the sense of Steve Jobs. The corporations they run put “people before profits”: That’s to say, they’ve figured out it’s easier to take government money from you people than create a business that makes a profit. In an amusing inversion of the Russian model, Van Jones became a czar after he’d been a Communist. He became a Commie in the mid-Nineties — i.e., after even the Soviet Union had given up on it. Needless to say, a man who never saw a cobwebbed collectivist nostrum he didn’t like no matter how long past its sell-by date is hot for 'Occupy Wall Street.'”
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This weekend I was visited by an old friend I hadn't seen in years. He's a Chicago (well, Skokie, a suburb) businessman of longstanding and is now in his late eighties.
His wife died of cancer a couple of years ago. We were fond of both of them, and Muriel had mentored my then-new bride, an island girl from St. Thomas who'd never had to cope with life in a city as big as Chicago.
Her loss was, as you would imagine, a hard blow to her husband. They'd married young and had a happy life together for many years.
Given his advanced years and her passing, many of his friends asked why he continued to own and operate a successful business and put in long hours. The answer he gave them -- and me -- was totally commonsensical. He does it because it keeps his mind active in a constant round of decision-making and supervision. He has the "use it or lose it" attitude toward mental activity, and I believe he's right.
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Dan Le Batard in the Miami Herald with a long look at what happens when star athletes suddenly aren't stars anymore ...
"Injured Terrell Owens, hanging on, tried to play a joke on the media last week. He faked his retirement announcement on TV, then high-fived the family members he had there as props. It wasn’t very funny. It was kind of sad, actually. Not because he craved an attention that shrinks by the day — that happens very fast in the cruel ecosystem where he got his fame and infamy, the spotlight going from bright to dark faster than he ever ran — but because Owens still seems to think he has some control over how this all ends.
"Sports Illustrated reports that, within two years, 78 percent of former NFL players are either bankrupt or in financial distress because of divorce or retirement. Why? Because it is hard for the guy you used to be to live with the guy you are. Hard for anyone else to live with him, too.
"What happens when Owens, the way he defines himself, the very confident talent, is no longer deemed to have worth to others? When awareness is forced upon him? When what he does for a living comes with a 'former' in front of it, a reminder that his present is past tense. When he is alone with who he used to be, and there isn’t the warmth of all those lights, what happens then?"
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We no longer place mentally disturbed people under arrest, as was Galileo's fate for revealing that the earth was not the center of the universe -- much to the displeasure of the Catholic Church.
The fact that we don't accounts for people like Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi walking around freely.
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The NY Post reports on something ... well, we already knew ...
"A Columbia University researcher has created a mathematical formula to calculate the exact trade-off between billfold and belt-size both men and women make in choosing their partner.
"According to economist Pierre-Andre Chiappori, single people looking to get hitched rate each other’s eligibility by assessing two traits: physical and socioeconomic attractiveness.
"For every 10 percent increase in their body mass index, or BMI, single men must increase their annual salary by 2 percent to compete in the same dating pool, according to Chiappori’s working paper, “Fatter Attraction.” BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight by his height.
"A 6-foot-tall man who weighs 180 pounds -- just about the perfect BMI -- and earns an annual salary of $100,000, for instance, would have to get a $2,000 raise if he packed on about 20 pounds and didn’t want to downgrade the level of women he could date."
The obvious conclusion: chubbos can do just fine in the gender interaction pool if they accumulate more bux!
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(Sir) Paul McCartney has taken unto himself another bride at age 69. Paul obviously subscribes to the policy, "Keep doing it 'til you get it right." Not a bad thing -- but this time, dude, get that pre-nup. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it!
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My longtime colleague at ABC, Jim Eason, laments the loss of broadcasting as a guide to English usage ...
" When I was a kid, with a radio nearby, I trusted the pronunciations that came from my radio. Those men and women never...to my knowledge...misprounced a word. In fact, they had books on hand to help radio people get it right. The CBS network had a book, and they got weekly updates - regular 8 by 10 sheets mailed to the stations, with the latest words and how to pronounce them. The author was a language expert named W. Cabell Greet - middle name pronounced cabble, not cable. I was stunned to read his explanation of how to pronounce the word JUNTA. In Vietnam war news, JUNTA frequently appeared. Some of the broadcasters leaned toward France, I guess, and said "hoon-tah." Dr. Greet explained it is properly pronounced JUN-tah. He said it is related to the words JUNCTION and JUNCTURE, neither has a HOO sound. Well, I switched, and said JUN-tah from then on...and caught unshirted hell from "experts" who just had to disagree. There was a duo of newscasters who REPEATEDLY talked about the NOBLE prize...hey, nitwits, it's NO-BELL, not NOBLE."
And Jim's name is EE-son, not EAS-TON.
I once worked for the Pulitzer family, which created the Pulitzer Prize. Most people pronounced the name PEW-litz-er. Wrong. The family pronounces it PULL-itz-er.
We live to serve. Even grovel, if necessary.
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Got a new pair of shoes. Too tight. Now I have Dabo Swinney on my feet.
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A pilot friend shares this story ...
Once upon a time, a military aviator asked a beautiful Princess, "Will you marry me?”
The Princess said “NO, you are JUST a pilot.”
.........and so the pilot lived happily ever after. He flew airplanes and helicopters and rode motorcycles ... was stationed worldwide, got good promotions and duty stations and made love to women with big hooters and hunted and fished and raced cars and went to men's clubs and dated babes half his age and drank whiskey, beer, tequila, rum, did boilermakers and never heard bitching and never paid child support or alimony, kept his house and guns and never got cheated on while he was at work or stationed abroad and all his friends and family thought he was cool as hell and he had tons of money in the bank and left the toilet seat up all the time.
What?? Did I hear the word "sexist" somewhere in the distance?? I am but the messenger.
SUNLIGHT SINKS SOLAR SILLINESS ...
PERRY IN PERIL
If you think the Solyndra ripoff of the taxpayers was bad, wait'll this story uncovered by Human Events unfolds ...
"How did a failing Richmond, California, solar company, buffeted by short sellers and shareholder lawsuits, receive a $1.2 billion federal loan guarantee for a photovoltaic electricity ranch project—three weeks after it announced it was building new manufacturing plant in Mexicali, MEXICO, to build the panels for the project?
"The company, SunPower (SPWR-NASDAQ), now carries $820 million in debt, an amount $20 million greater than its market capitalization. If SunPower was a bank, the feds would shut it down. Instead, it received a lifeline twice the size of the money sent down the Solyndra drain."
Deeply involved: California liberal Congressman George Miller and his son, lobbyist for SunPower.
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Memo to the demonstrating rabble: Keep it up, boys and girls! You're an ongoing advertisement for the need to ditch the White House loser!
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Rick Perry had better be prepared to deliver the debate performance of his life tonight, or he can pack it in.
He's already looking like the biggest flop since Fred Thompson.
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Tim Pawlenty is reportedly having second thoughts about his withdrawal from the Republican race after the Iowa Straw Poll. Re-enter? Forget it. His Timmy-the-Timid performance in the first debate has left permanent scars.
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California youths under age 18 who need their hides tanned ... can't. A new law signed by Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown prohibits them from using ultra-violet tanning devices.
They can, however, continue to get abortions without the consent, or even knowledge, of their parents. California priorities on display.
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Survey (Investors Business Daily) says...
Elect somebody to replace Obama, 51%. Give him a second term, 41%.
Key factor: Independents, who usually decide national elections as the swing vote, are opposed to re-electing B.O. by 54% to 36%.
The astonishing thing is that 41% of the American public can still be so stupid as to want more of what this boob and his hench-persons, Reid and Pelosi, have done to the country.
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Is the tingle gone? Chris Matthews on MSNBC, Obama's parrot cable outlet ...
“Obama has no direction . . . I don’t sense the executive command.”
“I think the big mistake he made was Chicago-style politics . . . to act like there was only one party.”
“Ever since he’s been president, he’s been very elitist.”
“The president used a couple of words we’re familiar with: ‘fair and balanced.’ It was like a Fox commercial there.”
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Rick Moran offers this ...
"All presidents have their yes men. The smart presidents maintain a corridor to outside advisors who can snap him back to reality if need be. Obama really has nobody - no "Friends of Bill" who will defend him and pull him up when he's down.
"I'd say this is worrisome except it really doesn't matter. Obama is irrelevant and the country is almost officially biding its time until he's gone."
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In the crooked Democrats department ...
The Washington Times reports that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband, a real estate developer and investment banker, stands to make millions of dollars in a previously undisclosed residential real estate project in California as a partner with the father of a woman Mrs. Pelosi helped become ambassador to Hungary.
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Dr. Zuhdi Jasser is a Muslim; one who professes an interpretation of Islam that is compatible with American values and rejects terrorism. He served eleven years in the U.S. Navy. More than a year ago he was nominated to the State Department Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. He's been turned down by the Obama administration.
Draw your own conclusions.
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Remember when Hillary Clinton, as Obama's Secretary of State, embarrassingly pushed the mislabeled "re-set" button on U.S.-Russia relations? She and her boss are about to find out how Moscow plans to "re-set" relations as tough-guy and former KGB operative Vladimir Putin again takes the reins of power. His sock-puppet, Medvedev, has been talking glowingly about the good old days of the USSR when Joltin' Joe Stalin ran things.
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Who -- and what -- is "rich"? While Democrats from Obama to Schumer to local political hacks argue about how much to steal from the productive, how about a real cost-of-living comparison between, say, San Francisco and Opelousas, Louisiana, or similarly-situated locales? That should do away with the government's "one-size-fits-all" mentality.
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We have gotten almost 2,000 American GI's killed and spent close to half-a-TRILLION dollars in support of the government of Afghanistan. Match those facts against this: Every Christian church in the country has been destroyed with the support of that same government, and abuse of religious minorities is not only tolerated,but encouraged.
Just what the hell are we trying to "save" in that wretched country?
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Egyptian Muslims are slaughtering Egyptian Christians. Perhaps our deranged liberals can explain to us again just how wonderful this "Arab spring" bull(bleep) is.
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Thomas Love, 40, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, obviously never saw the Woody Allen comedy classic movie, "Take the Money and Run," in which would-be bank robber Woody writes a stick-up note the teller can't read.
Poor penmanship was Tom's undoing, also. The teller couldn't read the note written on the back of a deposit slip, so Tom got frustrated and left. When the teller finally figured out that Tom had been trying to rob the place, he notified police and the inept criminal was caught a few blocks away.
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Sarah Palin, bless her heart, perpetrated the longest tease since Gypsy Rose Lee first removed a long glove. The anticipation among Gypsy's male fans of that time was so intense, I'm told, that her admirers were practically orgasmic.
Sarah's many admirers failed to get even that much satisfaction.
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"My life has been shaped by the peanut culture of south Georgia," says Jimmy Carter.
Well, we knew his BRAIN was ...
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"Monday Night Football" is always positioned as a special event because it's on in prime-time with no other football telecasts for competition, and part of the "staging" has been Hank's "Are You Ready for Some Football." Without it, last night's opening was lame. Hank's intemperate observations about the resident power-mad poseur in the White House clearly frightened the corporate brass, since ABC has been part of the Obama Fan Club since Day One.
While the Disney/ABC/ESPN spineless management may have been worried that his remarks about our White House egomaniac would have led to a viewer boycott, they were simply wrong -- just as they'd be wrong to assume that his absence will lead to a boycott. The attraction is still the game, and people who want to see it will watch, regardless.
By the way, the Bears lost to the Lions last night in the same way the Chicago team has won so many games in seasons past. They simply got out-muscled.
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The "experts" still say Tim Tebow is far from ready to be a #1 QB in the NFL, but it's virtually certain that he'll be the Broncos' starter for the next game.
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Conde Nast Traveler's reader survey names Charleston, South Carolina, as the #1 tourist destination in the nation. I concur. And recommend the French Quarter Inn for a very pleasant hotel stay.
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A deadly serious travel tip: If you ever visit Thailand, do NOT -- even jokingly -- make any disparaging remark about their king. It's a crime with serious consequences. An American who did so is facing as much as fifteen years in prison after being convicted. Meantime, he's locked up without bail.
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Mike has a tip for us ...
"Dabo Swinney: Safeway, fancy food section, right next to the Cheese Whiz."
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A few classics from reader Jurek ...
The truth about real friendship ...
When you are sad ~ I will help you get drunk and plot revenge against the sorry bastard who made you sad.
When you are worried ~ I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining.
When you fall ~ I will laugh at your clumsiness, but I'll help you up.
Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it, but only you can feel the true warmth.
The following are from a book called "Disorder in the American Courts" and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down by court reporters.
ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, 'Where am I, Cathy?'
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
_________________________________________
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Getting laid.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
_________________________________________
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral .......
A HILLARY BAILOUT FOR BARACK? ...
WIN A WAR, LOSE THE PEACE...
IRAN OVERDUE FOR A SMACKDOWN
WIN A WAR, LOSE THE PEACE...
IRAN OVERDUE FOR A SMACKDOWN
There's desperation-speculation among Democrats that Hillary will replace Joe Biden in the #2 spot on the Democratic ticket. I doubt it. Why would a woman who undoubtedly still harbors presidential aspirations choose to cast her lot with a self-centered loser like Obama when she could wait another four years and hope that any Republican successor would not be successful in fixing our economic trainwreck -- then possibly run at the top of the ticket?
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Then there's the speculation that Chris Christie is the hot prospect to be Romney's running-mate should the man from Massachusetts/Utah/California win the nomination. Given the widespread repulsion toward Obama, they might be a winning combination, but many Republicans would have reservations about two northeastern "moderates" teamed at the top of the ticket.
If I were forced to wager my house now, a year in advance, I'd practice saying "President Romney". I'd also expect that a lot of people who vote for him will ultimately (A) be disenchanted and (B) still glad he's in the White House instead of the pestilence that now resides there.
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Only media libs care about Jon Hunstman ... Ron Paul is still nuts (keep that hate-mail coming!) ... and Michele, we KNOW how many kids you've raised, so give it a rest, okay?
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Too bad last night's debate had such limited availability on TV. Many would-be viewers couldn't see it. And ... CHARLIE ROSE??? Wasn't a LIVING person available???
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Herman Cain's "9-9-9" economic plan has a catchy title and he claims it will work. Skeptics, however, are going to take some convincing not only about deeper detail but about the realistic prospect of getting it thru Congress. It will not be an easy task. In fact, some aspects of the present tax code are so embedded, it may be utterly impossible to uproot them. It's one thing to have a plan ... something else entirely to get it past a majority of the 535 members of a fractious Congress.
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It's very entertaining to observe all the Democrat politicos who have a "scheduling conflict" and can't join the president when he shows up in their hometowns. Next stage: Democrats in Congress who decide not to run again in order to "spend more time with my family." "Now, if I could only remember their names ..."
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Rick Perry is already being treated as an afterthought in media coverage. Unless he's able to stage a serious comeback from a floundering campaign, that inattention may even be justified. Even the conservative Washington Times calls his performance last night unimpressive. Ability to handle a debate may not be essential to a president once in office, but it's certainly vital to the task of getting there.
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Now that the DEMOCRAT-RUN Senate has killed the beast, will Obama at last shut up about his "jobs bill"? Of course not. Many of his sheeple are so ill-informed, i.e., ignorant, that he'll still be able to make them believe it was the evil Republicans that doomed his scheme, which never had a chance in the House, anyway.
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Further evidence that Obama has the instincts of a pure tyrant: By law, all spending measures are required to originate in the House of Representatives. Yet our swindler-in-chief told his "Jobs Council", quote, "Scour this report, identify all those areas in which we can act administratively WITHOUT additional congressional authorization and just get it done."
- - - - -
Hypocrisy on display: Obama's constant harangue about evil Wall Street, even as he's taken more money from that enclave than any president in history.
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How long before we have leadership that responds with some backbone to the endless provocations by the crazed fanatics running Iran? Now we have uncovered plots of assassinations on American soil to add to the long history of supplying IED's to kill Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iran clearly regards Obama -- as they did Carter -- as a wuss.
At some point, we have to get past the childish silliness of expecting either China, Russia or our European "allies" to help us respond with trade "sanctions" and other half-measures and deal Iran a blow harsh enough to change behavior. It's long, long overdue.
Some would credibly argue that it was a major mistake not to decapitate Iran on 9/12, 2001.
Of course, with the gutless nothing in the Oval Office, we'll probably have to wait for Israel to do it for us -- then our "leaders" will wring their hands and lament that action was finally taken, just as happened after Israel's Air Force destroyed Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear project in 1981.
One caveat. Since President Obama reportedly knew about this latest murder plot months ago, there are inevitably questions about the timing of the release of the story. Given that Obama's Justice Department and AG Eric Holder (see below) are under severe pressure for misbehavior, some suspect the information bout the Iranian plot is made public now as a political diversion.
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MUST-READ for today in the Washington Times (WASHTIMES.COM) ... "Holder’s honesty before Congress disputed in earlier high-profile cases".
Our (Obama's) Attorney General has a long history of ... well, the polite word is "dissembling".
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Unbelievable. Now Iraq is threatening to "break relations" with the U.S. military.
What kind of brain-dead leadership do we have that allows nations we have defeated in a war to dictate to us what they will or won't do? It was beyond stupidity to ever give the leaders of that rat-hole the idea that THEY were in charge. Heaven help us if we elect yet another gutless nothing to the presidency. Any human being with a triple-digit IQ -- or even less -- knows that the real world works thusly: We kick your ass in a war, you damned well WILL do as we tell you! And let us end the delusion that Iraq was a "liberation"; it was the violent overthrow of a regime that wallowed in the adulation of most of its population.
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Most over-used term in political discourse: "special interests".
It's a rare person/group that DOESN'T have a special interest. If you receive government benefits in any form -- Social Security, mortgage deduction, government paycheck, city contract -- you are a "special interest".
Conversely, if you receive little or nothing more than the right to drive on the road and are otherwise stuck with the tax bill for paying for the goodies received by others, you are also a "special interest".
The very term is fool-fodder for the gullible, who always assume the "special interest" is somebody else.
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Diane Sawyer, idiot.
The ABC anchor-dope delightedly announced that support for the "Occupy Wall Street" scum has spread to "more than a thousand countries." Somebody needs to tell this stupid sow that there are only 195 countries in the entire world.
How many so-called "reporters" have even approximately called the "Occupy" mob what they are: a bunch of spoiled brats and freeloaders?
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London Dave alerts us to this ...
"More countries join the growing Occupy Wall Street movement by declaring solidarity with their American comrades. The ever-expanding list includes Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Lilliput, Grand Fenwick, the Banana Republic, the Gap Islands, Ruritania... all demanding the end of capitalism and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Can the Republic possibly ignore this powerful pressure to re-join the 19th Century?"
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I'm a major admirer of the Rasmussen Poll, but like most pollsters they sometimes ask questions the public cannot possibly answer in a rational way. The current poll asks people if the U.S. is safer now than before 9/11 and 55% say yes. They ... you ... I ... cannot possibly know if that's true. We're one terrorist bombing away from turning that number upside-down.
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Former Congressman Anthony (See My) Weiner's e-mails to one of his "sexting" correspondents has been made public by the recipient, Traci Nobles. In his messages, he compares her genitalia favorably with his own wife's equipment. Any bets that Tony and Huma will still be coupled after their baby is born in a few months?
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Want to beat-up your spouse? Go to Topeka, Kansas, to do it. The city "leaders" have so misappropriated city funds that they claim they can no longer afford to prosecute spousal-abuse cases.
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Burt Prelutsky summarizes the Bamster's scoreboard ...
"Looking back on the first three years of this administration, I can't decide which I've found more repulsive -- Obama's loony policies or his unmitigated arrogance. After all, he was the guy who vowed to heal the planet, lower the ocean and make America everybody's sweetheart. And yet, in spite of a trillion dollar stimulus, this oaf has seen unemployment and underemployment soar; has seen nation after nation treat us like a toothless, foul-smelling, tiger; has seen his party lose one election after another; has seen his own approval numbers approach Jimmy Carter's; has overseen the loss of our triple-A credit rating; and spent nearly two years twisting arms and bribing politicians to pass an unpopular 2,000-page health care bill that, in the end, is likely to be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court."
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For the sake of argument, let us stipulate that Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, is either evil, stupid -- or both. Nevertheless, those who favor abolishing the Federal Reserve Bank system entirely had better have an idea other than turning its functions over to the direct control of both the executive and legislative branches of government. That would be a disaster, because either or both would inevitable use such power as political campaign leverage.
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The LA Times reports that California Governor Jerry Brown is giving unions in that trainwreck-of-a-state everything they want ... biggest union windfall in a decade. And anyone should be surprised because ... ???
When morons elect morons, the results are predictable.
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Remember "Joe the Plumber" from the last presidential campaign. He may become "Joe the Congressman". Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher late last week filed paperwork to run as a Republican in Ohio's Ninth Congressional district. (WJS Political Diary)
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An unsigned member of the Gray-Haired Brigades forwards the following ...
"It was the young and infidels of this nation who elected Obama and the Democratic Congress.
