MARXIST MAYDAY MOBS ON PARADE ...
"WAR ON TERROR" TERMINATED? HARDLY ...
"RULE OR RUIN" REPUBLICANS DELUSIONAL
"WAR ON TERROR" TERMINATED? HARDLY ...
"RULE OR RUIN" REPUBLICANS DELUSIONAL
It's May Day. The day all the communists -- by whatever name they choose to use -- come out to play. Don't let the media coverage of various demonstrations, which will mostly be admiring, deceive you; this is the worldwide holiday for the crazies who want universal submission to their mad fantasies.
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It's a very serious indication on a very serious matter that the Obama administration is far, far out of touch with mainstream America.
Last week an Obama administration spokesman declared -- seriously -- that the war on terror is over. Rasmussen Survey says ... just 11% of likely U.S. Voters agree. Seventy-nine percent (79%) say that war, declared after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America, is NOT over.
It'd better not be. A newly-discovered cache of Al Qaeda plans includes a plot to take over a cruise ship and execute passengers one-by-one until terrorist leaders held captive are released.
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How Obama's stupidest political move yet looks from across the Atlantic. Tim Stanley of London's Telegraph newspaper ...
"Barack Obama’s 'I Shot Bin Laden!' ad might be the worst political move he’s ever made. It tops the list because, unlike his many other foul-ups (50 percent structural youth unemployment, skyrocketing debt, supporting post-birth abortion), this is a rare example of him getting something completely right and then turning it into something horribly wrong. The man is so politically tone deaf he makes Joe Biden look like Machiavelli."
But what else could have been expected from a graduate of Chicago's School of Thug Politics?
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The "rule or ruin" mentality evident in all presidential elections is on more flagrant display than usual this time around, with the second option being the more likely outcome if the "hate Romney" mentality prevails among quasi-Republican voters. It is evident that some frustrated supporters of Santorum, Gingrich and Paul would rather see Obama re-elected than vote for Romney.
They may get their way, but they may not like what follows. Some are so delusional that they really expect an Obama second term would inevitably lead to his ousting, followed by a triumph of one of their failed heroes. That's a good bet only if you like really, really long odds.
It should be remembered that Ross Perot supporters unquestionably gave us Bill Clinton in the White House. And what happened to Mr. Perot? He sank from sight in the political world, and followers who thought their man had all the answers were left with their unrequited love.
Footnote: For three years I've heard regularly from silly souls who rally around the word "impeachment." Their ignorance is appalling. Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives. That is the equivalent of an indictment. But not all indictments lead to conviction. In Clinton's case, the Senate, in the role of jury, did not convict and therefore did not remove him from office. Therefore, his impeachment did not yield the desired result.
Are there really people so foolish as to believe the necessary two-thirds vote in a Democrat-majority Senate could be obtained in order to remove Obama from office? Apparently so. Two words for those so misguided: Grow ... up!
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A reminder about polls during the frenzy of a presidential election year. Self-selecting polls, i.e., those in which readers/viewers/listeners are invited to respond, are totally meaningless. By their very nature they reflect the inherent biases of the medium conducting the survey. They are about as reliable as, say, a poll of their own members by a political party. They emphatically do not represent the legitimate views of a reasonable cross-section of the voting public.
For example, a poll of Rush Limbaugh listeners and another taken among MSNBC's small coterie of leftist viewers will inevitably bring totally opposed results. Neither will be an accurate representation of the overall citizenry.
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At one of his endless string of fundraising events, Obama claimed that he's running "for Clinton's third and fourth terms." Funny, he didn't make such a claim four years ago when he was running against Hillary.
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Full credit to Obama for total accuracy in this statement: "There are going to be some Supreme Court appointments probably if you look actuarially for the next president. There's so much at stake here."
There certainly is. Given those likely appointments over the next four years, an Obama re-election would result in a court resembling a Saul Alinsky fan club.
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Victor Davis Hanson (National Review Online) addresses that perennial political parasite, a whoring media ...
"Romney’s great hurdle will be the media’s role as interpreter of the economy. A few examples: In 1992, GDP growth would end up averaging 3.4 percent under George H.W. Bush; however, Bill Clinton and the media were able to persuade Americans by November that such growth was tantamount to a near-depression, and we heard that “it’s the economy, stupid!,” and that we were in the worse economic shape than at any time since the Great Depression. Last year GDP growth averaged 1.7 percent. John Kerry ran on widely circulated media reports of a “jobless recovery”, although the unemployment rate for 2004 would end up at 5.4 percent (the most recent quarterly figure for 2012 is 8.2 percent.) In August 2008 Obama tagged George W. Bush as “unpatriotic” for running up the debt, apparently because in the prior year the U.S. ran a $162 billion annual deficit; in 2011, the last full year before this November’s election, Obama’s annual deficit was $1.3 trillion."
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Condoleezza Rice as a VP candidate alongside Romney? No. While she has many admirable traits and Washington experience, I suspect that Romney and his campaign advisors would take a dim view of offering swing voters anyone linked to President George W. Bush.
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Arnold Ahlert (Frontpagemag.com) casts a skeptical eye on the Obamas' freeloading lifestyle ...
"A series of upscale vacations, substantial portions of which are underwritten by taxpayers, continue to be an integral part of the Obamas’ lifestyle.
"Few reasonable Americans begrudge 'down time' for the president or his family. Yet at a time when the word “staycation” has become an increasingly familiar part of the American lexicon, one might think a president who both vilifies the rich and reminds Americans that he wasn’t born ”with a silver spoon in my mouth” might be a bit more sensitive to the kind of vacations taken by the president and his family.
"In a rather odd way, he is. When the president’s 13-year-old daughter, Malia, took a Spring Break trip to Mexico with 12 of her friends and 25 Secret Service agents–one that reportedly cost taxpayers $2.5 million–it was covered by the mainstream media. AFP filed the initial report, and the story was subsequently picked up by Yahoo, the Huffington Post, and the International Business Times, as well as foreign publications, such as Daily Mail, the Telegraph and The Australian.
"Yet by the same evening, all of the stories had been removed from each of those sites. The updated links either directed one to a site’s home page or 404 error pages, reading 'page not found.' What happened? The White House got a compliant media to scrub the story."
The Obama appointee who planned that big GSA party in Las Vegas may have spoken for the whole Obama team, starting with the family, when he said, "Let's enjoy it while we can."
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Nobody should be surprised to learn that former presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton had one thing in common. They both detested Jimmy Carter.
Reviewing the new book, “The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity,” the NY Post finds former White House staff personnel even use the word “treason” to describe Carter’s actions.
Surprisingly, the book was written by Time magazine’s Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, from a publication that can rarely print an unkind word about any Democrat.
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If Muslim crazies can't find anyone else to fight, they fight among themselves. Saudi Arabia has broken relations with Egypt, closed its Cairo embassy and recalled its ambassador.
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The behavior of certain Secret Service agents in Colombia inspires the excavation of a piece of history involving other government employees, as Wesley Pruden (Washington Times) recalls ...
"The Army, in one little-known asterisk to war, once operated a brothel. Sydney Hyman, the distinguished historian and a speechwriter for JFK, landed in Tunisia with the U.S. 1st Armored Division in 1942 and when the division overran one town it inherited several bordellos that townspeople regarded as public utilities, like water and electricity. The Army was stumped until Mr. Hyman was assigned to find a solution, 'one that would keep the women employed until we moved on but not bring down on us the wrath of the mothers of America.' He came up with the device of issuing admission cards, suitable for punching, to every GI, entitling him to 'Target Practice on the Range.' Who could object to careful aim? Problem solved. The Army soldiered on. The rest is history."
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Katherine and her husband saw this bumpersticker on a logging truck in
Oregon ...
"Earth First - then we'll log the other planets".
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As his official spokesperson, I'm pleased to announce that my dog Calvin appreciates the good wishes for the leg surgery he faces tomorrow. His ACL will be repaired using 250-pound-test fishing line, which the vet says has been found to be the best replacement. In about eight weeks he'll return to his career as an aspiring politician, racing to shake hands with everyone he encounters. Kissing babies, human and canine, is also high on his priority list.
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Jimmy Fallon's birthday greeting to a competitor ...
"Happy Birthday to Jay Leno, who turns 62 years old. I don’t want to say he’s getting old, but when I visited his garage, 30 cars still had their left blinker on."
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John forwards tales from the real lives of police officers ...
#1 -- While taking a routine vandalism report at an elementary school, I was interrupted by a little girl about 6 years old. Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked, 'Are you a cop? Yes,' I answered and continued writing the report. My mother said if I ever needed help I should ask the police. Is that right?' 'Yes, that's right,' I told her. 'Well, then,' she said as she extended her foot toward me, 'would you please tie my shoe?'
#2 -- It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking, and I saw a little boy staring in at me. 'Is that a dog you got back there?' he asked. 'It sure is,' I replied. Puzzled, the boy looked at me and then towards the back of the van. Finally he said, 'What'd he do?
OBAMA'S MIDNIGHT RUN TO KABUL ...
PELOSI'S PALS IN "OCCUPY" TRASH S.F. ...
NO REPAYMENT FROM GOVERNMENT MOTORS
PELOSI'S PALS IN "OCCUPY" TRASH S.F. ...
NO REPAYMENT FROM GOVERNMENT MOTORS
So now our "trainers" and Special Forces are committed until 2024 to stay in Afghanistan and prop up Karzai's corrup government and serve as target-practice for the Taliban. Just ... brilliant.
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Obama's victory dance over the killing of Osama bin Laden is phony -- and transparent to those who bother to look, as James Robbins explains in a Washington Times editorial ...
"According to a memo from then-director of the Central Intelligence Agency Leon Panetta, obtained by Time magazine, the most critical decisions were delegated to Adm. William McRaven as the head of Joint Special Operations Command. 'The timing, operational decision-making and control are in Adm. McRaven’s hands,' Mr. Panetta wrote.
"All Mr. Obama did was approve the 'risk profile,' the broad framework of the operation. Had things gone wrong, the buck would have landed on Adm. McRaven’s head. In any case, it is unseemly to talk about the president’s 'courage' when the real courage was demonstrated by the special operations forces who actually undertook the mission. They are the men with the claim to bravery, not anyone sitting safely in Washington, D.C."
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Rasmussen Poll headline: "56% of Women See Presidential Candidates’ Wives As Important to Their Vote." Anyone think that might've been a factor in the Gingrich flame-out? I'm hardly a representative poll, but I've yet to hear or read an admiring word about Callista.
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Jay Leno --
"The Secret Service has withdrawn its protection of Newt Gingrich in advance of him formally announcing the suspension of his campaign. His Secret Service protection was costing us $44,000 a day. I guess they figured it wasn't worth it anymore to protect Newt from all the people trying to ignore him."
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Speaking of Newt ... do the people who are owed money by his campaign -- the people who've provided services like printing, signs, buttons, etc. -- really expect they'll ever be paid?
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I've learned that one way to probe the malfunctioning minds of activist-minded liberal sheeple is to simply read their responses to news and commentary in the publications that should -- and largely do -- attract their attention.
Having pursued this course of research over a long, long time, the conclusion is inescapable. The liberal herd is primarily made up of pseudo-intellectual sheeple, losers for the most part, who are susceptible to the manipulative blandishments of their "leaders" who march them in lock-step to the polls in order to continue their grasp on the levers of power over the public purse.
One might ask, for example, how many of these sophomoric dunces have noticed that, over this prolonged period of Obama decline, the legally-mandated reporting (for now) of net worth of elected politicians shows that Nancy Pelosi, one of the larger feeders at the public trough, has seen her own net worth increase by millions of dollars?
Go ahead, gullible little libbies; check for yourselves!
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After the riots in San Francisco's Mission District, we can presumably expect another statement of support and affection for the "Occupy" mob from Nancy Pelosi, the Congresswoman from the world's largest outdoor lunatic asylum, S.F.
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In an Obama campaign ad, leftist shill actor Tom Hanks says GM has repaid the money it got from taxpayers.
That is a lie.
It hasn't. Not even close. In fact, of all the government-favored companies that got government bailouts, GM is still the biggest debtor and is still on the dole as Obama continues to buy votes from the Autoworkers Union, the main beneficiary of his largess with taxpayer money.
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Reader Bill reminds us of a timeless quote from Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels ...
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
More Goebbels gems that are applicable today ...
“If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. ”
"It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion."
“The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.”
“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
“Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state, for every form of power politics and any dictatorship-run state has its roots in the street.”
Were his tactics successful? Consider it: Germany at the time was the best-educated and one of the most "civilized" countries in the world. And yet its populace succumbed to the Nazi madness.
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"Unemployment may remain a problem to many Americans, but that only provides another occasion for the Obama administration to show its "compassion" with extended unemployment benefits, more food stamps and various interventions to save home buyers from mortgage foreclosure. This can easily be a winning political strategy.
"The Obama administration has turned this into a handout state that breaks all previous records. Lofty rhetoric about 'stimulus,' shovel-ready projects,' 'green jobs' or investment' in 'the industries of the future' all give political cover to what is plain old handouts to people who are likely to vote to re-elect Obama." -- Thomas Sowell, Investors Business Daily
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Those who need it most won't heed Roger L. Simon's words from PJ Media; others should ...
"Socialism is a rich man’s game. And I’m not just talking about Hollywood, where George Clooney is full steam ahead on a putative record-breaking ten million dollar fundraiser for Barack Obama, or the laughably meretricious theatrics of the “Buffett Tax” that no one would pay anyway, but across the nation.
"What Obama promises – especially in his second term — is a socialism of permanent elites, a kind of new, very American, version of the old Soviet-style nomenklatura. And those who are in it will get to stay in it (via government support) as social mobility, aka the American Dream, diminishes or disappears.
"This was what socialism ultimately was all about, indeed is all about, the preservation of nomenklaturas, whether of Hollywood, the media, union, and bureaucratic leadership or what remains of selected industry. Keep hoi polloi out.
"Liberals and progressives, who so often congratulate themselves on their generosity and social consciences (while consistently giving less to charity than conservatives), need to wake up. As the Soviet Union demonstrated – nomenklaturas only have so much room. Ultimately, they implode."
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Reader Wes has it right ...
"You have to look on the bright side of the announcement of the end of the war on terror. If it's true, the TSA should all be fired."
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The Sky-Guy submits Murphy's Car Laws ...
If you are stuck in a traffic jam, you move to the fast lane it will become the slowest lane.
The car keys are always in the pocket of the hand that is the fullest.
When you waive the extra car insurance, your rental car will be vandalized.
If there is no traffic there will be roadwork.
No matter the length of your cars warranty coverage, on that day the warranty expires your car will break down.
When your car breaks down and is a small repair, the mechanic has to remove the engine to get to that part.
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Tragic news from Poland, where Marek (the lout) broke up with girlfriend Anna. Anna happens to be a dentist, and Marek had been a regular client. So, seeing no reason to sever their professional relationship, Marek returned after the breakup for a routine dental procedure.
Mistake.
Anna numbed his mouth ... and proceeded to pull ALL his teeth.
Anna said, "I tried to be professional, but when I saw him lying there I just thought, "What a bastard!"
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Jimmy Kimmel --
"I hosted the White House Correspondents' Association Dinnert. The entertainment was me and President Obama. He was very funny, and made jokes about the fact that he ate a dog. Some people thought it was undignified for the president to joke about that. Personally, I feel like once you eat a dog, dignity is pretty much out the window. Get what you can out of it."
"I KILLED BIN LADEN! VOTE FOR ME!" --
OBAMA ...
SEEKING FREEDOM? DON'T TURN TO AMERICA ...
BELITTLING THE BUCK; DOLLAR CONTINUES TO SHRINK
SEEKING FREEDOM? DON'T TURN TO AMERICA ...
BELITTLING THE BUCK; DOLLAR CONTINUES TO SHRINK
Every woman's dream-come-true romance ...
White girlfriend to Barack Obama: "I love you."
Obama: "Thank you."
From " Barack Obama: The Story," by David Maraniss.
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"I’ve had enough of: I’ve had enough of using terrorism as a wedge issue in our politics. I’ve had enough of that. I’ve had enough of that. You know, I – I don’t know about you, but I think the war against terrorism isn’t supposed to crop up between September and November of even numbered years, and yet that seems to be the pattern. There is a sudden burst of activity, a sudden urgency about this whole thing three months before an election every other year.” -- Senator Barack Obama, September 17, 2006, in Indianola, Iowa.
So said the man who just made a midnight campaign trip to Afghanistan, continuing to brag about killing bin Laden as if he'd pulled the trigger himself. The man who, a year ago, was saying it would be "unseemly" to "spike the football" -- over-celebrate -- the killing of the mass murderer. Now it's his only issue to get re-elected.
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"For years before he became President and then on the campaign trail in 2008, Obama railed against and denounced the very policies and procedures that ultimately led to the Bin Laden kill. The capture and kill of Osama bin Laden was ten years in the making. And during those years, Barack Obama excoriated George W. Bush for "enhanced interrogation techniques" and waterboarding three (!) top jihad killers. Thousands of lives were saved, but Obama cared more about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's sore nose. Now he is taking credit for those very things?" -- Pamela Geller, AmericanThinker.com
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My friend John Parker reflects on May Day, which the "Occupy" thugs and other assorted left-wing mobs just celebrated ...
"You are right about the craziness on May Day. As a former radio intercept analyst (electronic communication spy) in the Air Force, I can report that everyone worked on that special day. The commies would get so drunk they would often send out classified information in plain text rather than take the time to encode it. It was always our biggest intelligence gathering day."
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No surprise that Obama's regime is selling-out blind Chinese opponent of the dictatorship there, Chen Guangcheng, who escaped from the Communist government and sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy. Take an unprincipled government -- ours -- and add a burden of debt to China plus a gutless leadership in Washington and the outcome was easily foreseen. A blind man who speaks out against a brutal dictatorship asks the U.S. to save him and we throw him to the wolves. Makes you proud to be a 'merican, doesn't it? This Obama/Hillary bunch gives whores a bad name.
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The lying by "global warming" fraudsters never ends. Australia, which has been a hotbed of such nonsense, provides the latest example. With reality exposing the "warming" scam-artists, some have been caught in a monstrous lie, claiming that evil opponents of their conspiracy have issued death-threats. An investigation reveals that no such threats ever occurred.
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The Southwest Regional Director of the EPA who endorsed crucifixion as a way to set an example for oil company executives who disagree with some of the insane environmentalist opposition to drilling did resign.
Nevertheless, this is a very minor satisfaction, since the mentality that spawned such idiocy still pervades that mesbegotten agency. And the crackpots that head other government departments are still endangering the nation. People like Eric Holder at the Justice Department, Kathleen Sebelius at Health & Human Services, Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security, et al.
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Thomas Sowell gets to the bottom line regarding business taxes ...
"A small headline in the 2nd section of the Wall Street Journal last week told a bigger story than a lot of front page banner headlines. It said, 'U.S. Firms Add Jobs, but Mostly Overseas.'
"Just as there is no free lunch, there is no free class warfare. Some people may be inspired by President Obama's talk about making 'the rich' pay their undefined 'fair share' of taxes, or taking away corporations' 'tax breaks.' But talk is not always cheap. It can be very costly to those working people who are looking for jobs that the Obama administration's anti-business policies are driving overseas."
Reality check: There are few things made in this country that can't be made elsewhere, and it defies common sense to believe that customers, in the U.S. or abroad, are going to pay a dollar for an American-made item when an identical product made elsewhere can be had for half the price.
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If you don't think Obama, Bernanke and their platoons of stooges have seriously reduced the value of the dollar (and if you haven't learned that already at the supermarket) either visit a foreign country and try to spend the once-treasured U.S. greenback or go to any currency exchange site on the internet and compare the rate versus any major -- or minor -- foreign currency.
Example: For many years, it took 315 Japanese yen to buy one American dollar. This morning, the rate is 80 yen to the dollar.
By the way, I've often heard media people who should know better refer to the yen as Chinese money. It is not. China's currency is the yuan.
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Freedom of speech is under attack in Tunisia. It may be recalled that last year's so-called "Arab Spring," which captured the fantasies of the American left, began in that Arab nation. Only people as stupid as American leftists could have believed any other outcome possible. Islam and freedom of expression cannot co-exist. Nowhere. Ever. No chance.
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Who can understand the art world? Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” sold for a record $119,922,500 at auction in New York City. Yet I've found no buyer for my painted Elvis on velvet. Or my classic, "Dogs playing poker."
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Last week's "Bring Your Child to Work Day" resulted in a learning experience for some youngsters whose parents work at the State Department. Their visit included attendance at a press briefing. The major subject: the Secret Service scandal involving prostitutes in Colombia.
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The cable news race is no race at all. The latest ratings show Fox News with more than three times as many viewers as CNN.
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Who are the wealthy "one percent" that the whiny left despises? Economist Prof. Walter Williams pulls back the curtain ...
"Loudoun County, Va., has a median household income of $119,540, making it the nation's richest county. Virginia's Fairfax County is next, with a median household income of $103,010; the median price of a house is $507,800. Third is Howard County, Md., where the median household income is $101,771. These three richest counties have seven nearby high-income neighbors, which include Arlington and Montgomery counties. The nation's richest counties are close to Washington, D.C., where people come to do good and wind up doing well for themselves.
"These 1 percenters are not wealthy right-wing Republicans; they are Obama's liberals. How can one tell? It turns out that seven of the 10 wealthiest counties in the Washington area voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008. These liberals portray themselves as 99 percenters when they are really 1 percenters. They're simply running a deceitful rope-a-dope, aided by the mainstream media, on the American people."
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A sincere thank-you to those kind enough to ask about my boy Calvin. The World's Greatest Dog came through his surgery well, although it is a sad sight to see a poor animal tethered to IVs and not knowing why. A couple of days in the animal hospital, then he'll be home to begin six weeks of rehab on his repaired knee.
In a sad footnote, his surgery was delayed for a couple of hours so the veterinary surgeon could deal, pro bono, with a pregnant dog who'd obviously been dumped on a road and hit by a vehicle. A caring person had stopped, picked her up and brought her in. The vet surgically delivered the puppies and repaired her several broken bones.
It's worth repeating: People who abuse animals will likely, sooner or later, abuse other people.
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A crime report from New Jersey features a 27-year-old man who has clearly chosen the wrong line of work. He broke into a parked car and hid in the back seat floor until the owners, sisters aged 93 and 94, returned from shopping. He then pulled a knife and demanded the keys, intending to steal the car.
Instead of cooperating, the elderly sisters fought him until he ran away, to be caught later by police.
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Another misguided malefactor is the man who exposed himself to a woman ... at the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind.
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Sam, who periodically peruses these pronouncements, asks, "If Americans won't do manual labor, who are the shovel ready jobs for -- Manuel?"
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News from the animal kingdom ...
A lost parakeet was found in a suburb of Tokyo and returned to its owner when the bird told police his address. The owner, a 64-year-old woman, had previously lost another parakeet and, determined that it not happen again, had taught her new bird to speak his address.
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Reader Stanley takes note of some timeless quotes ...
Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself, 'Lillian, you should have remained a virgin.' - Lillian Carter (mother of Jimmy Carter)
Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement. - Mark Twain
Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year. - Victor Borge
I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury. - Groucho Marx
I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back. - Zsa Zsa Gabor
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you. - Winston Churchill
And the cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good, spit it out.
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John forwards this brief but painful exchange of communications ...
Wife texting husband at work. "Windows at home frozen - what should I do?"
Husband - "spray some de-icer or pour hot water on them"
Wife a few minutes later - "Done that - now computer won't work at all"!
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Jimmy Kimmel --
"The Octomom, who filed for bankruptcy, has agreed to star in an adult film. How is it possible that the Octomom resorted to porn before she resorted to "Dancing With the Stars?"
"SWIFTBOATING" OBAMA ...
"FORWARD" -- FAVORITE SLOGAN OF TYRANTS ...
CHINA AND RUSSIA OPENLY CONTEMPTUOUS OF B.O.
"FORWARD" -- FAVORITE SLOGAN OF TYRANTS ...
CHINA AND RUSSIA OPENLY CONTEMPTUOUS OF B.O.
It was bound to happen. Veterans of military service in Iraq and Afghanistan are organizing a media attack on Obama's self-aggrandizing campaign claiming credit for bin Laden's whacking. A year ago, Obama denounced the very political tactics (re bin Laden) that he's now using. Maybe he doesn't believe the polls that have him winning, when every aspect of his performance as president is viewed negatively and the "country headed in wrong direction" polls continue to multiply. All of which would seem to make the likelihood of his re-election ... counter-intuitive. He's another Jimmy Carter, ready to topple if Romney pushes hard enough.
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Obama's new campaign slogan, "Forward," is only missing Mao Tse Tung's prefix, "Great Leap" which motivated the Chinese to kill educated people and even led to children turning in their parents if they said an unkind word about Chairman Mao.
In fact, the idea for "Forward" as a political device has a considerable history. It was also used by the "Hitler Youth" movement and Lenin's communist revolution. It seems the dumb beasts who make up the rank-and-file of such atrocities never bother to ask, "Forward to what?"
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Russia's top general says their military will launch pre-emptive attacks on U.S.-built NATO missile defense sites in Eastern Europe if they don't get their way.
Yes, Barack. The "Reset" and the other suck-up tactics really work with those Russian thugs, don't they?
Clearly, the Russian and Chinese leaders have figured out that Obama is a pushover. His behavior resembles that of the punk who tells the bully, "I'm drawing a line right here. Don't you dare cross it."
The bully boldly crosses it and asks, "So what're you gonna do now?"
"Well, I'll draw another line back here."
Etc., Etc.
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Wes Pruden of the Washington Times summarizes the performance of the U.S. government in the case of the blind Chinese man, Chen Guangcheng, forced to leave the U.S. embassy and left to the tender mercies of the Chinese government ...
"The U.S. State Department says it did nothing to force Mr. Chen to leave the embassy, which is something the Chinese government devoutly wanted. But the State Department is stuck with the reputation for weakness, vacillation, hesitation, mendacity and shilly-shallying it has earned over the years, so most of us take the account of friends of Mr. Chen as the straighter goods."
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Consider it: Everyone knows that the greatest threat to this nation is Islamic militancy. Yet the Obama administration demands that our military schools purge their curricula of anything that might speak ill of that fanaticism. Clearly Obama meant it when he wrote, "I will stand with the Muslims."
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I note that a New York Times spokesparrot for Obamunism refers to Arizona's law that attempts to compensate for the federal government's unwillingness to enforce its own immigration rules as "mean-spirited."
Since I live about a half-hour from the Arizona border with Mexico, I would like to invite this dumb sow down for a visit and educate her about the criminal depredations that take place along the border every day. The shooting at Border Patrol and other law enforcement personnel ... the killing of ranch livestock ... the carnage committed against the environment ... forest fires ... the car theft and other crimes. All of which seems to have escaped the notice of the dummy at the Times.
Sorry if that seems mean-spirited to you -- you stupid (expletive).
- - - - -
The fiery Ann Coulter takes on the lunacy that IS our immigration policy ...
"Our official policy is to turn away scientists in order to make room for illiterate Pakistani peasants who will drop out of high school to man coffee carts until deciding to plot a terrorist attack against the United States. That's this week's immigration poster boy, Najibullah Zazi.
"Zazi's own step-uncle said of him: 'He was a dumb kid, believe me.' Our immigration officials said, WELCOME, ZAZI!... Oops, sorry Swedish scientists and nuclear engineers -- no room for you. In February, Zazi pleaded guilty in a plot to bomb the New York City subway.
"One of his co-conspirators, Zarein Ahmedzay, was welcomed from Afghanistan to America because he was willing to do a job no American would: drive a cab. Where are you going to find an American with a driver's license?"
"Democrats look at immigration as a way to increase their voter rolls, and Republicans look at immigration as a way to get cheap labor for big business. Any Americans who disagree with our all-Third World immigration flow are called 'racists.'"
- - - - -
How can Obama make any legal commitment to extend billions of prolonged financial support to the Karzai Korruption Kabal in Afghanistan without the approval of Congress, which is supposed to approve any such treaty?
Of course, the counter-argument is that our cowardly Congress has abdicated its responsibility for declaring wars, and left it to the courts to make decisions on issues which the spineless twits in both the House and Senate studiously evade.
- - - - -
Victor Davis Hanson neatly summarizes the dubious accomplishments of the Klown Kollege Kabinet Obama has assembled ...
"Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has overseen some $5 trillion in new debt. To help pay for it, he wants the rich -- the top 1 percent already contributes more in income taxes than does the bottom 90 percent -- to pay more for what he calls 'the privilege of being an American.'
"Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has pulled off the near impossible: At a time when the known gas and oil reserves of the United States on public lands have soared, he has cut back on federal leasing of them to just about 2 percent of available offshore lands and 6 percent of onshore.
"Then there is the even stranger case of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, whose department helped oversee millions in bad loans to green companies like Solyndra, First Solar and Solar Trust of America.
"Attorney General Eric Holder dropped charges against the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation. That may explain why he said nothing when the same group put out a dead-or-alive bounty poster on George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin shooting case. Holder's department is suing the state of Arizona for passing a law to enforce the largely unenforced federal immigration law. Holder suggested that the Arizona law was racially inspired even as he admitted that he had never read it."