"You fell for the "Hope and Change" which in reality was nothing but "Hype and Lies." You have tasted socialism and seen evil face to face, and (many of you) have found you don't like it after all. You make a lot of noise, but mostly are all too interested in careers or "Climbing the Social Ladder" to be involved in such mundane things as patriotism and voting. Many of those who fell for the "Great Lie" in 2008 are now having buyer's remorse. With all the education we gave you, you didn't have sense enough to see through the lies and instead drank the 'Kool-Aid.' Now you're paying the price and complaining about it. No jobs, lost mortgages, higher taxes, and less freedom. This is what you voted for and this is what you got."
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From Peter, in Berkeley ...
"KCBS, the San Francisco Bay Area's self-proclaimed "news station" reached a new level of inanity over the past weekend with its report on the death of Oakland Raiders boss Al Davis. After stating that Mr. Davis had died at the age of 82 at his home in the presence of members of his family, the station's mindless news reader asked listeners to 'stay tuned for this breaking story.'
"Were they expecting Mr. Davis to become more dead? Or to be resurrected?"
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One year, almost to the day, from the first of my five surgeries that began with a quadruple bypass and led to assorted doctors assuming I wouldn't survive, I got a clean bill-of-health. Still above the grass. Went yesterday to visit some of the fine hospital folk who took such excellent care of me. Some were surprised to see me vertical, since they'd assumed I'd leave feet-first.
It was a gratifying reunion, because the staff at this acute-care (by definition, serious cases) sees so much of their work end in the death of patients, they're delighted to see a positive result.
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Is Oprah Winfrey's cable network on life-support? It would seem so. Her pal Rosie O'Donnell's new show is a smash flop, and Oprah's own "Lifeclass" show drew even fewer viewers.
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Len advises ...
" You don't need a prescription for Dabo Swinney in the Bay Area. You can get it a a Medicinal Marijuana shop or Beverages and More."
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If you appreciate this column, e-mail the link (RadioRodgers.com) to a friend.
If you don't appreciate it ... mind your own business.
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From All Comedy Radio --
"First Lady Michelle Obama led 400 kids doing jumping jacks as part of effort to break a Guinness World Record. It did set the record for the most heavy breathing at the White House since Bill and Monica had phone sex."
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A groaner from John-Juan ...
Two robins were sitting in a tree. "I'm really hungry", said the first one. "Me, too," said the second. "Let's fly down and find some lunch." They flew to the ground and found a nice plot of plowed ground full of worms. They ate and ate and ate and ate until they could eat no more.
"I'm so full I don't think I can fly back up to the tree," said the first robin. "Me, neither. Let's just lay here and soak up the warm sun," said the second. They plopped down, basking in the sun.
No sooner had they had fallen asleep, than a big fat tomcat sneaked up and gobbled them up.
As the cat sat washing his face after his meal, he thought, "I just love baskin' robins."
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Jimmy Fallon --
"Michele Bachmann denied that her campaign is losing steam and said all candidates have their ups and downs. Then she said, 'Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to hitchhike to my next campaign stop.'”
IRAN PLOT REAL -- OR COVER FOR THE
Holder OF THE GUNS?
What is Obama going to do about the murder-plots by Iran? Maybe he's waiting for instructions from Pahk-ee-stahn ...
Oh, wait! He's imposing ... SANCTIONS! Ooooooo! You KNOW Ahmadenijad is just trembling in fear over THAT!
Or ... is the revelation of the "plot" a fiction designed to divert political heat from Obama's fellow-Marxist Attorney General, Eric Holder, and his gun-running debacle? (If anyone objects to the use of the word "Marxist", I judge by deeds, not words.)
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The Obama/Holder gun-running scheme was a blatant attempt to discredit U.S. firearms dealers and their customers in order to advance their proposition that "American gun sales TO AMERICANS were the source of weapons for Mexican criminals" -- and at the same time were pressuring dealers to make massive sales to the ATF's designated buyers who'd make SURE those guns wound up in the hands of Mexican criminals. Those guns would later be "discovered" in Mexico as "proof" of the administration's anti-gun thesis. In short, they were planting "evidence".
"Evil", "deceitful" and "corrupt" don't even BEGIN to describe this lying administration. And again the stupid Republicans in Congress, even as they subpoena Obamunists, have failed to make clear to the public the purpose behind this plot.
Republicans have never learned the fundamental lesson of communications, which is: Tell them what you're GOING to tell them ... then TELL them ... then tell that what you just TOLD them.
Any politician who assumes his audience is so attuned to nuance and subtle references that they'll understand his message is doomed to failure.
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More "stimulus" screw-ups ...
From Monroe, Louisiana comes word that $36 million of Obama "stimulus" money was spent on a terminal building at the regional airport there that is so wrongly designed, the building's jetways can't connect to airplanes.
In the real world of private enterprise, of course, such incompetence would be rewarded with firing at the least ... or possible prosecution for fraud. Think anyone connected with this government project will face either?
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Quotes from the "Occupy" movement ...
"The Jews control Wall Street" ... "Violence will be necessary to achieve our goals".
And idiots like Pelosi and Obama align themselves with these scum.
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Jesse Jackson, relegated to secondary status in the race-pimping sweepstakes, now calls for Obama to BYPASS Congress and create millions of make-work government jobs as a cure for unemployment.
Scratch many a "civil rights activist" and you'll find a festering tyrant.
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Footnote to the Congressional subpoena of Attorney General Eric Holder ...
Anyone who's surprised at the blatantly race-based operations in the Justice Department might well heed these observations by Thomas Sowell ...
"Among those who have been disappointed by President Barack Obama, none is likely to end up so painfully disappointed as those who saw his election as being, in itself and in its consequences, a movement toward a 'post-racial society.'
"Like so many other expectations that so many people projected onto this little-known man who suddenly burst onto the political scene, the expectation of movement toward a post-racial society had no speck of hard evidence behind it -- and all too many ignored indications of the very opposite, including his two decades of association with the egregious Reverend Jeremiah Wright."
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Say what??! Herman Cain says he'd appoint a Federal Reserve chairman like ... Alan Greenspan?!
There went a ton of Tea Party votes! It also raises doubts that Mr. Cain is ready, in showbiz parlance, to "play the main room." While Greenspan may look good compared to the present Chairman, the fool Bernanke, he still paved the way for our present economic difficulties with stupid policies.
On the plus side, economist Arthur Laffer, father of the bell-curve theory of taxation and its result, endorses Mr. Cain and says his 9-9-9 plan could be the foundation for an economic growth policy. There remains, however, the very difficult task of getting it passed by Congress.
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From the Consumer Energy Alliance --
One year ago President Obama's drilling moratorium officially came to a close, but twelve months later Gulf of Mexico oil production is still lagging. The Interior Department refuses to issue permits at a reasonable pace, the number of drilling rigs in the Gulf is down 37%, and since May 2010 at least 11 rigs have left the Gulf of Mexico for other countries. The result: 11,500 lost jobs and millions of barrels of oil that America must now import.
Obamanomics, gateway to guaranteed disaster.
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Warren forwards this from the Santa Cruz Sentinel ...
SCOTTS VALLEY - Lintelle Engineering is closing its doors after 22 years of business, unable to stay afloat after Solyndra, its largest customer, filed for bankruptcy without paying Lintelle $1.9 million for products already shipped.
So the Obama scam claims more victims.
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Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online has questions remaining Obama supporters might consider ...
"What have been the truly innovative, groundbreaking or even unconventional big public policy ideas to come out of this administration? Are there any? Because from where I sit, it simply looks like Obama takes existing, conventional, liberal ideas – some of them very, very old – off the liberal pantry shelf and hawks them like it’s new inventory. Where’s the evidence that Obama’s “mastery” over public policy has translated itself into creative approaches? Not in the stimulus from what I can tell. Maybe there’s something impressive to tout in ObamaCare, but Obama didn’t actually have much to do with the crafting of ObamaCare. Was his genius to be found in shoveling cash into Solyndra and other embarrassing white elephants? Was he the guiding intellect behind a green jobs program that has produced dozens of jobs in places where it was supposed to create thousands?
"And if he’s such a genius about public policy, why did it take him so long to discover that there’s no such thing as “shovel ready jobs”? You don’t have to be a Jedi Master of public policy to have known that.
Heck, if he’s spent so much time focusing on getting the policies right, why are things so bad? Why are they so much worse than he predicted? Why did it take him so long figuring out reality was sharply veering from his assumptions?"
- - - - -
Silliest "journalism" line of the week: "BARACK OBAMA’S presidency has been notably free of scandal," from the Boston Globe, which is owned by the Bible of the Left, the New York Times.
- - - - -
Scare-mongering for fun and profit? James Hansen, the NASA bureaucrat who's been a prime spokesman for the global-warming myth-makers, reportedly picked up three-quarters-of-a-million in 2010 for speeches and other ancillary income.
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I like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra. I record their performance on the BYU-TV channel every Sunday morning (8:30, Pacific Time). A recent program featured an encomium to Notre Dame University for its loyalty to the Naval Academy in sports, repayment for support by the service school decades ago. It also featured a rousing rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In." There was no proselytizing.
My understanding of Mormonism is superficial; I confess I do not find it compelling as a religious faith, but I do admire the principles by which adherents are expected to live their daily lives.
Unless and until someone can convince me that this religion -- or any other -- is a threat to me or my personal freedom, my political views will not be affected. With that on the record, I confess serious reservations about Mr. Romney, none of them based on his Mormonism. And when I consider the rest of the field, there's not one about whom I don't have some concerns. I accept that perfection in human beings, including politicians, is the height of unrealism.
- - - - -
Can't display an American flag at an Olive Garden? Okay ... I'm sure I can find overpriced spaghetti somewhere else ...
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Victor Davis Hanson in National Review Online analyzes Obama's habit of blaming others for his own mistakes ...
"The president and his economic advisers, most of them now departed, really did believe that too little government spending and not enough taxes accounted for the sluggishness. In almost religious fashion, they believed that near-zero interest rates, trillion-dollar-plus deficits, exploding government spending, greater regulation, and more entitlements would ensure recovery.
"This religion was based on a misreading of the 2008 meltdown that put blame solely on Wall Street, rather than including federal lending agencies that, with their guarantees and mandates, warped market reality by encouraging risky home loans.
"Obama has picked up a lot of technocratic data but little common sense, or even the sorts of basic facts that most people acquire in the workplace. Only a hothouse plant would think that inflating tires and getting “tune-ups” are a substitute for greater petroleum production. “Millions of green jobs” is the sort of pie-in-the-sky theorizing one hears in the faculty lounge among tenured apparatchiks, but which means little to a small businessman who must meet a payroll."
- - - - -
If Joe Biden is in danger of being dumped as Obama's running mate in 2012, he either doesn't know it or is concealing any knowledge. He tells NBC he will absolutely be the VP candidate again.
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Charles Hurt in the Washington Times, addressing a basic liberal paranoia ...
"Liberals tolerate blacks and they endure conservatives. But they cannot abide a successful, independent-minded black who dares to step out of line and reject the enslavement of the Plantation Party. There is no class of people more openly loathed around here than black conservatives.
"It is because black conservatives — like all conservatives — reject the pact Democratic Party bosses have made with black voters. That pact is governed by two overriding commandments.
"First, you shall always be dependent upon the government. Second, never shall you be encouraged to take risks or venture far enough away from the government to be independent and successful. You will forever be enveloped — or entangled — in a government safety net.
"In return, these black voters are expected every Election Day to put aside their doubts, stifle their frustrations and forget their ongoing despairs and — like zombies — walk into the polling booth and once again pull the lever for the Democrats."
- - - - -
Today's nut-job report ...
A Texas woman is suing Continental Airlines and three other air carriers because, she alleges, her flight encountered extreme turbulence that caused her to fear for her life. As a result, she says, she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and is now afraid to fly, which has detrimentally impacted her career.
- - - - -
Ed Perkins of the Smarter Travel website speculates that the airline with the best "fit" as a merger partner for American Airlines as the latter faces likely bankruptcy is ... Alaska Airlines. But Alaska's reaction thus far is, "thanks, but no thanks."
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Observations by Mark Steyn on Greece's financial crisis and its effect on the European Union, plus the larger threat from the planet's savages ...
"As the Germans have begun to figure out, just because the Greeks live in the same general neighborhood is no reason to open a joint checking account.
"Whatever the individual merits of ever-more-leisurely education, 30-hour work weeks, six weeks' vacation, retirement at 50, the cumulative impact is that not enough people do not enough work for not enough of their lives.
-- More --
"We live on a planet in which the wealthiest societies in history, from Norway to New Zealand, are incapable of defending their own borders while basket cases like North Korea and Pakistan have gone nuclear, and Sudan and Somalia are anxious to follow. "
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-
Seen yet again, a reference to Americans living in another country as "ex-patriots". Wrong.
The word is EXPATRIATE, which simply rerers to a person who has taken up residence in a foreign nation.
It has nothing to do with either patriotism or a lack of it.
- - - - -
And speaking of mangled language ... how did we get from "could have" to "could've" and then to the nonsensical "could OF"?
- - - - -
Then there's "different FROM" versus "different THAN". The former is correct, the latter isn't.
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Warren Buffett announces that he made almost $63 million in adjusted income last year.
Hey, dude! You're so eager for "rich" people to pay more in taxes, what's keeping you from sending a check to the Treasury Department if you feel guilty? And BTW, what about that billion or so in back-taxes your company still owes?
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Wes Pruden of the Washington Times memorializes -- and summarizes -- Steve Jobs ...
"He was the ultimate capitalist, driven to get all the profits that his imagination, vision and business smarts entitled him to, but his legacy to the corporate world is limited. Without the vision, the value even of hard work is limited. He was contemptuous of the toys of the mind so precious to the graduate of the business school. He regarded consultants and focus groups as well-meaning wastes of time and money. Or worse. “We figure out what we want,” he told Rolling Stone in 2003. “And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. So you can’t go out and ask people what’s the next big thing.” He was fond of recalling Henry Ford’s story of inventing the automobile: “If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘a faster horse.’ “
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Jim Eason, with the kind of humor missing from the airwaves today ...
Throughout history, there have been "near-misses." These are examples of inventors who tried, and tried, then gave up ... only to see someone else succeed where they had come SO close, but failed. Here are some examples, feel free to add others to the list:
* A man trying to invent a soft drink...developed 5-Up, then 6-Up, then quit.
* The inventor of WD-38, WD-39...who quit.
There were also authors who tried to sell a book, and failed...after coming SO close.
* The Socks of the Fisherman
* Murray of Arabia
* Look Back at your House, Angel
* Donald Quixote of La Mancha
There were also songs, and plays, and movies, and stuff:
* Well, Maybe, Nanette
* Three Cents in the Fountain
* " Friends, Italians, Countrymen..."
* Ten Bucks a Dance
* Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Sleepy, Dopey, Bashful, and Neal
* Liza, with an "S"
* The Maltese Bird
* Start the Beguine
* I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus
* Guess Who's Staying For Breakfast
* East Side Story
* West of Eden
And whatever happened to Preparation G...?
- - - - -
Slip of the keyboard in yesterday's column. Israel his Saddam Hussein's nuclear project in 1981, not 1961. (corrected in later edition)
Thanks, Shawn.
- - - - -
I got lost the other day. Made a wrong turn at Dabo Swinney.
- - - - -
The Sloop John B. passes along a bit of humor making the rounds in Britain ...
"I was devastated to find out my wife was having an affair but, by turning to religion, I was soon able to come to terms with the whole thing.
I converted to Islam, and we're stoning her in the morning."
- - - - -
Jay Leno --
"Arnold Schwarzenegger dedicated a museum in Austria devoted to him. Kids get in free if they turn out to be his."
ROMNEY & CAIN & A NATION IN
PAIN ... YO', RUBIO!
As Herman Cain's poll numbers grow, Romney's remain stagnant. Most Republicans are clearly still looking for an alternative. And unless and until he openly renounces his Massachusetts health plan, which planted the seed that grew into the Obama scheme for socialized medicine, he will continue to be viewed with deep suspicion.
He's committed other heresies (e.g., buying into the global warming scam) in the view of conservatives, but that one remains at the top of the list.
As Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan is subjected to more scrutiny, admiration for its simplicity may evolve into disappointment in its applicability.
Leaving us ... ??? And time is running out.
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It's hazardous to ... well ... hazard a guess this far ahead of a presidential election. But it seems unlikely that Governor Rick Perry can stage a comeback. Not only has he been eaten alive in the debates, but his position on illegal immigration doesn't hold up under serious scrutiny. A Texas college student got to the crux of the matter with this observation: "What's the point of giving a cut-rate college education to illegal aliens, when it would be illegal to hire them, anyway?"
- - - - -
If Florida's charismatic young Republican Senator Marco Rubio is really as reluctant as he says to take the #2 spot on the ticket, could it be because he isn't confident that anyone in the Republican presidential field will beat Obama? In which case he'd be better off running for the Big Job four years hence.
Given the continuing reservations about Romney and some uncertainty surrounding Cain, it's not beyond the realm of possibility.
- - - - -
The potential vice-presidential selections are the subject of more gossip than usual in this election cycle, with Rubio the hot ticket in the Republican Party regardless of his repeated rejection of overtures to take the job. On the Democrat side, NBC is beating the drums for Hillary to replace Biden on the ticket.
Media speculation is bound to grow; it's part of the quadrennial political game. However, it should be remembered that with rare exceptions like Dick Cheney, G. W. Bush's #2, vice-presidents generally have little influence beyond the fiction of "balancing the ticket" for election purposes. The president has all the executive power; the VP has none, or whatever little the main man chooses to give him.
As Texan "Cactus Jack" Garner, one of FDR's parade of anonymous veeps, described the job, "It ain't worth a pitcher of warm spit." Only he didn't say "spit".
- - - - -
Conan O'Brien --
"At the last Republican debate, the candidates were seated according to how they’ve been doing in the polls. So Jon Huntsman was seated next to Tim Pawlenty at a Denny’s across the street."
- - - - -
Ann Coulter wields the stiletto ...
"So far, the only major accomplishment of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters is that it has finally put an end to their previous initiative, "Occupy Our Mothers' Basements."
"Oddly enough for such a respectable-looking group -- a mixture of adolescents looking for a cause, public sector union members, drug dealers, criminals, teenage runaways, people who have been at every protest since the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, people 95 percent of whose hair is concentrated in their ponytails, Andrea Dworkin look-alikes and other average Democrats -- they can't even explain what they're protesting."
- - - - -
Even ultra-liberal Mike Lupica of the NY Daily News has advice for the "Occupy" dopes ...
"When do they head to Washington and start yelling about a President who often looks like the Fundraiser-in-Chief, trying to keep his job backed by what might become the richest campaign in history, in a jobless country going broke."
- - - - -
As part of the race to the front of the primary pack, New Hampshire is considering moving its date up to early December. Is it inevitable that in some dark future, the general election in November will be followed immediately by the next round of primaries?
- - - - -
The Washington Examiner reveals evidence that billionaire George Kaiser, big-time fundraiser for Obama and one of the major investors in the Solyndra deal that scammed taxpayers for $535 million, for years paid ZERO taxes. The Sunlight Foundation found that "in one six year period, during which he increased his net worth enough to land him on the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, Kaiser reported taxable income to the Internal Revenue Service just once, totaling $11,699--equivalent to a full-time hourly wage of $5.62."
See any "Occupy" scum waving posters about THAT?
- - - - -
There's -- again -- the habitual reluctance on the part of our "leadership" to take serious action against Iran even if the assassination-plot charges are totally true. It's the fear of harming "the Iranian people". If we'd had such an attitude in the 1940's, we'd all be speaking German and/or Japanese today. So ... thus far we get instead such failed nostrums as "sanctions". Which, of course, only encourage further adventures by enemies.
Dick Cheney says in his book that what was left of Iraq's leadership after that war admitted that the reason they didn't use their ample supplies of WMD's (yes, they had plenty of poison gas) against either our troops or on the SCUD missiles fired into Israel was because they feared nuclear retaliation. There's no reason to doubt that thesis; it certainly wasn't done for humanitarian reasons by Saddam Hussein.
A dose of such fear thrown into Ahmadenijad just might be therapeutic. At least we'd find out if he and the other madmen in Tehran REALLY want to rush to a meeting with the alleged 72 virgins. If they are, we need to assist them on their journey.
A further and very human note from the Cheney book. After a long high-level career in Washington -- a Congressional leader, White House Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense -- when that phase of his life ended with George H. W. Bush's loss to Clinton -- Dick and Liz Cheney loaded their belongings onto a U-Haul truck and Dick, accompanied by a new son-in-law, drove it from Washington to their home in Wyoming.
- - - - -
Ron Kessler in Newsmax ...
"Like those who voted for Barack Obama, the Occupy Wall Street protesters want hope and change. But like those who elected Obama, they are not sure what that means.
"The protesters want the government magically to improve their lives, but they have no idea how that should be achieved. Some want all debt canceled. Some want cop killers freed. Some want more 'community awareness.' Some want an end to 'greed' or 'money-hungry fascists.'
"The protesters are the antithesis of the tea party, which knows exactly what it wants: a reduction in the size of government and of government spending and deficits.
"Occupy Wall Street Protesters are a bunch of whiners. In contrast to the tea party movement, which is focused on reform through the political process, the protesters have no idea how to attain what they want except by creating a disturbance.
"By now, the economy should have been in robust recovery mode, but because of Obama’s policies, we are on the precipice of a recession. Companies are afraid to hire because of uncertainty about the cost of Obamacare, about future taxation, and about more federal regulations that stifle free enterprise.
"The protesters are whiners and crybabies. Their unruly demonstrations will only help Republicans win the White House in 2012. Instead of camping out in the streets, they should be thanking God they live in America."
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Here's a puzzler.
Who's crazier -- Al Gore or Nancy Pelosi?
Him for throwing in with the wacky rabble hollering "Occupy ... something"; her for crying that "women will die on the floor" if taxpayers don't pay for their abortions.
It's a measure of the tolerance of the nation that these two lunatics are still running around loose.
- - - - -
Egypt now has air patrols flying along the border with Israel. Have the Egyptians forgotten what happened to them the last time they provoked a war with Israel?
- - - - -
For what it's worth ... Peter Wehner in Commentary ...
"A few months ago, I had dinner with a journalist who knows President Obama somewhat well and admires him in several respects. He told me something that didn’t particularly surprise me – but which was useful to have confirmed. This person’ said Obama is enormously thin-skinned, he remembers and keeps track of negative things said and written about him, and he is a person filled with many more grievances and resentments than one might imagine. He feels sorry for himself – and he is inclined to lash out, in his own emotionally contained way, at even slight criticisms."
- - - - -
A reader responds to yesterday's item about the woman suing the airlines over a turbulent flight ...
"Are there still people so dumb they don't realize airlines have no control over the up-and-down movements of air? I've heard people say, 'I won't fly so-and-so airline because a flight on them was so rough.' Not all turbulence comes from factors visible on radar and in many cases is unavoidable. The brand of airline has nothing to do with it."
I fly to/from Tucson, and the approach over the Catalina Mountains is guaranteed to give you a few bounces.
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More on wackos in the air ...
TMZ reports that diva nut-job Whitney Houston almost got kicked off a Delta Airlines flight ... because she refused to buckle her seatbelt. Eventually, after she made a total ass of herself, a crew-member buckled her in.
- - - - -
Damage control: The Olive Garden that refused to allow an 80-year-old woman to bring an American flag to her Kiwanis Club meeting has apologized -- or rather, the corporation has.
- - - - -
From the chef ...
It is essential to grill your Dabo for at least twenty minutes. Otherwise, the result could be Dabo Swinney.
- - - - -
Jimmy Fallon --
"New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced that he’s endorsing Mitt Romney for president. It’s good news for Romney. I mean, you always want Chris Christie on your side. Unless you're in a canoe."
U.S. TROOPS TO ... WHERE?!
... CAIN -- WITH NO "Mc" IN FRONT
What?! Obama is sending U.S. combat troops to Uganda? And South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo? And House Speaker John Boehner says that “although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces."
Riiiight. And JFK only sent "advisors" to Vietnam ...
Let's see ... the Commander-in-Chief (try not to gag on the words) WOULDN'T send troops into Libya, where we do have an interest in a stable world oil supply (even if we don't buy directly from Libya, that country's input into the total supply does affect worldwide prices) and most Americans didn't want him to do that. But the idea that we have national security interests in South Sudan, etc., is absurd.
- - - - -
Energy independence. The choices are pretty clear.
Do we drill holes in places like Alaskan wasteland ... or do we continue giving billions of dollars to "green" scam-artists who've contributed big dollars to Obama?
- - - - -
John Podhoretz of the NY Post delineates a visible difference between Mitt Romney and the latest non-Romney, Herman Cain ...
"... an African-American evangelical preacher and former businessman with an entrancing personality and a genuine sense of the size and drama of the present moment. Cain speaks plainly, whereas Romney speaks like the guy in a radio commercial reading off the fine print of a lottery."
- - - - -
Mr. Cain himself, in the same NY Post, has a message for the "Occupy"
crowd ...
"It’s ironic that protesters who have uniformly attacked the rich and corporate CEOs happen to sport iPods, iPhones and other innovative technological tools that entrepreneurs have worked so hard to invent, build and distribute to consumers.
"I have a hard time imagining what these protesters think will come of this -- that Wall Street execs will come running out of their offices to write them a check?
"Rather than protest against Wall Street, those camped out in the streets should examine their own failures and take a hard look in the mirror."
- - - - -
Mr. and Mrs. Rick Perry might want to tone down the plaintive murmurings that he's being persecuted because he's a Christian.
It's a bit of a reach to compare what has been a rather time Presidential primary campaign to a climb up Golgotha Hill.
- - - - -
Remember Obama's vow to have "the most transparent administration in history?" He lied, of course ... and there's further proof of it in the fact that he's fighting a federal judge's ruling that Secret Service records of visitors to the White House complex are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
He wants the visitor-list to be kept secret. Maybe because it discloses multiple visits by, say, Solyndra lobbyists pitching for more federal guarantees of taxpayer loan money?
Speaking of that scam ... he's also refusing to turn over White House communications about that enormous fraud -- $535 million of stolen taxpayer money.
And as is becoming daily more apparent, Solyndra was just the tip of a very large iceberg.
- - - - -
The co-chairmen of the Joint Committee for Deficit Reduction -- the so-called "Super Committee" -- had a meeting with Congressional leaders. Who wasn't there ... in fact, wasn't even TOLD about it? Nutty Nancy Pelosi, the House Democrat leader.
- - - - -
Tim Geithner, the tax-evader appointed by Obama to run the Treasury Department, has vowed that WE will help Europe get through its economic difficulties. Apparently nobody has told this idiot that we're already bankrupt.
- - - - -
Mark Steyn in the OC Register with a grim view of the past, future ... and "occupiers" ...
"The United States emerged from the Second World War as the only industrial power with its factories intact and its cities not reduced to rubble, and assumed that that unprecedented pre-eminence would last forever: We would always be so far ahead and so flush with cash that we could do anything and spend anything, and we would still be No. 1. That was the thinking of Detroit's automakers when they figured they could afford to buy off the unions. The industrial powerhouse of 1950 is now a crime-ridden wasteland with a functioning literacy rate equivalent to West African basket-cases.
"At the "Occupy" demonstrations, not-so-young college students are demanding that their tuition debt be forgiven. In Egypt, half the population lives in poverty.
"One sympathizes. When college tuition is $50,000 a year, you can't "work your way through college" – because, after all, an 18-year-old who can earn 50-grand a year wouldn't need to go to college, would he? Nevertheless, his situation is not the same as some guy halfway up the Nile living on $2 a day: One is a crisis of the economy, the other is a crisis of decadence. And, generally, the former are far easier to solve."
- - - - -
Here's an unsolicited allegation from ... me.
Most of the "Occupy" creeps are losers. Failures who'd fail in any country. But since they're failures in THIS one, they want to destroy it. They deserve neither sympathy nor respect; only contempt.
You're welcome.
- - - - -
Time to hide under the bed again.
The end is near, says Harold Camping, the 90-year-old pastor who's been predicting the end of the world since 1994. His previous predicted end-of-times was last June. You may recall that it didn't happen. Mr. Camping took it so badly, he had a mild stroke.
The new bye-bye date is next Friday, October 21.
It may be that the aged pastor is one of those folk who, in his later years, can't conceive of the world going on without him.
On the other hand, a wise person once said, "Live every day as if it were your last -- and one of these days, you'll be right."
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This reporter ran the numbers to answer the question, "What if 20 Million Illegal Aliens Vacated America ?" Some highlights ...
"I, Tina Griego, journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News wrote a column titled, 'Mexican Visitor's' Lament'. I interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting Denver last week. Hernandez said, 'illegal aliens pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes. What happens to your country's economy if 20 million people go away?'
"Hmmm, I thought, what would happen? So I did my due diligence, buried my nose as a reporter into the FACTS I found below. It's a good question it deserves an honest answer. Over 80% of Americans demand secured borders and illegal migration stopped. But what would happen if all 20 million or more vacated America? The answers I found may surprise you!
"In California, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico,it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupt hospitals and overrun prisons. It would leave highways cleaner, safer and less congested.
"In Colorado , 500,000 illegal migrants, plus their 300,000 kids and grandchildren would move back 'home', mostly to Mexico . That would save Colorado an estimated $2 billion (other experts say $7 billion) annually in taxes that pay for schooling, medical, social-services and incarceration costs. It means 12,000 gang members would vanish out of Denver alone.
"Colorado would save more than $20 million in prison costs, and the terror that those 7,300 alien criminals set upon local citizens.
"In Chicago, 2.1 million illegals would free up hospitals, schools, prisons and highways.
"If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home', the U.S. Economy would return to the rule of law. Employers would hire legal American citizens at a living wage.
"No more push '1' for Spanish or '2' for English. Our overcrowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches.
"We would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6 billion annually. That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130 billion in drugs annually would vacate our country. Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and gridlock. Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal aliens!
"At least 400,000 anchor babies would not be born in our country, costing us $109 billion per year per cycle. At least 86 hospitals in California , Georgia and Florida would still be operating instead of being bankrupt out of existence because illegals pay nothing."
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If you want a reality-check on the "Arab spring" nonsense that has so enchanted liberals, here's recommended reading: WashTimes.com ... upper right on the masthead ... Pruden on Politics.
It's an antidote to the mindlessness that's led liberals -- and most media -- to ignore the massacre of Christians in Egypt by bloodthirsty Muslims.
- - - - -
Another massacre is underway at ABC Radio, where I spent twenty-five years. Yesterday my longtime home base in San Francisco had major firings, with more to come. It all began a few years ago when Disney, itself a cold-blooded company built on the principle that small children could nag their parents into buying anything, sold the division to a bad (eventually bankrupt) outfit called Citadel ... which has sold it to an even worse operation called Cumulus.
Having done years of radio and TV, I'm very glad to be out of it as the entire industry enters a state of slow but inexorable collapse.
- - - - -
Reader Art delivers depressing news about the prima ballerina who had to retire when she could no longer execute a Dabo Swinney.
- - - - -
Jimmy Fallon --
President Obama had beer with four unemployed construction workers. And Obama asked the guys what was it like to lose their jobs, and they were like, “Oh, you’ll see.”
When the check came, Obama was like, “Do you guys want to split this five ways?”
- - - - -
Today's pervert humor ...
"My girlfriend says she thinks that I might be a stalker. Well... she's not exactly my girlfriend YET."
MISGUIDED MEDDLING ... IRAN'S
ARROGANCE REWARDED
"Out of Africa" was a 1985 movie. It's likely to be the rallying cry for people opposed to Obama's latest military adventure, U. S. soldier-"advisors" being sent to Uganda, Sudan, et al. This is utterly moronic.
If the governments of the African nations seeking U.S. military help to deal with what's described as "a few hundred guerillas" are so feeble they can't handle the problem themselves, do they even justify the title "government"?
- - - - -
Barack, Hillary & Co. insist there be "accountability" for Iran's plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington ... promises there will be "repercussions". Want to bet the payback will amount to nothing more than "sanctions"? You know -- the sort that'll be greeted with laughter in Tehran.
- - - - -
Jonah Goldberg offers this time-tested insight ...
"Should we bomb Iran for plotting to blow up a Washington, DC, restaurant in order to assassinate the Saudi ambassador? Probably not.
"Should Iran be worried that we might? Absolutely.
"And yet, within hours of the Justice Department charging elements within the Iranian government (the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard) of scheming to commit an act of war against us, the administration made it clear that it wanted a diplomatic response to the foiled scheme.
"In short, the fear that the U.S. will do what it takes to defend its national interests, allies and ideals is what makes it possible to hash out our disagreements in swank European conference rooms. Lose the fear, lose the incentive for reasonableness.
"Iran won’t even consider being reasonable until it’s afraid of us. And immediately ruling out anything but talk after every insult isn’t very scary."
Jonah is right, of course. Obama and Hillary are too dumb to referee a playground fight. They obviously believe it possible to use sweet reason to induce civilized behavior in fanatics. A fool's errand if ever there was one.
- - - - -
Two questions recur about Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan:
Can it withstand serious scrutiny as to effectiveness and perceived fairness?
Even if it passes those tests, will most members of Congress pass 9-9-9, or say nein-nein-nein?
Regarding the present chaotic mess supervised by the IRS, how can any system pretend to "fairness" when about half the population pays NO income tax?
- - - - -
Either Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., is a total ignoramus on economics or (more likely) assumes his followers are.
No rational person would propose his solution to the unemployment problem, which is that the government should give every unemployed person a place on the government payroll at $40,000 per year.
- - - - -
Liberal NY Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman, quoted in the Wall Street Journal ...
"Mr. Zuckerman reports that among Democrats, 'The sense is that the policies of this government have failed. . . . What they say about [Mr. Obama] when he's not in the room, so to speak, is astonishing.'
"... the real unemployment rate is actually well above the official level of 9.1%, which only measures people who have applied for a job within the previous four weeks. In fact, he says, unemployment has even surged beyond the Department of Labor's 'U-6' number of 16.5% that has received increasing attention lately because it includes' people who have given up looking for work within the past year, plus people who have been cut back from full-time employees to part-timers.
"Mr. Zuckerman says that when you also consider the labor-force participation rate and the so-called "birth-death series" that measures business starts and failures, the real U.S. unemployment rate is now 20%."
- - - - -
More signs of Obamanomics at work: movie theater box office receipts down ... thousands of empty seats at last night's NASCAR race at Charlotte, the capitol of the stock-car racing world.
- - - - -
This should tell anyone all they need to know about the "occupy" movement, which largely consists of overgrown juvenile delinquents playing at revolution. The "movement" is officially supported by both the Communist and Nazi parties.
And, of course, some lunatic Democrats, who may learn the hard way about how difficult it is to DISmount from a tiger. They may also be courting the stench of anti-Semitism which is increasingly evident among the crazies.
- - - - -
It's a continuing indication of the sheer cowardice of our "mainstream" media that they refuse to identify the race of either attackers or victims in the rapidly-growing mob violence that takes place every day in our schools and cities, even when such attacks are clearly racially-motivated.
And there's almost never any follow-up about what ultimately happened to the perpetrators.
Gee ... wonder why ...
- - - - -
Another nominee for the "Most Apt Athlete's name: University of Illinois lineback Whitney Mercilus. Yes ... pronounced "merciless".
BTW, when LSU plays Alabama, that will be the REAL national championship game, no matter what the BCS computer says.
- - - - -
The word "penultimate" is commonly misused in the media as if it meant "BEYOND the ultimate." Not so. It means "next-to-last" -- the step BEFORE reaching the ultimate whatever. E.g., the Texas win of the American League championship is the penultimate victory. Winning the World Series would be the ultimate goal.
Incidentally, the Fox TV network has to be disappointed that it'll be Texas vs. either St. Louis or Milwaukee in the World Series. No monster markets like New York, LA or Chicago, so ratings will inevitably be down. And they were SOooo counting on a New York-Philly series bringing big audience numbers ...
- - - - -
Mr. Jim reports that the Moroccan Road-race was won by a 1997 Dabo Swinney.
- - - - -
Carrie contributes this collection of signs on church lawns ...
"Adam blamed Eve ... Eve blamed the snake ... the snake didn't have a leg to stand on."
"Keep using my name in vain and I'll make rush-hour longer. God."
"There are some questions that can't be answered by Google."
"Honk if you love Jesus. Text while driving if you want to meet him."
"Read the bible. It's user-friendly, plus we offer tech-support here on Sunday."
"Church parking. Trespassers will be baptised."
"What is missing from ch ch? U R."
"How do we make holy water? We boil the hell out of it."
- - - - -
Jay Leno --
"White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley announced he'll be leaving the White House after the election. I get the feeling a lot of people are going to be leaving the White House after the election."
"GREENS" GROWING MOLD ... I KNOW,
NOBODY MAKES THEM DO IT ...
I like NASCAR racing. I don't like open-wheel racing; IndyCars, Formula 1, etc.
The death of race driver Dan Wheldon over the weekend reaffirmed that view, for me.
While NASCAR has had fatalities over the years, there's been a constant effort to make the cars safer. The machines are bigger, stronger and the drivers better encased in a protective steel cage.
It just comes down to this. I don't find it entertaining to watch people die.
- - - - -
The White House propaganda line is that George Kaiser, major investor in the Solyndra scam and big-time contributor to Obama's political fund, never even mentioned that ill-fated business investment in solar power on any of his 16 visits to the presidential mansion since Obama moved in.
A reasonable person would have one of two reactions. Either (A) it's a bald-faced lie or (B) because Kaiser contributed so much money to Obama, he didn't even need to mention his desire for such favors as a taxpayer-funded bailout.
- - - - -
The Baltimore Sun reports on another "green energy" ripoff ...
"A federal prosecutor said Thursday that the government has recovered only a third of the $9 million that authorities charge a Perry Hall businessman with taking from his customers in a massive biofuel fraud scheme.
"The businessman, Rodney R. Hailey, president of the now-shuttered Clean Green Fuel, appeared in U.S. District Court for what had been scheduled as an arraignment. But Hailey surprised prosecutors by not going through with a guilty plea that they said he had agreed to before the proceeding.
"The switch prompted prosecutor Stefan D. Cassella to express concern that federal investigators have been unable to track down most of the money they say Hailey collected by selling allegedly phony credits for biodiesel fuel he never produced."
Only the very gullible would believe this to be an isolated instance of the "greenies" stealing taxpayer dollars.
- - - - -
A commonsense proposal.
The bogus "Department of Energy" should be shut down and all its employees removed from the government payroll, beginning with the head of this taxpayer money-pipeline for crooks, Steven Chu.
- - - - -
The stupid American electorate has put in the White House a tyranically-inclined egomaniac who is obviously willing to instigate riots among street mobs in order to preserve his increasingly-tenuous hold on power. Think about it as you follow the news of presidential encouragement of the nut brigades.
Dumb Democrat pols like Pelosi might recall that the riots of the sixties put Richard Nixon in the Big Job. Most Americans have very limited patience for street scum shouting incoherently and threatening people.
- - - - -
The Editors of National Review with an eye-opener for rational people ...
"In a Friday bad-news dump that was a whopper even by its own standards, the Obama administration added to the announcement of a near-record annual deficit and an escalation of undeclared war in Uganda the news that the CLASS Act, an ill-conceived adjunct of the Affordable Care Act, is no more. The upshot is this: Obamacare just got a whole lot more expensive than advertised, and there is reason to believe that its Democratic architects have long known this would happen.
" The program was voluntary, meaning that those more likely to require its benefits would be more likely to enroll, and the healthier individuals required to offset the actuarial risk would stay away."
In short, like all socialist schemes, the economics were disastrous.
- - - - -
Care for an example of deceitful, scurrilous reporting? This comes from Michael Isikoff, leftist shill, on NBC ...
"Presidential candidate Herman Cain made over a dozen stock sales over the past year and a half that earned him between $230,000 and $1.3 million in capital gains — income that would not be taxed at all under his “9-9-9” plan."
Even if such a plan should be passed in the first year of a hypothetical Cain administration, no capital gains of the past year-and-a-half would be taxed on that basis. They will be taxed based on the now-current tax laws.
Typical of the "reporting" of Isikoff and NBC.
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George H. Wittman writes a weekly column on international affairs for The American Spectator online. He was the founding chairman of the National Institute for Public Policy. He offers this view of what we can expect from Round Two of the Putin regime in Russia...
"As Putin sees it, the way is open for him to establish himself -- and Russia with him -- in the next twelve years as the leading actor on the global stage.
"It is clear that Vladimir Putin is on the path to create a lasting legacy as a modern type of Russian Czar -- even though that term is never used. As one veteran Moscow journalist put it in whispered confidentiality: 'Vladimir Vladimirovich wants to be emperor -- emperor of something, anything. Forget about looking for a more complicated motive.'"
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Picture this confrontation on any issue, trade or missiles ... matters great or small:
Barack Obama vs. Vladimir Putin.
Think about it.
Who do you think would win?
Does your own conclusion make you a bit ... nervous?
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The word that, when applied to a government "gimme" program, turns otherwise semi-rational people into blithering idiots: "affordable". What it invariably means, of course, is taxpayer-subsidized. But it lulls the gullible into believing they CAN get something for nothing.
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World Series prediction: Cardinals. This year, they're kissed by fate. Of course, there's a 50% chance I'm wrong.
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D.D. provides today's words to live by ...
"You don't stop laughing because you get old. You get old because you stop laughing.
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Want to provide a kid in your family with a real challenge -- or lay-on a guilt trip?
Remind him/her that eleven-year-old Lucas Kramer is now a freshman at the University of Minnesota.
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From Todd ...a reminder from the manufacturer to recycle any unused Dabo Swinney.
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An observation from my friend Mike ...
They say so many people die because of alcohol ...
But they never say how many are BORN because of it.
DON'T SEE and DON'T SAY ... BLACK
RACISM ... OBAMA-SOROS
What?! Obama's Teleprompter stolen in Virginia?!
How in the world did he greet Michelle this morning without it?!