The frightening thing is that there are millions of dunces in this country who want this out-of-control regime to continue for another four years. Should that be the case, I will take it as the conclusive answer to my view that this nation may just be too stupid to survive. If such should occur, I'd suggest a final group chant: "Ancient Rome, here we come!"
- - - - -
One can only wonder if a week of bungling, stupid quotes from Congressman Pete Stark, concluding with his statement that the failed Solyndra solar-panel company was making electric cars, is enough to convince his San Francisco Bay Area constituents of what others have known for years: the man is a total head-case raving nutjob.
- - - - -
The 9/11 attacks seem to have brought out more latent anti-Americanism. The U. S. Religion Census finds that Islam was the fastest growing religion in America in the last 10 years, with 2.6 million living in the U.S. today, up from 1 million in 2000.
- - - - -
Ron Paul supporters will not likely be surprised to hear that his son, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, is making all the moves that would indicate he will continue the family campaign in the next presidential election.
The Senator was subjected to what he called an "invasive" TSA search at an airport recently and missed his flight as a result. Consequently, he has launched a campaign the shut down the TSA Gestapo; put it out of business.
His statement: “It’s time to END the TSA and get the government’s hands back to only stealing our wallets instead of groping toddlers and grandmothers.”
- - - - -
Jeffrey Kuhner summarizes Obama's trip to Afghanistan in order to deliver a speech to voters back here ...
"The speech was a cheap publicity stunt - political theater masquerading as statesmanship. Mr. Obama was not there to mark America’s victory in Afghanistan or to boost the morale of our soldiers. Rather, his message was aimed at the electorate back home. Opinion polls show that nearly 75 percent of Americans oppose the war in Afghanistan. His aim is to convince them he is a successful commander in chief - that under his leadership, the Taliban have been routed, al Qaeda has been smashed and our troops are (eventually) coming home.
"There is one problem with Mr. Obama’s narrative: It is a lie."
- - - - -
Jimmy Fallon --
"A new survey found that a third of Americans would not be able to pass the U.S. citizenship test. It's a real insult to our Founding Fathers — Denzel Washington and George Jefferson."
- - - - -
If you are undeterred by either argument or conscience from a particular course of action, it may be said that you are not FAZED ... not PHASED, as I recently saw in print.
- - - - -
An update on the injured mommy-dog mentioned yesterday. Despite the best efforts of the veterinary surgeon, she died. Four of her puppies were safely delivered during surgery, a fifth is not doing well. But the good news is that the four baby border collies already have homes.
... and ...
Todd writes about yesterday's item regarding the injured and abandoned dog ...
"Your piece on the abused dog brought to mind something I’ve said for a long time regarding the term 'animal rights.' The issue is not framed properly. The question should not be, 'Do animals have rights?' To anyone who knows the definition of rights, obviously animals do not, since they can neither take responsibility for their actions nor can they make and keep agreements. The way it should be phrased is, 'Do we, as people, have the right to be gratuitously mean to animals?'
"The answer to that is an unqualified 'NO.'"
- - - - -
BMW, the auto and motorcycle manufacturer, is being sued by 52-year-old Californian Henry Wolf, who claims that riding his BMW motorcycle gave him an erection that lasted twenty months.
Sales of BMW motorcycles are expected to skyrocket.
- - - - -
Today's column would have been longer, but I needed the time to emulate Obama and make up a composite of former girlfriends.
You know ... rich ... genius IQ ... gorgeous with just a touch of nymphomania leavened with a soupcon of sainthood. And ... oh, yes! ... "a voice like wind-chimes."
Perhaps I will call her ... oh, Genevieve.
More details as I dream them up ...
- - - - -
Jay Leno --
"President Obama has come up with a new campaign slogan — "Forward" — that's the slogan. And believe me, if unemployment doesn't improve by November, it'll be 'Forward my mail.'"
- - - - -
Len gives us this touching story of good husband ...
A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching his wife, who was looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for her birthday.
"I'd like to be eight again," she replied, still looking in the mirror .
On the morning of her birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Coco Pops, and then took her to Adventure World theme park. What a day! He put her on every ride in the park: the Death Slide, the Screaming Roller Coaster ... everything there was.
Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down. He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake.
Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&M's. What a fabulous adventure!
Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted.
He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being eight again?
Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed. 'I meant my DRESS size, you (expletive)!!!!'
PASS THE (Cinco de) MAYO ...
OBAMA'S JULIA IS A SICK JOKE ...
FIGURES LIE AND LIARS FIGURE RE ECONOMY
OBAMA'S JULIA IS A SICK JOKE ...
FIGURES LIE AND LIARS FIGURE RE ECONOMY
To a neighbor, new to the southwest, who once asked, "When is Cinco de Mayo?" ... it's today. Sometimes called "The Mexican-American Rosh Hashanah."
- - - - -
If this doesn't creep you out ...
The Obama production of a slide-show about a fictional woman named Julia, whose entire life is directed and "protected" by a benevolent Big Brother government of the sort envisioned by Barack Obama and every socialist demagogue who ever existed. Social programs, free birth control, with the government raising her child when she finally decides to be a mother. Daddy seems to be absent. Cradle-to-grave government dependence. Frightening.
The message is clear. Women are helpless without an eternal Barack to guide them.
If the American people have any sense left at all, this paen to an all-knowing, all-controlling big government will backfire, bigtime.
- - - - -
Regarding Julia, the Obamunists' latest campaign creation ...
David Harsanyi (Human Events) writes “Who the hell is ‘Julia,’ and why am I paying for her whole life?” It’s a fair question. According to Obama’s campaign website, someone enrolls Julia into a Head Start program. The government provides her with contraception until she decides to have a child. She has no parents. She has no husband. She suckles the teat of government her whole life, from delivery room to death panel.
- - - - -
The inimitable Mark Steyn's take on Julia ...
"Have you dated a composite woman? They're America's hottest new demographic. As with all the really cool stuff, Barack Obama was doing it years before the rest of us. In 'Dreams from My Father,' the world's all-time most-unread bestseller, he spills the inside dope on his composite white girlfriend:
"'When we got back to the car she started crying. She couldn't be black, she said. She would if she could, but she couldn't. She could only be herself, and wasn't that enough...'
"But being yourself is never going to be enough in the new composite America. Last week, in an election campaign ad, Barack revealed his latest composite girlfriend – 'Julia.' She's worse than the old New York girlfriend. She can't even be herself. In fact, she can't be anything without massive assistance from Barack every step of the way, from his "Head Start" program at age 3 through to his Social Security benefits at the age of 67. Everything good in her life she owes to him.
"She's not competent to do a single thing for herself – and, from Barack's point of view, that's exactly what he's looking for in a woman, if only for a one-night stand on a Tuesday in early November."
- - - - -
The government and Obama's propaganda machine keeps telling you the economy is improving, but your own observations and common sense tell you otherwise. What's going on? The Washington Times explains ...
"The White House crowed on Friday about the unemployment rate dropping a 10th of a percent. At the same time, the number of people out of the labor force reached a record high. The Obama administration can report all the funny numbers it wants, but the American people know in their guts that things are getting much worse.
"A recovering economy is supposed to create jobs, not shed them. According to government math, 115,000 new jobs were added in April. But over the same period, 522,000 people dropped out of the labor force and were not counted as unemployed. This accounting trick improved the official unemployment rate but left America with a record 88.4 million in the uncounted jobless category. Currently, over 35 percent of Americans are out of the labor force, and the number is increasing."
In short, the government bureaucracy is flat-out lying to you. They're giving you/me/us the old mushroom treatment. You know: keep 'em in the dark and feed 'em bull(bleep)!
- - - - -
Veterans for a Strong America is the organization of former military personnel from the Navy SEALS and Special Forces units who are planning to give Obama an even harsher going-over than the pompous braggart John Kerry got when his Swiftboat adventures in Vietnam were exposed. This isn't going to be pretty, but it IS going to be interesting. A cringing communist stooge confronted by American warriors. Perfect.
- - - - -
Columnist Diana West addresses the memo to military officers from the obviously politicized Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, likening it to something from the classic sci-fi movie, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" ...
"In this memo, our highest-ranking military officer orders the entire United States military to purge its educational and training classes, files and rosters of instructors to ensure that no members of the U.S. military are ever again instructed in the basic principles of Islamic jihad. The body snatchers call such allegedly offending educational material 'anti-Islam,' but it covers study of Islamic-style war. Given the unchecked threat of such war, both violent and covert, to spread Shariah (Islamic law) until a new global caliphate exists, the question is whether eliminating instruction in the enemy threat doctrine is something that a "normal" Joint Chiefs chairman would do."
-- (Townhall.com) --
And the Obama sellout to crazed Muslims continues.
- - - - -
Our neighbor to the north is becoming penniless.
Canada has decided to stop minting the one-cent coin because it costs more to make that it's worth.
Expect yet another attempt to abandon the penny in this country.
One thing that can be expected in Canada and eventually here: businesses will round their prices UP to the next five-cent coin, not down.
The price of copper has skyrocketed, so the copper mines near my Arizona home are working full-tilt, with around-the-clock operations.
- - - - -
It isn't a sure-thing prediction, but a good bet that the Romney VP choice will come down to the states the possible choices represent as much as the individual contenders. Think Ohio, Florida and -- maybe -- Virginia. All three are vital to Republican success in November.
- - - - -
Democrats persist in the delusion that raising the minimum wage will improve the lives of those whose limited skills make them only marginally employable. In the real word (as opposed to liberal fantasies) the actual result is always the same: employers who might have previously hired those "marginals" simply conclude that they are not worth the higher wage -- and don't hire them.
If more Democrats knew a bit about the realities of business rather than being immersed in idiotic and failed leftist ideology, they would cease and desist -- except, of course, for their hunger for votes from the easily deluded.
- - - - -
The two most hypocritical words in the modern political lexicon are "fair share." When some freeloading deadbeat who pays no taxes but sucks-up my own "contribution" via various government freebies then blathers about me -- or any other taxpayer -- not paying a "fair share," I have to stifle the temptation to do something physical and violent.
- - - - -
Charles Krauthammer dissects the Obama campaign ...
"The entire Obama campaign is a slice and dice operation, pandering to one group after another, particularly those that elected Obama in 2008 – blacks, Hispanics, women, young people – and for whom the thrill is now gone.
"What to do? Try fear. Create division, stir resentment, by whatever means necessary – bogus court challenges, dead-end Senate bills and a forest of straw men.
"Why else would the Justice Department challenge the photo ID law in Texas? To charge Republicans with seeking to disenfranchise Hispanics and blacks, of course. But in 2008 the Supreme Court upheld a similar law from Indiana. And it wasn't close: 6-3, the majority including that venerated liberal, John Paul Stevens.
"Moreover, photo IDs were recommended by the 2005 Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by Jimmy Carter. And you surely can't get into the attorney general's building without one. Are Stevens, Carter and Eric Holder anti-Hispanic and anti-black?"
- - - - -
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, the former House Speaker, has asked Obama to stop the raids by federal authorities on medical marijuana shops; asked it in the name of "respecting states' rights." Interesting, considering that she wants Arizona's enforcement of immigration laws curtailed as being an intrusion by a state on federal jurisdiction.
- - - - -
Memos written by the late Osama bin Laden show that the mass murderer-terrorist was an admirer of the CBS and ABC news operations but became hostile toward MSNBC when they fired a man who was apparently one of his favorites, Keith Olbermann.
This is outrageous, of course, because in his listing of American news sources he liked, he left out NBC, mommy-network of MSNBC and now the biggest shill for left-wing craziness in the entire Big Media spectrum.
Osama bin Laden also supported the "Arab spring" movement that so enchanted the American left. The result, of course, has been increased power for Islamic fanaticism in those countries. So, again, liberals find themselves in good company.
- - - - -
Reader Art takes note of a threatening case of misspelling ...
"In light of your interest in wordplay, I'd like to share an interesting homophone boo-boo I ran into yesterday. I was walking past a day spa and read their poster advertising their Spring Special Pedicure. The treatment included:
Lemon Thyme Foot Bath
Sugar Scrub Exfoliation
10-minute Foot Massage
CALLOUS Treatment
I thought a more sensitive attitude would have been appropriate ..."
Indeed. That may have been intended as a reference to CALLUSES on feet. Or not.
- - - - -
She was in a Florida jail.
He came to visit her. And apparently figured she was horny.
So he whipped it out to show her on the closed-circuit video feed that enabled them to communicate.
He apparently didn't realize that guards also monitored the video circuits.
They were no amused. Now HE'S in jail.
Perhaps she'll visit him ... and ... reciprocate? We await developments ...
- - - - -
Herewith, a fable of the old west, with a moral ...
An old prospector shuffled into town, leading a tired old mule. The old man headed straight for the only saloon in town, to clear his parched throat. He walked up to the saloon and tied his old mule to the hitching post.
As he stood there, brushing some of the dust from his face and clothes, a young gunslinger stepped out of the saloon with a gun in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other.
The young gunslinger looked at the old man and laughed, saying, "Hey old man, can you dance?"
The old man looked up at the gunslinger and said, "No son, I don't dance... never really wanted to"
A crowd had gathered as the gunslinger grinned and said, "Well, you're gonna dance now!" and started shooting at the old man's feet.
The old prospector, not wanting to get a toe blown off, started hopping around like a flea on a hot skillet.
When his last bullet had been fired, the young gunslinger, still laughing, holstered his gun and turned around to go back into the saloon.
The old man turned to his pack mule, pulled out a double-barreled 12 gauge shotgun and cocked both hammers. The loud clicks carried clearly through the desert air.
The young gunslinger heard the sounds too, and turned around very slowly.
The crowd watched as the young gunman stared at the old timer and the large gaping holes of those twin 12 gauge shotgun barrels.
Quietly the old man asked, "Son, have you ever kissed a mule's ass?"
The gunslinger swallowed hard and said, "No sir ... but ... I've always wanted to."
There are a few lessons here:
* Don't be arrogant.
* Don't waste ammunition.
* Whiskey makes you think you're smarter than you are.
* Always make sure you know who is in control.
* And finally, Don't screw around with old folks; they didn't get old by being stupid.
- - - - -
Cindy Adams --
"America. The land where half our income goes to buy food and the other half to lose weight."
OBAMA'S DELAY OF BIN LADEN ATTACK
REVEALED ...
SEND JOE OUT TO PLAY WHILE ADULTS PLOT ...
LIES, DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS
SEND JOE OUT TO PLAY WHILE ADULTS PLOT ...
LIES, DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS
Happy Seis de Mayo! -- for those running a little late.
- - - - -
Unsurprising news comes now ... news from General Jack Keane (Retired), the former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, telling Mike Huckabee on Fox News that Barack Obama knew about Osama Bin Laden’s hideout since the summer of 2010 but wouldn't act until months later, and then only after composing a memo that would place the blame on the military should the raid be unsuccessful. Our hero!
There's abundant speculation that he only approved the raid out of fear that the several military officers who knew about bin Laden's whereabouts would go public if Obama failed to act. Given his behavior pattern, why wouldn't there be such speculation? Perhaps he'd previously chosen to believe that Osama bin Laden was a composite, fictional person. You know -- like his college girlfriend.
- - - - -
Now comes word -- from the NY Times, yet -- that VP Joe Biden is not invited to sit in on Obama's campaign strategy meetings. No surprise, really. Who'd want that blabbering fool involved in any serious discussion, anyway?
- - - - -
Oh, goodie! Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway company doubled its profits in the first quarter, with the increase coming largely from his railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
Of course, it always helps when you have a White House occupant protecting that railroad's profits largely based on transporting oil from Canada by killing competition from the proposed Keystone pipeline that would have moved the oil south to U. S. Gulf Coast refineries for a fraction of the price.
- - - - -
Just in case you haven't already figured it out, John Crudele (NY Post) explains how the Obama thugocracy is cooking the books on employment figures ...
"The federal government told you (Friday) that the jobs market in April was lackluster — that payrolls expanded by just 115,000, much less than Wall Street expected.
"The anemic number then spooked investors, which sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 168.32.
"I’m here to tell you that the labor picture in April wasn’t even that good.
"Sure the unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent, but that was because the percentage of working-age folks looking for a job fell to 63.6 percent in April — the lowest level in 31 years!
"The others have given up looking for work."
- - - - -
Credit to economics editor and columnist James Pethokoukis for pointing out the obvious: When Barack Obama took office, 65.7% of the work force was employed. Today it is 63.6% today, thus the real unemployment rate is 11.1%.
Even the NY Times adds substance to the unemployment argument with this: "Confronting the worst job market in decades, many college graduates who expected to land paid jobs are turning to unpaid internships to try to get a foot in an employer’s door."
And that growth in unpaid intern jobs has expanded into more and more industries that have not resorted to the practice in the past.
It's really very simple: You know ... I know ... any mildly perceptive person knows ... that our economy is a disaster, and all of Obama's wasteful "stimulus" nostrums have failed. It's as if we've put a six-year-old in charge of the family budget.
- - - - -
Here's another take on Obama's fictional, composite campaign woman, Julia. Read the following quote before proceeding to the surprise source at the end ...
"She’s an everywoman only by the standards of the liberal upper middle class: She works as a Web designer, has her first child in her early 30s (the average first-time American mother is in her mid-20s), and spends her golden years as a “volunteer at a community garden.” (It will not surprise you to learn that the cartoon Julia looks Caucasian.)
"What’s more, she seems to have no meaningful relationships apart from her bond with the Obama White House: no friends or siblings or extended family, no husband ('Julia decides to have a child,' is all the slide show says), a son who disappears once school starts and parents who only matter because Obamacare grants her the privilege of staying on their health care plan until she’s 26. This lends the whole production a curiously patriarchal quality, with Obama as a beneficent Daddy Warbucks and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan co-starring as the wicked uncles threatening to steal Julia’s inheritance."
The surprising source of this analysis which effectively ridicules the whole contrivance? Ross Douthat, NEW YORK TIMES.
- - - - -
Ho-hum department: Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, who attracted no serious attention during his brief run for the Republican presidential nomination, is going to be the Libertarian Party candidate.
- - - - -
If I had a father, son, daughter, brother, husband, wife ... killed or injured in Afghanistan, I'd be demanding an answer to one question from the parasitic slugs we call "leaders": For WHAT?
- - - - -
The no-strings single life may be fine for some people, but overall and on average, it carries a "single penalty" as opposed to the "marriage premium." Janice Shaw Crouse with a couple of reasons ...
"Economists refer to the economic benefit that accrues to married couples as the 'marriage premium.' A recent CBS television special asked the question, 'Why is marriage such an economic turn-on?' The program 'MoneyWatch' gave three reasons based on a report from the Pew Research Center’s report, 'Women, Men and the New Economics of Marriage':
"Economies of scale: Married couples share the cost of necessary expenses, such as health insurance, utility bills and mortgage payments. That is especially significant today when more than two-thirds of men have working spouses and 22 percent of wives make more than their husbands.
"Married couples earn more: From 1970 to 2007, the median household income for married couples rose more than incomes for unmarried couples. The mutual support that couples give each other and their mutual stake in the relationship means they work together toward their financial goals." -- (Washington Times) --
- - - - -
Big news for solar power advocates! A solar-powered catamaran boat has completed an around-the-world voyage. Of course, it took a year and eight months ...
- - - - -
John Parker (co-author, Best of Our Lives -- available on the internet) voices frustration ...
"'We can’t ask voters for identification, that might disenfranchise someone.' Really? The states involved in these controversies have offered free identification cards for anyone who needs one. Who would be disenfranchised? Is anyone so completely stupid they don’t recognize this as a ploy to make sure the ballot box can be stuffed by illegal votes and in some cases, illegal citizens.
"In what transaction in this country are you disenfranchised if someone asks you for identification? I’m asked for it at my bank, grocery store, health care facility, airport, liquor store, video store, department store, hardware store, etc. Is our stupid government really telling me in order to vote, our most sacred right as a citizen of this country, I shouldn’t have to show my identification? Very stupid."
- - - - -
Did you hear about the sad case of the racing fan who made a mental bet on yesterday's Kentucky Derby -- and lost his mind?
Since Bodemeister led most of the way before fading at the end, he should be the favorite for the Preakness, which is a 16th-of-a-mile shorter.
- - - - -
A nit that deserves to be picked. Fellow word-seeker Judith suggests that PAEAN is preferable to the alternative spelling I used yesterday, PAEN. I agree with her and will henceforth use the five-letter form. That is, if I ever have occasion to use it again. And it PAINS me to admit it. Thank you, Judith. Or as my neighbors across the border a few miles south might say, "Gracias, Hudith."
- - - - -
Anyone interested in a late-summer cruise from and around Japan? It would be on Princess, sailing from either Tokyo or Kobe, 10-12 days. Figure on basic costs around $3,000, including air. If so, e-mail RADIORODGERS1@YAHOO.COM.
Arigato gozaimasu (bowing gracefully).
- - - - -
A warning to would-be trespassers on El Rancho Rodgers: Susan almost stepped on a diamondback rattler about ten feet from our driveway last week. The local Snake Patrol picked him up, took him to the lab to be milked (the venom is used to make snakebite antivenin) before being released some miles away. My far-away Aunt Dottie listened to the dialogue of the reptile roundup folk over Susan's cellphone, responding with an occasional "Eeek!"
That's rattler #5 for this spring.
The good news is, our favorite bull-snake, "Toro) has returned to his lair under a giant cactus plant on the property. Yes, good news; they're non-poisonous and rattlesnakes fear them. And when a bull-snake moves in, rodents move out -- or become lunch.
Old joke: How do you milk a rattlesnake? First, get a very low stool ...
- - - - -
Nookie news ...
Catherine Scalia, a 45-year-old mother of four who lives in East Rockaway, New York, understands marketing. She developed a profitable sideline to her business of selling hotdogs out of a snack-truck on Long Island. She was also selling another kind of ... meat.
She's been busted -- about a 38-D -- by police on prostitution charges.
Ms. Scalia obviously understood the symbolic connection between weiners and her other career.
- - - - -
How drunk can you get?
Ask Tom Boersma of Pewaukee, Wisconsin.
Tom had a few, then a few more, then ... he took a nap beside the railroad tracks. And slept so soundly he didn't even notice the train that hit him, leaving him with serious injuries to his arm and buttocks. In fact, he was annoyed by the officers and EMTs who woke him up to take him to the hospital.
- - - - -
Mr. Eason came across this classic collection of classified ads from British newspapers ...
Classified ads, actually placed in U.K. Newspapers:
FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER. 8 years old. Hateful little bastard....bites!
FREE PUPPIES, 1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbour's dog.
FREE PUPPIES. Mother is a Kennel Club registered German Shepherd. Father is a Super Dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound.
COWS, CALVES: NEVER BRED. (Also 1 gay bull for sale)
WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE . Worn once by mistake. Call Stephanie.
And the WINNER is...
FOR SALE BY OWNER. Complete set of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Excellent condition, £200 or best offer. No longer needed; got married, wife knows everything.
- - - - -
Sheila, Spirtual Advisor, offers timeless advice and simple truths ...
When a lady is pregnant, all her friends touch the stomach and saying "congrats".
But none of them come and touch the man's penis and say "Good job".
Moral of the story: "Hard work is never appreciated.'
Words to live by: Alcohol does not solve any problems, but then neither does milk.
FRANCE & U.S. TURN LEFT -- INTO A
DITCH ...
HAZARDS OF PERUSING POLLS PREMATURELY ...
RACISM AT OBAMA'S CHICAGO ELECTION OFFICES?
HAZARDS OF PERUSING POLLS PREMATURELY ...
RACISM AT OBAMA'S CHICAGO ELECTION OFFICES?
Before we regard the left-turn of France in their presidential election dismissively, we should consider that our own nation did much the same in electing Obama, the major difference being that Monsieur Hollande ADMITS he's a socialist.
The French, like Americans four years earlier, have demonstrated once again that it is possible to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. The French refuse to admit they've been living beyond their means. Now we -- and they -- will see the price paid when economic reality overwhelms socialist fantasies.
Meantime, Obama has already invited his leftist soul-brother, Hollande, to the White House. Monsieur Obama, of course, has his fictional Julia promoting more government dependency of the very sort that has France on the brink of economic collapse.
- - - - -
Quote of the young week ...
Speaking in Muslim Pakistan, Hillary reacts to any hint that the U.S. is anti-Muslim thusly: “President Obama has sent a very clear message of respect and appreciation of all religions, and in PARTICULAR of Islam. Oh, that hurts me. That hurts me so much, honestly."
Let us all weep sympathetically for both the Hildabeast and her boss.
- - - - -
I know it's prejudiced and not possible, but a person can dream ...
Dream that any graduate or Harvard -- or, for that matter, any Ivy League institution -- be barred from running for president.
And yes, I'm aware that if such a Utopian fantasy were the case today, both major-party candidates would be disqualified. I shed no tears over such a prospect.
- - - - -
Here's what has Democrat strategists worried, and it goes beyond current polls showing Obama and Romney in a tight race. In May of the election year 1980, another failed Democrat president, Jimmy Carter, led Ronald Reagan, 49% to 41%. In fact, led in the polls right up to election day. Then Reagan clobbered him, 51% to 41%, a landslide.
- - - - -
Joltin' Joe Biden discounts any possibility that Obama might dump him as his running mate and replace him with the Hildabeast. Yet it must nibble at his ego; the fact that so many Democrats want the boss-man to make just that move.
- - - - -
Hmmmm ... Civil rights lawyers tipped The Daily Caller that, out of about a hundred employees pictured working at Obama's re-election headquarters in Chicago, only three -- far in the rear -- are black. In a city that's one-third black. Paging Al Sharpton! Paging Jesse Jackson! Paging Eric Holder!
- - - - -
New Yorkers get the word on Obama from the Daily News editorial ...
"Obama can’t sugarcoat an economy that has limped along badly on his watch, consigning 12.5 million Americans to unemployment.
"The major crisis and downturn that began in 2008 are no excuse for such a lethargic recovery.
"And as Obama asks for a second term, what is his domestic economic agenda? Just campaign talking points about lowering college loan rates, posturing against an alleged war on women and flogging a Buffett Rule that would barely put a dent in skyrocketing deficits."
- - - - -
George Will, on Obama's self-obsessed permanent case of the screaming "me-me's" ...
"Try to imagine Dwight Eisenhower talking about D-Day saying, ‘I did this. I decided this. I did this and then I did that.’ It’s inconceivable. If you struck from Barack Obama’s vocabulary the first-person singular pronoun, he would fall silent."
- - - - -
Rich Lowry of National Review weighs in on Obama's fantasy campaign creation, a fictional leech named Julia ...
"Julia's central relationship is to the state. It is her educator, banker, health-care provider, venture capitalist and retirement fund. And she is, fundamentally, a taker. Every benefit she gets is cut-rate or free. She apparently doesn't worry about paying taxes. It doesn't enter her mind that the programs supporting her might add to the debt or might have unintended consequences. She has no moral qualms about forcing others to pay for her contraception, and her sense of patriotic duty is limited to getting as much government help as she can."
- - - - -
From Rick, a thought-provoking "only in America" list ...
Only in America could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000 a plate campaign fund raising event.
Only in America could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when we have a black President, a black Attorney General, and roughly 18% of the federal workforce is black. 12% of the population is black.
Only in America could we have had the two people most responsible for our tax code, Timothy Geithner, the head of the Treasury Department and Charles Rangel who once ran the Ways and Means Committee, both turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.
Only in America can we have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be harmed by the backlash.
Only in America could the people who believe in balancing the budget and defending the Constitution be thought of as "extremists."
Only in America could you need to present a driver's license to cash a check, buy alcohol, board a plane - but not to vote.
Only in America could the people who pay 86% of all income taxes be accused of not paying their "fair share" by people who don't pay any income taxes at all.
- - - - -
Reader John forwards a brief note that includes a photo of a small pistol ...
"This reliable Beretta Jetfire .22 Short pistol is a personal favorite of mine and I am never without it. It saved my life a few years ago when attacked by a grizzly bear while hiking in the mountains with a family member. I was able to escape, walking at a brisk pace, after I shot my brother-in-law in the knee."
- - - - -
Did you catch any of the moon's big show over the weekend? A confluence of orbits put it in extraordinarily close proximity to earth and aligned in such a way that it appeared much larger than usual. Magnificent! But also a reminder that we don't go there anymore, and to get into space at all we have to hitchhike on Russian rockets.
Perhaps, like Claudette Colbert in "It Happened One Night," displaying a little leg (in the form of concessions) to get even that ride.
- - - - -
Oprah Winfrey was a huge success as a TV performer; as a TV executive ... well, her cable-network ratings have been pitiful, losses have run up to $330 million and trade gossip says the whole operation may be headed for the boneyard within the year.
- - - - -
According to reader Gordon, this could have happened about twenty-four hours ago ...
Toward the end of the Sunday service, the Minister asked, "How many of you have forgiven your enemies?" 80% held up their hands.
The Minister then repeated his question. All responded this time, except one man, Walter, who attended church only when the weather was bad.
"Mr. Barnes, it's obviously not a good morning for golf. It's good to see you here today. Are you not willing to forgive your enemies?"
"I don't have any," he replied gruffly.
"Mr. Barnes, that is very unusual. How old are you?"
"Ninety-eight," he replied. The congregation stood up and applauded.
"Mr. Barnes, would you please come down in front and tell us all how a person can live ninety-eight years and not have an enemy in the world?"
The old golfer tottered down the aisle, stopped in front of the pulpit, turned around, faced the congregation, and said simply, "I outlived all them (expletives)." - and calmly returned to his seat.
- - - - -
The Sky-guy, a connoisseur of the grape, offers this advice ...
When your wine needs to breathe but doesn't ... you then have to give it mouth-to-mouth.
TOO MUCH EXPERIENCE POLITICALLY FATAL?
...
DEBBIE'S ENTITLEMENT NOT FOR PEASANTS ...
JOE VS. BARACK ON GAY MARRIAGE
DEBBIE'S ENTITLEMENT NOT FOR PEASANTS ...
JOE VS. BARACK ON GAY MARRIAGE
If longtime Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, who hasn't lived in his "home" state in decades does lose his primary race today after six terms (36 years) in office, it may indicate --as did McCain's loss to Obama and Bob Dole's pathetic run against Clinton -- that there's such a thing as too much "Washington experience." Some such experience may be valuable for a candidate, but linger longer and a pol may acquire what voters perceive as a sort of unsavory Washington disease.
- - - - -
"For me, but not for thee" pretty well summarizes a liberal elitist's viewpoint, as illustrated by the Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
During a speech to healthcare workers, when she was asked if the average person should have access to the same healthcare benefits as a member of Congress, she retorted that she'd "earned it."
- - - - -
It's such a simple question. "Mr. President, are you for or against gay marriage?" But he refuses to answer, yet VP Biden has answered in the affirmative. Perhaps Obama should consider something dramatic to secure the gay vote ... like announce that he's leaving Michelle to marry Joe.
Just trying to be helpful ...
- - - - -
It is apparent that no one ever counseled the Vice President of the wisdom in the old saying, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."
- - - - -
Now that enough frustrated, simple-minded and short-sighted French voters have chosen to install a Socialist president, it will be interesting to see just how many investors from either France or abroad will be willing to put money into business ventures that would result in more jobs and economic growth. Unlikely, since the new leadership is openly and avowedly hostile to business and capitalism, i.e., investment.
The same applies to Argentina, which just stole the big oil company that belonged to investors in Spain. I use "stole" even while realizing that it sounds so much harsher than "expropriated," but means exactly the same thing.
- - - - -
I have a high regard for Scott Rasmussen's polling technique. However, as in all polling, the responses to some questions are irrelevant. This is an example: 39% of Likely U.S. Voters believe that most Muslims view the United States as an enemy. Nearly as many (35%) disagree, 27% more are not sure.
It is irrelevant because the vast majority of Americans have no idea whether most Muslims view us as either a threat or not a threat. And beyond that fact, it really doesn't matter, any more than it mattered whether most Germans or Japanese in 1941 viewed us as an enemy, because the dictators in charge of the military in both countries were going to attack us, whether or not the average citizen viewed us with hostility.
- - - - -
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for VP? While he has admirable qualities and real accomplishments on his scorecard, he shares with Joe Biden a tendency to shoot from the hip and provide spur-of-the-moment quotes that could be used by the opposition in a presidential campaign. Also, another northeastern governor on the Republican ticket may not be a winning formula. And in any case, it's highly unlikely such a move would win New Jersey for Romney.
- - - - -
The blessing: Oil prices down slightly. The curse: They're down because of the continuing economic sickness.
- - - - -
The erudite Victor Davis Hanson at PJ Media ...
"We have had 38 months of 8% plus unemployment. We are setting records in the numbers of Americans not working and the percentage of the adult population not employed. GDP growth was a pathetic 1.7%. The borrowing hit $5 trillion under Obama, who between golf outings and campaign hit-ups of wealthy people, adds $1 trillion plus each year in more debt. To question how to pay it back is to pollute the air or abandon the children. In 2005, Paul Krugman was writing why Bush’s spending was going to crash the economy; in 2012, Paul Krugman is writing why Obama’s far greater deficit spending, on top of Bush’s debts, is not going to crash the economy, given that we need to borrow far more than our paltry $3 or $4 billion a day.
"In 2004, the media’s 'jobless recovery' was the description of George W. Bush’s 5.4% unemployment rate. 'It’s the economy, stupid' referred to George H.W. Bush’s 1992 annual 3.3-4% GDP growth rate. 'Unpatriotic' was W’s $4 trillion in borrowing in eight years, not $5 trillion in three. If Obama right now had 5.4% unemployment, 3.4% economic growth, and a budget deficit of about $400 billion, what would the media call it—a job-full recovery, 'it’s not the economy, smarty,' or patriotic borrowing?"
- - - - -
Yet another -- and more depressing -- measure of unemployment: 14.5 percent. Known as the U-6 unemployment rate, this includes those counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as unemployed, plus those known to be marginally attached to the workforce (could-should be working, but have no job), and those who are working part-time because they cannot find full-time work.
Other measures put the real unemployment figure at upward of 20%. Let your own observations of the economy guide you.
- - - - -
Reminiscing ...
Remember the good ol' days of $2 gasoline? Remember ONE dollar gasoline? But we mustn't drill for more of our own oil, lest we prompt a hissy-fit in some airhead at the EPA.
- - - - -
There's little doubt that higher education is a major factor in the pursuit of career success, but it's no guarantee. Especially in the Obama economy. As The Daily Caller points out ...
"According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, between 2007 and 2010, the percentage of people with a graduate degree who were on food stamps or were receiving another kind of federal aid more than doubled, reaching 360,000.
"In 2007, 9,776 people with PhD’s were receiving some kind of aid. In 2010, that number had more than tripled to 33,655. For people with master’s degrees, the number spiked from 101,683 to 293,029."
And that degree in "Womens' Studies" or "Art History" is more likely to be a ticket to an entry-level job at McBurger. If that.
- - - - -
John Hayward of Human Events received this item from a Georgia
newspaper ...
"A woman said she noticed her purse missing from her car just before 5 P.M. Sunday. The car was parked at her residence on Hornet Drive. The woman said the car had been locked, and the purse was in the back seat.
"The purse was valued at $400, her wallet was valued at $200, and she said there was $800 cash in the purse, according to the police report. ALSO MISSING WERE THE WOMAN'S FOOD STAMP CARDS."
- - - - -
A major breakthrough in global warming research in word from British scientists that dinosaur flatulence may have been a significant factor in warming that occurred during the Mesozoic era 150 million years ago.
Al Gore is expected to press for retroactive legislation prohibiting the giant beasts from expelling gas, pending development of a time-machine so that other creatures of that era can be warned not to indulge in "pull my finger" games with the Big Guys.
- - - - -
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Dan Sorking presents! -- a classic ...
WIFE: "What would you do if I died? Would you get married again?"
HUSBAND: "Definitely not!"
WIFE: "Why not? Don't you like being married?"
HUSBAND: "Of course I do.."
WIFE: "Then why wouldn't you remarry? "
HUSBAND: "Okay, okay, I'd get married again."
WIFE: "You would?" (with a hurt look)
HUSBAND: (makes audible groan)
WIFE: "Would you live in our house?"
HUSBAND: "Sure, it's a great house."
WIFE: "Would you sleep with her in our bed?"
HUSBAND: "Where else would we sleep?"
WIFE: "Would you give her my jewelry?"
HUSBAND: "No, I'm sure she'd want her own."
WIFE: "Would you take her golfing with you?
HUSBAND: "Yes, those are always good times."
WIFE: "Would she use my clubs?
HUSBAND: "No, she's left-handed."
WIFE: Takes a .38 Smith & Wesson out of her purse ...
REPUBLICAN REVENGE ON RINOS ...
OBAMA'S ACHILLES HEEL IS SHOWING ...
POLLING PREVARICATIONS PERVERT PROCESS
OBAMA'S ACHILLES HEEL IS SHOWING ...
POLLING PREVARICATIONS PERVERT PROCESS
Another sore loser. Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, who'd long ago forgotten that he was a Republican, lost his primary race after 36 years in the Senate, denigrated his winning opponent with a lecture on bipartisanship. He'd also taken to referring to himself with the royal "we." Good riddance to the very definition of a RINO who, like John McCain, was obsessed with "reaching across the aisle"; i.e., caving-in to liberal silliness.
Lugar's loss likely brought a shiver to Utah's Senator Orrin Hatch, who entered the Senate at the same time and faces a June primary.
- - - - -
Long-ago British actress Mrs. Pat Campbell said, "Does it really matter what these affectionate people do — so long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses!"
Obviously it does matter to voters in North Carolina, where a broadened ban on gay marriage passed overwhelmingly, illustrating that the liberal mindset is far from nationwide in its appeal.
It also obviously explains why Obama is reluctant to give a straight (or gay) answer to questions about his own position on the issue. He won North Carolina narrowly in 2008. Yesterday's election was a warning shot.
Also in North Carolina ...
In the Democratic primary, "No Preference" ran up 21% of DEMOCRAT votes versus Obama.
- - - - -
Did you feel even a twinge of sympathy for White House spokesparrot Jay Carney's fumbling, bungling attempt to explain where B.O. stands -- or doesn't stand -- on gay marriage?
Okay, maybe not ...
- - - - -
Yet another sign of Obama's sinking popularity among Democrats: In the West Virginia primary, Keith Judd got about 40 percent of the presidential vote. Mr. Judd is a convict in a Federal prison in Texas who managed to get on the West Virginia ballot. We may safely assume that, as the only other name on the ballot, Mr. Judd's votes were really an anti-Obama vote -- by Democrats.
- - - - -
"The intertwined strands of evil DNA - Obamanomics and Obamacare - will determine the outcome of the 2012 election, and Barack Obama knows it. That’s why he desperately wants to talk about something else. Anything else. A failed stimulus. Shovel-ready jobs that even President Obama later admitted don’t exist. Auto takeovers. Bank bailouts. Mythical green jobs. And a historic American credit downgrade.
"Since Obamanomics was unleashed - increased taxes, increased regulations, wildly increased spending and weak-dollar monetary policy - a million fewer jobs exist in America, median household income has dropped nearly 10 percent, housing prices have hit an almost 10-year low, gas prices have doubled, a record number of Americans are on food stamps, and the federal debt races toward $16 trillion (around $140,000 per taxpayer)."
-- Dr. Milton Wolf, Obama's cousin, in the Washington Times --
- - - - -
That Reuters news service poll out yesterday ... the one that finds Obama leading Romney by seven points ...
Turns out their sample contained 9% more Democrats than Republicans. You think that might've influenced the outcome? You THINK?!
- - - - -
Many Democrats, especially young ones, are learning -- much to their dismay -- that no matter how fervently a candidate may promise "hope and change," a president cannot achieve his goals single-handedly. Obama couldn't even do it when he had solid majorities in both houses of Congress during his first two years.
Unless and until he achieves a dictator's powers (which Obama probably isn't the first to want) a president is subject to limits from one or both of the other two co-equal branches of government, the legislative and the judicial.
This bitter realization is doubtless behind the very perceptible lessening of enthusiasm among Democrat voters, delusional lot though they are and inclined to believe Utopian promises.
- - - - -
Since Greece suffered greatly at the hands of Hitler's Nazis in World War 2, it comes as something of a shock when Greece's own Nazis received a significant vote in their latest election, as did various other minority extremist parties. But rule-or-ruin tactics are not alien to our own electorate, as witness Ron Paul & Co.
I had the good fortune several years ago to spend a week in the company of the Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Church, second in that religion's hierarchy, on his annual tour of the small monasteries of the moutainous Peloponnese, the southern part of Greece. He was active in the Greek underground during the German occupation of his country in World War 2 and had chilling stories of their atrocities. It makes any level of Greek voter support for that ideology all the more difficult to understand.
- - - - -
On the growing turmoil in Europe, Arthur Herman offers these observations in National Review Online ...
"Europe is dying, right along with socialism and Obama-ism. The election results yesterday prove that Europe’s voters don’t know they’re committing suicide — or don’t care. The only pertinent question is what will take Europe’s place once its political union, and its worthless currency, both wind up on the ash heap of history.
"Three times in the last century America had to step in to save Europe from itself — in World War One, World War Two, and the Cold War. Now we’ll have to do it again, as Europeans stumble dazed and broke from the rubble created by their EU bureaucrats, politicians, and unions. But this time it won’t be American soldiers, or arms, or even a nuclear umbrella that comes to Europe’s rescue. It’ll be American ideas and policies based on free markets, economic growth, and individual freedom.
"In one sense, Europeans have no place left to go. They tried fascism and Communism; those proved deadly flops. That left state socialism’s “mixed economy.” The European Union was created in 1992 at the end of the Cold War — a victory, we note, of America’s making, not Europe’s — as a monument to socialism’s ideal of large centralized planned economies and societies. It’s the same ideal Obama and his liberal friends have worshiped for a generation — with only slightly less disastrous results here."
- - - - -
Half of all new college graduates either can't find jobs at all or have to accept low-paying jobs that are beneath their exalted status. It would be interesting to see further analysis of this unfortunate cohort. For example, how well are things going in the job field for those who hold degrees in such academic disciplines as "Black Studies" and "Womyns Studies."
- - - - -
Bret Baier of Fox News seems to be bright and is certainly telegenic. Alas, he suffers from a serious problem as a news anchor. It's one of the basic, necessary skills for a broadcaster: you have to be able to read, and able to assemble coherent sentences. Mr. Baier obviously hasn't mastered that task. He constantly -- and annoyingly -- stumbles over the simplest words and sentences. It's a profound relief when Chris Wallace, Shannon Bream, or John Roberts fill in for him.
- - - - -
Wisdom from the Sky-guy ...
"I don't know if this ever has happened to you, I found out last week during my annual check-up. The colder the x-ray table, the more of my body is required to be on it."
- - - - -
Reader Arthur offers invaluable advice ...
"Arguing with Liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how good you are at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock over the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around likes it's victorious."
DID OBAMA SWITCH BECAUSE OF JOE, OR
DOUGH?
GAY MARRIAGE--FOR IT, AGAINST IT, FOR IT ...
DEMS CONVENTION IN NORTH CAROLINA? ...
GAY MARRIAGE--FOR IT, AGAINST IT, FOR IT ...
DEMS CONVENTION IN NORTH CAROLINA? ...
One or both of the following will explain Obama's latest "evolution" in favor of gay marriage:
#1 - Joe Biden's big mouth forced him into it by declaring his own support (and wouldn't you like to hear the conversation between the two of them after THAT!) and making the Boss Hoss look weak to gays.
#2 - Obama needed to keep that campaign money flowing from gays and the Hollywood crowd.
- - - - -
"President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage less than 48 hours after the Washington Post reported that prominent political donors were threatening to withhold donations over the president’s position on gay rights." -- Washington Free Beacon, under the headline "Gay for Pay"
- - - - -
Obama was FOR gay marriage as a state legislator in Illinois ... AGAINST it as a presidential candidate ... now is again FOR it -- but favors leaving it up to individual states, most of which already have laws AGAINST it. The man is a model of consistency. Consistently a two-faced hypocrite.
No wonder the newly re-installed Vladimir Putin in Moscow and the Chinese government think he's a pushover -- and they clearly do. If he's elected to a second term, we find how just how far that "flexibility" he promised Putin will go.
- - - - -
"I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." -- Barack Obama in a Chicago gay newspaper in 1996.
- - - - -
Another incredible, egomaniacal Obama quote from his ABC-TV interview announcing his "evolution": " ... when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on MY BEHALF and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don't ask, don't tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”
Fighting on HIS behalf?! Self-obsessed ... delusional; those terms don't even begin to describe him.
- - - - -
North Carolina voted overwhelmingly against gay marriage.
The Democratic national convention is to be held in ... Charlotte, North Carolina.
Think there might be agitation within party ranks to move it? Gay groups are already making such a demand.
Let's see ... first gays threatened to withhold campaign money from Obama if he didn't come out and support gay marriage. Now they're threatening to withhold money if he doesn't move the convention.
"Is ... a ... puzzlement!" -- Yul Brynner, "The King and I."
- - - - -
Our schizophrenic "elite" ...
As a group, they overwhelmingly support Obama and his socialism ... yet The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the number of Americans with a Ph.D or Masters degree who are receiving food stamps has tripled in the past two years.
- - - - -
Investors Business Daily has a warning about another Obama giveaway of U.S. sovereignty ...
"Even if he's not re-elected, the president hopes to leave behind a treaty giving a U.N. body veto power over the use of our territorial waters and to which we'd be required to give half of our offshore oil revenue.
"The Law Of The Sea Treaty (LOST) has been lurking in the shadows for decades. Like the Kyoto Protocol that pretended to be an effort to save the earth from the poisoned fruit of the Industrial Revolution, LOST pretends to be an effort to protect the world's oceans from environmental damage." (Thanks, Mike)
Further proof that Obama is a plague upon the nation.
- - - - -
What did we get for Obama's "stimulus" program? Terry Jeffrey of CNS News runs the numbers ...
"What does President Barack Obama know about the economy and what the government can and cannot do to create jobs? A fair measure is the economic stimulus plan Obama pushed through Congress in his first month in office. Did it work?
"In February, the Congressional Budget Office published its latest report on the "estimated impact" of the stimulus. Although it had originally estimated the stimulus would cost $787 billion, CBO now says it will cost $831 billion.
"In the second quarter of 2012, CBO estimates, somewhere between 200,000 to 1.2 million people have jobs they otherwise would not have were it not for the stimulus. Assuming, optimistically, that the number is 1.2 million, that means each of those jobs cost taxpayers $692,500."
- - - - -
Since Democrats have been selling to their ignorant, deluded followers the idea that the Republican party is racist, Prof. Walter Williams has a few small reminders of reality ...
"The late Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., a former Klansman, wrote during World War II: 'I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side."
"When (Democrat) Lyndon B. Johnson was in the House of Representatives, he said that President Harry Truman's civil rights program was 'a farce and a sham -- an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty.' Later, as a Senator: ' These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity these days, and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness.'
"(more recently) In August 2009, MSNBC's Contessa Brewer was discussing a tea party rally in Arizona, where it's legal to carry an unconcealed weapon. She said: 'A man at a pro-health care reform rally ... wore a semiautomatic assault rifle on his shoulder and a pistol on his hip. ... There are questions about whether this has racial overtones. I mean, here you have a man of color in the presidency and white people showing up with guns.' All that her audience was shown were a rifle and pistol strapped to a man's back. MSNBC concealed the fact that the armed man was ... black.'" -- (Townhall.com) --
- - - - -
Former President George W. Bush (Bush-2) needs $85,000 for phone bills? Didn't Daddy Bush ever say to a teenage son, "Get off that damned phone!"
- - - - -
Len, the haiku master, at it again ...
Barack outs himself.
It's his composite girlfriend.
She was one fourth male.
- - - - -
My boy Calvin is doing well. He goes to the vet Tuesday to have the staples removed from his knee. Thanks to those who inquired.
- - - - -
Turns out the "news" report about the Polish woman who pulled all her ex-boyfriend's teeth was a hoax. Didn't happen. As fake as Obama claims of an economic recovery.
Sad. Feminists weep.
- - - - -
A slice-of-life from Dan Sorkin ...
After a very busy day, a commuter settled down in her seat and closed her eyes as the train departed.
As the train rolled out of the station, the guy sitting next to her pulled out his cell phone and started talking in a loud voice: "Hi sweetheart it's Eric, I'm on the train - yes, I know it's the six thirty and not the four thirty but I had a long meeting - no, honey, not with that floozie from the accounts office, with the boss. No sweetheart, you're the only one in my life - yes, I'm sure, cross my heart" etc., etc.
Fifteen minutes later he was still talking loudly, when the young woman sitting next to him, who was obviously angered by his continuous diatribe, yelled at the top of her voice: "Hey, Eric, turn off that stupid phone and come back to bed!"
My guess would be that Eric doesn't use his cell phone in public any longer.
- - - - -
The estimable Mr. Sorkin also forwards this observation ...
The Secret Service scandal was discovered when a disagreement on how much a prostitute wanted for her services came to light.
She wanted $800.00.
The Secret Service Agent offered $30.00.
How ironic is it that the only person in Washington willing to cut spending gets fired?
ELECTION APPROACHES, MADNESS
FLOURISHES ...
THE HIT-PIECE ON ROMNEY ...
THE HILLARY CONUNDRUM ...
THE HIT-PIECE ON ROMNEY ...
THE HILLARY CONUNDRUM ...
An incumbent president with a "composite" old girlfriend, a taste for eating dogs and a fetish for failed Marxism. Where the hell are we? Zimbabwe?
- - - - -
Obama may have been forced by circumstances to prematurely pronounce himself supportive of gay marriage, but that could be a positive in the view of his campaign advisors; perhaps even himself.
Despite their public bravado, Obama & Co. may have decided that a campaign on the major economic and foreign policy issues would be highly risky, given his wretched record. Therefore, any distraction -- even one with as many potential potholes as the gay marriage question -- might be preferable.
With so many polls showing the nation "on the wrong track" and pessimistic about individuals' economic future under Obama, they see the need to divert the public attention to almost anything else. Expect more of this between now and November.
- - - - -
The raving hypocrite in the White House, playing the CYA game on gay marriage by saying (A) he favors it, but (B) thinks it should be up to individual states ... is the same phony who attacks states' rights on other issues, such as enforcement of illegal immigration laws while requiring them to enforce other federal laws.
- - - - -
Newsbusters reports -- and liberal Politico concurs -- that Obama chose softball-tossing Robin Roberts of ABC to do the "interview" in which he disclosed his support for gay marriage. The assumption is that Boy George Stephanopoulos, who usually does their morning show political interviews, might be too tough. Besides, Ms. Roberts is black, and blacks generally oppose gay marriage. In the North Carolina election, they voted 2-to-1 in favor of banning it.
Yes, we all know just how frighteningly tough longtime Democrat errand-boy George has always been in his cozy chats with left-leaning politicians.
- - - - -
Re the latest "revelations" about Mitt Romney in his boyhood: Gasp! Next we'll be learning that he once belched at the dinner table!
Meantime, one of the "witnesses" to the alleged bullying incident admits he wasn't there and never heard of the event until contacted by -- ta-TA! -- the liberal Washington Post, which published the story.
The Obama media whores are gearing up for attack, seeing their hero's increasingly dismal prospects for re-election. There may even be a -- omigod! -- parking ticket somewhere in Romney's dark, mysterious past.
Only the naive would dare ask, "Where was all this microscopic investigation of the Manchurian Candidate's past?" Like, for example, further exploration of his use of marijuana and cocaine in high school. Yes, folks, we DO have a doper in the White House. But, of course, he was just trying to "find himself."
I once tried to find myself. Took about thirty seconds. I just looked in a mirror, and there I was!
- - - - -
We're indebted to Breitbart's Big Government for exhuming this passage about Obama bullying a little girl ... his own words from his book, "Dreams from my Father" ...
"There was one other child in my class, though, who reminded me of a different sort of pain. Her name was Coretta, and before my arrival, she had been the only black person in our grade. She was plump and dark and didn't seem to have many friends. From the first day we avoided each other but watched from a distance ...
"Finally, during recess one hot, cloudless day we found ourselves occupying the same corner of the playground ... she was chasing me around the swings ... laughing brightly, and I teased her ... we fell to the ground breathlessly. I saw a group of children, pointing down at us ...
"'Coretta has a boyfriend, Coretta has a boyfriend' ... 'Why don't you kiss her, Mr. Boyfriend?'
"'I'm not her boyfriend,' I shouted. I ran up to Coretta and gave her a shove. She staggered back and looked up at me, but said nothing. And suddenly Coretta was running, faster and faster, until she disappeared from sight.'"
No doubt that after expending all that energy bullying an innocent little girl, young Obama readied himself for round two by eating a Golden Retriever. (quoth Big Government)
- - - - -
Wacky Nancy (Pelosi, Catholic) on her support for gay marriage ...
"My religion has, compels me--and I love it for it--to be against discrimination of any kind in our country, and I consider this a form of discrimination. I think it’s unconstitutional on top of that. "
We are unable to determine whether she's checked with the Pope.
- - - - -
Longtime Republican (?) Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, whose six terms were ended in the primary election, thanks largely to Tea Party opposition, has been given final confirmation that he was a pure RINO. Harry Reid, the Democrat leader in the Senate said, "Senator Lugar has always been willing to extend a hand to colleagues across the aisle.”
Riiiight ...
Democrats always love Republicans who give them what they want.
- - - - -
Democrat blowhards are trying to have it both ways, as usual. While (The Charismatic) Senator Reid says the Tea Party is dead, other party mouthpieces look at RINO Lugar's loss of his Senate seat as proof that the Republican Party has been taken over by that TP element, inevitably described as "far right-wing" and to be feared.
- - - - -
Obama is an incurable liar. In the campaign video narrated by left-wing actor Tom Hanks, the heart-rending tale of Obama's wacky mother enduring a health crisis without medical coverage is repeated yet again. One problem: it's an outright lie. Her insurer, Cigna, DID pay her medical bills.
Obama perpetuates the myth about his mother as a device to promote his unpopular Obamacare health scheme.
A personal footnote: Cigna also manages the health plan for the American Federation of TV & Radio Artists. During my own prolonged and near-fatal illness of 2010-11, Cigna paid everything they were supposed to pay.
- - - - -
Despite denials all around, Joe Biden's upstaging of his boss by coming out first for gay marriage has added fuel to two questions:
#1 - Is the possibility of Obama dumping Crazy Joe as a running mate and replacing him with Hillary a live prospect?
#2 - Would Hillary take it if offered, considering that Obama's chances of winning appear increasingly to be in jeopardy? She might prefer to enter the 2016 race untarnished by being part of a losing 2012 team.
- - - - -
Brian Slagle works for an auto parts supplier in Ohio. In a new ad running on Facebook, he claims that Obama is responsible for him having his job. In fact, it turns out Mr. Slagle has worked there since 2006.
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave ... "
- - - - -
A longtime colleague can't believe opinionators who believe that an overwhelming majority of black Americans will vote for Obama, although they may disagree vehemently with the idea of gay marriage.
Cynic that I am, I believe he WILL get that kind of majority and that race will trump all else in guiding most black voters. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.
- - - - -
A new definition of delusional. One of scandal-ridden John Edwards' (former) campaign advisors says, even as his sleazy affair and impending daddyhood was becoming public, along with his cheating on his dying wife, the fool still harbored hopes of being appointed to the Supreme Court. And to think: millions of democrats wanted this sleazeball to be their presidential candidate! Well, after all, they ARE Democrats ...
- - - - -
Because of her marriage to a Swiss citizen, Michele Bachmann had dual citizenship, Swiss as well as U. S. She has denounced the Swiss part. Mistake, Michele. If the incumbent in the White House is re-elected, you may wish you'd retained it. Right now, Switzerland is a helluva lot better off than this stupidly-run country! At least the Swiss seldom elect crazy people to high office.
- - - - -
Yet another Fisker $100,000-plus sports car, built with your "stimulus" tax dollars, caught fire in Texas and burned down the owner's house. At the risk of sounding unsympathetic ...
"You got what you deserved, idiot!"
- - - - -
A HOTELS.COM worldwide survey finds that the highest-priced hotel food is in Paris, where a sandwich can cost up to $33.10.
Related tip for travelers: In Japan, also notoriously expensive -- Susan and I once got a tab for more than $50 for one egg, one piece of toast and one cup of coffee each in the coffee shop of a luxury hotel -- reasonably priced restaurants are readily found in railway stations.
- - - - -
Reader Rick has weighed the pros & cons of kids vs. pets ...
Dogs and cats are better than kids because they:
(1) eat less,
(2) don't ask for money all the time,
(3) are easier to train,
(4) normally come when called,
(5) never ask to drive the car,
(6) don't hang out with drug-using people;
(7) don't smoke or drink,
(8) don't want to wear your clothes,
(9) don't have to buy the latest fashions,
(10) don't need a gazillion dollars for college and
(11) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children.
WOULD BILL CLINTON ACTUALLY LIE? ...
PUBLIC PREVARICATES ON CONGRESS ...
LA RAZA WRITES OBAMA IMMIGRATION POLICY
PUBLIC PREVARICATES ON CONGRESS ...
LA RAZA WRITES OBAMA IMMIGRATION POLICY
Consider the irony. Bill Clinton calls the author of a new book that claims the ex-prez tried to persuade Hillary to quit as Secretary of State and run against Obama this year "a liar."
Bill Clinton, impeached as president for lying, calling someone ELSE a liar?!
(Yes he WAS impeached, but the Senate, populated by the likes of the RINO turncoat Trent Lott, failed to convict.)
- - - - -
By the way ...
Trent Lott, always one of the biggest phonies in a Congress full of them during his days in the Senate, is now lobbying FOR the Law of the Seas Treaty, which undermines U.S. sovereignty. While a Senator, he opposed it.
It may be recalled that Lott WAS one of the gutless Republican RINOs who shot down the House impeachment of Clinton.
- - - - -
A wakeup call for the political class. Rasmussen polling finds that 68% of Likely Voters would vote to get rid of the entire Congress rather than keep them all on the job. Just 12% say they would vote to keep the entire Congress. This SHOULD prompt the political class to get off their dead asses and do their job, but there remains this caveat: voters are forever complaining about Congress in general, but keep re-electing their OWN member of Congress.
That fact defines the American voting hypocrite, stupid and self-deceiving.
- - - - -
Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez says that he and the National Council of La Raza were deeply involved in the crafting and implementation of a controversial Obama administration memo that amounts to a policy of amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants.