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From well-known black radio host Tom Joyner ...
“Let’s not even deal with the facts right now. Let’s deal with just our blackness and pride — and loyalty. We have the chance to re-elect the first African-American president, and that’s what we ought to be doing. And I’m not afraid or ashamed to say that as black people, we should do it because he’s a black man.”
Change the complexion of the speaker and change the word "black" to "white" and try to imagine the uproar in both political and media circles.
And just how WILL prominent liberal blacks attack Herman Cain if he IS Obama's opponent next November?
Prepare to hear wild shouts of "Uncle Tom!" fill the air over the audacity of a black man who's succeeded in rising from poverty to success with education and hard work.
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The lying hypocrite who was going to be the "President of all Americans" says Republicans want "Dirtier air, dirtier water, less people with health insurance."
Suuuure ... they stay up nights plotting to achieve just those very goals ...
And to think -- there are semi-human creatures so stupid as to believe this kind of bull(bleep)!
To borrow the words of George H. W., "We are in deep doo-doo."
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Irony abounds. The "Occupy" leeches who want to steal from the taxpayers (no repayment of loans, etc.) are complaining that people among their ranks are stealing from THEM: cameras, laptop computers, food supplies, etc.
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Forwarded without comment ...
Hero Vincent, a Wall Street Occupier, quoted in The New York Times. "We are the union members, students, teachers, veterans and activists who make up the 99 percent of America, if you don't count everybody who is at work right now. We are the unemployed and the art majors and the interns for Rainforest Action Now!"
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Ask any New Yorker, "Are you proud of your spineless mayor?"
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You tell me. How many voters do you think are influenced by political endorsements, whether they come from media sources or other politicians? One percent? ... ten percent?... Half?
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It's SOooo San Francisco ...
A proposal to give a $10,000 tax break to SF businesses that hire ex-cons with a felony record.
Admirable perhaps -- unless you're a good citizen with no criminal record looking for work and applying for that same job.
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Burt Prelutsky casts a jaundiced eye upon liberal fantasies ...
"In a cheap and typically simpleminded shot at Governor Perry, Barack Obama recently blamed the horrific wild fires in Texas on, of all things, global warming. You can bet that Al Gore is kicking himself for not coming up with that one. But to make up for that glaring oversight, the fatuous and fat-headed Mr. Gore is now blaming global warming for the $15 trillion deficit, the late-season collapse of the Boston Red Sox and the rising cost of Twinkies.
"In spite of the fact that Attorney General Holder refused to prosecute the Black Panthers for intimidating voters; oversaw the program known as Fast and Furious, which saw to it that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of semi-automatic weapons wound up in the hands of Mexican gangsters; and has berated white Americans for, essentially, being guilty of being white Americans; I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt. But in order to do so, I'd also have to be the sort of bonehead who believes that Solyndra would have been the recipient of half a billion taxpayer dollars and personal visits from Obama and Biden if its snarky owner, George Kaiser, hadn't been a major bundler for Obama's election campaigns."
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The conservative National Review is skeptical of 9-9-9 ...
"Herman Cain deserves credit for proposing a tax-reform plan that is specific, promotes economic growth, and has captured the imagination of conservatives nationwide. His 9-9-9 plan builds on the insight that one of the chief defects of the current tax code is its bias toward consumption over savings. But his plan’s peculiarities of design, substantive weaknesses, and political naïveté render it unworthy of conservative support."
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When tyrants like Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez block rival candidates from running in the upcoming presidential election -- which he has done -- the obvious alternative is to remove him by other means.
It may not be necessary. A doctor who has treated Chavez for cancer says the hero to the Hollywood communists has less than two years to live.
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The long-coddled Greek unions (retirement at age 50, etc.) are now threatening a massive strike to protest proposed -- and essential -- cuts to government spending. One wonders how much longer more industrious workers in other European countries will countenance supporting their laid-back southern neighbors and admit the whole idea of trying to meld their wildly different economies was stupid and should be ended.
Meantime, anyone contemplating a visit to Greece should think long and hard about the prospect of being immobilized and effectively helpless by strikes, demonstrations and riots.
I've spent more time in Greece than any other foreign country, partly because my longtime partner in ownership of a chain of travel agencies was Greek-American and we did a lot of business there. But it was his opinion -- and mine -- that Greece had less in common with Western Europe than we have with Peru.
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News that the King of Saudi Arabia is having further back surgery recalls an incident several years ago when one of the many Saudi princes came to the U.S. for the then-new radial keratotomy procedure on his eyes. He was suffering from myopia and one of the most renowned practitioners of this operation was a friend of mine who practices in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Prince, his wives, heavily-armed bodyguards and large entourage took an entire floor of a San Francisco luxury hotel during his visit and the chief bodyguard, a brother of one of the wives, was dispatched to the clinic where he told the doctor that the operation was first to be performed on him.
An examination determined that the man's eyes were perfect and needed no correction. Nevertheless, he was insistent, explaining that the Prince wanted to be certain of the surgeon's skills before his own precious eyes were subjected to the procedure.
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Journalist Aaron Klein has an interesting take on Barack Obama's surprising decision to send troops into Uganda to battle a rebel army. The genesis of the idea may have begun at the George Soros-funded International Crisis Group, one of the "think tanks" that Soros uses to promote policies that benefit him.
Soros himself has been closely tied to oil and other interests in Uganda. Soros seems to have his hand in trying to guide the development of the oil and gas industry in Uganda. The Ugandan government would naturally be beholden to Soros if he could show he had enough influence with the White House to bring in American troops to take out a rebel group. Also, the defeat of the rebel group would make development of the energy industry that much more viable since operations would be much more secure.
-- Ed Lasky in The American Thinker website --
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Has Obama eased up on the "corporate jet" attacks? If so, maybe he's figured out that, given time, even the simple-minded can grasp the logic of the use of the private plane.
Let us say you're not directly a big stockholder, but a member of a union whose pension plan, like virtually all of them, is heavily invested in -- what else? -- corporate stocks!
The board of directors, possibly including one or more persons chosen by your union, hires a smart businessperson as Chief Executive Officer.
That person is paid a lot of money for his/her smarts, making every hour of that person's time very expensive. Do you want that time spent going thru the hassle of commercial air travel, with its time-wasting Airport Gestapo security measures, airport delays, waits for baggage, etc.?
If you have a functioning brain, you want that time spent running the business that generates the profits that fund your retirement!
But Barack Obama thinks you're too stupid to figure that out!
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Just asking ...
What kind of muddle-headed dope could possibly take a charlatan like Al Sharpton seriously about ... anything?
I suppose the answer is ... the kind of dope who'd run a cheesy leftist propaganda mill like MSNBC.
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Typical MSNBC "journalism": their race-relations commentator, Melissa Harris Perry, says it's racist when Michele Bachmann points out that almost half of Americans pay no federal income tax. Racist to tell the truth?
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Minister Harold Camping, famous for unfulfilled predictions of the world coming to an end, says this Friday is THE day. One assumes those who believe are busily cashing in their mutual funds and 401K's.
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At the request of Zan in Roseville, California ...
There is no such word as "snuck", even though it's regularly seen/heard in the media.
There is "sneak" ... there is "sneaked" ... but "snuck" crept into the vocabulary of illiterates as a contribution from the late baseball great, Dizzy Dean, who introduced the word during his 1950's baseball broadcasts after a stellar career as a pitcher.
He also played up his colorful Ozark hillbilly image by using such constructions as "the hitter SWANG at the pitch" ... "the runner SLUD into third base" ..."he looks mighty HITTERISH today", etc., etc.
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Mr. Eason reports ...
Woke up this morning humming "Way Down Upon the Dabo Swinney....."
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From reader Eric (and a few others) ...
I saw this on Paula -------'s Facebook page and totally cracked up! She writes:
"Hey guys, so you’re camping out at your local “occupy” protest and through the smoky haze you spot the girl of your dreams. She’s absolute perfection with her purple mohawk, nose rings and unshaven legs. But you need a good pick up line! Here’s a few proven winners: (1) “What time do you get off not working?” (2) “Your parents’ basement or mine?” ( 3) “We have so much in common, I don’t know why I’m here either” ( 4) “You remind me of a female Janeane Garafalo” and my favorite (5) “Just got my Pell Grant & food stamps. LET’S PARTY!”
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NY Post columnist Cindy Adams found these in the paperback “Book of All-Time Stupidest Top 10 Lists.”
The Dallas Morning News correcting “calling Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk a socialist. She’s a socialite.”
Quoting college football coach Bill Peterson: “Remember the words of Patrick Henry: ‘Kill me or let me live.’ ”
Slogan from a Japan tampon package: “Be half as fresh as the day is long.”
And from Canadian prime minister Lester Pearson: “We’ll cross that bridge when we fall off it.”
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Definition: "I'm a progressive". Euphemism meaning, "I am a communist moron".
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Craig Ferguson --
"The Occupy Wall Street protests continue to grow. They've started to attract a very unsavory element — celebrities."
THE LAS VEGAS CRAP-SHOOT ...
SERVING SOWELL-FOOD HERE
Romney and Perry squared off in a slightly more civil version of a playground exchange: "You're a liar" ... "No, YOU'RE a liar." Santorum tried to join the free-for-all, with no conclusive results. Romney, as usual, was adept at deflecting charges; others might call it "shifty". Some will wonder if he was concerned about his hired lawn-care people being illegals on principle, or simply because -- as he said -- "I'm running for office."
Perry may have impressed some with his aggression. Others call it rudeness. At least he stayed awake this time and his call to de-fund the UN drew a roar of approval from the audience.
Some contestants were visibly disturbed by the pro-Romney sentiment of the crowd; unsurprising, since Nevada is a heavily Mormon state.
Cain, as expected, was assailed from all sides with doubts about his tax plan, which he handled with grace. However, the overlap between existing taxes, state & local sales taxes and Cain's "9-9-9" plan are disturbing. He needs clear, specific answers to those concerns, otherwise the charm of the "9-9-9" chant will lose its appeal. It will take more than comparisons of apples and oranges to sell it. He also became incoherent in taking contradictory positions on negotiating with terrorists.
Meantime, the other unanswered question is: will Cain show up next in the White House, or showcasing his considerable singing talent on "American Idol"?
Michelle Bachmann regained her stride with a powerful performance. She was also the only one who didn't evade the touchy question of birthright citizenship; i.e., "anchor babies". We can also be grateful that she didn't recite her usual litany about how many children she's raised. Santorum, however, couldn't resist the temptation to remind us of his reproductive prowess as part of his opening remarks. Enough already! Besides, how many presidential children have turned out to be embarrassments?
Gingrich played his usual role of elder-statesman well. If only he didn't bring so many other flaws into the game ...
Ron Paul made some serious points (why DO we still have troops in Korea?) but again wandered into the wilderness of rambling incoherence on immigration and other matters.
Anderson Cooper and CNN did a creditable job until the end when Cooper (or perhaps the producer) lost control of the time element. Not hard to do, dealing with a group of verbose politicians. Some Republicans' concerns about "gotcha" questions were irrelevant; the candidates themselves hit each other with the "gotchas". And that, after all, is always a component of political debate.
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Are Republicans going to grit their teeth and nominate Romney, who is not favored by upward of 75% of party voters? The time draws near, with the Iowa caucuses sounding the opening bell January 3rd.
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So Jon Huntsman boycotted last night's debate. Anyone see any tears over his absence? What? You didn't even notice he wasn't there?
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We're waiting for accident-victim totals among the Democrat politicians in North Carolina and Virginia who injured themselves running away from the latest Obama campaign-appearance sites.
Oh -- he says it ISN'T a campaign? Then we just have to assume he's lately developed a fetish for kissing every baby in sight.
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By sounding nuttier all the time, Biden reinforces his position as Obama's best guarantee against impeachment, even if the Congress were 100% Republican. He defines the term "raving loony".
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The Green dilemma persists. Thirty-five power-generating windmills at a Pennsylvania site were shut down because a dead bat was found at the base of one of them.
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Random thoughts on the passing scene from the indispensable Thomas
Sowell ...
Like so many people, in so many countries, who started out to "spread the wealth," Barack Obama has ended up spreading poverty.
Have you ever heard anyone as incoherent as the people staging protests across the country? Taxpayers ought to be protesting against having their money spent to educate people who end up unable to say anything beyond repeating political catch phrases.
It is hard to understand politics if you are hung up on reality. Politicians leave reality to others. What matters in politics is what you can get the voters to believe, whether it bears any resemblance to reality or not.
Radical feminists seem to assume that men are hostile to women. But what would they say to the fact that most of the women on the Titanic were saved, and most of the men perished -- due to rules written by men and enforced by men on the sinking ship?
Whether the particular issue is housing, medical care or anything in between, the agenda of the left is to take the decision out of the hands of those directly involved and transfer that decision to third parties, who pay no price for making decisions that turn out to be counterproductive.
Dependency usually translates into votes for whoever is handing out the benefits, so an economic disaster can be a political bonanza, as it was for Franklin D. Roosevelt. Don't count Obama out in 2012.
Do people who advocate special government programs for blacks realize that the federal government has had special programs for American Indians, including affirmative action, since the early 19th century -- and that American Indians remain one of the few groups worse off than blacks?
People who live within their means are increasingly being forced to pay for people who didn't live within their means -- whether individual home buyers here or whole nations in Europe.
-- TOWNHALL.COM --
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People who've traveled in foreign countries where inflation has gotten out of control, usually because a socialist government inflated the money by overspending and printing increasingly worthless paper to conceal it, will recognize the following scenario:
As the public becomes aware of what's happening to them, the failed government devalues people's existing money (savings) by requiring that they trade it in for a "new" currency with a different color, design, etc. Or, if they can't get it printed fast enough, they simply devalue the present currency by knocking off a zero at the end; i.e. the 100-dollar (or or lira or drachma) bill becomes overnight worth ten dollars ... the $10 bill is worth one dollar, etc.
Sometimes, failed governments do both, thus the warning to foreign visitors to look out for shady dealers, cab-drivers, etc., who may give you change in the old, devalued money.
I've seen it -- many times.
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Democracy... is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty ... is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
-- Benjamin Franklin --
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In Richmond, Virginia, city officials held a "peace" meeting between rival gang members at City Hall. It ended in a bloody gang-fight.
Civilization loses another one.
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My friend Richard offers a suggestion about the "Occupy" demonstrators ...
"How about we start a movement at these events? The purpose would be to show "Wall Street" they mean business via a demonstrative action that won't cause their arrest. That action would be to place a couple of dumpsters with signs inviting the protesters to prove their sincerity with an overt action. That action would be to toss their iPads or i-phones for later collection and presentation to Wall Street. Wouldn't that be an action from the heart to illustrate sincerity?
"That crap could be disposed of in an environmentally proper furnace so that it doesn't spoil our landfill with toxic components. Give the same treatment to the backpacks and tents being used.
"I think this is worth trying just to see how sincere these protesters really are. While they rage against capitalist success they wallow in that success by being the dupes who contribute the lucre to make the corporations successful. Too bad for the people who make all these items. Actually if I am correct that these protesting idiots will go buy replacements for the next protest, it could do much for the employment picture in Asia."
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The anti-Semitic howl from inside the "Occupy" movement grows louder daily, yet Obama embraces the rabble. Anyone surprised -- or see a theme here?
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Some stupid Democrats want to compare the "Occupy" rabble to the Tea Party movement. Absurd. Wherever civilized Tea Party folk got together, they left the premises clean and litter-free. This bunch that's playing at anarchy creates a hog-wallow -- with apologies to the much-cleaner creatures, the hogs.
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Headline: "Vegas Man with a Hundred Pound Scrotum". Or is that a folk-song title?
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Steve Moore in WSJ's "Political Diary" ...
"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is out with a new survey of 1,330 small and medium sized business CEOs. The answers are shocking about the level of mistrust the nation's employers have in politicians these days. When asked what "do you want from Washington?" 13% said they would like "a helping hand" from government, while 80% said "get out of the way."
"The level of pessimism by employers is frighteningly high, with 89% saying the economy is "on the wrong track" versus just 5% saying "right track." Only one in six employers say they intend to hire new workers next year.
"So why are so many businesses on a hiring time out? The second most common answer to that question was 'uncertainty about what Washington will do next.' Another job deterrent is ObamaCare.
"A Chamber spokesman associated with the survey tells me: "this is about as pessimistic and we've seen since the Carter speech on malaise." That's terrible news for Mr. Obama, who is looking more like the failed Jimmy Carter."
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A suggestion from reader Wes in Mesa, Arizona ...
Wouldn't it be great if any poll that asks if you want to "tax the rich" or "make them pay their fair share" had opening questions of, "How much federal income tax did you pay last year or did you just get a refund without paying anything?"
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Why you don't REALLY want to be famous ...
Kelsey Grammer of "Frasier" fame says his ex-wife wanted to be married to the character he played in order to get some second-hand fame.
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Seen those recent pix of Demi Moore? Looks like she's been living off scraps from the table of Calista Flockhart. Or Judy Woodruff. Somebody buy this woman a burger 'n shake!
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Sheila H. reminds us of timeless wisdom ...
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury must be replenished, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of public officials should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to other countries must be removed so Rome does not go bankrupt. People must learn to work again, instead of living off the state."
-- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55BC --
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The man with the most thankless job in the NFL has to be Tony Sparano coach of the hapless Miami Dolphins. First, the team owner let it be known before the season that he wasn't satisfied with Sparano ... then kept him on ... his winless team is awful ... and he has to know he's dog-meat about five minutes after the season is over.
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Reader Bob advises us that ...
A Dabo Swinney is very soothing on the 'roids.
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From the Sky-guy ...
One day I was watching an exciting baseball game when my wife came running from the kitchen saying loudly, "There's a horsefly in here!"
Not taking my eyes off the screen, I replied, "Give it some cough syrup!" (Horse, hoarse ... okay?)
IRATE BUT IGNORANT ... "WHEN IN
DANGER, WHEN IN DOUBT ...
RUN IN CIRCLES, SCREAM AND SHOUT" -- Joseph Biden
RUN IN CIRCLES, SCREAM AND SHOUT" -- Joseph Biden
The "brave" Muammar Khadafy (or Gaddafi or any of a dozen other ways his Arab name is translated) has been found in a bunker. Reportedly his determination to be a "martyr" rather than be captured faded quickly in the face of gun-barrels and he was shouting, "Don't shoot me, don't shoot me!" -- but a little late.
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New York Magazine quizzed fifty of the "Occupy" mooches on basic questions about some of the issues that supposedly concern them. Their ignorance proved to be ... well ... appalling. Examples: Thirty percent thought the richest one percent of Americans paid zero to 10% income taxes ... and given a choice of the military, education or health care & pensions as the areas of greatest government spending, 94% of these idiots said, predictably, "the military".
Wayyyy wrong. Health care & pensions devour far more.
One wonders, "What do the parents of these dopes think they got for their money when they paid for their 'education'?"
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You can judge people by their friends. And since "movements" are made up of people, the same rule applies.
Take the "Occupy" nutjobs playing at revolution. Their allies include both the official Nazi and Communist parties ... Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez ... The madmen who run Iran ... the government of China.
And -- oh, yes! -- Barack Obama. And Biden, and Pelosi, and Reid ...
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Look long and hard at Greece, where austerity is going to be forced upon the populace either by their own government or by the consequences of living beyond their means. If we don't get our own economic mess and national debt resolved, a similar fate awaits us. It isn't "if", it's just "when".
Sign-waving and shouting by mobs in the streets won't change reality.
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Letter to the Wall Street Journal in its entirety, from Kate in Atlanta --
"Alert to parents whose children are currently occupying Atlanta/Chicago/Seattle: Now's your chance to change the locks."
-- Thanks, Tim --
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Given their latest rantings about (A) Republicans WANTING dirty air and water and drilling (!) and (B) women being raped if Congress doesn't pass Obama's "jobs" bill, which is just another stimulus scam in disguise ... is there any doubt that Obama and Biden are (1) crazy, (2) know their followers are, or (3) BOTH?
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"The more President Obama and the once-again-unhinged Vice President Biden do their campaign stops, alleging that congressional failure to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars more for states and the federal government to hire more workers equates to dirty air and water, and more rapes and hold-ups, the sense of utter unreality grows.
"Anytime the president sermonizes about civility and the need to curb partisan rhetoric, this is a telltale sign that in a few days a savage partisan attack will surely follow."
-- Victor Davis Hanson, National Review Online --
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"There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America -- there is the United States of America." -- Senator Barack Obama, 2004, Democratic National Convention.
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Despite the effort by his lackeys, including media cheerleaders, to disguise Obama's diminishing public appeal, one can hardly help noticing that the demagogue who used to draw thousands now attracts hundreds -- sometimes only dozens -- to his "non-campaign" events.
As keen political observer/writer Rick Moran says, "Get out the butter and jam because you know the prez is toast."
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Economist Arthur Laffer, supporter of the Herman Cain 9-9-9 tax formula, addresses one concern ...
" A number of my fellow economists don't like the retail sales component of the 9-9-9 plan. They argue that, once in place, the retail rate could be raised to the moon. They are correct, but what they miss is that any tax could be instituted in the future at a higher rate. If I could figure a way to stop future Congresses from ever raising taxes I'd do it every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Until then, let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good."
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Cain has had the good sense to admit that he's made mistakes. If Romney could find the courage to also admit that Romneycare was a mistake, instead of continually trying to justify it as if Massachusetts were as different from other states as, say, Bulgaria, he might redeem himself with more Republican voters. Upward of 70% of those voters, according to virtually every poll, still don't trust him. Romneycare is the major reason why they don't. With Obama so widely detested, Romney would likely beat him, anyway ... but he'd still be the object of skepticism.
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A reader is incensed about David Gergen's remarks immediately after the Las Vegas debate. In his role as a CNN "analyst", he opined that the real winner of the debate was ... Obama.
I, too, took note of that observation. However, I was not surprised because Gergen has a long history of working both sides of the political street. He was hired for White House jobs by Nixon, Ford, Reagan and George H.W. Bush, then unhesitatingly signed on with Clinton.
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I'm not a fan of either Anderson Cooper or CNN, but Republican complaints about him not stopping Romney, Perry and Santorum from tearing into each other are ill-founded. The exchanges were revelatory, subject to the interpretation of the viewer. It is foolish to expect Cooper, or anyone in his position, to take responsibility for protecting candidates from each other -- or their own instincts.
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Reminder to those concerned that spirited debate among Republican candidates will weaken the eventual nominee: Four years ago similar rough tactics were common in encounters between Obama and Hillary.
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There's likely no surprise in the news that the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area has the highest average income in the nation because the AVERAGE federal government employee, including everyone from the janitor to the department head, makes an average annual salary of $126,369.
Therefore is shouldn't be difficult to understand why the top priority of the people in government is to preserve that status at the expense of the poor schlub* who pays the taxes to support that lifestyle.
(*Schlub -- Yiddish -- meaning "A person regarded as clumsy, stupid, or unattractive." If you don't believe Washington sees you that way, you're beyond hope.)
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This note from a regular correspondent ...
"Filed under the "you can't make this up": I live in the mountains in northeastern California (Shasta County). We live in hydro power heaven, with 5 generators between us and Redding.
"About 2 years ago, Big Green shoved 42 windmills down our throats, with promises of big bucks for libraries, schools, etc.. Well about 2 weeks ago a good friend was showing his Texas relatives around our countryside and took them down to the Pit One powerhouse on the Pit River, to see the humongous flume of water shooting out of the facility. But when they arrived, there was just a trickle flowing. One of the Pacific Gas and Electric employee was asked why the powerhouse was shut down, he said that when the windmills were operating, they had to shut down.
"To put this into perspective, we sit atop the cheapest power generating system in the world, hydro. But the Big Green machine has forced us to shut it down to run a system that must be subsidized by ratepayers, taxpayers and still costs more than any other generator, other than solar."
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Taking a strong editorial stance against the pipeline that would bring oil from the Alberta province in Canada to Texas refineries: Al Jazeera.
Odd, isn't it, that a middle-east based "news" source would oppose a pipeline that would decrease our dependence on oil from that region? Suuure ...
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I assume this is true about baseball fans in Dallas; I know it's true about Cardinal fans in St. Lous:
Any "Occupy" loony who tries to disrupt World Series games played there had better hope the police catch him before the fans lay hands on him.
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Katherine in Santa Rosa contributes this ...
To paraphrase from another philosopher: "We are now achieving a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves are demanding to be rewarded with jobs, goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers."
It's called an ineptocracy
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Dan Sorkin invites us to join him in exploring the strange and wonderful mind of Steven Wright ...
I WENT TO A BOOKSTORE AND ASKED THE SALESWOMAN, "WHERE'S THE SELF- HELP SECTION?" SHE SAID IF SHE TOLD ME, IT WOULD DEFEAT THE PURPOSE.
IF SOMEONE WITH MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES THREATENS TO KILL HIMSELF, IS IT CONSIDERED A HOSTAGE SITUATION?
IS THERE ANOTHER WORD FOR SYNONYM?
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU SEE AN ENDANGERED ANIMAL EATING AN ENDANGERED PLANT?
IF A TURTLE DOESN'T HAVE A SHELL, IS HE HOMELESS OR NAKED?
CAN AN ATHEIST GET INSURANCE AGAINST ACTS OF GOD?
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Reader Art has a question ...
After watching the most recent Republican debate last night on the 14th amendment (anchor babies), a question occurred to me.
If a women illegally crossed the border to have breast augmentation surgery, does that create an anchor boobie?
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Jay Leno --
"Warren Buffett's company reportedly owes the IRS a billion dollars in back taxes. When he said he wasn't paying enough taxes, he wasn't kidding."
"DEMOCRACY" IN LIBYA? ... MORE "LOANS"
TO OBAMA CRONIES
Liberals, especially the media sort, are slow learners. Again we're hearing about the forthcoming flowering of democracy in Libya, now that the evil and despised Khadafy is gone, with no apparent recollection of similar ecstasy and optimism when the "Arab spring" came to Egypt and brought in its wake massacres of the minority Christian population.
The most likely outcome in Libya -- Muslims extremists taking over and funneling to terrorists those shoulder-fired missiles that can bring down an airliner.
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Re the final hideouts of Khadafy and Saddam: They don't call 'em rat-holes for nothing.
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Khadafy's last thought might've been, "I coulda/shoulda taken the money and ran when I had the chance ... "
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The appropriate Khadafy obituary: "Sic semper tyrannis". Latin, meaning "thus always to tyrants."
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General Electric profits up 57%. Immelt, the CEO, is a buddy of Obama -- his "jobs advisor". GE last year paid NO federal income taxes; in fact, got a rebate. Nice to be well-connected with those oh-so-egalitarian Democrats!
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Meantime, as the idiocy continues ... Brian Ross of ABC-TV reports that, with the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee (i.e., your tax dollars) is assembling its cars in ... Finland!
The big-money boys behind the deal: big contributors to Obama. Surprised?
Yessir, Obama is really gonna bring back those jobs to America!
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So now it comes out that the crooks in the Obama administration altered documents in trying to cover-up their Solyndra scam. Who's surprised? The next question is ... which pathetic underling will be the fall-guy?
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The misbegotten Congressional "Supercommittee" was a shaky edifice constructed to relieve House and Senate members from their responsibility to reduce debt and save taxpayer dollars. It isn't working, to the surprise of exactly nobody. Leaked reports from inside say a major problem is that Senator John Kerry, a member of the committee, won't shut up long enough to let any work get done.
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Ann Coulter has a dose of vituperation for the "Occupy" mob ...
"If the Flea Party were really concerned about the greedy 'Wall Street 1 Percent,' shifting money around to make themselves richer and everyone else poorer, their No. 1 target should be George Soros.
"Of course, we don't know exactly how much money Soros has, since he keeps all his money in offshore bank accounts protected by Sen. Chuck Schumer (Democrat).
"We do know that Soros has been convicted of insider trading. And we know that his general modus operandi is to run around the world panicking sovereign nations, so he can pocket the difference when their currencies collapse.
"But the Occupy Wall Street protesters love Soros! It's Fox News they hate."
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How much longer will New Yorkers put up with their Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who continues to butt-kiss the "Occupy" heathens who are defecating on people's doorsteps and atop police cars? Now the crazies are holding an "Islamic prayer session" in the park they've turned into a sewer. Of course, Bloomberg won't mind: he's a big supporter of the building of an "Islamic center" -- a triumphal mosque in disguise -- adjacent to the 9/11 site.
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A reasonable person might question the news judgment exercised at ABC-TV when they failed to air this part of a Jake Tapper interview with Barack Obama but reported by Mediate ...
Tapper: “Just to change the subject from the economy ... the ‘Fast and Furious’ controversy. Aside from some of the more wild charges out there, this is a big scandal. The Justice Department, the ATF was moving guns and some of them were tied to crime scenes. what was your response when you first heard about it?”
Obama: “Well I heard about it from the news reports. This is not something we were aware of in the White House and the Attorney General it turns out wasn’t aware of either."
Obama is lying, of course; he even spoke of the gun-running program last spring. That is also on tape. But instead of this latest lie-and-deny exercise, ABC-TV chose to air a segment in which Obama and Tapper chatted amiably about Obama's fondness for Dr. Seuss.
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If this is for-real and not just more lib-media BS, we live in a very sick country.
Those media are gushing over Michelle Obama being a great campaign asset. Say what?!
A woman who openly stated that she was proud of her country for the first time only after her husband got elected president??!! An "asset"??!!
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From the pro-Democrat POLITICO ...
A new biography of the former Apple CEO indicates that Steve Jobs told President Barack Obama he was “headed for a one-term presidency,” citing the U.S.’s competitive disadvantages with China and a “crippled” education system.
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"Let’s get it straight, guy. Don’t screw around with me!” -- VP Joltin' Joe Biden to a reporter who asked if he'd like to retract his remarks about failure to pass Obama's "jobs" bill leading to mass rapes.
If he weren't surrounded by Secret Service agents, wonder what would happen to this stupid, aging punk if he spouted such threats in the real world?
I'd expect dental work to be needed.
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And speaking of behavior that could incite strong response ...
Which was worse in the most recent debate? Perry's attempt to ambush Romney over illegal workers on his property or Romney's response that he'd told the contractor he couldn't have such workers because he "was running for office," and laying hands on Perry?
It didn't make either look particularly good, but Romney had better never do that hands thing to the wrong person -- or Perry -- in another setting. People have been hospitalized as a result of such behavior.
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Victor Volsky in The American Thinker looks with foreboding upon a Romney presidency even as he admires the man ...
"Like an old janitor called to the frat house to clean up after a wild party, President Romney would dolefully peruse the disgusting scene, heave a deep sigh, and, indignantly muttering under his breath (it will be rude to aggravate the severely hung-over revelers, won't it?), proceed to clean up the gigantic mess left by the Bacchanal. But the country does not need a custodial president who will tweak here and there and apply some Band-Aids, leaving intact the structures put in place by his socialist predecessor. It needs a bold and daring leader who will extirpate the socialist poison tree root and branch.
"Unfortunately, there is little reason to believe that Mitt Romney would be that kind of leader. Which means that an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity would be wasted, and the wounded leftist vampire would live to fight another day. That's why the prospect of this decent and otherwise remarkable man becoming the next president of the United States is not comforting at all. Indeed, it is downright alarming."
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Ron Paul has some scatter-brained ideas on a number of issues, but it's too bad his fellow candidates don't have the guts -- or sense -- to join him in advocating the total abolition of a number of government departments and agencies, starting with the departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development and the Interior. They've largely become havens for left-wing activists determined to obstruct economic growth. The Department of Education should never have been created; it was done purely as a Jimmy Carter whoring payoff to the teachers' union.
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It's an old, old story. People build houses or move into apartments next to an airport -- then complain about airport noise. There is now a campaign by such folk who hope to close the very useful airport in Santa Monica, California. They should be individually asked, "Were you here BEFORE the airport, or move into the immediate area after the airport was built?"
The answers should settle the issue. The airport was built in 1919.
Footnote. A longtime friend, captain for a major airline, says that the noise restrictions at New York's LaGuardia are so stringent -- and nutty -- that they require a steep climbing turn AND simultaneous power reduction. And some years ago when he was flying the three-engine DC-10, he said, "If we ever lose power on one engine during that procedure, there would be no time or chance to recover."
You don't like airport noise? Then stay the hell away from airports! There's a reason nearby housing is usually cheaper.
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Victor Davis Hanson in Townhall.com with a look at the real-world
scoreboard ...
"Federal and state budgets are near bankrupt. Countries like Greece and Italy face insolvency. The U.S. government resorts to printing money to service or expand entitlements.
"Until 'green' means competitive renewable energy rather than a con for crony capitalists, we are going to have to create and save capital by producing more of our own gas and oil, and relying more on nuclear power and coal.
"Westerners will have to work a bit longer and more efficiently, with a bit less redistributive government support. Otherwise, a smaller, older and whinier West will just keep blaming others as their good life slips away. So it's past time to stop borrowing to import energy and most of the things we use but have given up producing -- and get back to competing in the real world."
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How does this sound? You get married ... have children ... buy a house large enough for a family. Eventually the kids grow up and leave. Then the government forces you out of your home to make room in it for a new growing family.
Liberals in the British parliament are pushing just such a scheme. "Get out of your house! Somebody else wants it!"
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Bryant Gumbel has always had a fetish for pushing the racial button. He's done it again by pronouncing pro basketball players have the status of "plantation workers". The average annual salary for a National Basketball Association player as of the 2009 season was $5.84 million. "Plantation workers"? You figure it out.
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Recommended reading on the web ... REALCLEARPOLITICS.COM ... Wednesday ...
"Permanent Adolescents' Occupying NYC" -- Roger Kimball
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Has 2011 been a good year for you so far? If not, my friend Sheila from Hong Kong says feng shui and numerology look good.
For instance, this year we experience four unusual dates: 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11, and that's not all. Take the last two digits of the year you were born and the age you will be this year and the result will add up to 111 for everyone.
October will have 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays & 5 Saturdays. This happens only once every 823 years. These particular years are known as Moneybag years. The proverb goes that if you send this to eight good friends, money will appear in the next four days, as is explained in the Chinese feng shui.
This only happens once in 800 years.
Further ... as Herman Cain says, "If you aren't rich, it's your own fault."
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Len, haiku guru, offers the following ...
Let's thank Muammar.
Now we can spell his last name.
It's D-E-A-D.
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"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that it's difficult to determine whether or not they are genuine."
-- Abraham Lincoln --
(Think about it. And thanks, John)
KHADAFY "ABUSED"? BOO-HOO ... WE
TAKE ORDERS FROM IRAQ
To be filed under "I don't get it": Khadafy was a murderous tyrant with the blood of thousands on his hands. Now some mushhead morons are concerned because his evil life was ended mercilessly, although without the torture he'd inflicted on others? He got put out of his misery in very short order after whimpering and begging for his life. He got off easy.
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Our hero in the White House has caved-in to the craven Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki and announced that virtually all our troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year.
Reluctant prediction: Within a (very) few years, as Iraq is swallowed by Iran (with Maliki's assistance), thousands of Americans will be asking, "Did my son/father/husband/daughter/sister die for THIS?"
For the record, the Iraq war has cost the lives of more than four thousand American service members since the invasion in 2003, with many thousands more maimed for life.
And now we let THEM dictate to us when American troops leave. Can you imagine Truman -- or ANY American president -- being so stupid and cowardly after World War II?
The appropriate response to Maliki would have been, "Shut up, or we'll hang you with the same rope we used on Saddam."
No wonder Iran's murderous leaders laugh at us and in the rest of the world we're no more respected than is ... Guatemala. Or Rwanda.
Or ...
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Obama's hit a new low even in the Gallup poll, which historically trails others. No wonder he's flailing about, desperately looking for someone else to blame for his incompetence (or deliberate undermining of the country).
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Even the liberal Washington Post, fact-checking crazy Joe Biden's shrieks about the rape-rate in Flint, Michigan, found that he was simply lying. In fact, the rate of such assaults per 100,000 people was slightly lower in 2010 with a reduced police force. This phony hypocrite should be hooked to a lie-detector every time he opens his mouth.
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Biden has fantasies about running for President in 2016? Either he's delusional, or the ex-pat life abroad looks much, much better to sane people!
Don't discount the possibility, and remember: a country with an electorate dumb enough to elect a leftist nonentity like Obama is capable of doing anything.
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Hmmmm ... wonder why so many elements of the liberal media are trying to do a hatchet job on Florida's charismatic young Senator, Marco Rubio? Do we need Sherlock Holmes to figure this out?
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As he increasingly becomes a target for both his fellow candidates and the media, Herman Cain is making blunders that seem to indicate a lack of clear positioning on some controversial issues. During the Tuesday debate, he couldn't decide whether he was for or against negotiating with terrorists. Since then, he's flip-flopped on abortion.
There's a name for people who are that inconsistent. Mitt.
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Not a good sign. Michele Bachmann's entire New Hampshire campaign staff has quit. Don't be surprised if Iowa is her last gasp when Republicans there hold their caucus January 3rd.
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Artur (correct spelling) Davis is a black former Congressman from Alabama. He wrote this for the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper ...
"I've changed my mind on voter ID laws -- I think Alabama did the right thing in passing one -- and I wish I had gotten it right when I was in political office.
"When I was a congressman, I took the path of least resistance on this subject for an African American politician. Without any evidence to back it up, I lapsed into the rhetoric of various partisans and activists who contend that requiring photo identification to vote is a suppression tactic aimed at thwarting black voter participation."
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The liberal New Republic laments Democrats' attempt to ally themselves with the goofy "Occupy" movement ...
"Occupy Wall Street is a carnival. Both detractors and supporters say so. The most amusing part of the show is watching the rush to join it. Democrats have flung themselves in the direction of Zuccotti Park—but in their pursuit of the movement they may damage themselves and hinder the protests’ potential to do tangible good. (Ed. note--tangible GOOD??)
"Even if Obama attempts to co-opt the message of Occupy Wall Street, the movement will likely continue to harp on his inadequacy. (Many of the complaints with Obama unfairly view him as a central villain in the crisis, rather than a disappointingly ineffectual foe of it.) Protests might erupt at the convention in Charlotte that overshadow his case for reelection; all this further diminishes enthusiasm for his candidacy."
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Many divorced men would say that the husband of Stacey Hessler, 38, is a lucky guy. She's the woman from DeLand, Florida, who abandoned her husband and four children to join the deranged wackos in the "Occupy" herd ruining a park in New York City.
She describes herself in Facebook thusly: “a radical unschooling mom of four, midwives assistant, roller-derby queen, rock-star musician, activist, dreadlock princess, African-bee keeper, organic vegan freak and a surrogate for the second time.”
Her husband lucky? Of course. He can easily ditch this freakazoid, and it's hard to imagine even the craziest judge awarding her a penny.
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Brits have always been skeptical about the European Union, and the fiscal turbulence that's roiling the waters in that alliance hasn't changed their attitude for the better. A new poll published in the Daily Express reveals that given a choice to stay in or get out--without the option to renegotiate--52 per cent would quit, 31 per cent would stay in.
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Prof. Walter Williams unveils a dichotomy: CEO salaries vs. celebrity salaries ...
"According to Forbes' Celebrity 100 list for 2010, Oprah Winfrey earned $290 million. Even if her makeup person or cameraman earned $100,000, she earned thousands of times more than that. Is that fair? Among other celebrities earning hundreds or thousands of times more than the people who work with them are Tyler Perry ($130 million), Jerry Bruckheimer ($113 million), Lady Gaga ($90 million) and Howard Stern ($76 million). According to Forbes, the top 10 celebrities, excluding athletes, earned an average salary of a little more than $100 million in 2010.
"According to The Wall Street Journal Survey of CEO Compensation (November 2010), Gregory Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media, earned $87 million, Oracle's Lawrence Ellison ($68 million) and rounding out the top 10 CEOs was McKesson's John Hammergren, earning $24 million. It turns out that the top 10 CEOs have an average salary of $43 million, which pales in comparison with America's top 10 celebrities, who earn an average salary of $100 million." -- Townhall.com --
So why, then, are corporate executives targeted while celebrities aren't? Could it be because most of the listed celebs are outspoken Obama supporters?
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Advocates of gun ownership make these, among other cogent arguments ...
We won the revolutionary war because we had an armed citizenry, ready to fight.
Japan's World War II military leaders admitted that they didn't invade the U.S. mainland at least in part because they knew so many Americans had guns.
The mighty Soviet military failed in Afghanistan because gun ownership was almost universal among Afghan males.
Worth remembering: "An armed person is a citizen. An unarmed person is a subject."
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The U.S. dollar has hit an all-time record low vs. the Japanese yen. For many years, the exchange rate was 315 yen for one dollar. Now it's 76 yen per dollar.
Thank you, Ben Bernanke! Who counts your change for you, dope?
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"The president and his men look and sound rattled, as any serious man would be, by all the signs and slights evident everywhere they look. He put Michelle out to raise money (for $2,500, contributors can get their pictures taken with her). Someone even stole his Teleprompter. But not all the news is bad. Nancy Pelosi is said to be not talking to him."
-- The wily Wes Pruden in the Washington Times --
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Harold Camping, the preacher who said the world would end yesterday, appears to have been wrong again.
And to think -- I was going to let him pick my football bets for the weekend ...
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Does anybody really care what happens to that obnoxious brat Lindsay Lohan?
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A belated "Happy birthday" to Clare Ormiston of Birmingham, England. When asked by her daughter what she wanted for her birthday, dear old Mum gave her special wish. And got it. A male stripper for her 100th birthday.
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Don Sorkin passes along these reminders of human fallibility ...
The Darwin Awards are out! These Annual Honors are given to the persons, who did the human gene pool the biggest service by killing themselves, in the most extraordinarily stupid way!!
Last year's winner was the fellow who was killed by a Coke machine, which toppled over on top of him as he was attempting to tip a free soda out of it.