President Obama, Gutierrez said, told him in December 2010 that comprehensive immigration reform could not be achieved legislatively because of fears Democrats would lose future elections. Instead, he said, the president suggested exploring administrative options to accomplish their mutual goals. (Source: The Daily Caller)
Of course, if Obama's re-elected, he can be more "flexible."
Reminder: La Raza (literally "The Race" in Spanish) is the organization that insists the entire southwestern part of the United States, which once belonged to SPAIN, be given to Mexico. What kind of suicidal morons would want to live in corrupt, bloody Mexico, where corpses are found every day ... the handiwork of the criminal gangs that run the country? Switzerland, it's not.
- - - - -
Rich Lowry of National Review addresses Obama's reluctant statement of support for gay marriage ...
"As an act of personal catharsis, the president’s statement of support was in an appropriately first-person key: I, me and my. He had favored gay marriage back in 1996 when it was out on the fringe. He was one of the few people on the planet who flipped into opposition as gay marriage became more mainstream.
"For a while, he invoked his faith in justifying his opposition, then he said he was 'evolving,' which everyone understood to mean he would embrace gay marriage as soon as he wasn’t running for re-election anymore.
"The Obama team likes to say Mitt Romney’s flip-flops show he lacks a core. Obama’s long spell of deception on gay marriage shows he has a core, but one that he has devoted much of his national political career to obscuring."
Remember: Romney "flip-flops" but Obama "evolves."
- - - - -
James Robbins, editorially, in the Washington Times ...
"Mr. Obama’s personal declaration has no legal relevance. The White House has resisted signing a proposed executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. In his supposedly historic statement, the president added that he continues to believe, 'this is an issue that’s going to be worked out at the local level because historically this has not been a federal issue.' In this respect, he is in line with many conservatives who argue that the matter should be left up to the states, where - by the way - 31 governments already have passed bans on homosexual 'marriage.'
"The Obama team was trying to avoid the issue because it’s a liability in critical swing states. In 2008, Mr. Obama won seven states - Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Florida and Minnesota - that either have state laws or constitutional amendments banning same-sex unions. Together, they represent 117 electoral votes. Mr. Obama cannot win in November without most or all of them. While this controversy may not be decisive this year - the dismal economy is much more pressing with most voters - the issue clearly doesn’t help the president."
- - - - -
Jay Leno --
"Newt Gingrich didn't agree or disagree on the gay marriage thing. However, he did say there should be a term limit on all marriages."
- - - - -
Two surviving sisters of the alleged schooldays victim of bullying by Mitt Romney, the late John Lauber, who died several years ago of cancer, say the story being pushed by the liberal Obama-loving media is about an event they never heard of, which makes it more likely it's a flat-out lie -- never happened. And the prime "source" is a guy who wasn't there and never heard of it until the newspaper called him about it. This is pure bull(bleep) posing as journalism. If the owners of the Washington Post had either conscience of ethical standards, they'd fire everyone involved in this farce -- yesterday.
- - - - -
Since the liberal propaganda rag Washington Post is so interested in the childhood and youth of Mitt Romney, COMMENTARY suggests they look into the background of young Joe Biden ...
From the book What It Takes: The Way to the White House, a story of the 1988 presidential election by reporter Richard Ben Cramer, a troubling snapshot of young Biden emerges:
Most guys who got into a fight, they’d square off, there’d be a minute or so of circling around, while they jockeyed for position. Joey didn’t do that. He decided to fight … BANGO—he’d punch the guy in the face.
Even after he left, after Mr. Biden got the job selling cars in Wilmington and moved the family away, (friend) Charlie Roth would still (in moments of duress) tell guys that his friend Joey Biden would come back and beat them up, if they didn’t watch out. (When Joe did come back, Charlie always had a list.)
And later, the book recounts a story about how Biden was put on student probation in college for apparently assaulting a resident adviser with fire extinguisher fluid. And before that, University of Delaware, where he only screwed around, trying to be Joe College—got probation for dousing the dorm director with a fire extinguisher.
Okay, so maybe these incidents all sound innocent enough. But that’s probably just because we haven’t heard from victims or aggrieved outside witnesses with axes to grind. Yes, it will be tough to track down information on these cases considering they took place more than 50 years ago. But if WaPo’s investigative team has shown us anything, it’s that the paper has what it takes to get to the bottom of pressing national issues like these.
- - - - -
Little noticed by U.S. media, this week the opposition party in Israel joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a coalition government; joined because all parties understand that, in a crisis, such a coalition would quickly form anyway.
The murderous madmen who run Iran doubtless took note of this event, because it clearly indicates that Israel is not going to wait indefinitely for the spineless "civilized" world to end the Iranian quest for nuclear weapons. A unified government would have no need to fear an inter-party schism when a sudden -- and ferocious -- action is deemed necessary.
And nobody in Tehran is going to ask Ron Paul's permission. Yes, THAT Ron Paul, the wacky uncle usually kept locked in the attic who claims terrorist Iran has as much right to nukes as anyone.
- - - - -
Equality under the law, as interpreted by Obamacare: Muslims are exempted (like other privileged groups) because under Sharia law, insurance -- like interest paid on borrowed funds -- is forbidden.
Didn't hear that from the White House, did you?
- - - - -
"God Almighty needs an editor, according to a federal judge in Virginia. At least, He does when the Ten Commandments are on government property.
"The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had sued the Giles County school district for posting the Ten Commandments in its public schools, and U.S. District Judge Michael F. Urbanski sent the case to mediation on Monday, suggesting a compromise: deleting the four commandments that mention God.
"An Obama appointee, Judge Urbanski also issued a preliminary injunction on behalf of the ACLU in February prohibiting the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors from 'invoking the name of a specific deity associated with any one specific faith or belief in prayers given at Board meetings'.” -- Robert Knight, Washington Times --
- - - - -
From TVNewser, word that Brian Williams' suck-up-a-thon with Obama on NBC's "news" program, "Rock Center," did so poorly in attracting audience that the show is being pulled during the May ratings' "sweeps week" and probably won't be back in the fall.
And what is it with NBC's programming geniuses that they believe America is infatuated with their address? "30 Rock" ... "Rock Center"? Who gives a rat's butt where they grind out their tripe?
- - - - -
First it was Jon Lovitz, now it's Bruce Johnson of the Beach Boys, quoted by TMZ, the showbiz news website ...
"Obama's an a**hole unless you're interested in never having any money and being socialized. Wait 'til Obama doesn't have to try anymore, you're f**ked."
- - - - -
Since the (possibly false) reports about John Travolta being, uh, rubbed the wrong way, there seems to be confusion about the term for the accuser's profession.
"Masseur" is a male.
"Masseuse" is a female.
- - - - -
The truly rich will always find a way ...
Eduardo Saverin, the co- founder of Facebook, moved to the U.S. from Brazil in 1992 and became a citizen in 1998. Now that Facebook is about to make a public offering of its stock, he stands to collect close to $4 billion.
Rather than face what he regards as confiscatory taxes, he has denounced his citizenship and has become a resident of Singapore.
His unspoken message to the IRS: "(Bleep) ME? No -- (bleep) YOU!"
- - - - -
Jim Eason's solution to mail solicitations and delivering a serious message ...
"When I get an invitation in the mail to ... join, or subscribe, or donate, or renew ... or anything involving paying out money (even for good causes), I have a pre-printed note I stick in their envelope and return it.
"My note says I will not subscribe, or donate or whatever...because of the financial disaster in this country, and I can not, nor will not, send anything until this president is replaced.
"This has gone out to all kinds of people and groups, and is my way of spreading the news."
- - - - -
Typical socialist. Francois Hollande, the new French president who professes to dislike the rich, owns three (3) houses in Cannes, the VERY upscale resort town on the French Riviera. -- (London Daily Mail) --
Of course, our own camouflaged Marxist in the White House, who babbles endlessly about "equality," has no problem spending millions of taxpayer dollars on lavish vacations for himself and his family.
- - - - -
Feel free to forward this column to a friend. No charge -- and worth every penny!
- - - - -
Craig Ferguson--
" President Obama was in LA for a fundraiser. Forty grand a plate — because nothing says "man of the people" like demanding 40 grand for some rubbery chicken.
"Insiders say Obama's pretty comfortable around actors. He should be. He has been 'acting' like he was born in Hawaii for a long time."
- - - - -
Wisdom from -- and for -- moms ...
"The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy -
It will, however, make a cat dizzy."
"Marbles in the gas tank or inside the hub caps of the family car make lots
of noise when driving."
"Pool filters do not like jell-o."
"A king size water-bed holds enough water to fill a 2000 square foot
home, 4-inches deep."
"When you hear the toilet flush and the words "un oh", its already too late."
"Super glue is forever."
And a lady to whom I am related by marriage contributes a few
specifics related to her mom ...
"Eating things off the sidewalk really taste wonderful, but can cause
apoplexy in mothers."
"Fingernail polish makes great window paintings, but it's hell to get off."
"Hiding in a kitchen cabinet is fun until the Sheriff is called."
"Swinging upside down by one's heels 18 feet above the concrete playground
makes one's Mother mentally strong"
"I know we already have 6 dogs, but these two I just found are so small,
they won't grow much." (They turned out to be large, large Labs.)
MUSLIMS AND DEMOCRACY ...
THE EUROPEAN MALAISE ...
WRITERS READ, READERS WRITE
THE EUROPEAN MALAISE ...
WRITERS READ, READERS WRITE
Jimmy Kimmel --
"Time magazine has a controversial new cover. They put it out for Mother's Day. It's a real mom breastfeeding her 3-year-old son. If you were shocked by that, you do not want to see what they have planned for Father's Day."
- - - - -
Sheila forwards the following from an Australian friend who had asked a fellow Aussie who was in a position to know, the following question: Can a good Muslim be a good Australian? The friend had worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years. This is his reply:
Theologically - no. . . Because his allegiance is to Allah.
Religiously - no. . . Because no other religion is accepted
by his Allah. (Quran, 2:256)
Socially - no. . . Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him
to make friends with Christians or Jews.
Politically - no. . . Because he must submit to the mullahs(spiritual leaders),
who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America, the great Satan,
Australia and the rest of the free world.
Domestically - no. . . Because he may marry four women and beat and
scourge his wife when she disobeys him. (Quran 4:34).
Intellectually - no. . . Because he cannot accept the Australian Constitution
since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be
corrupt.
Philosophically - no. . . . Because Islam, Muhammad and the Quran does not
allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot
co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.
Therefore, after much study and deliberation.... Perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. They obviously cannot be both 'good' Muslims and good Australians. Call it what you wish it's still the truth. You had better believe it. The more who understand this the better it will be for our country and our future.
The religious war is bigger than we know or understand.
- - - - -
The dominoes are falling in Europe as one government after another either succumbs to, or collapses before, that most basic human urge which can be expressed thusly: "I want something, and I want somebody else to pay for it."
The idea that 27 wildly diverse nations so economically and culturally different could live as one and share a common currency was idealistic but absurd from the outset. They have before them a living example of the adage that "good fences make good neighbors."
Switzerland.
- - - - -
Deroy Murdock (Washington Times) applauds an outburst of common sense from people who really understand what's going on in space ...
"To the long list of right-wing, knuckle-dragging know nothings who dare question 'global warming,' environmentalists can add six Apollo astronauts, two rocket men who flew aboard Skylab and a pair of former directors of the Johnson Space Center (JSC).
"These veterans of America’s space program are among the 49 retired NASA employees who recently asked the agency to halt what they consider its unscientific advocacy of climate alarmism.
"In a letter to NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., these rocket scientists, space explorers and other men and women of reason requested that 'NASA and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) refrain from including unproven remarks in public releases and websites.' They added: 'We believe the claims by NASA and GISS, that man-made carbon dioxide is having a catastrophic impact on global climate change are not substantiated, especially when considering thousands of years of empirical data. With hundreds of well-known climate scientists and tens of thousands of other scientists publicly declaring their disbelief in the catastrophic forecasts, coming particularly from the GISS leadership, it is clear that the science is NOT settled.'"
- - - - -
Reduced to basics, there are only two reasons to elect a person to the presidency. Principles. Competence.
By any rational standard, Obama fails on both counts.
- - - - -
Mr. Ed forwards a "Letter to the Editor" from a small Michigan newspaper. It provides serious food for thought ...
If we lie to Congress, it's a felony. If Congress lies to us it's just politics.
If we dislike a particular black person, it's racism. If a black person hates me, it's his First Amendment right.
You can teach school children that homosexuality is okay, but you'd better not mention God. in doing so.
You can kill a baby while it's being born, but it's wrong to execute a mass murderer.
We mustn't close the border with Mexico, but we have no problem keeping over 30,000 American troops defending South Korea's border with North Korea.
You can put pornography on TV and the internet but you'd better not display a Nativity scene in a public space at Christmas.
We take money from people who work and give it to those who shun work.
- - - - -
The e-mail brings this from Art ...
"I found myself re-reading the Declaration of Indepence and in Jefferson's list of old King George's 'repeated injuries and usurpations' found one that seemed to have a very contemporary feel to it:
"'He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.'
"As Yogi Berra might say, 'It's deja vu all over again.'"
- - - - -
Suggestion to those would use the delightful but archaic word "methinks" ...
It is one word, not two.
- - - - -
Seventeen TV shows were canceled this week. Since the ratings indicate that the odds are strongly against you having ever watched any of them, it seems pointless to list them all. It's just a continuation of the trend of the broadcasting industry committing suicide.
- - - - -
More constructive advice on dealing with annoying and unsolicited salespeople, from Dan Sorkin ...
"After reading Jim Eason’s solution to unwanted advertising I thought you might like to hear what I say to those annoying telephone salesman.
“'You have reached the unpublished telephone number of a professional assassin. I know who you are & where you are. If you call again I will be forced to terminate you with extreme prejudice. Have a nice day'”
"They never call back!"
- - - - -
Sheila contributes reflections on Jewish mothers -- with the understanding that, ultimately, all mothers are Jewish mothers ...
MONA LISA'S JEWISH MOTHER: "After all the money your father and I spent on braces, this you call a smile?"
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS' JEWISH MOTHER: "I don't care what you've discovered, you didn't call, you didn't write."
NAPOLEON'S JEWISH MOTHER: "You're not hiding your report card? Show me! Take your hand out of your jacket and show me!"
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S JEWISH MOTHER: "Again with that hat! Why can't you wear a baseball cap like the other kids?"
ALBERT EINSTEIN'S JEWISH MOTHER: "Your senior photograph and you couldn't have done something with your hair?"
BILL CLINTON'S JEWISH MOTHER: "Well, at least she was a nice Jewish girl, that Monica."
IS OUR NATIONAL LEGACY TO BE
STUPIDITY? ...
BRIBE OFFERED AMERICA-HATING PREACHER ...
RON PAUL'S LUNATIC-FRINGE ATTACKS AGAIN ...
BRIBE OFFERED AMERICA-HATING PREACHER ...
RON PAUL'S LUNATIC-FRINGE ATTACKS AGAIN ...
Either most Americans are simple-minded dopes or, at the very least, our so-called "leader" and his media suck-ups assume that to be the case. Consider the realities.
After more than three years in office -- the first two with Democrat majorities controlling both houses of Congress -- Plastic-Man still insists our economic debacle is all the fault of his predecessor ... gasoline prices have more than doubled yet he refuses to allow oil-drilling where he can stop it ... our military is being gutted ... and our "foreign policy" consists of betraying friends while butt-kissing enemies.
And, with the help of his media concubines, we are fed a steady diet of nonsense distractions like whether Mitt Romney gave some kid a haircut fifty years ago and liberal Newsrag Magazine's cover depicting The First Gay President.
No question about it; November will determine whether this nation is, as sane people fear, too (bleeping) stupid to survive. Whatever else you may think of Mormonism, they're clearly wise to prepare for hard times when the nation is run by irresponsible lunatics, obsessed with the proven failure that IS Marxism.
- - - - -
"One of the first things Barack said was, ‘I really wish you wouldn’t do any more public speaking until after the November election.’ He knew I had some speaking engagements lined up, and he said, ‘I wish you wouldn’t speak. It’s gonna hurt the campaign if you do that.’
“I said, ‘I don’t see it that way. And anyway, how am I supposed to support my family?’ And he said, ‘Well, I wish you wouldn’t speak in public."
-- The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, on his meeting with Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign, after his "God damn America" quote became public knowledge. He further states that he was offered $150,000 not to speak publicly again until after the election. -- (NY Post)
- - - - -
The Ron Paul crazies, in yet another effort to hijack delegate votes for the Republican national convention, booed Josh Romney off the stage at the Arizona state convention. He was there to speak on behalf of his father. They also tried to take over the Oklahoma Republican confab. All that's missing from these delusional zombies is the brown shirts. If nutty ol' Ron isn't getting contributions from Obama, he's being cheated. He's certainly earning them.
- - - - -
The state of Florida has found that some 180,000 people may be illegally registered to vote in Florida, mostly non-citizens. Flashback: The 1980 election, Bush over Gore, was decided by about 500 Florida votes. Let's just consider which party was more likely to receive illegal alien votes.
We might also recall that the Gore campaign made a strenuous effort to prevent the counting of votes from LEGAL voters in the U.S. military overseas whose home-base (and voting place) was in Florida. And Crazy Al and his crooks almost got away with it.
- - - - -
It was British intelligence work that discovered the latest and much-publicized underwear bomb plot to blow up an airliner. It was a source in the U.S. government that blabbed about it, jeopardizing further intel efforts and inevitably making foreign agencies more reluctant to work with the CIA. This is plain treason.
- - - - -
Victor Davis Hanson's observations on ethnicity ...
"In the Trayvon Martin murder case, the media was intent on promulgating a white oppressor/black victim narrative as proof of endemic white prejudice that still haunts America and thus requires perpetual recompense. However, a glitch arose when it was learned that Zimmerman had a Peruvian mother. By university and government diversity standards, he could be characterized as a "minority." That bothersome fact threatened to undermine the entire hyped narrative of white-on-black crime. So the panicked media coined a new hybrid term for Zimmerman: 'white Hispanic.'
"Note that the media has so far not in commensurate fashion referred to President Obama as a 'white African-American' even though he too had a white parent. In Obama's memoirs, we learn that well into his 20s he self-identified as 'Barry.' Only later did Obama begin using his African name, Barack, which at some key juncture offered a more valuable cachet than did the suburban-sounding 'Barry.'"
- - - - -
A quick lesson in how inflation has devalued both the dollar and the very word "millionaire."
In the not-so-distant past, the word was applied only to the very wealthy, and connoted a person whose total net worth -- savings, investments, house, personal property -- amounted to one million dollars or more.
Now, in the Obama era, the word "millionaire" is applied to a person who makes a million dollars a YEAR.
As a friend once observed, wealth is a moving target. What a person once thought was an impressive sum has shrunk, to be replaced by a much larger -- and necessary -- financial goal.
- - - - -
Another suggestion on handling repeated unwanted unsolicited mail comes from Seth ...
"Here's a trick that I've used since 1986: Attach the the pre-paid return envelope to a used manilla envelope stuffed with the company's promos and random papers such as store fliers. On the company's response form scrawl 'Take me off your list. The company pays the postage, you get rid of unwanted paper and get off their mailing list. Works like a charm.
"In 1986, a book-a-month club began sending me books and refused to cancel the 'subscription' I had never ordered. Each month, I dutifully returned the book in the enclosed pre-paid mailer and asked to be removed from their list. After six months, I was fed up. I took a daily paper, wrapped it in yellow legal paper, and scrawled, 'If you ever want to see your book alive again, remove me from your list!' The postage was substantial, I imagine. I soon received a letter of apology with several dollars of stamps and a request to mail the last book back. Needless to say, I just discarded it."
- - - - -
What's a Los Angeles woman who feels victimized to do? The Democrats tell her that Republicans are conducting a "war on women," while city workers and their unions are telling her that Democrat Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is -- guess what? -- "conducting a war on women."
- - - - -
Jim Eason suggests a survey that poses the question, "What commercial do you find particularly obnoxious?" His own nominations ...
"'My name is Doug, and I have mesothelioma...' My cousin worked in the Norfolk, Virginia, shipyard and died of that disease. I sympathize. But I'm tired of Doug.
"Worst of all, recently, is the Motorola commercial which features two women sniveling, and snorting, and crying as they prepare to separate. That's so offensive, I always switch channels."
Any other nominations? At their best, a few commercials achieve more entertainment value than the programming around them -- and cost more than many entire programs because they involve creative talent. The Direct TV and Dos Equis spots come immediately to mind. Most, however, reflect the mediocrity of their creators.
- - - - -
The government is starting a test program to determine, as some indicators suggest, whether red wine can deter Alzheimer's Disease. Many await results, corkscrews at the ready.
- - - - -
Mike forwards this response to the question, "Why Carry a Gun?" ...
My old grandpa said to me "Son, there comes a time in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps and usually it's when he becomes too old to take a butt-whuppin'."
I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.
I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid. I carry a gun because there
are real threats in the world..
I don't carry a gun because I'm evil. I carry a gun because I have
lived long enough to see the evil in the world.
I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun
because I understand the limitations of government.
I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because
unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I AM inadequate.
Police protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves. Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.
- - - - -
The Sky-guy offers a touching post-Mother's Day tale ...
Three sons left home. Went out on their own and prospered. Getting back together, they discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mom for Mother's Day.
The first said, "I had a home built for our Mother."
The second said, "I sent her a Mercedes with a driver for Mom."
The third said, "I've got you both beat. You know how Mom enjoys the Bible, and you know she can't see very well. I sent her a brown parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took 20 monks in a monastery 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge and contribute $100,000.00 a year for 10 years, but it was worth it. All Mom has to do is name the chapter and verse, and the parrot will recite it."
Soon thereafter, Mom sent out her letters of thanks, "Milton," she wrote to the first son. "The house you had built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house."
"Marvin," she wrote to the second son, "I'm too old to travel. I stay home all the time, so I never use the Mercedes. And the driver is so rude!"
"Dearest Melvin, she wrote to her third son, "You were the only son to have the good sense to know what your mother likes. That chicken was delicious!"
OBAMA HATES RICH BUT WANTS THEIR MONEY
...
DEMOCRATS' UTOPIAN SILLINESS ...
'TEMPORARY' TAX IN CALIFORNIA
DEMOCRATS' UTOPIAN SILLINESS ...
'TEMPORARY' TAX IN CALIFORNIA
The biggest phony in presidential history presented both of his faces yesterday. He made a speech to a bunch of young women at Barnard College blasting private capital investment firms, then went straight to a $35,800 per-person dinner at the home of the president of the biggest private equity firm in the nation, the Blackstone Group.
Since the high price of Barnard suggests most of the student body consists of offspring of wealthy parents, ponder the concept of those young ladies applauding an attack on the wealthy. (Tuition, fees, housing and meals at Barnard run well over $50,000 per year.)
- - - - -
Jay Leno --
"Mitt Romney apologized for holding down Michele Bachmann's husband and cutting his hair."
- - - - -
The simple-minded liberals never figure it out.
They call endlessly for higher taxes on "big business" -- and small, as well -- without ever stopping to think about where the money comes from to create jobs -- perhaps their own.
If there is no profit incentive, what's the point of investing? Would you want to invest in an enterprise whose profits, if any, are subject to government confiscation? In addition to the inherent risk of a business investment?
Ah, but perhaps the government will provide employment! Didn't Michelle Obama pointedly recommend that young people go into "public service" -- government jobs -- rather than the tawdry world of private enterprise?
There you are! Everybody working for the government! And that worked out so well for the Soviet Union, didn't it?
(Please forward the above to any liberal you may have in your family or circle of acquaintances.)
- - - - -
So-called "economists" in the NY Times and elsewhere insist that it would be a mistake not to continue government spending far beyond our means, and continue to do so even with the example of Greece and many other failed Utopian experiments right in front of them. These delusional wackos are, in a word, hopeless.
The tragedy is that so many wishful-thinkers succumb to such nonsense. Even regular reminders that there truly is no such thing as a free-lunch is insufficient to convince them that they can't have freebies without somebody, somewhere having to pay for them.
As the young woman in Tampa, Florida, said during the 2008 presidential campaign, "Obama's gonna make my house payment and my car payment!" Then, when asked where he'd get the money, she candidly admitted, "I don't know, but he's gonna do it!"
Such mental incapacity is likely incurable, but those so afflicted can vote!
- - - - -
Political comedy in California, where Gov. Jerry Brown has arrived at the intersection of insane spending and an intransigent liberal legislature and, in response, confronted the public with a plea to raise taxes, but only "temporarily." Are even the mass of Californians dumb enough to believe that any Democrat-sponsored tax increase will be "TEMPORARY?!" Having lived there for twenty-five years, my guess is ... yes.
- - - - -
Jimmy Fallon --
"After just one term in office, French President Nicolas Sarkozy lost his re-election bid because he was unable to fix his nation's economy. Or as Obama put it, 'Uh-oh'."
- - - - -
Big Government, founded by Andrew Breitbart, blows the whistle on another Obama lie ...
"Realizing that Obama's reelection is in serious jeopardy, the President's campaign today released a two-minute ad slamming Mitt Romney for layoffs made at a company controlled by Bain Capital. The ad is built around interviews with former steelworkers at GST Steel, a mill in Kansas City, who were laid off as the company collapsed in the wake of a downturn in the steel market. The ad is certainly gripping and emotional. It is also, however, completely wrong.
"The company was shut down in 2001. Romney left Bain in 1999, long before the plant closing, to run the Winter Olympics.
"However, there was a political power-player serving as a director of Bain at the time of the company's bankruptcy and layoffs--Jonathan Lavine. Lavine joined Bain in 1993. He is currently Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer. He is also a major bundler for Barack Obama, raising between $100-200k for the his reelection."
Before you swallow the Obamadopes' attacks on Bain, better check on who's running it now!
- - - - -
How it must have pained two big liberal propaganda outfits to report it, but the poll jointly sponsored by CBS and the New York Times (reluctantly, no doubt) finds Romney leading the Boy Wonder, 46% to 43%.
Day-to-day polls in a long presidential race are essentially meaningless this far from election, but this one has a certain ... piquancy.
- - - - -
Consider this a warning about where the crooks are who are most likely to steal your money ...
"The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the world’s largest anti-fraud organization, found that public-sector administration employees are responsible for more than 10 percent of fraud cases, ranking behind only financial professionals.
"A congressional staffer who has worked to combat fraud at the federal level agreed that the amount of money being spent has stretched the government thin and left limited accountability. A culture has developed that excuses lavish spending programs, he said, pointing to the GSA’s $800,000 Las Vegas retreat, which has resulted in several firings and resignations.
“'The federal government is sending all of this money out and there’s no follow up, no accountability,” the staffer said. It’s part of the culture'.”
-- (Washington Free Beacon) --
- - - - -
Further proof that the Transportation Security Administration hires the dumbest, most ignorant people on the planet. The airport Gestapo at New York's LaGuardia Airport forced a wheelchair-bound man to stand for a full pat-down search.
The man's name: Henry Kissinger.
- - - - -
Jed Babbin in The American Spectator with a reminder about Obama's media shills ...
"In the minds of the Gatekeeper Media, we aren't entitled to know about Obama's character, what he said or believed, or what he did before he began his 2008 campaign. The Gatekeepers -- ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many other newspapers -- don't want to investigate for fear of what they might find. They're intent on re-electing Obama and will, as they have in the past, simply decline to report on those stories."
- - - - -
Do the math on this.
Every day, this nation is going another $4 billion DEEPER into debt. A quick check of history determines that the entire ANNUAL U.S. budget passed the $100 billion mark during the Eisenhower presidency, when the Interstate Highway System was being built.
Thus, every twenty-five days we're adding to our DEBT by an amount equal to the entire annual federal budget at that time.
- - - - -
Cathy considers the good and bad among commercials ...
"The Dos Equis spots are great.
"I also love the dog in the Travelers Insurance commercials.
"Hate the Progressive ones with the bimbo Flo. I wonder how much money that @!#@!!%# is making off those spots? And now she's on the radio too!"
The Lady in White IS doing quite well. I recall one particular commercial I did for Kraft Foods that ran on network TV for two years. It paid for my swimming pool.
- - - - -
Only people blinded by their prejudices could rationalize something this stupid.
Rush Limbaugh was honored by being inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians and Democrats in the Show Me state had a hissy-fit, obviously based on an utterly irrational belief that he ISN'T famous.
These are clearly crazy people who should be locked-up lest they injure themselves.
Love him or hate him, Limbaugh is obviously famous unless the definition of that exalted status is limited to those acceptable to the lunatic left.
- - - - -
Reader Rick is biting the bullet ...
The President (ordered the cabinet to cut $100,000,000.00 ($100 million) from the $3,500,000,000,000.00 ($3.5 trillion) Federal budget.
I'm so impressed by this sacrifice that I have decided to do the same thing with my personal budget.
I spend about $2,000 a month on groceries, household expenses, medicine, utilities, etc., but it's time to get out the budget cutting axe, go through my expenses, and cut back.
I'm going to cut my spending at exactly the same ratio: 1/35,000 of my total budget or multiply by 0.000285714285.
After doing the math, it looks like instead of spending $2,000 a month, I'm going to have to cut that number by SIX CENTS ($.06).
Yes, I'm going to have to get by with $1999.94...but that's what sacrifice is all about.
I'll just have to do without some things, that are, frankly, luxuries – six cents worth.
- - - - -
Jay Leno, after Obama came out favoring gay marriage --
"In fact, he changed his campaign slogan from 'forward' to 'fabulous'."
Conan O'Brien --
"President Obama came out in favor of same-sex marriage. He said he hoped his support would make it easier for gay people to get married and for John Travolta to get a massage."
- - - - -
Bill reminds us of a timeless quote from George Orwell ...
"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it."
- - - - -
A contribution from Arnold "The Thrill" Hill ...
Three guys are talking about what constitutes fame.
The first defines it as "Being invited to the White House for a chat with the President."
"Nah!" says the second. "Real fame would be if the red phone rang when you were there, and the President wouldn't take the call."
"You're both wrong," says the third. "Fame is when you're in the Oval Office and the red phone rings, the President answers it, listens for a second, then says, "It's for you."
OBAMA PUTS HIS MOUTH WHERE HIS MONEY
IS ...
MORE WOMEN PREFER ROMNEY OVER "GAY" BARACK ...
APPEARS MORE LIKELY TRAYVON WAS SHOT IN SELF-DEFENSE
MORE WOMEN PREFER ROMNEY OVER "GAY" BARACK ...
APPEARS MORE LIKELY TRAYVON WAS SHOT IN SELF-DEFENSE
Did it seem odd to you that Obama went on the chat-fest "The View" (actually, we could stop right there) and stated that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon was “one of the smartest bankers we got,” despite the bank losing $2 billion?
Hmmmm....
Well, The Daily Caller has learned that Mr. Obama has a million dollar account at .. JP Morgan.
Ah, NOW we understand!
- - - - -
After wacky Joe Biden upstaged Obama on gay marriage and quite possibly led him into a loser's trap in the election, is it possible that The Boss may yet dump him for Hillary as a running-mate? Enquiring minds want to know ...
- - - - -
In the unlikely event you haven't already figured it out, the pastiche of manipulations and lies that IS the Obama campaign is based on one simple principle in which they devoutly believe: YOU ARE STUPID!
- - - - -
Look for more Democrats throwing hissy-fits over having their convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, now that polling makes clear what observers already knew: Obama's in for a butt-kicking in the Tarheel state.
- - - - -
Are the sham "war on women" allegations Obama aims at Mitt Romney working? Not according to the poll sponsored by lib-media bastions CBS and the NY Times. Obama's lead in women has vanished and the numbers have gone the other way, with 46 percent now backing Romney and 44 percent for Obama.
- - - - -
The U.S. government has no grounds for taking bows over the blocking of the would-be airline bomber who turned out to be an intelligence agent. The whole thing was an operation run by Britain's MI6, with cooperation from Saudi intel. Both are highly annoyed that some idiot in our government blabbed about it, compromising other security operations.
Other nations are also figuring out that it's foolish and self-destructive to let an Obama-led U.S. government in on anything that involves subverting Islamic terrorism.
All done to glorify Obama for yet another victory in which he had no part.
- - - - -
The medical report shows that George Zimmerman, who shot Trayvon Martin, had a broken nose, black eyes and injuries to the back of his head, while Martin had injuries to his knuckles, all of which would appear to substantiate Zimmerman's claim of self-defense. Yet Eric Holder's Justice Department still plans to charge Zimmerman with their all-purpose "hate crime."
This is looking more and more like a race-based lynching.
What have Sharpton, Jackson, Holder, Obama & Co. to say about it?
Or is Obama willing to stand on his observation that, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."?
- - - - -
Thomas Sowell, as usual, is correct when he writes that we already have a race-war going on in this country ...gangs of young black thugs assaulting white people for no reasons other than savagery and racism ... and the media and politicians are trying to keep it covered up.
He's also correct in this ...
"Trying to keep the lid on is understandable. But a lot of pressure can build up under that lid. If and when that pressure leads to an explosion of white backlash, things could be a lot worse than if the truth had come out earlier, and steps taken by both black and white leaders to deal with the hoodlums and with those who inflame them."
And who would predict that, if this savagery continues, there WON'T be a backlash?
- - - - -
Since Senate Democrats continue to evade their legally-required responsibility to enact an annual budget -- and have evaded it for almost three years -- wouldn't a rational country throw the entire lot into prison?
- - - - -
Bernie Marcus is a co-founder of Home Depot. In Investors Business Daily, he writes of what works -- and what doesn't ...
"Since the financial crisis and throughout the sluggish economic recovery, working families and small-business owners have watched as the federal government has engaged in a grand experiment in government-led economic engineering. That experiment has failed.
"Small businesses create two out of every three new jobs in America. When small businesses struggle, the entire economy suffers. Rather than encouraging economic growth, policies from Washington are making it difficult for small businesses to grow into bigger businesses.
"The Home Depot is the fastest growing retailer in American history, but it wasn't always big. When we started in 1978, we began with two stores. Going from two to more than 2,000 was not easy. In today's environment, I'm not sure we could have started The Home Depot and survived, much less thrived.
"At the root of this government intrusion is a fundamental distrust of the private sector. President Obama said that the idea that market forces should solve economic problems 'fits well on a bumper sticker. But here's the problem: It doesn't work. It has never worked.'
"Although I retired from The Home Depot several years ago, I'm sure that the more than 300,000 Home Depot Associates would beg to differ. The reality is that the free enterprise system has worked for over 200 years in this country and is the bedrock of the American Dream.
- - - - -
So the Obama regime has been spending your tax money on research to find out why some men can't "get it up." Figures. Those women who demand free birth control need playmates.
(An ancient "Swifty" joke, based on the adverbial puns of Jonathan Swift: "I am impotent," Tom said, softly.
- - - - -
One persistent and outrageous Democrat lie: Calling handouts of taxpayer money to political supporters "investments."
- - - - -
Longtime ABC colleague Jim Eason with some advice as you follow the presidential campaign ...
"I recommend all decent people (of whatever party, religion, or persuasion) just IGNORE all political ads ... about anyone ... because LYING is in full play already.
"Here's my suggestion... as Mr. Rodgers has written, there are two basic reasons for voting for anyone (not party, nor promises) first, the candidate's LIFE (what has he or she actually accomplished, what kind of life has been lived, who is this person?) and second, what is the candidate's personal morality (honest, well-behaved, kind, personable?)
"Ignore the entire campaign for President -- tune out the ads and the replies -- look at the candidates, look at their previous lives, investigate their backgrounds.
"And, don't forget the lower offices -- Senate, House, Governor, etc. -- ignore what they SAY, check out who they ARE.
"This might be the LAST election in our country. Vote wrong, and suffer."
- - - - -
Before a choice of college is finalized for a new high school graduate, John Parker's blog at THEBESTOFOURLIVES.COM is must-reading. He knows the academic world and the left-wing bias that permeates it.
- - - - -
Thanks to the several folk who forwarded this quote, purportedly but not confirmed as originating with Kemal Ataturk, the founder of secular Turkey ninety years ago. (The Turkish Republic is now regressing toward government under Muslim sharia law.)
Nevertheless, the quote suggests he solved the wearing of face-covering burqas by Turkish women by decreeing that they could wear whatever dress they wished but all prostitutes, by law, must wear a burqa. Problem solved.
- - - - -
Regarding ads, good and bad, Vivian offers this ...
"The advertising that I can't stand: the AAMCO commercials with all the stupid, noisy people! But I can't turn away from any GEICO ads with the gecko."
But Wanda doesn't like the Geico gecko and would like him squashed.
From Jon ... "The commercial I hate the most? Kate Upton's Carl's Junior commercial."
And yes, those Progressive Insurance commercials are a sales vehicle for an insurance company run by a big supporter of left-wing ... er, PROGRESSIVE ... causes.
- - - - -
Watching re-runs of "Ice Pilots" on the Weather Channel (partly owned by Bain Capital, by the way) last evening made me suddenly realize I've become a graybeard when it comes to flying. I can't help but believe that if you haven't mastered a back-course ADF landing approach under instrument conditions, you're not really a pilot.
It's much the same attitude that leads many of us to believe that if you haven't mastered the manual transmission, you can't really drive a car. So there.
- - - - -
It's gotten this bad since Cumulus took over the ABC Radio properties in San Francisco: KGO and KSFO COMBINED have fewer listeners than KCBS, KQED, KNBR, KMEL or KOIT.
In New York, WABC is in 14th place ... in LA, KABC is 33rd ... WLS in Chicago is 10th ... WBAP in Dallas is 12th ... and ABC's Washington station, WMAL, is in that never-never land where the audience is too small to measure. All were at one time the market leaders. And the destruction of radio continues.
-- (Numbers from the April Arbitron ratings) --
- - - - -
Conan O'Brien --
"President Obama's re-election campaign is focusing very hard on Latino voters. That explains President Obama's new campaign slogan: 'If you squint, I kinda look Puerto Rican'."
Jay Leno --
"New predictions claim 42 percent of Americans will be obese by the year 2030. They say the only way to stop that is for the government to step in. Oh yeah, when it comes to trimming the fat and tightening your belt, what better way than the U.S. government?"
MORE DEMOCRATS DOWN ON OBAMA ...
TRAUMATIZED TAXPAYERS TARGETED ...
OBAMA BLUFFING ON IRAN - AS USUAL
TRAUMATIZED TAXPAYERS TARGETED ...
OBAMA BLUFFING ON IRAN - AS USUAL
Wonder what it might mean when ultra-liberal Noam Chomsky says, "I don’t usually admire Sarah Palin, but when she was making fun of this ‘hopey changey stuff,’ she was right, there was nothing there.”
Yes, even a confirmed leftist admits it; Obama was just peddling bull(bleep) to the gullible.
- - - - -
Plenty of Democrats are obviously fed up with Obama. Not only did a convict get more than 40% of the votes in the West Virginia Democratic primary, now an near-anonymous candidate who's raised and spent less than $500 on a campaign is just seven points behind the Dear Leader in Arkansas.
- - - - -
Short-sighted? A Rasmussen poll finds that seventy-one percent (71%) of Americans surveyed say the government should let troubled banks, even the biggest, go out of business rather than find a way to keep them going.
Okay. But what if that failed bank has YOUR money in it, above FDIC insurance limits or perhaps in non-insured investments managed by the bank? Looks different from that perspective, doesn't it?
By the same token, the average American probably couldn't care less what happens to Greece -- unless/until he finds out his bank, mutual fund or pension fund has money invested there.
- - - - -
First a run on the banks in Greece ... now it's happened in Spain. Next: Portugal? Italy?
As Europe teeters on the brink of apocalyptic economic events, only the most optimistic can expect we'll escape unscathed, especially given our own government's irresponsibility. As the ancient Chinese curse goes, we do live in "interesting times."
- - - - -
Dick Green offers this eye-opener, and a useful tool ...
To understand the pernicious impact of inflation on our money consider this. The old (1973) TV show, "The Six Million Dollar Man" would now be called "The 25 Million, Nine Hundred-Twenty Four Thousand-Eight Hundred Dollar Man". As we engage with our rendezvous with accelerating inflation, thanks to the money hemhorrhage from the Federal Reserve's printing spree, we can expect a similar impact on our personal finances.
Below is a link to a calculator that will permit you to measure this situation at a personal level.
http://www.inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Calculators/Cumulative_Inflation_Calculator.aspx
- - - - -
If you're ever confronted with some lame-brained Democrat babbling about higher taxes on people who actually earn a respectable income being "fair" you might confront them with this response: "Is it 'fair' for half of the population to pay NO income taxes? Or does that define them as deadbeat leeches and freeloaders?"
- - - - -
The vicious ... er, VIVACIOUS ... Ann Coulter (Human Events) has a few words about those who suckle the taxpayer teat ...
"The real class warfare in this country isn't rich vs. poor, it's government employees vs. we, the taxpayers, who pay their salaries.
"Working for the government is supposed to be a trade-off: You can't be fired and don't have to exert yourself, but you will receive smaller remuneration than in the private sector, where layoffs are common (especially in the Obama economy!). Instead, government jobs are safe, secure, pressure-free -- and now, amazingly lucrative!"
- - - - -
Give Democrats the power to tax and their natural avarice is unstoppable. First Obama talked about a "millionaires tax" to be imposed on incomes over a million dollars a year. That somehow morphed into a tax on incomes above $250,000. Now, in Maryland, run by leftist wackos since the days of Nancy Pelosi's progenitors there, they're hammering anyone with an income above $100,000 with additional taxes. And the beat goes on ...
- - - - -
When the U.S. ambassador to Israel goes on TV there and says that U.S. plans for an attack on Iran are ready, it's a virtual guarantee that Obama will never pull that trigger. It has all the earmarks of a bluff. Israel, you're on your own -- and be sure that Benjamin Netanyahu knows it. And knows that Obama's creed on foreign policy is, "Suck up to your enemies, back-stab your friends."
- - - - -
I'm no financial expert, but just wondering out-loud ...
Now that Facebook stock is going public, how long before bold investors begin shorting it? Financial Times reports some insiders are already starting to bail out.
- - - - -
John Stossel of Fox Biznews reflects on "fairness" vs. the free market ...
"A free market will create big differences in wealth. That wealth disparity is simply a byproduct of freedom -- vastly diverse individuals competing to serve consumers will arrive at vastly diverse outcomes.
"That disparity is not unfair -- if it results from free exchange."
And, contrasted with our ever-more tangled restrictions on business startups ...
"In Hong Kong, I started a business in one day. Hong Kong's limited government makes it easy for people to try things, and that has allowed poor people to prosper. Regular people benefit most from economic freedom."
I've spent a lot of time in Hong Kong over the years and before the takeover by the Peoples' Republic of China, the formula for success there was repeated so often it became a cliche: First, a refugee from China got a job in a clothing factory for 12-hour days ... saved up and bought his own sewing machine and worked as a sub-contractor ... save and bought another machine and hired a second person, etc. In a few years, the refugee was running his own factory and in a few more years had his name on a skyscraper.
In a time when there was less government red-tape, Cuban refugees from communism performed the same miracles in Miami. Until a few years ago when its height was finally exceeded, the tallest building in Miami was one built by a Cuban who arrived in a rowboat, worked in construction in the area known as Little Havana ... saved his money, bought a rundown bungalow ... fixed it up and sold it at a profit ... bought more distressed houses ... eventually ran his own construction company ... then built the giant skyscraper.
- - - - -
Prof. Paul Kengor sees Obama's Marxist traits extending beyond economics ...
"On marriage, Obama last week finally came out of the closet in favor of 'gay marriage.' This means that the current president of the United States possesses the most radical/non-traditional view of marriage and the family of any president in the 200-plus-year history of this republic. (Yes, think about that.) That radical/non-traditionalism is fully consistent with the Marxist/communist worldview.
"In the Communist Manifesto, Marx several times wrote openly of the 'abolition of the family' and of communism abolishing 'eternal truths' and 'all religion, and all morality.' 'The communist revolution is the most radical rupture with traditional relations,' Marx affirmed. 'Its development involves the most radical rupture with traditional ideas'." (Source: The American Thinker)
- - - - -
Reader Bill saw this bumper sticker ...
" Liberals - dragging society down one brain at a time."
- - - - -
Brett Decker of the Washington Times summarizes the hazards Obama's campaign faces ...
"That’s because there is doom and gloom everywhere you look. When government mathematical fudging is stripped away, unemployment is stuck over 10 percent. Economic growth is practically nonexistent and promises to slide downhill even more in the coming months with Europe and its banks rapidly collapsing. Due to Mr. Obama’s out-of-control deficit spending, the national debt is at a heart-stopping $15.7 trillion, which erases a whole year of economic output by our entire country. With the Supreme Court poised to strike down Obamacare, his only signature legislative achievement, the president will have nothing to show for four years in office other than record misery."
- - - - -
The news about tampering with the history of previous presidents on the WHITEHOUSE.GOV website is a clear sign of a desperately flailing egomaniac trying to inflate his own importance.
- - - - -
We've previously called attention to falling attendance at sports events, especially NASCAR, as a barometer of the economy. Now, the Weekly Standard also takes notice ...
"The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) has been considered America’s fastest growing sport, quickly becoming a national phenomenon. But a new economic study shows even NASCAR’s powerful engines haven’t been able to keep up with the Obama-era economy.
"The study ... finds that the economic downturn of the last several years has directly affected how NASCAR fans watch and enjoy their sport. Since 2009, race attendance per year has fallen below 4 million people, and the number has been declining severely as the unemployment rate has skyrocketed. The cost of attending—with higher gas prices, less disposable income, and diminished financial security—has increased.
"... with nearly 75 million fans across the country, the NASCAR nation is a “great snapshot” of the country as a whole—and that with plenty of those fans in swing states like Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida, their views on the economy could impact the election."
Don't expect the Obama leftie-girls and wussy-boys to take notice. The NASCAR boys (and girls) don't drive hybrids or the Chevy Volt.
- - - - -
I wonder what the late Johnny Carson, who wisely stayed out of partisan politics (why annoy half the potential audience?) would have to say about his protege David Letterman's blatant campaigning for Obama?
Letterman apparently takes counsel from that Maddow guy on the goofy little leftist-nut cable channel.
- - - - -
Unless I have a reason to root for a particular team in any sports contest, I instinctively root for the underdog. Therefore I'm pleased when the NBA's Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City beats the mighty Lakers.
Of course, it's irrational to root for any pro sports team, since the athletes are all mercenaries who get paid large sums to wear the name of a city on their shirts. But we do it, anyway.
And by the way, I wonder how much St. Louis Cardinal fans miss Albert Pujols, who's having an awful year with the Angels.
- - - - -
I'm not a big fan of the NBA, but my limited observation leads me to conclude that a trend is developing that will lead to still another trend.
The trend is dirty play, with Ron-Whatever-He-Calls-Himself-Today-Artest of the Lakers the outstanding example of a bum who should've been thrown out of the league eons ago.
The inevitable follow-up will resemble hockey's "goon squad" players whose utility is limited to going into a game to deliver serious (often retaliatory) damage to an opponent, much as baseball pitchers throw at batters when their own teammates have been targeted.
I look forward to seeing Artest laid out to a degree that will obviate any necessity for a suspension by the chicken-bleep league office.
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Jay Leno --
"Mitt Romney has jumped to a seven-point lead over President Obama in a national poll. I think Romney's starting to get cocky. Today he threatened to pin down Joe Biden and pull out all of his hair plugs."
Jimmy Fallon --
"On Saturday President Obama and Joe Biden spent more than four hours playing golf together. Joe Biden’s handicap is 20, while Obama’s handicap . . . is Joe Biden."
*** WHY THIS COLUMN IS LATE ***
It is no secret that criminal supporters of Obama have been disrupting conservative websites via hacking and virus infestation. Today (Friday) this column was so victimized. It took until 5PM (MST -- Arizona does not observe DST) to repair the damage.
Herewith, part of the column that would/should have been posted many hours earlier. Thank you.
I shall take a break tomorrow, and plan to resume these scribblings on Sunday.
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Re the Facebook IPO (Initial Public Offering) of stock, which essentially went nowhere, price-wise, this was written at 4AM Friday ...
I don't do "social media" on the grounds that the limited privacy we have left is hard enough to maintain without opening the doors for further invasion. The practical reasons for avoiding Facebook, for example, are highlighted in this item from Yahoo News ...
"Internet security analysts warn that Facebook is a hotbed for online crime. According to an infographic published earlier this year by ZoneAlarm, a leading Internet security software provider, 'roughly 4 million Facebook users experience spam on a daily basis, 20% of Facebook users have been exposed to malware,' and Facebook receives 600,000 reports of hijacked log-ins every day."
The article goes on to describe the many ways Facebook increases your vulnerability.
Further, I don't have an ego that needs people to "follow me" on Twitter, which I frankly see as juvenile.
- - - - -
PS --
Apparently, the skepticism shown by the market indicates that serious investors were very much aware of the reports that Facebook insiders were already dumping their stock before the market opened.
- - - - -
Jay Leno --
"The average college graduate now leaves school $27,000 in debt. But the good news is that now it means they are more than qualified to work as financial advisers at J.P. Morgan."
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Senator Chuck Schumer, the poorly-disguised Marxist from New York, wants to tax people who choose to leave this increasingly-misguided nation even after they've moved to another country and taken citizenship there, would probably deny it, but his plan is just a less-violent version of the (East) Berlin wall that was built to keep people IN that godforsaken place.
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Headline from the Rasmussen poll ...
"57% Think Spending Increases Should Be Limited to Population Growth and Inflation"
Nice.
But many are obviously lying, because some of them had to (A) vote for Obama and (B) vote to re-elect their own members of Congress who repeatedly violate those principles.
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All credit to the news organization founded by the late Andrew Breitbart for finding the biography assembled by his literary agents, Acton & Dystel,when he was an unknown trying to sell his first book, "Journeys in Black and White," which he never completed.
Here is that biography:
"Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii. The son of an American anthropologist and a Kenyan finance minister, he attended Columbia University and worked as a financial journalist and editor for Business International Corporation. He served as project coordinator in Harlem for the New York Public Interest Research Group, and was Executive Director of the Developing Communities Project in Chicago’s South Side. His commitment to social and racial issues will be evident in his first book, Journeys in Black and White."
It should be noted that the Breitbart organization never was part of the "birther" movement or question his birthplace being Hawaii. But
now ... ?
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You can be sure of this: Even if ironclad proof is found that Obama was foreign-born of a foreign (Muslim) father, there is zero chance the Congress will do anything about it. The reasons are obvious: Cowardice on the part of Republicans and a corrupt willingness to promote a monstrous lie by the Democrats.
The whole spineless lot will hide behind the phony "respect for the office" mantra.
If Obama is ever asked to confirm whether or not he is a U. S.-born citizen, he could always fall back on the device used by one of his predecessors, another pathological liar and Democrat who plaintively said belief in his endless lies depended upon "what the meaning of 'is', is."
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Some Democrats fantasize about carrying Arizona in the presidential election. They might be reminded that Congressman Ben Quayle (son of Dan) won his seat in 2010 by running on the slogan, “Barack Obama is the worst president in history.”
Hardly subtle, but very effective in his Phoenix-area district.
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Mitt Romney objects to an independent political action committee's plan to launch a major media campaign linking Obama to his decades-long relationship with his crazed racist pastor, Jeremiah (God DAMN America" Wright. Like McCain before him, Mittens displayed a streak of wussiness that may not serve well in the political arena. Can he be so naive as to believe Obama will exercise similar restraint in his campaign?
- - - - -
Jonah Goldberg had to repeat a point that needs constant reinforcement. When confronted with some spineless liberal who babbles nonsense like, "Violence never accomplishes anything," just one of millions of potential responses serves well.
It's this: "You mean beating the hell out of Japan and Germany in World War 2 accomplished nothing?"
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Friends say Mary Richardson grew up on the Kennedy "Camelot" myth and wanted to be a part of it. She achieved that goal when she married Robert Kennedy, Jr., who got an annulment ( that some questioned on grounds of political influence) from his previous wife.
Now, another friend says Bobby-#2 "used her up and threw her away," so she hanged herself.
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U.N. human rights "experts" are pushing for a tax on wealthier nations to benefit third-world countries. Should the U.S. ever accede to such utopian silliness (and Obama, given the chance, doubtless would) there is one certain result: more French Riviera mansions owned by more third-world crooked politicians. Guaranteed.
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Listening to "Last Dance" will now have a special poignancy. Singer Donna Summers, gone at 63. Cancer.
"Last Dance" was the greatest piece of hook-up music this side of Barry White.
- - - - -
J. R. Barkin is -- was -- the father of Paige Parkerson's child.
Some might think it a nice gesture when J. R. brought her flowers on Mothers' Day.
Paige wanted jewelry and was thus disappointed.
So she shot him dead.
- - - - -
Conan O'Brien --
"The head of the banking giant JPMorgan has apologized for losing over $2 billion in a bad trade. This morning he said, 'Hey, it could have been worse. We could have signed Albert Pujols'"
- - - - -
Reader Stanley can't vouch for this, but it's too good not to be true. As the story goes ...
Several days ago as I left a meeting at a hotel; I desperately gave myself a personal TSA pat down. I was looking for my keys. They were not on me. A quick search in the meeting room revealed nothing.
Suddenly I realized I must have left them in the car. Frantically, I headed for the parking lot.
My spouse has scolded me many times for leaving the keys in the ignition. My theory is the ignition is the best place not to lose them; the car could easily be stolen.
The parking lot was empty. I immediately called the police. I gave them my location, confessed that I had left my keys in the car, and that it had been stolen.
Then I made the most difficult call of all, "Honey," I stammered; I always say "honey" in times like these, "I left my keys in the car, and it has been stolen."
There was a period of silence. I thought the call had been dropped, but then I heard a voice.
"Idiot, I dropped you off!"
Now it was my time to be silent. Embarrassed, I said, "Well, come and get me."
"I will, as soon as I convince this policeman I have not stolen your car."
KENYA DISPROVE IT, OR CAN'T YOU?
DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET
THE "MODERATE MUSLIM" MYTH
DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET
THE "MODERATE MUSLIM" MYTH
Despite the best efforts of the untrustworthy Big Media, the "biography" of Barack Obama, a construction built of lies, is falling apart amidst the growing evidence that he was, in fact, born (as he and his wife have said -- the video is easily found) that he was born in Kenya.
The internet has made that abundant evidence available to the public, or that segment interested in truth. Just go to YOUTUBE, click on the "politics" category and enter "Obama born in Kenya" for much video on the subject.
So what is the reaction of the political/media league of Obama supporters? "Oh, well, if he HAS lied and WAS born in Kenya, what difference does it make?"
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The evidence keeps piling up; evidence that Obama was born in Kenya ... and that Joe Biden, who rants about being either middle-class or just plain po' folks before he goes home to his multi-million dollar mansion, IS stark raving nuts.
And what does that say about an American public that elected these two?
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By catering to his gay constituency, Obama has jeopardized some of the support from another cohort vital to his re-election campaign. Many black ministers are vocally opposed to gay marriage and emphatically resent the effort to compare it to the black civil rights movement.
However, it's still a safe bet that Obama will get around 90% of black votes because, to many of his supporters, racial solidarity trumps all else. A wonderful way to choose leadership, is it not?
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The many lies, flaws and follies of Barack Obama apparently aren't sufficient for some people. They make themselves the objects of ridicule by creating or propagating such nonsense as the photo of a Boeing aircraft with the Obama logo on the tail that is now circulating on the internet.
The aircraft is being portrayed as Air Force One and purportedly being used as a campaign vehicle. It is totally bogus, as anyone who knows anything about planes can readily see. The aircraft portrayed is a TWO-engine Boeing 757. Air Force One is -- and has been for years -- a much larger FOUR-engine 747.
The photo is fraudulent. This kind of foolishness only makes Obama's detractors who circulate it look ridiculous -- which may have been the intent.
- - - - -
Also ...
I regularly receive forwarded copies of a speech allegedly made by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, demanding that Muslims in Australia adopt the morals and mores of that country, or get out.
Good speech. Except she never made any such remarks. They are the words of a conservative predecessor in that office, John Howard. Ms. Gillard is a member of the leftist Labor Party and subscribes to an agenda that would be largely acceptable in, say, Berkeley, California.
Don't believe everything you read on the internet or in forwarded e-mail.
We now return to our regular programming.
By the way, frustrated folk who regularly resort to pronouncements that they plan to move to Australia had better take a look at that nation's immigration laws. The odds are overwhelming that, unless you have a skill needed in that country, you won't be allowed to live there. Few nations have the open-borders policy that largely guides our own ridiculous immigration law enforcement.
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Mr. Eason opines ...
"The Muslims are not happy! They're not happy in Gaza . They're not happy in Egypt . They're not happy in Libya . They're not happy in Morocco. They're not happy in Iran . They're not happy in Iraq . They're not happy in Yemen . They're not happy in Afghanistan. They're not happy in Pakistan. They're not happy in Syria . They're not happy in Lebanon.
"So where ARE they happy? They're happy in Canada. They're happy in Australia. They're happy in England. They're happy in France. They're happy in Italy. They're happy in Germany. They're happy in Sweden. They're happy in the USA. They're happy in Norway. They're happy in every country that is not Muslim.
"And who do they blame? Not Islam. Not their leadership. Not themselves. THEY BLAME THE COUNTRIES THEY ARE HAPPY IN, AND THEY WANT TO CHANGE THEM TO BE LIKE THE COUNTRY THEY CAME FROM - WHERE THEY WERE UNHAPPY."
- - - - -
Let's be clear on this. Despite the childish blatherings of the jelly-spined defeatists in both politics and the media and their endless efforts to explain that "moderate" Muslims mean us no harm, be aware that: #1 -An Immoderate Muslim is one who wants to kill or subjugate you NOW. #2 - a "moderate" Muslim is willing to wait awhile, but shares the same ultimate goal. It is so dictated by his faith.
Remember also that, under Islam, the Muslim is not only allowed to lie to infidels (if you aren't Muslim yourself, that means you) but encouraged to do so. Which means if you don't regard that religion/cult (your choice) as a threat, you are practicing self-deception on a suicidal scale. The short word for it is: stupidity.