Among the latest nominees were:
A young Canadian man, searching for a way of getting drunk cheaply, because he had no money with which to buy alcohol, mixed gasoline with milk. Not surprisingly, this concoction made him ill and he vomited into the fireplace in his house. The resulting explosion and fire burned his house down, killing both him and his sister.
A man in Alabama died from numerous rattlesnake bites. It seems that he and a friend were playing a game of catch, using the rattlesnake as a ball.
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Reader Rick suggests we consider this ...
"Why does a 'slight" tax increase cost you $800.00, and a "substantial" tax cut saves you $30.00?"
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It's been said that morality is a matter of geography. And so, apparently, is vocabulary. An FM radio station in Scotland played a song with the forbidden F-word in it and was upbraided by their version of the FCC for doing so.
The station responded that the word was not offensive, was a "commonly used word in Scotland, as a description when something goes wrong or if they get angry or upset."
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A male perspective on women ...
"I know I'm not going to understand women. I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root ... and still be afraid of a spider."
WIMPISM AS A FOREIGN POLICY ... COLD
WEATHER CURES "OCCUPY-ISM"?
In team sports, they call it an inability to "finish". Conclusively close out an opponent when victory is in sight. So what do we call it when our president accepts (A) an Iraqi president who's in office only because we caught -- and had his friends hang -- Saddam Hussein and (B) an Afghan president who holds office only because we expelled the Taliban government blatantly tells us that is we have a conflict with the deceitful Pakistanis, he sides with Pakistan?
These are only the latest episodes in a long post-WW 2 history of spending trillions, getting thousands of our people killed, then turning "victory" to ashes by allowing some tinhorn next-generation dictator tell us what to do.
As of the next presidential election, the world needs to be put on notice: "If you annoy us to the point of war, we WILL crush you, and you WILL do as we tell you. No more of these pretend-liberation games."
And by the way -- shouldn't we know just how big a cut of his brother's enormous heroin business Afghanistan's "President" Karzai gets?
Too bad Benjamin Netanyahu can't be president of TWO countries. Oh, wait ... our constitution requires that the president be born in the United States -- doesn't it? Oh, wait ... must check on that with Barack ...
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Stupidity in the news ...
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she supports calls for an investigation into the death of Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy.
Let me save you the time and (our) money, Madame Secretary.
He was an evil SOB who made a lot of enemies. His enemies caught him and blew his brains out. That's what happened. Case closed.
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Reports indicate Khadafy may have been the richest man in the world. Two-hundred billion dollars or so.
See, kids? This is what happens when you work hard and save your money.
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Early indications are that a fundamentalist Islamic party will win control in Tunisia as a result of today's first "Arab spring" election. Turkey, under an Islamist president, is increasingly turning away from its ties to the Western world and toward fanaticism. Anyone who really believed that this "Arab spring" fantasy was going to bring a more peaceful world: I own this bridge that runs from San Francisco north to Marin County that I'd like to sell you.
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Anybody surprised by this? ...
Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole has confirmed that the Obama administration was pulling back all training materials used for the law enforcement and national security communities, in order to eliminate all references to Islam that some Muslim groups have claimed are offensive.
The move comes after complaints from advocacy organizations including the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and others identified as Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the 2004 Holy Land Foundation terror fundraising trial."
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One of the leftist punks on MSNBC asked a left-wing (what else?) guest, "Do you think Herman Cain can spell the word 'Iraq?'"
It would seem more reasonable to ask the Community Organizer, "Can you spell 'terrorist'?"
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So it is revealed that Moammar Khadafy wore a rug ... toupee ... okay--WIG.
Just last night I watched a re-run of the original Bob Newhart TV show in which he played a psychologist.
And I thought, there IS hope for one of his patients, the charming Elliot Carlin.
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John Tammy in RealClearMarkets addresses the reality of oil prices with the veil of inflation removed ...
"In terms of gold, the most constant measure of value known to mankind, the price of oil didn't change much in the ‘70s, nor did it in the ‘80s and ‘90s. When gold fell in the ‘80s and ‘90s thanks to a strong dollar, oil fell with it; usually reverting to its 15/1 oil/gold ratio. Just as an ounce of gold at $35 bought 15 barrels of oil in 1971, so did it buy 15 barrels in 1981 at $480/ounce.
"In more modern times that same ratio has regularly revealed itself, and with oil at $86 versus gold at $1,680, the price of crude is set to rise if the historical relationship predictably holds. The broader point here is we don't now, nor have we ever had an oil supply problem; rather in the ‘70s and the most recent decade we've had a weak dollar problem that has driven up the price of crude in nominal terms."
In other words, when fools like Obama and Bernanke stop printing and spending paper money at an insane rate, the price of oil is likely to stop escalating. But of course they won't -- which is why both must be gone, sooner rather than later.
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Disco John forwards an observation about the "Occupy" mob ...
Heard a caller to a radio show describe them as: "Pathetic in their poop-encrusted hemp pants."
How many of these parasitic slobs will be living in parks and freeloading off George Soros when the weather gets cold?
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Marybeth Hicks of the Washington Times has five things the parents of the "Occupy" rabble obviously never taught them ...
1- Life isn’t fair. Justice and economic equality are not the same. Or, as Mick Jagger said, “You can’t always get what you want.”
2- Nothing is “free.” Protesting with signs that seek “free” college degrees and “free” health care make you look like idiots, because colleges and hospitals don’t operate on rainbows and sunshine, and the 53 percent of taxpaying Americans owe you neither a degree nor an annual physical.
3-Your word is your bond. When you demonstrate to eliminate student loan debt, you are advocating precisely the lack of integrity you decry in others. Loans are made based on solemn promises to repay them. No one forces you to borrow money.
4-A protest is not a party. Most of you are doing this only for attention and fun. You look foolish, you smell gross, you are clearly high and you don’t seem to realize that all around you are people who deem you irrelevant.
5-There are reasons you haven’t found jobs. The truth? Your tattooed necks, gauged ears, facial piercings and dirty dreadlocks are off-putting. Only 4 percent of college graduates are out of work. If you are among that 4 percent, find a mirror and face the problem. It’s not them. It’s you.
And isn't it just too funny that a movement supposedly founded on egalitarianism (i.e., socialism) has internal fights going on over ... money?!
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Unemployment stands at 9.1 percent, with real unemployment closer to 20. Nearly 50 million Americans are on food stamps. We’ve added $4 trillion in new debt in less than three years. And there’s no sign any of this will change soon. The seriousness of the times require serious leaders...and all we have is Barack Obama, Congressional Democrats and a sea of unwashed ''gimmie-crats'' sleeping in parks demanding more. Welcome to 'Progressive America.'"
-- Derek Hunter in Townhall.com --
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The media whores in Britain may not be all that different from our own "reporters".
Dan Hammon Britain's Telegraph newspaper reports that ... "Ten times as many people are demonstrating in Westminster for an EU referendum as in the City against banks." And asks, "Who do you suppose will get more coverage?"
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As I continue to hear stories about the mass firings happening to my former colleagues at ABC Radio, I recall an event very early in my career. I had just joined WHBQ in Memphis, the station that introduced Elvis Presley to the world. I was there only a few months when the word came down from the ownership, RKO Pictures, that staff cuts had to be made because the movie studio had turned out some duds and had to make up the losses in another company division -- broadcasting. The movie honchos had failed, so heads had to be chopped in radio and TV.
The general manager of the station was given no choice. Cuts had to be made. He chose to do it by seniority -- and I was one of the dozen or so employees who had little or none.
I got another job within twenty-four hours, so it was no great tragedy for me.
But the general manager who'd had to wield the axe was a man with a conscience, notably absent in today's media world.
After he'd issued the notices, he took the elevator to the top of one of the city's taller buildings -- the Columbia Mutual tower, as I recall -- and leaped to his death.
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This must be important, at least for the graphics-creator working the World Series for Fox.
There are TWO towns named Kansas City. While there is a smaller one on the Kansas side of the border, the larger city -- the one with the (bad) baseball team -- is Kansas City, MISSOURI.
I have fond memories of KC. I worked there as the dimpled-darling of teenage TV on WDAF, Channel 4.
Also did radio, sportscasting and emceed nightclub shows where I shared a dressing room with the chorus girls. Hard times ...
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What an incredible college football Saturday! Previously-undefeated Oklahoma and Wisconsin losing ... Lane Kiffin's USC team wisely not going for another (humiliation) score at the end as they beat Notre Dame.
And ... on this Saturday ... Dabo Swinney = happiness.
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Amaze your friends with this obscure tidbit. Taco Bell, the worldwide "Mexican" food chain, was named for its founder, Glen Bell, a California businessman. The crisp-shell taco, unknown at the time in Mexico, was created by Mr. Bell and sold from his hamburger stand. Thus, HE became known as "Taco Bell".
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Remember that a pun is a good one only if it induces a groan. So now we proceed ...
Evidence has been found that William Tell and his family were avid bowlers. Unfortunately, all the Swiss league records were destroyed in a fire, and so we'll never know ... for whom the Tells bowled.
... and then ...
An Indian chief was feeling very sick, so he summoned the medicine man. After a brief examination, the medicine man took out a long, thin strip of elk rawhide and gave it to the chief, telling him to bite off, chew, and swallow one inch of the leather every day. After a month, the medicine man returned to see how the chief was feeling. The chief shrugged and said ... "The thong is ended, but the malady lingers on."
-- thanks, Dan! --
- - - - -
Finally, a chapter of wedded bliss ...
While attending a Marriage Seminar dealing with communication, Tom and his wife Grace listened to the instructor, 'It is essential that husbands and wives know each other' s likes and dislikes.'
He then addressed Tom, 'Can you name your wife's favorite flower?'
Tom leaned over, touched his wife' s arm gently and whispered, 'It's Pillsbury, isn't it?
WHO NEEDS CONGRESS? ... ISLAMISTS JOIN
"OCCUPY" ... IS CAIN ABLE?
Obama now openly admits plans to impose laws by "executive order", bypassing Congress. Anyone surprised at this latest whiff of tyranny in the air?
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Now CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, identified as a U.S. front-group for the terror-supporting Muslim Brotherhood, has joined the Communist Party and the Nazi Party in support of the "Occupy" rabble.
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It has to be worrisome to some of Herman Cain's enthusiastic supporters that he keeps shooting himself in the foot. First he said he'd appoint no Muslims to his cabinet, later converting that to Muslim "extremists". Then he took directly conflicting positions on negotiating prisoner-swaps with terrorists. Then took a strong position supporting federal laws prohibiting abortion, before leaving an opening "for families to decide" -- which is the pro-choice stand. "Killer" electric border fence? Just "joking"?
If he needs lessons in flip-flopper finesse, he needs to ask for tutoring from Romney, who's raised it to a fine art.
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"The race is not [always] to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." -- Ecclesiastes 9:11
“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet.” -- sportswriter Damon Runyon.
Applied to the world of politics, the metaphor is money. Romney has lots of it. More than Cain or anybody else. Perry has the second-largest pile of political loot.
It's looking more and more as if -- thanks to the money factor in politics -- Republicans will ultimately be faced with a choice between the, uh, "flexible" principles of Romney and the debate-inept Perry.
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Another example of Associated Press "reporting". From an AP article on Latino voters and their attitudes: "They can continue to support President Barack Obama despite being hurt disproportionately by the economic downturn or turn to Republicans at a time when many GOP presidential hopefuls have taken a hard line on immigration."
No. The clearly-expressed position is "a hard line on ILLEGAL immigration."
Of course, graduates of today's "journalism" schools have no concept of the word ILLEGAL. Perhaps as part of their graduation ritual, they should be turned over to a Mexican alien-smuggling gang for a week of "education".
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Do you believe in saving so that your children may have a better life? Then you have a problem with dewy-eyed Fareed Zakaria of CNN, who believes that half of any ... ANY ... inheritance should be paid to the government in taxes.
Of course, we KNOW that the government will use it wisely -- don't we?
Wondering out-loud ... just how many crypto-communists DOES CNN have on its payroll?
- - - - -
"Obama was like the single mother with a part-time job at Wal-Mart who scored a no-down, interest-only mortgage loan of $400,000 on a big suburban house to fulfill her "American dream" fantasy, only because the mortgage lender was throwing money at almost anyone with a pulse. Obama's pulse was "hope and change" and it looked good on paper when the voters were grasping at anything or anyone not named Bush.
"But just as Americans have discovered that that home values can go down as well as up, they have learned that hope is not a strategy and change can be for the worse as well as for the better. In real estate, there's a well-known post-purchase emotion called buyer's remorse. So it is in politics, too -- ask almost any Democrat these days and you'll hear some variation of buyer's remorse."
-- James Gannon in The American Spectator --
- - - -
-
I once spent an interesting and delightful week in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, visiting the ruins of ancient Carthage and relaxing at the beautiful seaside resort of Hammamet.
I wonder what an Islamist government, which seems the likely outcome of yesterday's election, will do to the tourism industry there -- not to mention the medieval oppression that necessarily follows.
Egypt, heavily dependent on tourist dollars, is economically starving because would-be visitors to its ancient monuments are staying away in droves. Greece, with its constant riots over essential austerity, is doing the same to itself. At times you can barely see the Acropolis for the smoke from riot-driven fires.
- - - - -
Another reality check on the "Arab spring". Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council and de facto president, says that Libyan laws in future will be based on Sharia Islamic law.
- - - - -
A writer to LUCIANNE.COM condenses the reality of our impending near-total withdrawal from Iraq, leaving the country to the tender mercies of Iran, with these few words:
"Iraq, another Vietnam. America's enemies know that if they wait long enough, those dumb Americans will elect a President lacking the will to win."
Retired Army General John Keane: “We won the war in Iraq, and we’re now losing the peace.”
One doesn't have to be a military strategist to learn a fundamental lesson from history, and it's this:
If you aren't committed to total, absolute and final victory in a war, don't get into it in the first place.
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Serious mind-food ...
By: Dr Farrukh Saleem, is the Pakistani Executive Director of the Center for Research and Security Studies and an Islamabad-based freelance columnist. He poses -- and answers -- a key question ...
Why are Jews so powerful? There are only 14 million Jews in the world; seven million in the Americas, five million in Asia, two million in Europe and 100,000 in Africa . For every single Jew in the world there are 100 Muslims.
Yet, Jews are more than a hundred times more powerful than all the Muslims put together. Ever wondered why?
Over the past 105 years, 14 million Jews have won 15-dozen Nobel Prizes while only three Nobel Prizes have been won by 1.4 billion Muslims (other than Peace Prizes).
So, why are Jews so powerful? Answer: EDUCATION.
Why are Muslims powerless? .....Because we aren't producing knowledge ... Because we aren't diffusing knowledge... Because we aren't applying knowledge. And, the future belongs to knowledge-based societies.
All we do is shout to Allah the whole day -- and blame everyone else for our multiple failures.
-- Forwarded by Adam Sparks --
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The sun is setting on network television as viewers increasingly ask, "Why should we watch what YOU want, WHEN you want us to watch it?"
Wall Street Journal has the numbers and they're bad -- declining audiences -- for all the old "Big Three", with NBC suffering the worst losses, especially in evening prime-time where the financial drain is worst. The only network with rising ratings is Fox; the over-the-air network. On the cable side, Fox News has long since reduced the former leader, CNN (when it had no competition) to virtual nonentity status.
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Travel tip: If you go to Swinneyland, it's vital that you speak Dabo.
- - - - -
Jim Eason, my fellow survivor of the ABC massacre (we got out early), provides an introduction to a blonde joke...
During a recent password audit by the company, an employee was found using the following password:
"MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento"
When asked why she had such a long password, she rolled her eyes and said:
"Hello! It has to be at least 8 characters long and include at least one capital."
CAMPAIGN BECOMES TAXING ... "BALANCING
THE TICKET" IS NONSENSE
Rick Perry advocates a flat-tax as an optional alternative to the present system. One obvious result would be the necessity for most taxpayers to (A) either calculate their income tax both ways or (B) pay somebody to do it. Added time spent, or cost.
On the other hand, what concrete proposal has Romney made regarding tax reform?
- - - - -
Romney has attacked Perry over subsidized college education for illegals in Texas.
According to the LA Times, Romneycare was used to give free medical care to illegals in Massachusetts.
Do we call it a tie?
Some fantasize about a Romney-Perry Republican ticket. Considering that they clearly detest each other, don't bet your house on it.
Of course, JFK was contemptuous of LBJ, but he needed those Texas votes ...
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A reality reminder to those who fantasize about such matters as "balancing the ticket" with, say, Herman Cain or Rick Perry as Mitt Romney's running-mate. Or vice-versa. Except for casting the tie-breaking vote if a bill is deadlocked in the Senate, a vice-president has NO power other than that granted by the Main Man. And if such a Senate vote is ever required, it's a certainty it'll be cast as the president wishes.
A conservative #2 allied with a RINO in the top spot would be able to accomplish NONE of the conservative wish-list unless the "moderate" at the top chose to do so; highly unlikely in the case of certified RINOS.
- - - - -
Columnist George Will says Mitt Romney is the Republicans' Michael Dukakis. Make of it what you ... will. Will.
- - - - -
Why should we be surprised that the nation is giraffe-neck-deep in debt when our government's long-established policy is to reward debt (interest paid is deductible) while penalizing saving (interest received is taxable)?
Stupid, irresponsible pandering DOES have predictable results.
- - - - -
From the latest poll by THE HILL Washington newsletter ...
More than two-thirds of voters say the United States is declining, and a clear majority think the next generation will be worse off than this one.
A resounding 69 percent of respondents said the country is “in decline,” the survey found. Additionally, 83 percent of voters indicated they’re either very or somewhat worried about the future of the nation, with 49 percent saying they’re “very worried.”
When the voting public keeps choosing fools for high office, who could be surprised?
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Straight-talking Burt Prelutsky with the good news ... and the bad ...
"For the past three years, as we've watched Obama try to deal with a lot of things that we can all agree are way above his pay grade, we've been constantly mindful of the fact that this schmuck has never really held a job in the private sector.
"The good news is that we are now less than 400 days away from November 6, 2012, when we can fire his sorry butt. The bad news is that no matter who replaces him in the Oval Office, we will still be stuck with a House and Senate filled with men and women who, for the most part, have spent their entire adult lives sitting on their butts making uninformed decisions that dictate how the rest of us get to live our lives.
"So, inasmuch as congressmen and senators rarely know anything about anything except how to troll for votes and campaign contributions, and their aides, whose primary function is brown-nosing or sexually servicing their bosses, know even less, I would insist that before any legislator gets to vote on anything, he has to be embedded for at least a week in the business or industry that will be affected by the proposed regulation.
"I just don't see any reason why these crumbs should be paid about $200,000-a-year and yet get away with less homework than a typical fifth grader."
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Do we need to remind anybody that gasoline prices are about twice as high as they were on Obama's inauguration day? The immortal Reagan question is still under-used by Republicans: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"
Probably only if you're getting taxpayer "stimulus" money for some "green" scam.
Obama "stimulus" spending is the equivalent of visiting a prostitute and calling it an "investment".
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According to the most recent report on the stimulus by the Congressional Budget Office, the law had created a maximum of 2 million jobs as of the fourth quarter of 2011 at a cost of $412,500 per job. No businessperson would call that rational, and many of those jobs were/are on local and state government payrolls. That raises the question, "Where does the money come from to meet the payroll when the 'stimulus' dollars run out?"
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The wisdom of the late Muammar Khadafy, from his "The Green Book" ...
"According to gynecologists, women menstruate and are weakened by their menstruation every month. Sometimes they do not menstruate: if they do not menstruate, they are pregnant. If they are pregnant, they are weakened by the pregnancy for nearly a year. Men, however, do not menstruate. Men are not subject to any weaknesses and do not even have to breastfeed. From this we may deduce that men and women are not equal, that they cannot be equal and that their roles in society must be different. The role of women is to have children. If women did not have children, the human race would cease to exist. If a woman does not want to have children, she has no choice but to kill herself."
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The new "provisional" regime in Libya has already made one huge mistake. They buried Khadafy in an unmarked grave. But there are people -- relatives and others -- who were there and know where it is. Thus it's inevitable that, at some point, it will become a shrine for his remaining followers.
They'd have been well-advised to follow the example of the disposal of Osama bin Laden's mortal remains; shark-bait in the ocean. Go worship at THAT shrine, wackos!
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Hillary's State Department has put out a statement that they have no problem with Sharia law (Islamic fundamentalism) so long as universal human rights, rights for women, rights for minorities, right to due process, etc., are preserved.
Has anyone ever told these government morons that all those things are strictly forbidden under Sharia law?
Of course, we must not forget that Obama long before his election promised that if push came to shove, he'd stand with the Muslims. And now he's proving he meant it.
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More on the morons liberals have put in charge of this country ...
CNS News reports that "...the U.S. State Department is considering 9,036 applicants from nations designated as “countries of interest” and 4,800 from “countries of particular concern.” While the final winners for 2012 have not been announced, in 2010 –the latest data available – there were 3,988 visas issued to persons from countries of interest and 6,451 to persons from countries of particular concern. The “countries of interest,” as categorized by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen."
Come on in, dudes and dudesses! As long as there are Democrats in the U.S., there's always the chance you'll be elected president!