- - - - -
Obama sent a message to Russian strongman Putin a few weeks ago promising that after the election he (Obama) would be more "flexible." Putin promptly repaid him by snubbing the silly G-8 conference Obama is hosting. (Did any of these G-anything meetings ever accomplish anything?)
This latest nose-thumbing by Putin demonstrates clearly that he knows the U.S. president is a spineless punk to be insulted without fear of meaningful retaliation. Obama can pound his chest and boast, "I killed bin Laden" all he wants; Putin knows better. The Russian is not some American liberal dip-(bleep).
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Liberal news anchorwoman Campbell Brown in the ultra-liberal NY Times ...
"When I listen to President Obama speak to and about women, he sometimes sounds too paternalistic for my taste. In numerous appearances over the years — most recently at the Barnard graduation — he has made reference to how women are smarter than men. It’s all so tired, the kind of fake praise showered upon those one views as easy to impress. As I listen, I am always bracing for the old go-to cliché: Behind every great man is a great woman'.”
Why do I suspect she'll swallow her bile and vote for him, anyway?
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Thomas Sowell discusses demographics ... and destiny ...
"Now that census data show -- for the first time in American history -- the number of white babies born exceeded by the number of babies born to non-white minorities the question is: What does this mean for the future of American society?
"Politically, it means that minorities who traditionally vote overwhelmingly for Democrats can ensure that the country veers ever further to the left over the years, making America more like the welfare states of Europe, whose unsustainable spending led ultimately to finical crises and widespread riots.
"But this is not strictly a matter of whites versus non-whites. Jews vote consistently, and almost as overwhelmingly, for Democrats as blacks do. Moreover, Asian Americans are by no means as likely as other non-whites to vote for the class warfare, tax and spend agenda of the Democrats.
"Yet when all is said and done, the future political direction of the country seems painfully clear for these demographic trends.
"A continuation of the current political tendency to take away the money required for national defense, and spend it instead on handouts that will win votes, means that our enemies around the world will have golden opportunities at our expense.
"The history of Balkanized and polarized societies in the 20th century is a history of horrors that we dare not ignore. We are not at that terrible point yet. But that is the direction in which we are headed, under the spell of magic words like 'multiculturalism' and 'diversity,' which have become substitutes for thoughts."
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Things that arouse an urge to drag a parasitical government burocrat/flunky into the street and beat him/her senseless:
The snotball who decided a Utah school should be fined more than fifteen grand for allowing a kid to buy a soft drink at lunchtime.
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I don't know about you, but I do know this: If some punk thug takes a swing at me and I'm carrying my gun, I absolutely WILL shoot the SOB, and I don't care if his name is Trayvon or Genghis Kahn. And I sure as hell don't care who he looks like.
The ancient shibboleth applies: Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.
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An offhand observation on real estate ...
If you plan to sell your house or condo, make sure you have no squeaking doors. Few things are more off-putting when checking out a property than to have your first contact result in an entry door "Screeeeech!" Oil is (relatively) cheap.
This insight was gained from watching a couple of episodes of house-shopping on HGTV.
And by the way ... until you live in a place, it's not a "home," it's just a house.
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Desmond Hatchett is 33. He lives in Tennessee. Mr. Hatchett has a child-support problem.
He is the father of 21 -- or maybe it's 30 -- children. By eleven different women.
He wants the taxpayers to pay his child support.
Naturally.
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Jay Leno --
"President Obama released his financial disclosure statement. It turns out he is now worth over $10 million. So at least somebody is doing well in this economy."
POST PERUSES PARADE OF PARASITES ...
VOTING PUBLIC LIES TO PERSISTENT POLLSTERS ...
THE KENNEDYS DEFINE RICH 'WHITE TRASH'
VOTING PUBLIC LIES TO PERSISTENT POLLSTERS ...
THE KENNEDYS DEFINE RICH 'WHITE TRASH'
Even the LIBERAL Washington Post is awakening? From today's edition ...
"Before 9 a.m., a group of lobbyists began showing up at the White House security gates with the chief executives of their companies, all of whom serve on President Obama’s jobs council, to be checked in for a roundtable with the president.
"At 1 p.m., a dozen representatives from the meat industry arrived for a briefing in the New Executive Office Building.
"And at 4 p.m., a lobbyist for Goldman Sachs arrived in the Old Executive Office Building for a meeting with Alan B. Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
"It was an unremarkable January day, with a steady stream of lobbyists among the thousands of daily visitors to the White House and the surrounding executive office buildings, according to a Washington Post analysis of visitor logs released by the administration.
"The White House visitor records make it clear that Obama’s senior officials are granting that access to some of K Street’s most influential representatives. In many cases, those lobbyists have long-standing connections to the president or his aides. Republican lobbyists coming to visit are rare, while Democratic lobbyists are common, whether they are representing corporate clients or liberal causes."
Yes, this is the man who was going to eliminate the influence of lobbyists. Suuure ...
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Survey says ...
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 64% of likely U.S. Voters prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes over one with more services and higher taxes. That's unchanged from last month and consistent with findings in regular surveys since late 2006. Just 25% prefer a government with more services.
We must, however, refer to a flaw inherent in all polling. People lie. They may SAY they want fewer government services -- until a service THEY receive is mentioned as a target for reduction or elimination. Then -- "Mwaaah!" -- it suddenly doesn't seem such a good idea.
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Otherwise rational people who decry Obama's "divisiveness" overlook a fundamental factor that makes such a charge ineffective as a campaign tool against the worst president in history. His supporters LIKE him to be divisive. Their ill-concealed permanent motive is, "He'll give me something and make somebody else pay for it."
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Maureen Callahan in the NY Post analyzes the real Kennedy curse ...
"Along with their waning power, wealth, privilege and prestige, here’s another element of the Camelot mystique that needs to be extinguished: the myth of “The Kennedy Curse.” It’s almost a reflexive national reaction when we hear of yet another Kennedy dying too young, so of course it was invoked again last week, when news broke that Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged 52-year-old wife of Robert Kennedy Jr., had hung herself in her barn on Wednesday. A curse, however, implies supernatural intervention by vengeful gods jealous of mortal youth, beauty, brilliance.
"Let’s just call it what it is: the natural fallout when you’re a member of a family riddled with entitled, underachieving drunks, drug addicts and adulterers, whose treatment of women is historically deplorable."
The record is clear: Kennedy men, going back to the patriarch, old Joe, have a record of using women like toilet paper. Yet the world is apparently full of stupid, gullible women who admire the Kennedy "glamour." Both Jack and Jackie constantly screwed around with other people like the trash who populate TV's "Real Housewives of Sodom and Gomorrah" so-called "reality" shows.
I have personally seen evidence that, before she even married Jack, Jacqueline Bouvier shacked-up with Aristotle Onassis at the Jaragua Hotel in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, sharing a cottage on the hotel grounds with then-legendary Latin lover Porfirio Rubirosa and another American woman. Their signatures in the dusty old hotel registry were clear, though faded, from an era when the registry book rather than the sign-in guest card was still common -- especially in overseas hotels.
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Have shame and embarrassment disappeared as boundaries for human behavior -- at least, American human behavior? Within memory, there was a time when acceptance of welfare was regarded as a shameful confession of inability to take care of one's self and one's family.
My own parents certainly qualified for such government goodies as were available in my childhood. They refused to accept them and made clear to me that such acceptance was appropriate only in desperation and not to be sought by anyone able-bodied enough to find work, however menial.
It was a lesson well-learned. Self-reliance breeds self-respect.
Now it is not unusual to see the person using food-stamps at the supermarket go load his/her taxpayer-paid bounty into a Mercedes.
- - - - -
Investors Business Daily with a pithy editorial comment on the priorities of the Obama regime ...
"A new report shows we have spent $70 billion on climate change since 2008 while our strapped military is ordered to become energy-efficient.
"Imagine weapons that don't harm the environment."
No surprise, really. Just further proof that we DO live in a land run by lunatics.
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Ross Kaminsky (The American Spectator) illuminates the insanity that IS California ...l
"... our very own Greece: California. Since California doesn't have the option of seceding from the union, one wonders when the state will ask the IMF for a Greek-style bailout.
"... both places are full of union members and socialists (pardon my redundancy) focused on preventing cuts in government spending.
"California, like Greece, and most western nations' governments, has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. One example: The state has one eighth of the nation's population but one third of its welfare recipients.
"So JP Morgan makes a $2 billion mistake -- less than 7 percent of their 2011 earnings -- with their own money, and senators are calling for hearings. The California's governor's office raised its 2012 budget deficit projections -- namely their overspending of public money -- almost 50 percent, from $9.2 billion to $16 billion, an error of almost eight percent of the state's total budget, in four months, yet those same members of Congress remain as silent as a Trappist monk."
Not long ago, some Californians regularly clamored for secession, proclaiming theirs to be a state that would prosper as a nation. One wonders if the self-aggrandizing fools have learned anything from the ongoing debacle in Sacramento
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News from our corrupt joke of an education system: In North Carolina, a teacher told a student he could be arrested for speaking ill of the Great Phony in the White House.
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Media liberal propagandists continue to come off as dummies on "Jeopardy." Chris Matthews finished last ... so did Tom Friedman of the NY Times. But then, socialists have always been more attuned to foolishness than facts.
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Joseph Curl of the conservative Washington Times says it's a done-deal. Hillary replacing Crazy Joe Biden on the ticket with Obama ... says the bumperstickers are already printed and stashed in a Little Rock warehouse.
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This will come as no great surprise to the enlightened, but a highly reliable source related to me an incident that occured the night before the George W. Bush inauguration. He and his wife were outside the White House as the Clintons were moving out. They somehow found a way behind the bleachers that were erected for the next day's events and saw a veritable parade of media people, some of whose names you would recognize, leaving the White House with all kinds of souvenirs. Seems the Clintons were giving much of the contents of the WH to their cronies in the press, TV, etc.
Had you forgotten how the Clinton's stripped the White House upon departure, and how their staff deliberately sabotaged computer keyboards?
- - - - -
“The Iranian nation is standing for its cause and that is the full annihilation of Israel.” -- Major Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi of the Iranian army, in a speech yesterday. And to think ... we have a president who pretends to believe that phony "sanctions" will deter Iran.
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Robin Gibb of the BeeGees, dead at 62. Cancer. He was the lead voice on such hits as "I Started a Joke." Twin brother Maurice died in 2003. Only Barry, who did the falsetto voice on their records, survives from the original group.
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John Parker of THEBESTOFOURLIVES.COM contributes a valuable tip after being the target of an intended computer scam. If someone phones you and tells you your computer is infected, give the caller NO information. Instead, glean as much as you can and report it to the Federal Trade Commission.
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There are still people who think Haagen-Dazs is an exotic Scandanavian ice cream.
The name is actually a made-up marketing tool. It's actually owned by good ol' all-American General Mills and sold under the Nestle brand.
- - - - -
I admit it. I take a distasteful glee in watching the disintegration of the Laker dynasty at the hands of the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder. Now, if the Indiana Pacers could just finish off the Miami Heat, the world would be a better place. Babies would be healthier, women more beautiful, peace would reign ...
Aside from LA and Miami fans, only TV executives would shed tears, worried about their ratings.
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The London Daily Mail reviews a useful new book, "The Politically Incorrect Lexicon," from which such gems as these ...
Abuse – what child-molesters claim they suffered as children to excuse their crimes.
Celebrity – someone you’ve never heard of.
Curriculum Vitae: A brief, fictionalised autobiography.
Doctor – go-between for the patient and the undertaker.
Domestic goddess – television cook with big boobs.
Extremist – a person who actually believes what he says he believes.
I’m good – no you’re not, you are well.
Intellectual – common misspelling of ineffectual.
Issues – problems. As in ‘he has issues with drink’.
Martyr (Christian) – Someone who gives his life for his faith.
Martyr (Islam) – Someone who takes the lives of others for his faith.
Pacifist – someone who expects you to die for his principles.
Partner – any shack-up sexual relationship that lasts longer than three days.
Self-esteem – narcissism.
Therapist – overpaid sentimentalist with a plaque on his door.
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Rick forwards a traffic sign that I suspect is highly effective. It says ...
"NUDE MODELS NEXT 6.9 MILES"
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If you've read this column to this point, you probably found it either enjoyable -- or at least interesting. In which case, feel free to forward the link ... RADIORODGERS.COM ... to a friend. Or perhaps a liberal you'd like to annoy.
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Patsy Acker offers a new word-game.The Rules Are Take ANY Well-Known Phrase In ANY Foreign Language.Change just one letter, then provide a definition for the new expression.
HARLEY-VOUS FRANCAIS? Can you ride a French motorcycle?
COGITO, EGGO SUM. I think, therefore I am a waffle.
RESPONDEZ S'IL VOUS PLAID. Honk if you're Scottish.
LE ROI EST MORT, JIVE LE ROI. The King is dead. No kidding.
POSH MORTEM. Death styles of the rich and famous.
PRO BOZO PUBLICO. Support your local clown.
VENI VICI VICE. I came, I saw, I partied.
OBAMA VS. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH GETS
SERIOUS ...
SOWELL: POLS -- AND THE PUBLIC -- LOVE LIES ...
THE FACEBOOK FOLLIES ...
SOWELL: POLS -- AND THE PUBLIC -- LOVE LIES ...
THE FACEBOOK FOLLIES ...
It had to come. The archdiocese of New York, the archdiocese of Washington, D.C.,, the University of Notre Dame, and 40 other Catholic dioceses and organizations are suing the Obama administration for violating their freedom of religion. It's all about the Obama attempt to force them to pay for birth control and abortion-inducing drugs in their health plans, a clear violation of church doctrine.
The situation is aggravated, of course, by the lying leftists trying to make a campaign issue with the totally false complaint that "Republicans are trying to take away our birth control." They are doing no such thing. They simply oppose, as does the Church, women -- or the government -- forcing others to PAY for it.
Bluntly stated: If you want to get laid, that's your business. If you want somebody else to pay to prevent pregnancy, then it becomes a legitimate public issue and those opposed to either the principle or the payment have every right to object.
- - - - -
Even the liberal Washington Post admits its own polling shows that more than eight out of ten Americans view the state of the economy negatively. Despite their poll showing the Obama-Romney race as a near dead-heat, it seems counter-intuitive to believe that a president whose tenure has been an economic disaster could even be competitive.
It seems more likely that, while polls will fluctuate, the November election may turn out as something more resembling the Reagan blowout of Jimmy Carter. At some point, patience with promises evaporates as demand for performance increase.
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Thomas Sowell reviews the basics at TOWNHALL.COM ...
"The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy them, and only in the short run. The current outbreaks of riots in Europe show what happens when the truth catches up with both the politicians and the people in the long run.
"Among the biggest lies of the welfare states on both sides of the Atlantic is the notion that the government can supply the people with things they want but cannot afford. Since the government gets its resources from the people, if the people as a whole cannot afford something, neither can the government.
"There is, of course, the perennial fallacy that the government can simply raise taxes on "the rich" and use that additional revenue to pay for things that most people cannot afford. What is amazing is the implicit assumption that 'the rich' are all such complete fools that they will do nothing to prevent their money from being taxed away. History shows otherwise.
"So, if you cannot rely on 'the rich' to pick up the slack, what can you rely on? Lies."
- - - - -
Obama's latest (and increasingly shrill) campaign tactic is to proclaim that running a business is unlike running the government.
True. But he has no experience in the former and is demonstrably a failure in the latter.
- - - - -
Questions to consider:
Since other nations in Europe are being asked -- again -- to bail out a lazy, corrupt and stupidly-governed Greece, are they trying to pass the bill along to us?
Will Obama accept it?
Would you be surprised if he did?
- - - - -
The new public trading of the Facebook stock is starting to look like one of the biggest sucker-bait scams the market has seen since Obama's handoff of taxpayer money to fraudulent but politically-favored "green energy" beneficiaries of his ridiculous "stimulus" plans.
To some of us cynics, Facebook always looked like an overgrown juvenile fad.
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Since the Facebook stock debacle, the old expression "Getting faced" has taken on a new -- and even more unpleasant -- definition.
Now gullible investors can eagerly await the IPO (initial public offering) of stock in the hula hoop or pet rock.
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Sunday Iran's top military officer said in a speech Sunday that his nation remains committed to the "annihilation" of Israel. Jed Babbin in The American Spectator observes Obama's continuing suck-up to our enemies as he betrays allies ...
"Israel -- and the threat it faces from Iran -- is Obama's greatest failure. Obama has been in office for nearly four years, but he has yet to visit Israel. His enmity toward Prime Minister Netanyahu has led to Israel's isolation. The gap between the two men means that when Israel decides to take military action against Iran, as it must, we will probably not know anything about it until the operation is underway."
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The presidential election in Egypt takes place tomorrow and Thursday. Don't be surprised if a hard-line Islamist, favoring oppressive tenth-century Sharia law and ongoing Jihad -- holy war -- emerges as the winner. And another liberal fantasy about last year's "Arab spring" will be doused with the cold water of reality.
Of course, Obama and the Hildabeast at the State Department will paint it as a victory for the "will of the people."
The gullible dopes who believed the "Arab spring" nonsense will be interested to hear that, as of this morning, the leading candidate is a crazed Arab who believes, in the face of all evidence, that the murder of 3,000 Americans on 9/11 was an American plan to make Muslims "look bad."
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Despite an abundance of restrictive gun laws that attempt to render decent citizens defenseless, CBS/Chicago reports that the city that spawned the excresence that is the Obama administration had a score this past weekend of seven people killed and at least 22 more wounded by gunfire.
In Chicago, that's barely newsworthy.
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Obama's rationale for even more wasteful "stimulus" is so that, in his words, "Everyone can succeed."
This is pure, unadulterated bull durham. If he believes it, he's stupid; more likely he knows better and is, as usual, simply lying.
Every adult human being knows it is nonsense to pretend that everyone can succeed. There are many reasons why many people will NOT succeed, lack of intelligence and unwillingness to make the effort topping the list.
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Seeing photos of people at various demonstrations proclaiming their devotion to communism serves to remind us that such folk are impervious to common sense of the lessons of history. Otherwise they would know that theirs is a Utopian fantasy that has failed on every front and by every measure. Yet they continue to delude themselves with an unshakable belief that "the idea is good, it just hasn't been done correctly."
Any socioeconomic system that depends upon everyone putting into a common bowl as much as they can and withdrawing what they need (" ... to each according to his needs") will inevitably attract multitudes who put in as little as possible and take out as much as they can.
It is that fundamental fact of human nature that is the downfall of such a system. Too many takers, not enough givers. And that is why only children and fools believe in such nonsense as communism. Children outgrow it ... fools never do. That explains why they tend to congregate in college towns. The children are present in abundance, as are the fools -- usually on the faculty.
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On my must-read list ...
The new biography of Walter Cronkite by Douglas Brinkley which reveals the one-time "most trusted man in America" to be the liberal manipulator of the news that many of us have long suspected.
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For about the 10,000th time ...
The "Certificate of Live Birth" issued by the state of Hawaii, even if it weren't a forgery in the case of Barack Obama, is NOT a birth certificate. It can be, and is, issued to anyone who simply states that an American child was born outside the country. It is, therefore, essentially meaningless.
The liberal media hacks who persist in calling it a birth certificate are either (A) ignorant or (B) liars. I vote for the latter, having known so many of them over a long media career.
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Obama is headed toward the inevitable outcome of the Afghanistan war he once proclaimed as vital: give up and quit.
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Wes Pruden of the Washington Times summarizes Obama's fetish for "composite" campaign women, "composite" girlfriends and his own "composite" past ...
"The convenience of a composite past is that it is a past made up almost entirely of 'factoids,' a word coined by the novelist Norman Mailer to describe something that looks like a fact, sounds like a fact but is in fact not a fact. Factoids are easily adjusted and often make up the entire conversation in Washington. Factoids are the main ingredient in press agentry. Mr. Obama’s biographical sketch describes Mr. Obama’s mother as 'an anthropologist' and his father as 'a Kenyan finance minister,' though his mother had only studied anthropology in university and his father was little more than a clerk in the Kenyan finance ministry."
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USA Today reports ...
The GOOD news is, traffic congestion in urban areas is down by 30%.
The BAD news is, it's because (A) the economy is in the toilet and (B) gasoline prices have more than doubled since President Composite took office.
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How effective was the NOW (National Organization for Women) protest against Rush Limbaugh staged outside the Washington, D.C. station that carries his program? Talkers Magazine reports that seven protesters showed up.
Seven.
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How long since you heard this term? Marjie reminds me that there was a time when the place where you bought gasoline was called a ... "filling station."
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Forgive me, for I have sinned against the language. Somehow, the following partial sentence escaped three proof-readings and got into yesterday's column. After having protested the abuse and over-use of the apostrophe, there it was: " ...the Clinton's stripped the White House ..."
I am appropriately ashamed and shall flagellate myself. Unless, of course, such an act is prohibited by some obscure law. In my former hometown of San Francisco it was not only acceptable, but actually even encouraged, especially on Bay to Breakers day. Nancy Pelosi says, "If you want to flagellate yourself in public, go ahead! Or if you and another consenting adult want to flagellate each other, it's your right. And did you notice I got a street named after me?"
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Pungent insights from the Sky-guy ...
An "acceptable" level of unemployment means that the government economist to whom it is acceptable still has a job.
The trouble with unemployment is that the minute you wake up in the morning you're on the job.
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Jimmy Fallon --
"“American Idol' is down to its final two contestants. The losing contestant will fade away into obscurity, while the winning contestant won’t have that happen until around June."
DEMOCRATS(!) DEMANDING DEMAGOGUE
DEPART ...
THE FACEBOOK FOLLIES (cont.) ...
WIN WARS OR STAY HOME
THE FACEBOOK FOLLIES (cont.) ...
WIN WARS OR STAY HOME
The Arkansas and Kentucky Democratic primary results point to another embarrassment like West Virginia, where a Texas convict got more than 40% of the Democrat votes vs. Obama.
Arkansas and the Blue Grass State look like a repeat of that jolt, with a nobody pulling over 40% in the former and "uncommitted" repeating it in the latter. Party leaders are going to have to admit major defections are taking place among their voting base and present a real danger to President Composite's re-election chances.
When four out of ten Democrats anywhere are saying they've had enough of their own man, the message should be clear. Not that party leaders will say so in public.
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It appears that many Democrats recognize the absurdity of questioning Romney's "qualifications" when they recall that their nothingburger in the White House had a background as (A) a "community organizer" and (B) evading real decisions as a legislator by voting "present."
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Fact-check. Mitt Romney's career as a Bain Capital executive ended years ago. And while the Obama campaign decries job losses at businesses Bain couldn't save, they ignore the presence of Jonathan Lavine, a long-time Bain executive and member of the board when the losses they decry actually occurred.
Perhaps it's because Mr. Lavine is one of Obama's biggest campaign contributors. He's been with Bain since 1993. Don't learn THAT from the Obama campaign ads and hype, do you?
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Musing about a potential key election factor not being discussed ...
With all the focus on the Ohio-Florida-Virginia axis being the vital elements come November, what about Pennsylvania. Is it so reliably in the Obama camp that even Obama's openly-declared war on coal, a vital part of that state's economy, could not swing it against him?
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James Robbins in the Washington Times ...
"For a while last week, it seemed like the Internet boom of the late 1990s had returned. America was seized with the kind of irrational euphoria that quickly made and lost fortunes when the dot-com bubble popped in March 2000. Headlines promised instant riches. Facebook’s IPO was spring-loaded to soar. U2’s Bono, an early investor, would be richer than the surviving Beatles. Facebook was going to be such a strong opener that it would boost the entire sagging market. So said the hype.
"Facebook was priced at the high end of its projected value, and 122 times its earnings. More established tech stocks like Microsoft, Apple and especially Google, which is seen as a direct competitor, are priced between 10 and 20 times earnings. By those standards, Facebook should be trading under $10."
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Footnote to the fallout from the Facebook stock debacle: It turns out that Morgan Stanley, the lead financial institution, warned some of its major clients just before the stock hit the market that this might not be such a great investment, after all.
(Full disclosure: I am a Morgan Stanley client, but obviously not big enough to be warned ... not that I was planning to invest in this boondoggle, anyway -- as regular readers of this column would know.)
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"All the Facebook tabulation of recent days -- whatever it may have meant to Mark Zuckerberg and his brokers -- brought to certain others in the great extended American community a certain sense of relief. It is not essential -- a matter of destiny -- some of us now know, to buy into the whole Facebook thing or for that matter even a sliver of it. We can safely ignore the whole thing. That is what we have learned by reading about Facebook." -- Bill Murchison, Townhall.com --
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Jay Leno --"Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in his Harvard dorm room and in eight years built it into the most popular waste of time the world has ever seen."
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Craig Ferguson --
"Some people use Facebook to check up on ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends. That just seems creepy to me. I like it the old-fashioned way. If you want to check up on an ex, go through their trash."
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It screams "bias!" when the old (and dying) alphabet TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) virtually buried the biggest news story of the week, the lawsuit by major Catholic institutions against the Obama plot to force them to subsidize birth control and abortion-inducing drugs.
And no, I am not Catholic.
Next: How long before someone with less restraint suggests that a Catholic voting for Obama is akin to any Jews who, in the 1930's, voted for a certain prominent political figure in Europe who achieved, shall we say, notoriety.
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Marist poll: 74% of adults surveyed said that freedom of religion should take precedence over government laws, even though the poll had an admitted seven-point Democrat bias.
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Now Senate Democrats want to increase the price of airline tickets by charging a higher fee for airport "security." In other words, they want you to pay more for the privilege of being groped, insulted and otherwise abused by the TSA's hated airport Gestapo.
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Perhaps the best argument Democrats can muster in opposing the rumored replacement of Joe Biden with Hillary as a VP candidate is the concern that Obama needs a running mate who at least appears to be dumber than himself.
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Blatant blind-spot dep't. While Obamunists are trying to create a phony issue because Mrs. Romney likes horses, they ignore the fact that President Composite likes dogs -- to eat.
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Wonder how former Obama hatchet-man and now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel views his former boss' much-admired "Occupy" mob now that three of their leaders have been caught in a plot to fire-bomb his (the mayor's) house?
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Why would Democrats so vehemently oppose laws requiring that voters present legal identification before casting a ballot unless they believed that the prohibition of illegal voting would jeopardize their election chances in many precincts and districts? Or perhaps they're heeding the call of all those dead people still on the voter rolls in Florida and many other places.
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New numbers from Rasmussen polling reveal that 51% of likely voters would like all U.S. troops withdrawn from Europe with only 29% disagreeing.
Understandable. Whereas the Germany-Japan-Italy axis was a clear threat to the United States in the 20th century, Americans are largely fed-up with paying for the defense of freeloading foreigners in the absence of such a threat to our own well-being and future, and even more fed-up with fighting on behalf of people whose gratitude is, at best, limited. Current example: Just what, exactly, can we realistically expect to achieve in Afghanistan? To more and more Americans, it looks as if we're spending billions of dollars we can ill afford and losing lives of our military to no real purpose.
It is clear that Obama has no will to win the war, yet is willing to see more lives lost in a pointless slow-motion withdrawal.
Stupid.
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The Washington Times views the latest Obama embarrassments ...
"President Obama is hosting two high-level international meetings in a week. He is offering his solutions to global economic and security issues. It’s doubtful the rest of the world is listening.
"Mr. Obama’s international stature has decreased markedly since the heady days when he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize after only 11 days in office.
"NATO leaders from Eastern Europe no doubt remember the incident in March when an open mic caught a private moment the U.S. president had with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev.He said, “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.” The comments suggested that once the political season was over - once he could no longer be held accountable - he would take actions that would be more to Moscow’s liking.
"For his part, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made his implicit assessment of Mr. Obama’s impotence by skipping last weekend’s G-8 economic event. Mr. Obama’s primary message at the G-8 - that European leaders should ease back on austerity measures and open the spigots of government spending - was welcomed by socialists like France’s newly elected President Francois Hollande. But to fiscal conservatives abroad, this was unwelcome advice to increase their debt to Obama-style levels, which would only worsen their long-term economic malaise. Mr. Obama’s proposed solution to their problems is what caused their economic meltdown in the first place."
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Simple question: Did or did not Barack Hussein Obama enroll at Occidental College, Columbia University or Harvard as a foreign student? Is that impossible for the Obama machine to answer?
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"You know what Greece needs? Bain Capital." -- Ann Coulter
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Columnist Debra J. Saunders (I'm one of the few privy to what the "J" stands for!) expands on Obama's self-proclaimed role ...
"The president explained that the goal of private investment is to 'maximize profits,' whereas a president's job is to make sure that everyone has 'a fair shot' and that everyone pays his or her 'fair share' of taxes.
"That's the problem with Obama; he thinks he's the fairness czar. He didn't say that a president is supposed to create an environment that nurtures business success. He said a president is supposed to make sure that nobody walks away with too much.
"When you're president, Obama said, 'your job is to think about those workers who get laid off and how are we paying for their retraining.' Obama's war is a war on private money. He thinks his job is to create job training programs, not create an environment that creates real jobs."
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I long ago decided (in my then-role as a talk-show host) that I would not cringe at the charge by liberal demagogues that conservatives are purveyors of "hate." Much more satisfying to say, "Damned right I hate what you stand for and I will do everything within my limited capability to destroy your idiotic ideology! You are an unprincipled bunch of fools, and I refuse to concede an inch to your destructive schemes."
Try it.