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A few NFL players are speaking the unspeakable. They say some of the overt hostility directed at Tim Tebow in both player and media ranks is due purely to the fact that he's a devout Christian. Teammates say he doesn't try to proselytize, but some players and reporters dislike the fact that he's a professed Christian.
Whatever else happens in his career, that miracle finish of his -- the Broncos beating Miami -- will be long remembered.
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A mystery for the ages. Why, oh why, would a football player, eager for a fist-fight, take off his helmet?
- - - - -
Yesterday I visited my dentist for a routine check-up and cleaning. The office was lavishly decorated for Halloween, with the entry walkway lined on each side by a row of skulls. It was comforting to note that the skulls each had all their teeth.
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Just to clarify ...
DUCT tape is the (usually gray) tape designed to seal heating/cooling ducts, but useful for many purposes.
DUCK tape is a brand name owned by one manufacturer of DUCT tape, obviously (and cleverly) chosen because it's awkward for customers to separate the words "duct ... tape".
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More maladroit media messaging ...
Heard again on a national TV newscast ... a reference to China FLAUNTING trade law.
Wrong. It's FLOUT, or FLOUTING ... not FLAUNT or FLAUNTING.
Different words, different meanings.
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From England, distressing news that sixty Elvis impersonators had to flee the hotel where they were performing when a fire broke out. Early reports indicate the cause may have been a hunka-hunka burning love.
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A lady of questionable virtue advises ...
"A little Dabo Swinney behind your ears will drive the guys crazy."
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Several readers have forwarded this heart-warming story ...
A former Sergeant, having served his time with the Marine Corps, took a new job as a school teacher, but just before the school year started, he injured his back.
He was required to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body. Fortunately, the cast fit under his shirt and wasn't noticeable. On the first day of class, he found himself assigned to the toughest students in the school.
The smart-aleck punks, having already heard the new teacher was a former Marine, decided to see how tough he really was before trying any pranks. Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, the new teacher opened the window wide and sat down at his desk.
When a strong breeze made his tie flap, he picked up a stapler and stapled the tie to his chest.
..... Dead silence ...
He had no trouble with discipline thereafter
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Okay, I'm gullible ... but I choose to believe this story from a reader ...
I handed the teller at my bank a withdrawal slip for $400.00. I said "May I have large bills, please"
She looked at me and said "I'm sorry sir, all the bills are the same size."
TAX PLANS & SWEET DREAMS ...
SAYING "NO" TO FREELOADERS
Check back with me in a couple of years, but I reluctantly conclude that we'll be extremely fortunate if even a few small pieces of any of the various tax reform plans by Cain, Romney or Perry are actually passed into law.
However cumbersome, convoluted or downright dumb much of our present tax law is, most people have structured their financial lives around the existing system, and all the lobbying effort and expense that have gone into it will not be readily abandoned.
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The secret of successful lying is an element of plausibility. B.O. tells Jay Leno he pays no attention to the race for the Republican nomination. Does that sound even remotely plausible? Of course not ...
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Another piece of gutless flip-flopping by Mitt Romney. He abandoned his earlier pledge to stand behind the effort to control government-employee union extortion in Ohio.
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Rasmussen poll numbers show only 18% of voters "strongly approve" of the job Obama-the-Fraud is doing.
More from Rasmussen. A huge majority of American voters oppose forgiving student loans, 66% to 21%. Even among voters under 30, the opposition to such a bailout is 60% to 22%.
Proving that most people understand the principle involved: If you doubt you'll be able to pay back a loan ... DON'T BORROW THE MONEY IN THE FIRST PLACE!
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Timeless wisdom ...
If your outgo exceeds your income ...
Your upkeep will be your downfall.
Europe is in the process of re-learning this lesson the hard way and we ... us ... U.S. ... are on the same path.
And yet society's parasites keep demanding "more, more!"
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Math test:
The Great Deceiver in the White House says we can save 400,000 (government) jobs if people making a million dollars at year paid just 1/2 of one percent more in taxes. That's .005. The Infernal Revenue service says 235,413 taxpayers earned more than $1 million last year.
You do the math. On an annual basis (because that's how our taxes are figured), how much would each of those jobs "saved" actually pay?
(Feel free to double, even triple, the imputed income numbers.)
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Question for San Francisco lib-media suckups: How'd you like Obama banning you from his big-buck fundraiser luncheon at a high-priced hotel yesterday? Doesn't your hero luuuvvv you anymore?
Is it too late for libs to admit that Martin Sheen wasn't REALLY the president?
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A reality check on liberal fantasies from Wes Pruden of the Washington Times ...
" The Arab spring that so seduced the easily-impressed in the West is turning out to be mostly the usual wishes and dreams. The imposition of sharia law is par for the course, surprising only those who imagine that Islam wants to be reformed."
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Tony Blankley puts in perspective the latest Hillary/Obama falsehoods ...
"We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue. ... The only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield." -- George Orwell, March 22, 1946
I offer up George Orwell's quote in possibly partial defense of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's assertion on "Meet the Press" that as the United States Government orders the final, complete retreat from Iraq, the United States government remains resolved to support Iraqi democracy.
Are Clinton's words designed to make lies sound truthful, or does she actually believe things she knows to be untrue?
Her statement is undeniably untrue. Our government has quite specifically given up its "resolve and commitment" to Iraqi democracy and to our own national security interests in the region. We have given up our armed force to resist the emerging armed forces of Iran and Turkey, and of Iraq's Kurds, Shia and Sunni militias. The Turks have already sent 10,000 troops into Iraq's Kurdish region to attack Kurdish terrorists.
Worse than a straight out lie about our dangers, I suspect that Washington is succumbing to a glutinous taste for self-delusion and denial. Thus, perhaps Clinton actually believes we have maintained our "commitment and resolve" in Iraq -- even as we slither away."
-- Townhall.com --
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By the way, just what did Hillary mean with her absurd statement, “We came…we saw…he died”? Maybe the wearing of a New York Yankees baseball cap by the Libyan who claims to have fired the fatal shot into Khadafy's head makes him part of a unified "we". I'm sure he'd be surprised.
In any case, she sounded ridiculous.
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Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan now says what readers of this modest little column have known for a long time. The European Union was doomed to fail from the start, because the cultural differences are too great. The idea that industrious northern Europeans would indefinitely support the more relaxed lifestyle of the southern Europeans was always absurd.
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From One Who's Had Enough of commercials produced by simpletons ...
"Will you urge people to join the campaign: write, call, badger, both local and national figures with any connection to radio and TV commercials...to...STOP THE (bleeping) MUSIC...!!! Every spot, every promo, every public service announcement has music behind it! First, the music is both unnecessary and obtrusive and distracting; second, it is invariably BAD music, usually from a cheap "library" of boring, lousy music; third, it is too frequently LOUD, covering whatever the message is SUPPOSED to be."
Vital and valid complaint. Creativity seems to be in short supply throughout advertising.
I have a sneaking suspicion many commercials are produced by low-level rookies with a sophomoric sensibility that somehow equates loud music with effectiveness.
In political advertising, you see none that rises to the level of the late Hal Riney's legendary "Morning in America" commercials for Reagan. (Mr. Riney also created the famous Bartles & Jaymes spots featuring the two codgers, Frank and Ed, as well as the Crocker Bank commercials that launched a hit song, "We've Only Just Begun".)
It would be refreshing to see/hear a commercial that featured a normal-looking human being with the product and simply saying, "This is a good gizmo. It does what it's supposed to do and you can buy it at a fair price."
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Speaking of advertising ...
Am I the only one who gets the impression that our military services are trying to transform their collective image into that of Boy Scouts? I refer to the Navy recruiting commercials like "A worldwide force for good", etc.
It's apparently become politically incorrect to recall the REAL purpose of the military, best expressed in the informal and unofficial slogan long used by the Marines: "We break things and kill people."
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Bernie Goldberg analyzes Obama's basic problem on the Fox News website ...
"He can’t brag about a low unemployment rate – not when it’s over 9 percent.
"He can’t boast about the growing economy, which is barely growing and may even slide back into recession.
"He can’t tell the voters about all the new, clean, green jobs he’s creating, because he isn’t. (Can you say Solyndra?) And perhaps you’ve noticed that he’s already stopped talking about how many millions of any-kind-of jobs his administration has “created or saved” and is now talking about all the jobs his policies have “supported,” whatever that means.
"So what can he do? Only one thing: Wage class warfare. Turn Americans against each other based on envy."
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The NY Post reports that Christiane Amanpour is unhappy with her ABC situation and is ready to return her plummy delivery to her old home at CNN.
Perhaps ABC isn't far-left enough for her?
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From Art ...
"Went on a horseback ride up into the Rockies during my recent Colorado vacation. Came upon a high mountain meadow and was thrilled to see a flock of Bighorn Dabo Swinney."
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Dan Sorkin provides today's travelogue ...
I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.
I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.
I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.
I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore.
I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.
I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.
Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older.
One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!
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Distressing news from reader Rick ...
"The cost of living has now gotten so bad that my wife is having sex with me because she can't afford batteries!"
- - - - -
Jimmy Fallon --
"Joe Biden said he hasn’t made up his mind about whether he’ll run for president in 2016. Which raises the question: “Who was raising that question?”
ELECTRIC CARS = THE
JUICE RACKET ... MORE OBAMA SCAMS
Did anybody really expect Jay Leno, comedian by trade, to do a probing, serious, hard-hitting interview with Obama? Puh-leeze ...
Realistic expectations are in order.
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Perhaps Mitt Romney should ask himself whether the very public involvement of a McCain (in this case, daughter Meghan McCain, RINO-plus) in his campaign will get him enough independent votes to compensate for the conservative votes she may cost him?
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If you weren't already annoyed enough at the stupid idea of Obama's Department of Energy under the strange Mr. Chu trying to hand over more multi-millions to an electric-car company in Finland, this should bring you up to quota.
Forbes, the business magazine, ran a for-real test of the efficiency of this latest "hybrid" and found that after you made the essential calculation of how much energy is lost in the conversion of power from the gasoline engine to the electrical storage batteries, the REAL gasoline mileage is worse than the city mileage of the big ol' Ford Explorer SUV.
Face it: your government is being run by a bunch of people who are either stupid, crooked -- or both. And based on the Solyndra scandal and others still bubbling just below the surface, Mr. Chu's Energy Department has the largest concentration of them. They're ripping us off -- big-time. And they have to be trembling at the prospect of a Republican Congress and White House and the special prosecutor who may quickly follow next year's election.
Footnote to Forbes' investigation of the Fisker (of Finland) boondoggle --
"Ray Lane, Chairman of Fisker Automotive, did an interview in 2009 praising the Obama Administration as the first time he has seen government successfully making private investments. His one example: Solyndra!"
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Today's must-reading ...
TOWNHALL.COM ... Victor Davis Hanson ... "Global Warming -- RIP".
It's about the death of one of Obama's favorite stupid "Hope and Change" causes.
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"The same day that the president announced a student-loan relief program in Denver, the University of Colorado announced a 9 percent tuition increase. If nothing else, we appreciate the irony."
-- James Robbins, Senior Editorial Writer, the Washington Times --
- - - - -
What happens when you elect a bureaucracy-loving President and Congress ...
· The Federal Register has increased in size from some 11,000 pages in the 1950s to about 80,000 currently -- 3,500 new policies have been adopted in the last three years alone.
- Additionally, 4,257 new policies are currently in the pipeline to adoption.
We can only guesstimate how much of this is a result of finding make-work jobs for loyalist party flunkies.
I recently talked at length with a longtime Chicago businessman, whose tales of payoffs, bribery and assorted examples of government corruption would fill a book. And since Chicago IS the template for the Obama administration, the experience of doing business in that city is ... illuminating.
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Headlines tell of vagrants and criminals grabbing food at the fast-shrinking "Occupy" sites. A clear case of the shiftless stealing from the brainless.
- - - - -
THE HILL newsletter notes an increasing use of the term "Republican Congress" by Obama, Biden and their stooges. As usual, Democrats are either (A) stupid or (B) lying. I vote for the latter.
For the benefit of recent recipients of what passes for public education, Congress consists of both the House and the Senate. The Senate is controlled by Democrats.
The preceding was a public service message.
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Watch this scenario unfold ...
How long before Janet Napolitano, feckless head of the equally-feckless Department of Homeland Security, gets caught up in the same web of lies that has Attorney General Eric Holder in a sweat?
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Survey (Gallup) says ...
Three-quarters of Americans OPPOSE the banning of handgun ownership.
It appears that, despite all the hype for more gun control by media and so-called "educators", people have reached the sensible conclusion that it's better to be armed than to be a victim.
We residents of Arizona, where anyone without a felony conviction can carry a gun, understand well the time-honored saying, "An armed society is a polite society."
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An ad hoc survey request brings this question ...
When undergoing a routine physical, have you been asked if you keep a firearm in your house? Seriously.
Just trying to confirm reports that the government, in the guise of a health survey, is trying to identify all gun-owners.
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Guns, PS: A new Gallup Poll says 43% of American women report a gun in their home or somewhere on their property. That number is up seven percentage points, from 36% in 2010. Men were even more likely to say their household has a gun. This year 52% of men reported a gun in their house or on their property.
- - - - -
Some -- not me -- may find reason to agree with death-penalty opponents on moral grounds.
But one thing even the most ardent opponent must concede: it certainly lowers the recidivism rate.
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Insane increases in the cost of college continue. Latest figures show an increase of 8.3% in the past year at public universities.
There is -- and will be -- no incentive for the faculty and administrative personnel to control costs, because they know that a largely gullible public will always ante-up more tax dollars when they start whining about "cuts" to education.
Therefore, the great American sucker -- er, TAXPAYER -- gets what he/she deserves if no real effort is made to fight back against the self-aggrandizing "educators" who are apparently permanently attached to the public teat.
- - - - -
The Washington Times takes a skeptical editorial view of the "Arab Spring" ...
"The rise of the Islamists constitutes a major step backward for modernization and progress. Arab women are seeing their rights reduced, reversed or destroyed. Middle-class businessmen will find it more difficult to interact with the global economy. Religious minorities, primarily Christians, are being subjected to increasing violence and intimidation. When Foggy Bottom simply natters about “cultural contexts,” the signal to the extremists is “full steam ahead.”
"There is no strategic upside in any of this change for the United States. The new post-authoritarian Islamist governments will have no particular affinity for America or its values.
"The Arab Spring is rapidly turning into an Islamist Winter."
- - - - -
Jim sees (another) contradiction in Washington's behavior ...
"If the argument against states, cities, counties enforcing laws against Illegal aliens is a problem with lower-level governments interfering with FEDERAL laws ...
How about this: If I try to pass a fake $20 bill, must local or state cops ignore that? It is a FEDERAL matter, right?"
- - - - -
Conservative columnist John Podhoretz of the NY Post looks upon the Republican race with dismay ...
"Memo to the Republican field: You’re running for president. Of the United States. Of America. Start acting like it. Stop proposing nonsense tax plans that won’t work. Stop making ridiculous attention-getting ads that might be minimally acceptable if you were running for county supervisor in Oklahoma. Stop saying you’re going to build a US-Mexico border fence when you know perfectly well you’re not going to build it.
"Give the GOP electorate and the American people some credit. This country is in terrible shape. They know it. You know it. They want solutions. You’re providing comedy."
- - - - -
Saw it again ... in the WSJ, no less. A reference to a politician "honing in" on a particular issue. Wrong. "Honing" is what you do to sharpen a blade. In this context, the word is "homing" in, from the navigational use of a radio beacon to "home in" on the destination, by air or by water.
- - - - -
From Sheila ...
A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day... 30,000 versus a man's 15,000. The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men."
The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?"
- - - - -
Jay Leno --
"A Libyan rebel has admitted to killing Moammar Gadhafi. He said he shot Gadhafi twice in the temple, to which Michele Bachmann said, 'I didn't even know the guy was Jewish'."
...and more Leno --
"We had President Obama on the show last night. I think the president enjoys visiting NBC because we're the only place that has lower numbers than he does."
THE "HATE CONGRESS" SMOKESCREEN ...
THIRD-PARTY THREAT
The liberal media weasels continue to defend their hero by pointing to polls that show that Congress -- AS A WHOLE -- is even more unpopular than Obama. That is totally irrelevant, and I suspect some of the "journalists" know it.
Irrelevant because people don't vote on the Congress as a whole; they vote for or against their own single representative. They may detest the entire body, but the results repeatedly show that they vote for their own incumbent. That is true even in years of upheaval like last year.
This whole phony "controversy" is generated by the slavish media trying to obscure the unpopularity of a failed president. They don't want to admit he's a failure, because that would be admitting their own foolishness and complicity in getting him elected.
- - - - -
The liberal Washington Post is leading the pack of Democrats in a tizzy over Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.
As Human Events puts it ...
"This time, the Washington Post wants to make the case that Marco Rubio could be a risky Vice Presidential pick for the GOP.
"Seriously.
"We have a President of the United States who, for twenty years, worshiped in Jeremiah Wright’s church, had his house paid for by Tony Rezko, claimed his uncle freed Jews at Auschwitz, snorted cocaine, and got other key biographical details wrong and the Washington Post never seemed to think he was too risky.
"There really is more of a story here than the Washington Post lets on.
"Everyone knows that despite Rubio’s denials he is every Republican’s first choice for Vice President. The left cannot abide the first Hispanic Vice Presidential candidate being a Republican."
- - - - -
It has often been observed that if you follow socialism to the left and fascism to the right, eventually you will come full circle as they meet and become indistinguishable. That is an apt description of Obamanomics. His obsession with equality of outcome, regardless of effort or talent invested, sounds socialistic. Certainly the government takeover of General Motors aligned with the socialist goal of government ownership of "the means of production."
Yet government control of business thru regulation has a far larger impact on our overall economy than the molding of GM into Government Motors. This is precisely the kind of control over the economy practiced by the two poster-boys of 20th century fascism, Hitler and Mussolini. They rigged the marketplace in favor of large but docile corporate giants. If you doubt the reference to Fascist Germany and Italy in the 1930's, a short reading of history will make it clear.
The thousands of pages of new U.S. government regulations and often what amounts to market-rigging in less than three years of the Obama regime has established the new standard: government control of the economy with or without direct ownership.
The results are clear in the economic devastation that surrounds us.
- - - - -
Interrogation, Libyan style ...
Abuzed Omar Dorda, Khadafy's former intelligence chief, has been seriously injured while being questioned in the custody of the Libyan National Transitional Council. Indications are he was thrown out a window.
Wonder if such tactics would clear up Solyandra, "Fast and Furious", et al?
- - - - -
Call it flip-flopping or back-tracking, but Romney's tap-dancing around another faux pas. Campaigning in Ohio Tuesday, he wouldn't endorse Governor Kasich's position on cutting the power of government employee unions to bankrupt the state -- which he'd already endorsed a few months ago. Then, feeling the heat from conservatives, he flipped again ... said he hadn't understood the question ... and RE-endorsed it.
Most Republicans still feel uneasy about Romney, hence his inability to rise above about 25% in polls of Republican voters. And many have reservations about Cain being up to the Big Job. And many have given up on Perry as hopeless.
So the Republican headaches continue ... with comfort to be found only in the recognition that any of them would be a vast improvement over the anti-American demagogue now holding forth.
- - - - -
The lingering hope for Democrats is that Ron Paul will launch a third-party campaign for president. They haven't forgotten that it was Ross Perot's similar effort that put Bill Clinton in the White House.
- - - - -
Burt Prelutsky with thoughts on our social circles ...
"When you're a conservative, it's just about impossible, unless you're the sort of person who wins million dollar lotteries, to not have some friends and relatives who are liberal. The secret, I've found, to maintaining even slightly cordial relationships with them is to never share your honest opinions about anything important, sliding through social occasions discussing the weather, sports and, well, more weather.
"The truth is I have removed a fair number of people from my social circle over the past few years simply because they support Barack Obama's policies and respond favorably to his race and class warfare rhetoric. That may strike some people as petty and intolerant, but what would it say about me if I associate with people whose beliefs, values and behavior, I abhor?
"Liberals are by nature bullies, which is why in Hollywood, they openly boast about blacklisting conservatives and why, in Washington and the mass media, they bludgeon Republicans who stand by their principles, referring to them as fascists, racists, obstructionists and hostage-taking terrorists."
- - - - -
A TIME magazine poll (are they still printing that rag?) finds that Hillary would run far stronger against the likely Republican candidates than would Obama.
Does that sound somewhat like the old truism that the most popular man in almost any NFL stadium is the back-up quarterback?
- - - - -
Can we expunge from the language the word "fairness"? It is subject to -- and only to -- subjective definition. In other words, fairness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
It is especially cringe-inducing to hear hypocrites like Obama berate the productive half of society that pays virtually all the federal income taxes for not being "fair" to the freeloaders who pay none. But thus is the way of the demagogue. And bet on it: not one in a dozen of his sheeple even know the meaning of the word "demagogue".
- - - - -
A bow to Thomas Lifson of The American Thinker for excavating the numbers and showing that the top ten celebrity supporters of the ridiculous "Occupy" movement have a net worth of over a billion dollars.