Ahhh, doesn't that feel better?
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Sic transit gloria. CNN's ratings (i.e., audience size) for evening primetime have reached their lowest point in twenty years. Blatant propagandizing for the left does have a ceiling.
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A toast -- with sake, please -- to Tamae Watanabe of Japan. At age 73, the just becaome the oldest woman to climb to the top of Mt. Everest.
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Columnist Cindy Adams reports on goings-on at New York's Westside Theatre. “Old Jews Telling Jokes.” One old Jew who saw the show relayed a joke:
Sam: “I own 1,200 acres, raise horses and I call it Jolly Roger.” Moe: “I own 5,000 acres, raise cattle and I call it Big Johns. Irving: “I own two acres, but I raise nothing. I call it Times Square.”
ELECTIONS -- AND FOOTBALLS -- CAN TAKE
CRAZY BOUNCES ...
HELP THE U.S., GO TO PRISON IN PAKISTAN ...
MITT TAKES ON THE TEACHERS' UNION
HELP THE U.S., GO TO PRISON IN PAKISTAN ...
MITT TAKES ON THE TEACHERS' UNION
As some analysts observe, Obama could lose the popular vote, possibly even by a substantial margin, and still win the electoral vote and a second term. Losing the popular vote but winning the White House is not unprecedented, of course.
However, in such an eventuality, there would be an increased likelihood that Republicans would win the Senate, hold the house, and hogtie Obama. Such a deadlock would have an obvious downside, but it would also prevent much of the irresponsible craziness perpetrated by Obama and the present Democrat-dominated Senate.
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Given the recently-demonstrated propensity for a large minority of Democrats to choose a convict, a nobody or an "uncommitted" with their vote in Democratic primaries, the Hildabeast must be wondering, "What would've happened if I HAD challenged President Composite?"
Meantime, Joe Biden's favorability ratings keeps dropping ... Hillary's are far higher ... Biden appears more frenetic and unhinged ... Obama's race with Romney tightens in the polls ... Hmmmm...
Might Obama actually fear losing enough to overcome his wariness of the Clintons and replace Joe with Hillary?
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The Pakistani doctor who led us to bin Laden has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for doing so. Let's hope our Dear Leader is doing more behind-the-scenes than he's doing publicly to get the man freed -- but don't count on it.
Pakistan continues to be what it's always been: a parasitical enemy nation. Only the delusional believe otherwise, and that apparently includes our President whose buddies going back to college days were Muslim Pakistanis.
The lurking question: Did somebody in the Obama crowd rat-out the brave doctor to the Pakistan government?
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Some conservatives have accused Mitt Romney of being a Mr. Milquetoast, but his frontal assault on the teachers' union deserves full credit for ballsiness.
Of course, since I've long been on that union's enemies list for proclaiming them the most evil institution in America, you'd expect me to approve.
There are teachers in classrooms today who, a few decades earlier, wouldn't have been able to graduate from grammar school. For years I delighted in responding to their hate-mail with their spelling errors corrected.
By the way ... don't hold your breath waiting for Obama to ever take on the teachers' union ... or any other. They own him. If the gutsy Governor of Wisconsin survives the union-sponsored recall effort, as appears likely, tears will be shed in the White House.
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Romney's also right on another point. Why are taxpayer dollars being given to PBS which in turn, uses them to buy foreign TV programs? I like some of what PBS does, but they're quite capable of acquiring donor money in abundance, as is evident from all the commercials that regularly run on "commercial-free PBS." ("This program is supported by the Widget Company, dedicated to making you more beautiful, improved gas mileage, cleaning up the environment, making your children smarter and enlarging your penis.")
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Union goons clubbing a pinata with a photo of South Carolina (right-to-work state) with a photo of Governor Nikki Haley attached. Classy ... really, really classy ...
Wonder how they'll react if they take the butt-kicking the polls are indicating in their ill-advised mob-action effort to oust the Governor of Wisconsin? That state, by the way, has already saved more than $1 billion for the taxpayers since union excesses were curbed. But, of course, the thugs who run many unions don't have the taxpayers' concerns on their priority list.
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In Florida, where the first major poll taken since Obama's pro-gay marriage statement showed Romney jumping to a six-point lead, more than twice as many say that position makes them LESS likely to vote for Obama than are MORE supportive because of it.
Thus another example of the hazard implicit in the habit of some politicians to only talk with people who are inclined to agree with them. And that is Obama's common practice; it's well known that his gatekeepers, starting with Valerie Jarrett, are charged with responsibility for keeping away those who might challenge him. Just ask Bill Daley, his former chief of staff and part of the Chicago political machine that put him in the White House. He thought taking on the Catholic Church over birth control and abortion was a mistake ... said so ... and suddenly was gone.
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Grover in Idaho sends a clip from Walter Isaacson's book, "Steve Jobs," which is still on my must-read list ...
"A MEETING WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, OCT 2010: The meeting actually lasted forty-five minutes, and Jobs did not hold back. 'You’re headed for a one-term presidency,' Jobs told Obama at the outset. To prevent that, he said, the administration needed to be a lot more business-friendly. He described how easy it was to build a factory in China, and said that it was almost impossible to do so these days in America, largely because of regulations and unnecessary costs.
"Jobs also attacked America’s education system, saying that it was hopelessly antiquated and crippled by union work rules. Until the teachers' unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform.
"Jobs proposed allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on merit, that schools stay open until 6 p.m. and that they be open 11 months a year."
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For more than seventy years Democrats blamed any and all of the nation's economic problems on President Herbert Hoover, even long after he was dead. Therefore, we can safely assume that Obama's economic bungling, and that of any Democrat successors, will be blamed on George W. Bush for decades to come.
President Composite, of course, is to be eternally hailed as a hero because, after all, he did personally charge into Osama bin Laden's bedroom and strangle him with his bare hands while singing The Star Spangled Banner. Didn't he?
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If you shorted Facebook stock, congratulations -- and lunch is on you.
The whole Facebook scam appears to have been based on W. C. Fields' classic, "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break."
Some people who become easily infatuated with the latest techie fad seem to have already forgotten the dot.com stock bubble that busted millions of investors just a dozen years ago, and were ripe for the plucking they've suffered on Facebook.
Far be it from me to gloat; I still own some dry oil wells in various locations where success was, uh, "guaranteed." Anybody want to buy a few mile-deep holes in the ground, perfect for storing utility poles?
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Anti-austerity is a growing Greek political movement, built on the childish premise that an entire nation can indefinitely live beyond its means and expect neighbors to subsidize such behavior. The suspicion lurks that a motivating factor is the underground distribution of a book, "Quotations of Chairman Barack."
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When I was in the travel industry, I was often in Greece because we did a lot of business there. If there was no charity box readily available at the airport on departure, I brought home the loose drachmas and tossed them into a jar. I wonder if I can spend them again if -- as appears likely -- Greece exits the Euro currency zone.
By the way, one of my all-time-favorite for-real tourist jokes involves the American woman who approached my business partner and me atop the Acropolis and said, "I just love this place, don't you?"
My late travel agency co-owner replied, "Yes, it's very beautiful."
To which the lady responded, "Yes ... from here you get such a beautiful view of the Hilton Hotel."
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Victor Davis Hanson takes a clear-eyed look at our gains and losses in support of middle-east "democracy" movements ...
"Since we went into Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States has borrowed more than $9 trillion and is currently running serial $1 trillion deficits. We no longer pay for our wars, but instead borrow the money from the Chinese and others who calculate how to profit better than we from the ensuing chaos.
"After lots of interventions, we have learned one thing about loud Arab reformers, especially those who were educated at Western universities: They damn us for supporting their dictators; they damn us for removing them; they damn us for interfering in their affairs when we help promote democracy; and they damn us as callous when we just let them be." -- (Townhall.com) --
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Periodically we get yet another outburst of anti-death-penalty propaganda from the goo-goos who assert that it has no deterrent value and that most people would rather be executed than face life in prison, anyway. But compare the number of convicted criminals who will utilize every legal angle to get a death sentence commuted to life imprisonment versus the rare few who insist on going thru with their own execution.
Clearly, a huge majority of criminals DON'T agree that "life in prison is worse than death."
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The freedom that allows one to succeed is also the freedom to make bad choices and fail.
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Since I spent twenty-five years on the air for ABC (KGO & KSFO) in San Francisco, I have occasionally been asked for opinions on the broadcast industry by Rich Lieberman, whose column is largely devoted to the electronic media.
He recently printed my views (RICHLIEBERMAN415 on the web) on the dismaying future of radio. Having been a rare conservative voice in the liberal Bay Area (although it consistently runs a 30-35% Republican vote, an audience for which I had little or no competition) and thus withstood endless vituperation from the indigenous majority, I was pleased with the tone of many respondents. Specifically, those who said that, although they disagreed with my political views, they listened because they enjoyed other aspects of my presentation.
A broadcaster could hardly ask for a nicer compliment.
While I am largely opposed to the proliferation of government controls on business, when allocation of a limited resource -- in this case, broadcasting frequencies -- is involved, some such oversight is necessary. Thus I agree with those who say radio and TV began to deteriorate when the limitation of 7 AM, 7 FM, 7 TV stations by any one company was abandoned by the FCC.
When the seven-station limit prevailed, the owners tended to pay close attention to each station and program it wisely and well. I worked for such groups as Metromedia, RKO, Group W/Westinghouse, Storer, Bonneville and eventually ABC. All produced good on-air product and profited. The output of most of the hundreds of stations owned by conglomerates such as Clear Channel and Cumulus aren't in the same league, and some of those bloated giants are flirting with fiscal disaster. Their collapse may be the last hope for radio. I've never worked for either of the two companies mentioned, by the way, so have no personal animus toward them.
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From Dan Sorkin, a useful new word ...
"INEPTOCRACY" -- A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society lest likely to sustain themselves or succeed are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminshing number of producers.
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Use of the euphemism "issues" for "problems" extends even to the deep rural interior of Norway where Jay Nordlinger spotted a local dude wearing a tee-shirt emblazoned with, "I have issues."
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Add to the list of often-misused words ...
Affect and Effect. The first is a cause, the latter a result.
ColOmbia and ColUmbia. One is a South American nation, the other the District of ... or "The Gem of the Ocean."
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The TMZ website has the photo: Bill Clinton in a charming pose with two porn actresses in Monaco. The lubricious lasses are Tasha Reign and Brooklyn Lee. Brooklyn just won the award for "Best Sex Scene" in "Mission ASSpossible." Tasha's film credits include "Baby Got Boobs 8" and "Farm Girls Gone Bad."
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Jay Leno --
President Obama gave the commencement speech at Barnard College the other day. He told graduates their future is bright -- unless they want jobs.
...and...
Congratulations to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The city of San Francisco has named a street after her. It's called Botox Avenue.
COULD OBAMA DO AN LBJ & BAIL OUT?
NAH ...
BARACK: "ME, BIG SPENDER?" NAH ...
WOMEN SENATORS VS. WOMEN
BARACK: "ME, BIG SPENDER?" NAH ...
WOMEN SENATORS VS. WOMEN
Democrats in the media are making a great effort to discount the fact that in each of the three most recent primaries, Obama has lost about 42% of the voters IN HIS OWN PARTY to, respectively, a convict ... "uncommitted" ... and a virtually anonymous lawyer.
They choose not to recall that 42% of the vote going to an opponent in ONE state, Eugene McCarthy in New Hampshire, was a big enough hint to Lyndon Johnson that he was so unpopular even among fellow Democrats that he decided not to run again.
The optimistic interpretation of the Obama embarrassments is that a lot of Democrats are fed up with their party being run by a bunch of ultra-left-wing crazies.
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Our first president "could not tell a lie." Our current office-holder can barely open his mouth WITHOUT telling a lie. The latest is the biggest whopper yet. Obama claims to have actually CUT spending! So says the man who has increased our national debt by more than all previous presidents COMBINED!
It is astonishing that such a prodigious prevaricator could have fooled so many people one time. If he succeeds in doing it a second time, foolishness will have prevailed and the nation is beyond hope.
The wise, if circumstances permit, will have their passports handy.
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One of the more reliable indicators of a president's chances for re-election is the simple polling question, "Is the country headed in the right or wrong direction?"
Latest Rasmussen numbers: Right direction, 30%.
Wrong direction, 63%.
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Jimmy Fallon --
"While attending meetings in Chicago this week, President Obama stayed at a hotel instead of his own house. It was annoying. When he asked for a wake-up call, they just showed him the latest poll numbers."
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The election may hinge on the answer to this question: Does the "moderate" Democrat genre still exist in significant numbers? If so, they must be questioning whatever commitment they've had to the anti-business, high-tax, big-government philosophy that is obviously Obama's goal and philosophy.
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Two-faced, hypocritical Democrats -- an ongoing series (cont.) ...
"A group of Democratic female senators on Wednesday declared war on the so-called “gender pay gap,” urging their colleagues to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act when Congress returns from recess next month. However, a substantial gender pay gap exists in their own offices.
Of the five senators who participated in Wednesday’s press conference—Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.), Patty Murray (D., Wash.), Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.), Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.)—three pay their female staff members significantly less than male staffers.
"Murray, who has repeatedly accused Republicans of waging a “war a women,” is one of the worst offenders. Female members of Murray’s staff made about $21,000 less per year than male staffers in 2011, a difference of 35.2 percent.
"That is well above the 23 percent gap that Democrats claim exists between male and female workers nationwide.
"A significant “gender gap” exists in Feinstein’s office, where women also made about $21,000 less than men in 2011, but the percentage difference—41 percent—was even higher than Murray’s.
"Boxer’s female staffers made about $5,000 less, a difference of 7.3 percent."
-- (Credit: The Washington Free Beacon) --
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The liberal Boston Globe (owned by the NY Times) reports that Hah-vuhd has for years peddled the tall tale that Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren was a Native American, i.e., American Indian. Why should anyone be surprised that an institution that's turned out some of the biggest liars in American politics, including the current White House occupant, should itself be lying?
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Ho-hum, what's new? dep't. ...
Talks with Iran over nukes have ended in Baghdad. Nothing accomplished, western nations played for suckers. Another round of "negotiations" to be held in Moscow next month.
Meantime, Iran proceeds with nuclear weapons development.
And Israel prepares to end the procrastination and silliness. Obama will only know about it after it happens.
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Notice how the terms "global warming" or even the evasive and euphemistic "climate change" have disappeared from Obama campaign rhetoric? Gee ... wonder why ...
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The message is clear in the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani surgeon who helped U.S. intelligence locate Osama bin Laden and, after being outed, has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for "treason": Helping the United States is repaid with betrayal.
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An "only in San Francisco" story ...
City Supervisor John Avalos says he contacted the late gay activist supervisor Harvey Milk and got his approval for the naming of a new U. S. Navy vessel for the murdered Mr. Milk; contacted him via a Quija board.
Of course.
That's how decisions are made by San Francisco's governing body.
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"Wherever the Mohammedans have had a complete sway, wherever the Christians have been unable to resist them by the sword, Christianity has ultimately disappeared" (ditto Judaism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism ...). (President Teddy) Roosevelt rejected as 'naive' the notion that 'all religions are the same.'
"Some religions, he explained, 'give a higher value to each human life, and some religions and belief systems give a lower value." Our 'social values, including equality before the law, exist 'only because the Christians of Europe (did) what the Christians of Asia and Africa had failed to do -- that is, to beat back the Moslem invader'." -- President Theodore Roosevelt, 1915, quoted by Diana West. --
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A sign of the times for a dying industry ...
The New Orleans Times-Picayune, one of the nation's "legacy" newspapers with a 175-year-history as a daily paper, plans to cut back to publishing only three days a week. More papers are preparing to do the same.
... and speaking of dying media ...
Jay Leno --
"Bad news for CNN. They just had their lowest rating in 15 years. Their ratings are so low that today Jesse Jackson turned them down for an interview."
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An admiring term for a person who persists in doing a job despite adversity is "TroUper," not "Trooper." It originally referred to actors; members of a touring theatrical TROUPE who often had to perform under difficult conditions.
- - - - -
Slim and trim IS healthier. Just ask the Canadian who took a nap between the railroad tracks and was unscathed as a train passed over him, then arose and continued on his way sipping his beer.
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Even a place we warm-weather fans love, like my little Rancho Culebra ("snake ranch") in southern Arizona, do suffer occasional annoyances. For instance the spring winds, which at the moment are whipping up whitecaps on my pool. You could, as they saying goes, fly a concrete kite today.
Having lived thru Chicago winter cold, San Francisco fog and Miami humidity -- I'll take it!
Now ... if Arizonans would only rid themselves of that turncoat and walking political joke, John McCain ...
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Reader Rick relays this item containing elements of crime and possible marital discord ...
A hooded robber burst into a Texas bank and forced the tellers to load a sack full of cash.
On his way out the door, a brave customer grabbed the hood and pulled it off revealing the robber’s face.
The robber shot the customer without a moment’s hesitation.
He then looked around the bank and noticed one of the tellers looking straight at him. The robber instantly shot him also. Everyone else, by now was very scared and looked intently down at the floor in silence.
The robber yelled, ‘Well, did anyone else see my face?’
There are a few moments of utter silence in which everyone was plainly afraid to speak.
Then, one old cowboy named Ed from Oklahoma raised his hand and said, "My wife got a pretty good look at you."
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Craig Ferguson --
"On eBay, a buyer paid $18,000 for a pair of Queen Elizabeth's underpants. He said buying them was easy. The tough part was getting them off her."
THE DOPE(R) IN THE WHITE HOUSE ...
THE BAIN OF OBAMA'S POLITICAL LIFE ...
IRAN PLAYS DIPLOMATS FOR SUCKERS
THE BAIN OF OBAMA'S POLITICAL LIFE ...
IRAN PLAYS DIPLOMATS FOR SUCKERS
So NOW ABC-TV is out with the story about Obama's past as a dedicated doper! This certainly isn't news to those of us who pay attention; we were aware of it long ago.
Anybody check his desk for munchies?
Why so late, ABC? Is this a CYA game, in the event his "grass"-rooted career is ended by the voters? Having joined the other old alphabet networks in chaining themselves to the mast of the good ship "Obama," perhaps they see it taking on water.
By the way ...
Remember the furor created by endlessly-deceiving Democrats over mere allegations that George W. Bush MAY have sampled a controlled substance during his college days? But, of course, rampant photographic evidence that Obama was a confirmed doper was ignored by the big media and Obama sycophants.
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Comedians have found a theme ...
"President Obama gave the graduation speech to the Air Force Academy in Colorado. President Obama gets a much warmer reception at the service academies because it's the only graduation where the seniors have jobs waiting for them." -- Argus Hamilton, Jewish World Review
Jay Leno --
"President Obama gave the commencement speech at Barnard College the other day. He told graduates their future is bright unless they want jobs."
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There is an old saying: "People wouldn't get divorced for such frivolous reasons if they hadn't gotten married for such frivolous reasons."
The same may be said of their election choices.
The 2008 triumph of sentimentality and affirmative action over common sense has bitten us all on the butt.
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So Obama's taken money from CURRENT Bain Capital executives, and his campaign press secretary says he ISN'T going to give it back.
In an earlier era, he could've been an acolyte of one-time California political boss Jess Unruh, who once famously said, "If you can’t take their money, drink their whiskey, screw their women, and vote against ‘em anyway, you don’t belong in the Legislature.”
Of course, no product of the Chicago political machine that spawned Obama would advocate so crass and immoral approach to governing.
Certainly not!
Our self-admitted dope-smoking, cocaine-sniffing (it's in his book) president would never stoop to unprincipled behavior. Would he?
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Jack Kelly of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette examines the media-created myth about Obama's breathtaking intelligence ...
" Mr. Obama has said a lot of unsmart things: there are 57 states; Canada has a president; 'Austrian' is a language; America is '20 centuries' old; Arabic is spoken in Afghanistan. He's called the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) the Maldives, and declared it would be 'unprecedented' for the Supreme Court to invalidate a law passed by Congress.
"President Obama's stimulus bill didn't stimulate. His subsidies to 'green' firms have produced neither the jobs nor the energy he promised. Deficits are out of control.
"Noemie Emery in the Weekly Standard ... 'Journalists who wept when he won the election now grind their teeth in despair. ... The gap between sizzle and steak never seemed so large.'
"Could it be that Mr. Obama's 'superior intellect' is a myth created by journalists to mask what may be the thinnest resume of anyone ever elected president?
"An example of puffery is the description of Mr. Obama as a former 'professor of constitutional law.' Mr. Obama was a part-time instructor at the University of Chicago law school, without the title or status of professor. And, according to blogger Doug Ross, he wasn't very popular with the real professors. 'I spent some time with the highest tenured faculty member at Chicago Law a few months back,' Mr. Ross wrote in March 2010. 'According to my professor friend, [Obama] had the lowest intellectual capacity in the building. ... The other professors hated him because he was lazy, unqualified'."
The man's a plain fool. So how dumb did his voters have to be in order to not notice?
Time to chant the mantra once again: "We live ... in a land ... run by morons."
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Wonder what the Obama daughters think about ol' dad referring to them twice in two days as "my sons?" Perhaps he's confused about this whole gender thing ... as some cynics have suggested. That (left-leaning) Newsweek cover proclaiming him to be "America's First Gay President" probably didn't help.
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Diplomats involved in the latest of the endless round of talks with Iran and attempts to get the Muslim fanatics to stop their nuclear weapons program are expressing "surprise and disappointment" that the confab got nowhere.
We must ask: How did people so profoundly stupid ever get those jobs -- or ANY jobs?
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Another echo of the liberals' favorite fantasy about the "Arab spring" is to be found in this quote from one of the leading presidential candidates representing the Muslim Brotherhood. Mohammed Morsi, who in an inspiring speech before the students of Cairo University: "Death in the name of Allah is our goal."
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Sweden, where large parts of its second-largest metropolitan area, Malmo, have been so overtaken by Muslims the police are afraid to enter, has now passed a law against forced marriages of children under 18, which are common among Muslim immigrants.
Memo to Swedes: Just what the hell did you expect when you let them in?
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If delusional blacks are already convinced that voting Obama out of office would represent white racism, how do they explain the millions of whites who voted him IN four years ago? Surely they can't believe that blacks, who represent 12% of the population, did it alone. Or can they?
Many voters have obviously decided that this particular example of affirmative action has not had positive results.
Can, as polls indicate, 99% of blacks really believe, despite all the evidence to the contrary (start with gasoline prices and unemployment) that Obama's doing a good job? Or is that support purely race-based, despite Dr. Martin Luther King's admonition that people should not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character?
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Now that evidence in the Trayvon Martin case seems to have turned in favor of the shooter, George Zimmerman, have you noticed how the liberal media -- the folk who gave us a new racial category, "white hispanic" -- have been studiously ignoring the case?
Prof. Walter Williams (Townhall.com) contrasts black outrage with reality ...
"Each year, roughly 7,000 blacks are murdered. Ninety-four percent of the time, the murderer is another black person. Between 1976 and 2011, there were 279,384 black murder victims. Using the 94 percent figure means that 262,621 were murdered by other blacks. Though blacks are 13 percent of the nation's population, they account for more than 50 percent of homicide victims. Coupled with being most of the nation's homicide victims, blacks are most of the victims of violent personal crimes, such as assault and robbery.
"According to a Tuskegee Institute study, between the years 1882 and 1968, 3,446 blacks were lynched at the hands of whites. Black fatalities during the Korean War (3,075), Vietnam War (7,243) and all wars since 1980 (8,197) come to 18,515, a number that pales in comparison with black loss of life at home. It's a tragic commentary to be able to say that young black males have a greater chance of reaching maturity on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan than on the streets of Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Oakland, Newark and other cities."
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The Transportation Security Administration, a/k/a the TSA, a/k/a the Airport Gestapo, continues to reek of sleaze and supidity. KYW-TV, Philadelphia, reports that a Catholic priest who was removed from the ministry over sex abuse allegations now holds a TSA security job at Philadelphia International Airport.
Of course! Where better for a defrocked priest to go for an opportunity at legalized groping?
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Wisdom circulating on the internet. You know you live in Upside-down Land if...
A Muslim officer crying "Allah Akbar" while shooting up an army base is considered to have committed "Workplace Violence" .
Your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend more money.
The Supreme Court of the United States can rule that lower courts cannot display the 10 Commandments in their courtroom, while sitting in front of a display of the 10 Commandments.
Working Americans pay for their own health care (and the health care of everyone else) while unmarried women are free to have child after child on the taxpayers' dime while never being held responsible for their own choices.
Hard work and success are rewarded with higher taxes and government intrusion, while slothful, lazy behavior is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid and subsidized housing.
The government's plan for getting people back to work is to provide 99 weeks of unemployment checks (to not work).
Parents believe the State is responsible for providing for their children.
You pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big screen TV while your neighbor defaults on his mortgage (while buying iPhones, TV's and new cars) and the government forgives his debt and reduces his mortgage (with your tax dollars).
You have to have your parents signature to go on a field trip but not to get an abortion.
You can get arrested for expired tags on your car but not for being in the country illegally.
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Tip to job-seekers, especially young job-seekers: One of the most common ways of sabotaging one's own job and career prospects is to get committed to the idea that you simply MUST live and work in one particular locale.
Fewer and fewer are the people who can expect to spend their entire working lives in one location for one employer. The ambitious have always known that, often, "Moving up means moving out."
Upward mobility more often than not means, well ... mobility.
I once heard a young person say, "I just HAVE to live in San Francisco because of all the great bars and restaurants."
Say WHAT?! A person willing to make lifetime career decisions based upon the local watering holes?!
"Superficial" doesn't even begin to describe that kind of mentality. "Superficial, juvenile and silly," perhaps.
In the real world -- and a harsh one it is, on the job front -- you go where the job is. If earlier -- and bolder -- generations of Americans hadn't done that, this nation would still consist of a handful of cities on the east coast. Perhaps including that Utopia of the upper midwest, Detroit. Maybe Buffalo and Cleveland.
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Speaking of Motown ... after years of governance by corrupt Democrat politicians allied with union goons, Detroit is now so broke, the city is going to have to turn off almost half of its street-lights.
On the upside, more darkness provides greater opportunities for hiding from muggers by citizens who dare to venture out at night.
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To my longtime ABC colleague O.V. and golfers everywhere: Can you top this? The Tennessee golfer who scored a hole-in-one -- right into the open mouth of a woman passing on an adjacent road on a motorcycle.
No, it wasn't the driver. Not the club, that is. The woman -- who was riding behind her husband.
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Porn star Jenna Jameson arrested for DUI in Los Angeles. She could get a stiff sentence.
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Jimmy Kimmel --
"One of the pioneers of TV passed away over the weekend. Eugene Polley, who invented the wireless remote control, died at the age of 96. He created the remote in 1955. Before that, if you wanted to change the channel, you had to scream at your wife in the kitchen to come and change it."
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Romance is in the air, and Jay Leno takes note ...
"Al Gore has a new girlfriend. Apparently, it's getting pretty serious. He's already been over to bore her parents. Al and his new girlfriend were spotted taking long walks on the beach, measuring how much the sea is rising."
PAY TO PLAY; IT'S THE OBAMA WAY ...
WHAT IF YOUR RETIREMENT DEPENDS ON 'BIG BUSINESS?' ...
STILL VIABLE: REAGAN'S FORUMLA TO FIX THE ECONOMY
WHAT IF YOUR RETIREMENT DEPENDS ON 'BIG BUSINESS?' ...
STILL VIABLE: REAGAN'S FORUMLA TO FIX THE ECONOMY
Here's how it works in the "real world" Obama likes to talk about:
Investor/owners of a favored industry (think "green power -- wind, solar, etc.) go to Obama or his "czars" for either government-guaranteed loans (so if the enterprise fails, the taxpayers are the losers) or outright grants.
They get the money. In the unlikely event the enterprise succeeds, they win. If it fails, Solyndra being one of many examples, you lose.
People connected to the company contribute a small percentage of the money they've received -- their own or "bundle" money from other "contributors" who can be subjected to a shakedown (sub-contractors, for example) -- to Obama's campaign.
He and his people didn't invent the process. They only refined it and took it to undreamed-of heights. Chicago-style politics elevated to the national level on a grand scale.
Think of it as the political version of "The Circle of Life," from "The Lion King."
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Jim Geraghty at National Review Online visits Obama's "real world" ...
"President Barack Obama, who has spent almost all of his career and adult life in academia, law firms, and government, begins his criticism of Mitt Romney by declaring, 'those of us who have spent time in the real world . . .'
"It would probably be rude of me to think about Michelle Obama’s work, where her salary jumped from $121,910 to $316,962 per year after her husband became a U.S. senator, a job that was strangely left unfilled after she stepped down to focus on her husband’s campaign.
"UPDATE: Of course, Obama uses the phrase 'real world' while speaking to donors at a $40,000-per-couple fundraiser."
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Aside from all those formerly on the GM payroll who lost their jobs along with the employees of associated businesses and now-closed dealerships, Obama's arbitrary takeover of that company for the benefit of the Auto Workers union had another consequence: The stockholders were robbed, and their shares of stock rendered worthless.
And somewhere, the ghost of Karl Marx was chuckling ...
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Speaking of government-plotted ripoff strategies ...
If you have money in a pension fund or mutual fund, before you join the Obama chorus denouncing investment firms like Bain Capital, you might want to check and see how much of your own nest-egg is invested in just such companies. If the "big businesses" that Obama denounces are harmed or destroyed by this anti-capitalist in the White House, part of your current income or retirement fund may well go with them.
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The Wall Street Journal performs a real service by reprinting the memo sent in 1980 to incoming President Ronald Reagan by his Coordinating Committee on Economic Policy. The memo describes an era similar to our own in its economic problems and public anxiety, laying out a strategy to address them. Here are the salient points:
"Sharp change in present economic policy is an absolute necessity. The problems of inflation and slow growth, of falling standards of living and declining productivity, of high government spending but an inadequate flow of funds for defense, of an almost endless litany of economic ills, large and small, are severe, they are not intractable. Having been produced by government policy, they can be redressed by a change in policy.
We focus here on guiding principles, priorities and on the problem of getting action.
• Reestablish stability in the purchasing power of the dollar.
• Achieve a widely-shared prosperity through real growth in jobs, investment, and productivity.
• Devote the resources needed for a strong defense, and accomplish the goal of releasing the creative forces of entrepreneurship, management, and labor by:
• Restraining government spending.
• Reducing the burden of taxation and regulation.
• Conducting monetary policy in a steady manner, directed toward eliminating inflation."
Those principles and policies worked as Reagan rebuilt the economy after another one-term, incompetent screw-up named Jimmy Carter. Let us hope Mitt Romney has read and absorbed the memo.
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You might want to pass this along to any empty-headed acquaintance who thinks Obama's government-run healthcare system is a good thing. From Britain's Express newspaper, an update on just how well such a plan works there ...
"TEN thousand patients each year are being denied cutting-edge radiotherapy treatment that could save lives. The Sunday Express has obtained figures from a government study, due out in July, that shows a third of cancer patients are not being offered the latest treatment, which can destroy tumours and dramatically reduce devastating side-effects."
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Jay Leno ---
"It's been a rough week for Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg has lost so much money in the market that President Obama is going to have him replace Ben Bernanke."
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John Ransom (Townhall.com) has an idea that would help both the troubled Europeans -- and us ...
"Ok; I’ll admit that shipping Obama off to be president of Europe isn’t a very original idea. But still it bears repeating at this critical time because Obama’s work is done here and the Mothership looks like it ran out of “green” fuel and Europe’s response to their reckless spending problem happens to be…BEGGING for more reckless spending.
"And I can’t think of anyone I’d rather see steward Europe’s newest, bestest, reckless stimulus plan than our first King-of-the-World: Barack Hussein Obama.He seems to like the idea of more 'stimulus.' And if we’re not going to do it, maybe we can lend him to Europe for a while.
"Europe LOVES Obama, BTW. And they can have him. And he can take his debt with him too.We won’t mind.
"Once again the New World can come to the rescue of the Old World this time by outsourcing the greatest manufacturing job that BHO has saved/created in the last three years: His job as debt creator'.”
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Throughout a long media career, I've always comforted myself with the philosophy that there's no such thing as an old joke as long as somebody, somewhere, hasn't heard it.
However, have you noticed that, in every election year, the same political jokes get recycled? For example, "If you're a supporter of (insert favored candidate's name) drive in daytime with your lights ON. If you're a supporter of (opponent) drive at night with your lights OFF."
It's a golden oldie, but it's still funny.
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Thomas Sowell is one of the solid thinkers of our time, and his occasional columns of "Random Thoughts" are invariably insightful. As he once told me in conversation, he simply writes a brief note to himself when an idea occurs and when he has enough he puts them in a column. Herewith, a few of his recent thoughts ...
How long do politicians have to keep on promising heaven and delivering hell before people catch on, and stop getting swept away by rhetoric?
With all the talk about people paying their "fair share" of income taxes, why do nearly half the people in this country pay no income taxes at all? Is that their "fair share"? Or is creating more recipients of government handouts, at no cost to themselves, simply a strategy to gain more votes?
In politics, few talents are as richly rewarded as the ability to convince parasites that they are victims. Welfare states on both sides of the Atlantic have discovered that largesse to losers does not reduce their hostility to society, but only increases it.
When politicians say, "spread the wealth," translate that as "concentrate the power," because that is the only way they can spread the wealth. And once they get the power concentrated, they can do anything else they want to, as people have discovered — often to their horror — in countries around the world.
-- Mr. Sowell is at: Tsowell.com --
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Given my long connection to the travel industry as well as a lifetime in broadcasting, I can't resist offering the occasional travel tip, especially in the area I've chosen as a permanent parking place, southern Arizona.
Alongside Interstate 19, which goes to the Mexican border at Nogales (towns on both sides bear the name, the Mexican city being the larger) stands an old western restaurant and saloon called "The Cow Palace." It's in the tiny village of Amado, and it's the real deal. Been there since 1920. The saloon side alone is worth a look-see. The proprietors don't mind; passers-by do it all the time. John Wayne used to hang out there when he made western movies in the area and his pictures adorn the walls.
Arivaca is 25 miles to the southwest of Amado thru ranching country. It's a village full of, well, characters; an odd but interesting assortment. If you should drive there, the Border Patrol will warn you, "Don't stop along the way." You're only a few miles from in illegal border-crossing area.
In the ranching areas, don't be surprised to see cowboys with a pistol on the hip. It's legal everywhere in Arizona, and necessary when working cattle in a place where rattlesnakes, coyotes and wolves abound.
Tubac, also on I-19, is Arizona's artist colony. A visitor's must-see list includes the Hugh Cabot gallery showcasing the works of the late master of western scenes. His widow, Olivia, runs the place and often regales visitors with stories about the American Master Painter who left his elite Boston family (yes, THOSE Cabots) to pursue his dream in the west.
Lunch at the Tubac Country Club, founded by Bing Crosby on an old Spanish land-grant ranch, is more than worthwhile. So is a visit to the nearby Tumacacori Mission, where Apaches used to regularly visit and slaughter the inhabitants. The graveyard there provides a grim history of the hardships of early settlers.
Nearby Patagonia provides an entry into (no kidding) Arizona's wine country.
Crossing the border into Nogales, Mexico, used to be an enjoyable experience; step thru a gate, and you're there. The crime problems which haunt so many Mexican towns have cut Nogales visits drastically.
These are a few reasons why, after living literally coast-to-coast -- Miami, Seattle and several places between -- I chose finally to settle in southeast Arizona. And yes, it IS a dryyyy heat! The humidity yesterday was four percent.
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Conan O'Brien --
"Khloe Kardashian is refusing to take a paternity test to determine if she's actually a Kardashian. She said, 'I think my record of fame without talent speaks for itself'."
... and more on cable-TV's most repulsive family ...
Jimmy Kimmel --
"Season seven of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" has premiered.. I really thought I WAS caught up with them, but now I realize I'm not. It's such a busy time for the Kardashians right now with the show starting and the NBA playoffs, which as you know is their prime mating season."
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Don't mess with the woman seen driving the car carrying this bumper-sticker: "I HAVE PMS AND GPS ... meaning I AM a bitch and I WILL find you."
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No column tomorrow. Let's rendezvous Tuesday!
A CLEAR-CUT FOREIGN POLICY PROPOSAL ...
JIMMY CARTER'S INCURABLE STUPIDITY ...
LEFTISM: A RELIGIOUS CULT
JIMMY CARTER'S INCURABLE STUPIDITY ...
LEFTISM: A RELIGIOUS CULT
Submitted for your consideration ... knowing in advance that this would be dismissed as overly-simplistic by the pseudo-intellectuals in Washington who suckle at the public teat. Nevertheless ...
How does this strike you as a basis for foreign policy?
We are open to cordial relations with any nation on a reciprocal basis.
We are willing to trade with any nation if such commerce is mutually beneficial.
We have no aggressive intent nor any colonial ambitions. Nor do we feel an obligation to solve other nations' problems.
We intend to remain the world's premier military power but will exercise that power only when our nation and/or our vital interests, as determined by us, are threatened. Then, and only then, will an adversary be given exactly one warning to cease such behavior. If such threats persist, that adversary will be destroyed by sudden, overwhelming and unrestrained force. There will be no such thing as a "measured" response or endless "negotiations."
And no more exercises in insanity like Afghanistan, where we continue to fill more graves with Americans even after our hapless "leader" has announced that's we're giving up and getting out.
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All weekend it struck me --again-- as a little ... jarring ... to hear and read the words, "Happy Memorial Day."
"Happy?" On an occasion that is all about dead people?
- - - - -
Idiocy in action ...
Jimmy Carter, who disgraced the presidency during his one term in office, is still deranged. After talking with some of his Egyptian Muslim buddies, Carter announced that he believed that the Muslim Brotherhood, expected to take control in Egypt, will continue to observe the treaty with Israel ... DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE LEADING FIGURES IN THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD HAVE SPECIFICALLY SAID THEY WILL NOT!
The fact that an empty suit like Carter -- and others just as incompetent -- were elected to the presidency is further proof that this nation's survival for 236 years has a great deal to do with blind luck. Given an electorate that is often easily misled and sometimes (think 2008) plain silly, we have reason to wonder about the nation's future.
After all, many well-fed Romans doubtless thought everything was just fine with their longstanding empire until September of 476 when the barbarians came to town, took names and kicked ass, and and took over.
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Why Greece has to shape up or get out of the Eurozone established among most other Western European nations ...
"The basic question is that a German has to increase working (age) from 65 to 67... to pay for Greeks retiring at 50."
-- Nick Dewhirst, director at wealth management firm Integral Asset Management --
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Dennis Prager (Townhall.com) --
"You cannot understand the left if you do not understand that Leftism is a religion. It is not God-based (some Left-wing Christians' and Jews' claims notwithstanding), but otherwise it has every characteristic of a religion. The most blatant of those characteristics is dogma. People who believe in Leftism have as many dogmas as the most fundamentalist Christian.
"One of them is material equality as the preeminent moral goal. Another is the villainy of corporations. The bigger the corporation, the greater the villainy. Thus, instead of the devil, the left has Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Oil, the "military-industrial complex," and the like. Meanwhile, Big Labor, Big Trial Lawyers, and, of course, Big Government are leftwing angels. And why is that? Why, to be specific, does the left fear big corporations but not big government?
"The answer is dogma -- a belief system that transcends reason. No rational person can deny that big governments have caused almost all the great evils of the last century, arguably the bloodiest in history. Who killed the 20-30 million Soviet citizens in the Gulag Archipelago -- big government or big business? Hint: There were no private businesses in the Soviet Union. Who deliberately caused 75 million Chinese to starve to death -- big government or big business? Hint: See previous hint. Did Coca Cola kill five million Ukrainians? Did Big Oil slaughter a quarter of the Cambodian population? Would there have been a Holocaust without the huge Nazi state?"
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When will the Media Morons get the message? Wake up, dolts! Barack Obama was NEVER a law professor. NEVER. He lectured, but never achieved the status of "professor." I have also lectured college-level courses in communications, but I was not a professor of anything, and didn't pretend to be.
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Do you suspect that the real motivation behind the rabble who clamor for socialism is a lack of confidence that they can make their way in the world without a "mommy" government taking care of them? If so, their concern for "social justice" is really only camouflage for their suspicion of their own inadequacies.
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Thomas Sowell on "meaningful work" ...
"The lack of realism among many highly educated people has been demonstrated in many ways.
"When I saw signs in Yellowstone National Park warning visitors not to get too close to a buffalo, I realized that this was a warning that no illiterate farmer of a bygone century would have needed. No one would have had to tell that illiterate farmer's daughter not to stand by the side of a highway, trying to hitch a ride with strangers, as too many college girls have done, sometimes with results that ranged all the way up to their death.
"The dangers that a lack of realism can bring to many educated people are completely overshadowed by the dangers to a whole society created by the unrealistic views of the world promoted in many educational institutions. It was painful, for example, to see an internationally renowned scholar say that what low-income young people needed was meaningful work.' What is 'meaningful work'?
"The underlying notion seems to be that it is work whose performance is satisfying or enjoyable in itself. But if that is the only kind of work that people should have to do, how is garbage to be collected, bed pans emptied in hospitals or jobs with life-threatening dangers to be performed?
"Does anyone imagine that firemen enjoy going into burning homes and buildings to rescue people trapped by the flames? That soldiers going into combat think it is fun?
"In the real world, many things are done simply because they have to be done, not because doing them brings immediate pleasure to those who do them.
"Telling young people that some jobs are 'menial' is a huge disservice to them and to the whole society. Subsidizing them in idleness while they wait for "meaningful work" is just asking for trouble, both for them and for all those around them."
- - - - -
Dan Sorkin sent a Memorial Day reminder of what it's really about, in the words of John Stuart Mill ...
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- - - - -
The Indianapolis 500 was an exciting race -- except for the ending. Under the caution flag with cars loafing around the last lap. I wonder why the people who run this operation don't wise up as NASCAR finally did and adopt some rule that would enable the racers to end the race ... actually racing.
As has become the constant theme of the Obama economy, thousands of seats were empty at this major sports attraction. Also at the hotbed of NASCAR, Charlotte, later in the day.
- - - - -
Jimmy Fallon --
"An 83-year-old man in the U.K. recently became the oldest living kidney donor in history — which is pretty cool unless you’re the guy who just got an 83-year-old kidney."
FREELOADER FOOLISHNESS ...
STATE TAXES AND OUT-MIGRATION ...
NO MORE MCCAIN-STYLE SOFTBALL CAMPAIGNS
STATE TAXES AND OUT-MIGRATION ...
NO MORE MCCAIN-STYLE SOFTBALL CAMPAIGNS
“Nobody wants a handout. Nobody wants to get something for nothing.” -- Barack Obama, in yet another exhibition of lying and/or stupidity on parade. So said the man whose campaign for re-election is based largely on the premise that the government WILL give freeloaders "something for nothing."
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In a more rational time in a more rational nation, the very idea of turning control over the internet to the parasites at the UN would be considered so absurd, anyone who proposed such a thing would be a candidate for a mental institution.
The Obama administration is trying hard to do it. If he loses the election, look for him to try pushing it thru a lame-duck Congress. After all, those freedom-loving folk in Beijing and Moscow want it that way, and we know Obama wouldn't want to offend them.
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From which states are most people likely to emigrate (with an "E", meaning leaving)? Easy. New York and California, both high-tax states. Where are they going? Florida, Texas, Arizona and Nevada, low-tax states. What's left behind in the states they departed? More people freeloading on the government ... fewer people paying the taxes to support them. And how long can that continue?
Suck on THAT, Governors Brown and Cuomo ... and the idiots in both state legislatures, elected by idiots.
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After 9/11, California created an extra-cost license plate to raise money for scholarships for the children of Californians killed in the crash of the United Airlines flight in Pennsylvania. Here's what happened to the money raised: The scholarships were dropped seven years ago, and Governors Brown and Schwarzenegger both took a piece of the fund to cover the state's budget deficits.
As a former longtime Californian let me again convey my contempt for the majority of California voters: Those clowns can really pick 'em!
- - - - -
“Bearing babies irresponsibly is simply wrong. Failing to support children one has fathered is wrong ... It doesn’t help matters when prime-time TV has Murphy Brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today’s intelligent, highly paid professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice.” -- VP Dan Quayle, 1992.
"Twenty years later, Quayle’s words seem less controversial than prophetic. The number of single parents in America has increased dramatically: The proportion of children born outside marriage has risen from roughly 30 percent in 1992 to 41 percent in 2009. For women under age 30, more than half of babies are born out of wedlock.
"... if individuals do just three things — finish high school, work full time and marry before they have children — their chances of being poor drop from 15 percent to 2 percent.
"... in the end, Dan Quayle was right. Unless the media, parents and other influential leaders celebrate marriage as the best environment for raising children, the new trend — bringing up baby alone — may be irreversible."
-- Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution, published in ... THE (liberal) WASHINGTON POST??!! --
- - - - -
Columnist Burt Prelutsky has it right when he suggests that it's time for Mitt Romney, who's now locked up the nomination after the Texas primary, to play hardball ...
"We saw what happened to John McCain when he tried to remain above the fray and prohibit his supporters from even mentioning Obama’s ties to Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, William Ayers, Valerie Jarrett and Van Jones, and we don’t need a repeat of his patty cake campaign."
I recognize that playing kissy-face with McCain is vital for Romney's effort to unify the disparate elements of his party for the run to November, but it still gave me the creeps to see them together. It was another reminder that McCain's nobility in a North Vietnam POW camp, the highlight of an otherwise undistinguished military career (he crashed three planes in training; one will get you disqualified from Navy flight school, unless Daddy's an admiral) is no qualification to run for president.
- - - - -
As the nagging worries continue about the madmen of Tehran and their building of a nuclear arsenal, it seems worthwhile to reflect on the strong likelihood that if Jimmy Carter had taken the appropriate action within 24-hours of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in 1979 -- i.e., eliminated the vermin from the face of the earth -- there would be no such worries now, 33 years later.
So ... we continue to pay for the silliness of a spineless wimp who, even after they've clearly stated their intention to resume their effort to exterminate Israel, still insists that his good friends in the Muslim Brotherhood will continue to observe Egypt's peace treaty with the Jewish nation when they take control.
- - - - -
James Robbins (Washington Times editorial) addresses another piece of shameful liberal behavior ...
"An MSNBC host issued an apology for saying he is 'uncomfortable' calling America’s fallen troops heroes on Memorial Day weekend. His gaffe was to say what most leftists firmly believe.
"Chris Hayes, who appears on MSNBC and is editor-at-large for the left-wing magazine the Nation, created instant controversy Sunday when he said, 'I think it is very difficult to talk about the war dead and the fallen without invoking valor, without invoking the words ‘heroes.’ … I feel comfortable - uncomfortable - about the word because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war.'
"It’s important that Mr. Hayes apologized for his tactless quip, but it accurately reflected the extreme liberal beliefs about those who serve in uniform. To the left, troops killed in war are not heroes but victims. They are then turned into brainwashed robots, shorn of individuality and creativity and forced to live in an uncaring hierarchy where their only duty is unhesitatingly to follow orders. They are sent to fight illegitimate wars foisted on America to protect the interests of the rich and powerful. When they are killed, it’s usually by someone legitimately defending his homeland against imperialist invaders."
- - - - -
Rhetorical question ...
Does MSNBC search the mental health facilities to find the raving lunatics they put before their cameras?
- - - - -
The Facebook stock debacle is a good reminder to investors that not every IPO (initial public offering) is bound to profit the first wave of suck... -- er ... INVESTORS.
- - - - -
Rasmussen Reports headline: "46% See Obama-Romney Race as Choice of Lesser of Two Evils"
Subjectively speaking, I'm surprised the percentage isn't higher. For me, almost every election at every level is such a choice. Rarely have I voted FOR a candidate; I almost always vote AGAINST someone.
- - - - -
The indispensable Victor Davis Hanson (National Review Online) attempts an understanding of our schizophrenic president. A few points to consider ....
"As the campaign heats up, one problem is that we continue to meet lots of different Barack Obamas — to such a degree that we don’t know which, if any, is really president.
"One Barack Obama crisscrosses the country warning us that a sinister elite has robbed from the common good and must atone for destroying the economy. Another Barry Obama hits the golf links in unapologetically aristocratic fashion and prefers Martha’s Vineyard for his vacation. So I am confused about the evil 1 percent. Obama 1 feels they have shorted the country and must now pay their fair share, while Obama 2 feels they are vital allies in helping the poor by attending his $40,000-a-plate campaign dinners.
"Barry Obama respects those who make billions from Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Facebook, but Barack Obama does not respect those who make billions from oil, farming, and construction.
"Lots of Obamas keep talking about civility and bringing us together; but lots more Obamas talk about punishing our enemies, emphasizing racial differences, and formally organizing supporters by racial groupings.
"The fringe Birthers made outlandish claims for years that Obama was not born in the United States and therefore was not eligible to be president. But suddenly, after nearly four years of his presidency, we discover that for over a decade and a half Obama’s own publicity bio listed him as Kenyan-born. Why and how did this happen — given that authors customarily write their own autobiographies and have annual opportunities to edit them?
"One Obama was the constitutional-law professor at the prestigious University of Chicago; another was a part-time lecturer who never published and was rarely seen or heard at the law school."
- - - - -
The man in the White House with a permanent case of hoof-in-mouth disease does it again ... referring to the German Nazi-operated
Jewish extermination camps they built in Poland as "POLISH death camps." This fool is beyond embarrassing.
- - - - -
I wonder if people who use the expression, "I could care less," ever stop to think that it means the exact opposite of what they intend to convey. If they intend to indicate a lack of concern about the subject at hand, they really mean, "I COULDN'T care less."
- - - - -
More language-mangling ...
Using the word "missile" when "missiVe" is appropriate, since it means a written message. Happens often.
... also ...
Some dictionaries acknowledge the sounding of the "T" in "often" as second-choice acceptable, but most don't.
- - - - -
Jimmy Fallon--
"Britney Spears is planning to launch a new fragrance called Fantasy Twist. That sounds like something John Travolta gets at the end of a massage."
FEMALES' RIGHT TO ABORT FEMALE
BABIES--BIZARRE ...
GREECE, CALIFORNIA; IS AMERICA NEXT? ...
GLOBAL WARMING FOR DUMMIES
GREECE, CALIFORNIA; IS AMERICA NEXT? ...
GLOBAL WARMING FOR DUMMIES
Planned Parenthood is on the horns of a dilemma. Their support for abortion-on-demand, "freedom of choice," forces them into a corner and real, if unstated, support for aborting unwanted babies because of their gender -- which almost invariably means aborting girl babies. Killing female children in the name of "women's rights!"
Talk about a "war on women!"
- - - - -
Let us hope that Mitt Romney understands that this election is his last chance to be more than the answer to a trivia question a few years hence, and fights accordingly. If he emulates his friend McCain, he's toast.
If he does get the Big Job, he'd better have some Big Answers.
- - - - -
A realistic look at Obama's campaign tactics ...
"To the less sophisticated voter, the Obama message is a soothing 'nothing has to change.' To the more sophisticated, President Obama proposes himself as the defender of every spending interest, never favoring a cut, always pushing for higher taxes.
"Look at Europe. Look at California. This strategy can work electorally. As policy, it may be unbelievable, irrational and misleading—like Gov. Jerry Brown clinging to his bullet train. But it makes a kind of political sense.
"Mr. Brown's politics in fact are worth studying. His state is flirting with fiscal collapse. Businesses and workers are fleeing its high taxes. Yet he defends a perfectly senseless plan to build a $68 billion high-speed rail to nowhere. His message to his state's spending interests: 'I'm your guy. No compromise.' As in Greece, where austerity has meant the private sector shrinks but the government doesn't, so in California, if Mr. Brown has anything to say about it."
-- Holman Jenkins in the Wall Street Journal --
- - - - -
Monty Pelerin (AmericanThinker.com) expands on his prediction that not only will Obama lose in November, but expects it to be a blow-out ...
"There is little substance behind the façade other than an Elmer Gantry style of politics. He is completely malleable into whatever form and shape best serve his personal interests.
"A few examples of this "flexibility" are the following:
He changed his name when he believed it served him to do so.
He is not a religious man, but he joined a Black Liberation Church to sell his bonafides to the black community in his early days in Chicago.
He said that preacher Jeremiah Wright was like his father yet threw him under the bus when it became convenient (necessary).
He claimed to have been born in Kenya in order to enhance book sales as a younger man.
He likely lied on his applications to college to gain foreign student status. At the time, that category provided more favorable admission and funding treatment than afforded domestic blacks.
He claimed to be a constitutional professor when he was neither a professor nor particularly well-versed in the Constitution."
- - - - -
Amazing. How Michelle Obama can still
walk with all those media lips glued to her buttocks as she does her
media tour to promo a $31 book she, ahem, "wrote" on gardening.
- - - - -
Let's see, now ...
The doper in the White House thinks it unacceptable that we water-board terrorists being interrogated (the same procedure undergone by every U. S. Special Forces applicant in training) but decides on an individual basis whether a particular terrorist (and perhaps his children) are to be killed with a drone-fired missile.
Someday, the mind of this muddle-head is going to be the centerpiece of a new textbook for psychiatrists.
- - - - -
Ann Coulter takes note of the big event coming up Tuesday in Wisconsin ...
"The public sector unions are trying to oust Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker from office for impinging on their princely, taxpayer-supported lifestyles. If Walker goes down, no governor will ever again suggest that snowplow operators work when it snows. No governor will dare try to deprive public school teachers of their Viagra. Forget about ever firing self-paced, self-evaluated, unnecessary government employees.
"Always leading the nation, California has already been bankrupted by the public sector unions. That's the country's future if Walker doesn't win, and it's not going to matter who's in the Oval Office.
"Democrats know what's at stake. They're treating this election like the Normandy invasion. Meanwhile, Republicans are sitting back, complacently citing polls that show Walker with a slight lead.
"The teachers unions wail, "It's all about the kids!" -- and then we find out the Milwaukee teachers union sued the school district because their health insurance didn't cover Viagra. Yes, it's all about the kids.
"Loads of Milwaukee bus drivers are using sick days and overtime to take home more than $100,000 a year.
"Public sector employees seem to think they should be exempted from belt-tightening everyone else is subject to in the Obama economy. (Obama thinks so, too. Most of the stimulus money went to shore up public sector employees' salaries and perks.)"
- - - - -
Why would Massachusetts Democrats nominate for a Senate seat a blatant phony like Elizabeth ("I'm a Native American") Warren? She -- and Harvard -- both obviously lied about her "ethnic" background. So why would the Democrats nominate her?
Oh, wait. They've supported an endless line of drunk and abusive Kennedys, so why not? And then there's Barney Frank ...
Cancel the question.
- - - - -
Incurable media bias on display ...
Today's Washington Post carries an article lamenting the fact that the re-drawing of the Texas congressional district map to create more Latino-majority districts failed to result in more Mexican-Americans being chosen in the state's Democratic primary. The wording of the story is telling. It claims that TEXAS failed to elect more Latinos, ignoring the fundamental reality that the district lines were drawn to rig the game so that Latinos could do so. They didn't, so in the view of the Post writer, that's the fault of the entire state. After all, racial "quotas" should be met!
Another example of liberal tunnel-vision.
- - - - -
Michael Barone with an observation about tunnel-vision ...
"It's comfortable living in a cocoon -- associating only with those who share your views, reading journalism and watching news that only reinforces them, avoiding those on the other side of the cultural divide.
"Liberals have been doing this for a long time. In 1972, the movie critic Pauline Kael said it was odd that Richard Nixon was winning the election, because everyone she knew was for George McGovern."
I lived for many years in a place where such thinking prevailed on a massive basis. San Francisco. Or, as I have long described it, "The world's largest outdoor lunatic asylum."
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Don't expect the supine American big media to report this, but James Delingpole of Britain's Telegraph newspaper blows this whistle on a U.S. government-sponsored study that blew up in liberal faces ...
"A US government-funded survey has found that Americans with higher levels of scientific and mathematical knowledge are more skeptical regarding the dangers of climate change than their more poorly educated fellow citizens.
"The results of the survey are especially remarkable as it was plainly not intended to show any such thing: Rather, the researchers and trick-cyclists who carried it out were doing so from the position that the 'scientific consensus' (carbon-driven global warming is ongoing and extremely dangerous) is a settled fact, and the priority is now to find some way of getting US voters to believe in the need for urgent, immediate and massive action to reduce CO2 emissions."
In short, the smarter you are, the less likelihood you'll believe the drivel promoted by Al Gore and his acolytes, including the occupant of the White House.
- - - - -
Victor Davis Hanson discourses on the cultural differences and the effects on national success -- and failure ...
"Over the years I have developed an unscientific and haphazard -- but often accurate -- politically incorrect method of guessing whether a nation is likely to be perennially insolvent and wracked by corruption.
"Do average passersby throw down or pick up litter? After a minor fender-bender, do drivers politely exchange information, or scream and yell with wild gesticulations? Is honking constant or sporadic? Are crosswalks sacrosanct? Do restaurant dinners usually start or wind down at 9 p.m.? Can you drink tap water, or should you avoid it? Do you mostly pay what the price tag says, or are you expected to pay in untaxed cash and then haggle over the unstated cost?
"To put these crude stereotypes more abstractly, is civil society mostly moderate, predicated on the rule of law, and meritocratic -- or is it better characterized by self-indulgence, cynicism and tribalism?
"The answers to these questions do not hinge on race, money or natural wealth, but they do involve culture and the way average people predictably live minute by minute. Again, these national habits and traditions accrued over centuries, and as much as politics or economics, they explain in part why Bonn is not Athens, and Zurich is not Naples, or for that matter why Cairo is unlike Tel Aviv or why Mexico City differs from Toronto."
Therein are clues as to why a nation like Greece has no intention of paying back the money it's borrowed and thinks it rude of the lenders to even expect it.
- - - - -
Feel punny? Reader Gary contributes a gaggle of groaners ...
The fattest knight at King Arthur's Round Table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.
Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
And the winner is! ...
A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'
Gary, go to your room!
- - - - -
Len the haiku master congratulates Mr. Romney on locking-up the
nomination ...
Named for a Ball Glove.
What if his folks liked Hockey?
"PUCK ROMNEY" buttons.
- - - - -
A calming thought from Sheila ...
If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you
any time,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without alcohol,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs ...
.... Then you are probably ......... the family dog!
"...and now, if you'll excuse me..."