Would that make them part of "the evil one percent"?
- - - - -
Dan the Man sends me a sign I think I'll start posting at the top of this column. It'll say, "THIS COLUMN IS PRIVATE. DO NOT READ".
Is there a better way to insure it'll be read?
- - - - -
Derin Holdsworth, 28, went for a drive. At 128MPH. Police have charged her with speeding
The topless and drunken woman led police on a car chase along route 422 at speeds of up to 128mph before surrendering to officers.
Police have charged her with drunk driving, refusing a blood alcohol test, fleeing and eluding, criminal damage, driving under a suspended license, speeding and reckless operation.
At the time of her arrest, she was wearing only a G-string, fishnet stockings and high heels.
And they arrested her.
Bigots.
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From Colorado Springs, the distressing story of 24-year-old Kevin Gaylor, whose girlfriend was away for the night. So he had an internet chat with another woman and they decided to hook-up. She was to come over at 3AM. The girlfriend unexpectedly came home shortly before that time.
Uh-oh.
When the other woman arrived, Kevin called the police and reported her as a burglar. Clever. But his story didn't stand up to police investigation and he's been charged with filing a false report.
No word on the reaction of the girlfriend.
- - - - -
Len the haiku-guy makes a contribution to our cultural mini-craze ...
Buy Dabo Swinney.
Lather it on, then Sauna.
Oooohhhh, I'm Dabofied !!!
- - - - -
The Sky Guy with today's bible esson ...
Q: Who's the patron saint of email?
A: St. Francis of a CC.
THE 'OCCUPY' ROLE MODELS ... PREDATORY
POL PREVARICATIONS
Life among the "occupiers": Arrests for public masturbation ... defecating on people's doorsteps and police cars ... sexual assault of a fourteen-year-old girl ... procuring other teenagers for prostitution ... living in filth ... fights over (Soros?) money ... fights even over what they want -- other than other Americans giving them stuff for "free".
Since they're fighting among themselves, might it not be a good idea to arm them so they can finish the job and thus improve the gene-pool?
And these pathetic fools think they're some kind of representative of the American public and the "wave of the future"? The idea that some media whores are buying into this nonsense, and even helping create it, should make you more than ever wary of the lying rectal orifii who report the "news", to say nothing of the Democrat politicians who think they can ride this barbaric parade to some kind of election victory.
Who are these pathetic cretins befouling the landscape? Even the liberal bible, the New York Times, has some unpleasant revelatory findings ...
"Costas Panagopoulos, a professor of political science at Fordham University, recently conducted a survey of the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York.
"Dr. Panagopoulos described the protesters as 'disgruntled Democrats.' Sixty percent of those surveyed said they voted for Barack Obama in 2008, and about three-quarters now disapprove of Mr. Obama’s performance as president.
"In the survey, 80 percent described themselves as liberal; half of those said they were extremely liberal."
- - - - -
Catch this on ABC News? --
"At a million-dollar San Francisco fundraiser today, President Obama warned his recession-battered supporters that if he loses the 2012 election it could herald a new, painful era of self-reliance in America."
Self-reliance?! What an awful thing!!
- - - - -
Irony abounds. John Arnold is a Houston billionaire and former Enron trader. He and his wife are hosting an Obama fundraiser with Michelle Obama at their home. Some local Houston Democrats are upset.
It's Tuesday night. Mark your calendar.
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More irony. America's television networks, too squeamish to show U.S. citizens leaping to their death from the roof of the World Trade Center to escape the fire, have no problem showing the corpse of Muammar Khadafy as they lament the manner in which the evil SOB got his lights turned out.
So he got his warped brains blown out! Show of hands: who cares?!
- - - - -
A wisp of wisdom from George Will on the continuing ethanol scam ...
"Government subsidizes ethanol production, imposes tariffs to protect manufacturers of it and mandates the use of it — and it injures the nation’s and the world’s economic, environmental, and social (it raises food prices) well-being."
By the way, Romney's FOR all that -- except when he's AGAINST it.
- - - - -
Mittens flip-flops again. Having earlier bought into the "global warming" myth, and learning belatedly that the conservative voters he needs aren't so gullible, his latest line is, "My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet.” How can a man so bright in many ways be so stupid in others? Oh, well ... better a lesson learned late than never. Or has he learned it, or only SAYING he's learned it? With Mittens, you never know.
Let us admit it: while most of us who detest the man will, if driven to the choice, vote for Romney over the Marxist Muslim now in office, Mittens is -- take your choice -- an unprincipled "bend with the wind" politician or a bald-faced liar never to be trusted.
But he does have great hair.
- - - - -
The media suck-up line of the week comes from Jonathan Alter, certified Obama butt-kisser, who delivered this line in Bloomberg News: "President Barack Obama goes into the 2012 with a weak economy that may doom his reelection. But he has one asset that hasn’t received much attention: He’s honest." HONEST?!
- - - - -
Reader Angela offers this quote from George Orwell ...
"TRUTH -- It's the new hate speech. During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
- - - - -
Jon Huntsman, the former Obama ambassador to China and pretend-Republican presidential candidate, is running a TV ad that shows Romney alongside (split-screen) a back-flipping mechanical monkey. The comparison is apt, but being consistently unable to top 1% in the polls should be a message to Jon-boy to stop wasting time and go home.
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Snowstorms in the Northeast ... New York expecting earliest heavy snowfall in history.
Global warming, of course ...
- - - - -
It's settled. This year's St. Louis Cardinals WERE destiny's children. My great-aunt Eula, in her 90's, will be celebrating the World Series championship of her beloved Redbirds at least until noon Wednesday.
- - - - -
If you're a football fan, mark it on your calendar. No matter what the BCS says/does, the REAL national championship game is one week away ... LSU at 'bama.
I'm not a betting man, but if I were ... LSU.
- - - - -
Monopoly is a dangerous game. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, 60-year-old Laura Chavez was playing Monopoly with her 48-year-old main squeeze, Butch Smith. An argument arose, possibly over the lethal Boardwalk-Park Place combo ... Laura accused Butch of cheating, then busted him over the head with a beer bottle and proceeded to cut him up with a knife. Hospital reports indicate he may have been too drunk to feel much pain. Anyway, the lovely Laura was arrested.
No word as to whether she had a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.
- - - - -
Jim Eason provides proof of the hazards inherent in making predictions ...
Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances."
- - Dr. Lee DeForest, "Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television."
"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives."
- - Admiral William Leahy , US Atomic Bomb Project
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
- - Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers ."
- - Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
- - The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
- - Bill Gates, 1981
" This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
- - Western Union internal memo, 1876.
"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible,"
- - A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
- - Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
- - Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value,"
- - Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre , France.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
- - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.
"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself."
- - the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
- - Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
- - - - -
Words to live by (original version) from FDR ...
"We have nothing to fear but fear itself. And big dogs."
- - - - -
A spelling lesson from reader Gary ...
The last four letters in "American"...............I CAN
The last four letters in "Republican".............I CAN
The last four letters in "Democrats".............RATS
- - - - -
Deep thinking from Jane ...
"Mid-life means that you become more reflective. You start pondering the 'big' questions. What is life? Why am I here? How much Healthy Choice ice cream can I eat before it's no longer a healthy choice?"
LYING ABOUT LOANS ... MUSLIMS:
"CATHOLICS, GIVE US YOUR SCHOOLS!"
Is there any limit to the lies Barack Obama expects Americans to swallow? Saying that forgiving loans of taxpayers' money to deadbeats in the student loan program will cost those same taxpayers nothing? He obviously assumes we're idiots. Try not paying the bank after twenty years of your thirty-year mortgage and see how THAT works out!
This obviously points to a new career for the charlatan after he's evicted from the White House. Used-car salesman in Tijuana.
- - - - -
The arrogance of many Muslims is ... well ... staggering. Heard their latest complaint? Some who (say) they want to attend a Catholic University, which is also NAMED Catholic University, are upset (they say) by the fact that there are crosses and other religious imagery on the premises and want them removed!
This kind of behavior only happens because we have a stupid, cringing government that's led them to believe they can dictate to others what religious symbolism (i.e., Islamic) will be tolerated.
Remember: Obama TOLD us in one of his books (or, at least, one with his name on it; ghostwriter not credited) he would "stand with the Muslims." So what else should we have expected?
We desperately, desperately need a political leadership that will tell these arrogant bullies that if they don't like America's religious diversity and a people who can choose not to worship their interpretation of Allah or Muhammad, they have to get the hell out! We've put up with far too much of this nonsense, much too long.
The mushhead liberal dopes who do want to tolerate this kind of abuse, given the logical outcome, will be among the first to lose contact with their own idiotic heads.
- - - - -
A reader passes along comforting words for Obama Democrats ...
President Obama has confidence that he can win the 2012 election despite his low poll numbers.
Well, of course he can win.
Who needs good poll numbers when you have voter fraud, election fraud, polling station intimidation, no ‘ID’ requirements on election day, registration fraud, ‘activist’ transportation of Liberal voters on election day with beer and cigarettes for ‘correct‘ vote commitment, union transportation of ballot boxes, union members counting ballots, Chicago style vote counting (two for me, one for thee), computer hacking of voting machines and brainwashing of millions of voters in believing that they will remain on the entitlement bandwagon as long as he is president. And NEVER forget that tens of millions of voters vote the straight Democrat ticket, no matter what ignorant, self-indulgent, delusional dimwit is running.
- - - - -
Re the Jet Blue plane that held passengers on the ground with no water for seven hours: The CEO of any airline that does such a thing should be prosecuted for kidnapping and imprisoned. Watch the problem disappear immediately! Does no member of Congress have the guts -- or sense -- to push for such an approach?
- - - - -
The mountain of lies upon which the "global warming" myth was built is steadily eroding. But we must count on the British media, like London's Daily Mail newspaper, to tell us what the whiny, sold-out American media won't ...
"A wildlife scientist, whose report on dead polar bears in Arctic waters became a rallying call for climate change campaigners, will face a lie detector test as part of an investigation by federal agents.
"Jeffrey Gleason, who co-wrote a 2006 report highlighting the danger posed to the animals by melting ice, will take a polygraph over alleged scientific misconduct connected to the study."
Game's over, Al. Take the money you wheedled from suckers and run!
- - - - -
Victor Davis Hanson in National Review Online takes the measure of the White House Nag ...
"It was wise late in the 2008 campaign to suggest that Michelle Obama cool it and retrench a bit. There had been one too many “raise the bar,” one too many “downright mean country,” one too many “for the first time in my adult life I’ve really been proud . . .” whines, and the picture was emerging of one who had become increasingly angry since her undergraduate days in direct proportion to the privileges extended her.
"Now she’s back on the campaign trail, and for some reason is returning to the same hardball politics. The other day, she thundered, “Will we be a country that tells folks who’ve done everything right but are struggling to get by, ‘Tough luck, you’re on your own’? Is that who we are?'
"Given that the federal budget has increased by $2 trillion in just a decade, entitlements are at record levels, and this administration is now running $1.5 trillion annual deficits, it is hard to imagine that any government has told anyone 'tough luck.'
"And when Ms. Obama charges, 'Will we be a country where opportunity is limited to just the few at the top? Who are we?' one wonders, why, then, in the past three years of hard times, did she insist on vacationing, in iconic fashion, at Vail, Martha’s Vineyard, and Costa del Sol, the tony haunts of 'the few at the top'?"
- - - - -
Here is a reminder of how media distortion of the popular culture -- primarily TV -- misleads people and spreads falsehoods.
A couple of years ago, I was stunned when, in a discussion of some minor issue, a friend with years as a big-city reporter said, "Thus-and-so could/would/should be done because, after all, half the population is black."
This was obviously absorbed from the very media culture that this person had helped create. And FAR from correct.
Just for the record, figures from the U.S. Census show the following:
White Americans (non-Hispanic/Latino and Hispanic/Latino) are the racial majority. The White, not-Hispanic or Latino population comprises 66% of the nation's total.
Hispanic and Latino Americans compose 15% of the population. Black Americans comprise nearly 13% of the population.
Slice it any way you like, but Caucasian Americans comprise a huge majority ... a growing Latino population is second ... and black Americans are third, with Asian-Americans far back in fourth place, less than 5%.
This is not to prove any point, just to set the factual record straight.
- - - - -
A sensitive "journalist" asked rocker, hunter and rock-star Ted Nugent, 'What do you think is the last thought in the head of a deer before you shoot him? Is it, 'Are you my friend?' or is it 'Are you the one who killed my brother?
Nugent replied, 'Deer aren't capable of that kind of thinking. All they care about is, what am I going to eat next, who am I going to screw next, and can I run fast enough to get away. They are very much like the Democrats in Congress.'
- - - - -
More pertinent than ever ...
"When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation!"
- - - - -
Britain's big Telegraph newspaper has collected some pungent observations in readers' notes to the editor, many of them very similar to what you might expect from Americans. For example ...
" I can’t get excited about these students protesting. Compared to the demonstrations in 1968, this lot are pussycats. Most of the students in 1968 got arrested, injured or laid, and in some cases, all three."
" May I suggest that if the police are to use water cannons to disperse rioting students, they include some soap in the tank?"
"Silvio Berlusconi’s doctor is quoted as saying that the Italian premier may be 74 years old, but he is as robust as a 60 year old and capable of having sexual intercourse five times a day. I am 60 years old. Who’s going to break this to my wife?"
" Ken Clarke (Brtish conservative member of parliament) says I can now stab burglars. That’s fine but it leaves blood all over the carpets. Can I electrocute them instead?"
"Am I alone in being appalled by your decision to publish the expression “get your ass in gear” in a letter by Admiral Sir John Woodward? Rather than that lamentable Americanism, you should have deployed the good old English word arse. For shame."
"I usually enjoy reading about dead people and your obituaries page normally gives me the great pleasure of knowing I have outlasted them."
- - - - -
It was a Dabo Swinney user who invented the sport of overhand bowling.
- - - - -
Words that sound the same but aren't: "Peaked" and "piqued". The former is often used when the latter is meant, e.g., "My curiosity was peaked." No. Piqued.
- - - - -
Pun-time ...
There were three pregnant squaws. One slept on a deer skin, the second on an elk skin, and the last on the skin of a hippopotamus. The first two gave birth to baby boys. The third squaw gave birth to twin boys. This proves that the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sum of the squaws of the other hides.
- - thanks, Peter -- and you're under arrest! - -
- - - - -
Deathless quotes from great athletes ...
Joe Jacobi, all-pro lineman during the Redskins' glory years: "I'd run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl,"
Matt Millen, then of the Raiders said, "To win, I'd run over Joe's Mom, too."
And ... It was a player from North Carolina State who proudly announced, "I can go to my left or right, I'm amphibious."
"MODERATES" SAY HE CAIN'T WIN ... CAN
GOVERNMENT LIE & DENY?
Will anyone be surprised if the media expresses far more interest in allegations that Herman Cain made passes at a couple of women back in the late '90's than they ever showed in the activities of the perpetually and aggressively horny Bill Clinton?
Of course, since he's a conservative, behavior that would roll off a liberal like water off a duck's back becomes a serious problem for Cain.
Recollections of the bogus hearings and unproven charges aimed at destroying Judge Clarence Thomas -- and nearly did -- are unavoidable.
Somewhere, Mitt Romney is smiling.
- - - - -
None should be surprised that Apple Corp. has more money in the bank ($81,500,000,000 -- that's $81 1/2 billion) than the U.S. government. And, unlike the unprincipled crooks in Washington, Apple had to earn the money thru business, rather than just printing more paper.
- - - - -
Democracy is in serious trouble when a President can not only claim the authority for himself and his lackeys to lie about misfeasance or malfeasance within his administration, but actually assert a right to lie that evidence needed to pursue criminality can be hidden by claiming that it never existed in the first place. And there are scurrilous Obama supporters, unaware or unconcerned about the possibilites for corruption and tyranny this unleashes, who support such blatant subversion of principle.
- - - - -
Michael Goodwin of the NY Post with something you may not know about the "Occupy" rabble ...
"A radical group called the Alliance for Global Justice is legally sponsoring the protest. By lending its tax-exempt status -- for a 7 percent cut! -- the global-justice group allows donors to deduct their contributions from federal taxes and gives its own board control over the money.
"The alliance, based in Washington, is a hotbed of far-left causes that range from backing hunger strikes in California prisons to denouncing the CIA and oil companies. Its Web site says the group sponsors operations in the Gaza Strip, with Hamas, and boasts of an alliance with Anarchists Against the Wall, which contests Israel’s security barrier in the West Bank.
"The group suggests it has a relationship with Iran, supported the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua and expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez against the United States.
"For the 7 percent fee, it offers its tax-exempt status to “grassroots nonprofits” and provides payroll services, liability insurance and prepares federal tax forms. It also offers “activist training” -- which is like job training without an actual job."
If you've harbored even latent sympathy for this "movement" (which should be preceded by the word "bowel") is this not enough to make you feel like a stupid dupe?
- - - - -
Rick Perry's latest TV ad claims he's a "doer, not a talker." For better or worse, in our political system you have to be able to talk before you get the chance to "do".
If Governor Perry thinks he could "handle" Barack Obama in a debate, as he's also said, he's deluding himself. Obama would eat him alive because among the Big O's few skills is the ability to lie glibly and with confidence.
- - - - -
Here's what one "progressive" piece of Obama nonsense accomplished. The person who calculated this bit of information is now and has been a professor at The University of West Virginia in for the last forty some years.
A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of gas a year.
A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons of gas a year.
So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.
The government claims 700,000 clunkers have been replaced so that's 224 million gallons saved per year.
That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.
5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption.
More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel (the price then) cost about $350 million dollars.
So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.
We spent $8.57 for every $1.00 we saved.
Not only that; the “Clunkers” turned in were all destroyed, raising the used car market prices for the lower-income folk this administration pretends to help.
I'm sure they will do a better job with our health care, though. Aren't you?
- - - - -
Does the extravagant and perpetually angry Michelle Obama make anyone who isn't an avid Democrat long for the dignified demeanor of Laura Bush or Nancy Reagan? Of course, judged by the standards set by Mrs. Bill Clinton and Rosalynn Carter, Michelle fits quite well.
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David Catron in The American Spectator spotlights yet another example of pure liberal silliness ...
"Last week I received an email from a cycling group to which I belong. It was marked "urgent" and its subject line read as follows: "Federal Bike Funding Under Attack Again." It implored me to contact my elected representatives in Washington and demand that they oppose an amendment introduced by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to the Transportation Enhancements program. Never heard of TE? Well, it's administered by the Federal Highway Administration and provides funding for the "provision of pedestrian and bicycle facilities," among other things.
"Most 'progressives', including the journalists and politicians who promote their clueless agenda, come from upper middle class environments where everyone is pretty comfortable. Few have ever had a close relationship with anyone who does not enjoy a good deal of disposable income.
"'Progressives' in general, and the OWS demonstrators in particular, are utterly incapable of grasping the blindingly obvious reality that life in a world of finite resources requires us to make trade-offs. Indeed, they don't understand that taxpayer revenue is a finite resource."
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ESPN advises that some NFL fans in the home cities of losing teams -- Indianapolis, St. Louis, et al -- have a new chant. Hoping their teams will lose ALL remaining games in order to be able to draft Stanford's hot quarterback, Oliver Luck, they chant, "Suck for Luck".
These simple-minded dopes apparently don't realize that, however inept some of them may be, the present players are professional, which means they earn their livelihood by risking their bodies week in and week out. If these dolts among fandom had a functioning brain, they'd realize that no career athlete is going to say, "Okay, I want to give the team first choice in the draft, so I'll deliberately play badly and end my OWN career."
Speaking of career-enders, think Jerry Jones will clean house in the Dallas Cowboys locker-room at the end of this season? The Double-J man cannot be pleased with the lame performance of his lads last night in Philadelphia.
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A reader whose name is withheld to protect the guilty takes the Dabo craze to a conclusion ...
" In the film, 'The Living Daylights', the James Bond girl, Kara Milovy, opposite Timothy Dalton, was played by Maryam D’Abo.
"In 'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call', Antoinette was played by Lauren Swinney.
"If these two ladies married (possible in some states) we’d have ... Maryam...D’ABO...SWINNEY.
This contributor will be stripped of his citizenship and deported.
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Dabo Swinney, one of the more colorful names to be encountered in sports, has seen his team's chance to play for a national championship evaporate. To satisfy the mystified, Mr. Swinney is the coach of the previously unbeaten Clemson Tigers. Alas, they lost Saturday to the Ramblin' Wreck from Gawgia Tech, 31-17.
We hope by now that some reader of this screed has informed Coach Swinney of the prolonged innocent fun we've had with his name, all done with the greatest respect. But it IS a great name! Perhaps the best since the immortal Throckmorton Philharmonic Gildersleeve.
(Personal note: In the early days of my broadcasting career, I worked for a couple of weeks with Willard Waterman, the second (after Hal Peary) to play The Great Gildersleeve. Mr. Waterman died at age 80 in Burlingame, California, in 1995. He was a fine fellow.)
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An irredeemable reprobate reports ...
"I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness."
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"...and now, if you'll excuse me..."