Drunk Pumpkins

If you're gonna party this Halloween, do it responsibly...

Still looking for a halloween costume?  AmyOops has the answer!

Thanks for the picture OD!

Support the Troops by Listening to the Right People

If you haven't been there, you have a hard time understanding the military and what the troops on the ground are going through.  You need some reliable voices you can depend on to give it to you straight

The pundits and politicians may have the foreign policy cred, but beware someone beating war drums who has never been in a war. 

Generals and high-level government bureaucrats can talk strategy, but how does the average citizen make sense of it all?  And what do the grunts on the ground think?

I've been to all those places you've heard about, survived rocket attacks, and came away with some cool stories, but I was not a combat troop.  I have hung out with a few SF troops and provided support for their missions in far flung places, but I am not one of them. 

BTW, if it begins with "Al" or ends in "stan" you don't want to go there, Alabama excepted.  Also stay away from placed that end in "bad."  Whoever named Islamabad knew what they were doing.         

Forrest Gump-like, I have been on the periphery of many things: 9-11, Panama invasion, South American counter-drug ops, Central America counter-insurgency, but I have never done anything heroic.  That wasn't my job.  I was a support troop.

So I must rely on trusted sources to understand what's really going on. 

Blackfive is one of the best. The bloggers are former or current Special Forces, combat infantry, Marines, and others who routinely put themselves in harms way.  If you want to sort the truth from the BS, check out their site. 

For instance, much has been made of General McChrystal's tactical directives he implemented upon taking command.  Armchair generals back home roundly criticized him for going soft on the enemy, but blackfive defended it and broke it down so the average civilian could understand it.

Other Trusted Sources
Michael Yon and Michael Totten are the two best combat journalist and foreign correspondents we have today.  They embed with the troops, talk to the locals and bring it all home to us.  Finally, Robert Kaplan is an academic who relishes getting his hands dirty.  His books are well-researched and highly readable, and demonstrate his scary ability to predict the future. 

I  am sure there are many other good writers who are there or who have been there, but these are the ones I always seek out to get the straight scoop:

Blackfive
Michael Yon
Michael Totten
Robert Kaplan

UN Protests "Summary Execution" Death by Drone

Philip Alston, UN Lord High Poobah and Ratpoopoour of Special Meddling, has demaaanded that the US stop killing terrorists and those who harbor them.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – US drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan could be breaking international laws against summary executions, the UN's top investigator of such crimes said as he whined and pissed down his leg while trying to strike an arrogant, sanctimonious pose.

Stop!  Or we'll say stop again! 
He's presenting the matter to the assembled murderers, slave-holders, tyrants and snot-nosed pricks at the UN General Assembly:

"The onus is really on the United States government to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure that arbitrary extrajudicial executions aren't in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons," he added, removing his thumb from his rectum.

"the really problematic bottom line that the CIA is running a program that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely no accountability in terms of the relevant international laws," Alston said, placing his thumb in his mouth.

No, the onus is on you to STFU, jackass! 
Go back to skimming money off of food aid programs and abusing third-world women and little boys!  The International House of Scandal and Corruption is depending on you. Go talk to Human Rights Council Members Saudi Arabia and Cuba about international law.  Jackass!

Disclaimer:  I am a humongous fan of Predator drones and the death they visit upon  7th century, goat violating, BO stinking, America haters.  My retirement flag flew on a Predator mission.

Yahoo - UN Funnies

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Smear 'Em

Richard Milhous Obama Continues Assault on "Enemy" Fox

Fox News is "operating basically as talk radio," President Obama suggested in an interview airing today.

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod said this weekend that Fox is "not really a news station."

FOX News:  The only TV station where real debate happens

Nile Gardiner identifies the key to Fox's success.  It is the only genuine arena where ideological combat takes place nightly.  No fall guys, no rigged fights, just smart, opinionated combatants duking it out in the arena of ideas:

Fox offers a highly opinionated, fast-paced and entertaining brand of political debate that includes all sides of the political aisle.

The top hosts may be largely conservative (though not necessarily Republican), but the guests frequently are not, creating an adversarial and combative arena that until recently was a rarity in American news coverage.

Unlike bloated, bloviating embarrassments CNN and MSNBC, Fox actually has real conservatives and more importantly, real liberals who know how to argue.  Would you want to go up against Bob Beckel or Juan Williams?  These men are unabashed liberals and they know how to defend their ideology.  Maura Liasson is no slouch either. 

Where is the equivalent conservative on MSNBC?

The reader comments on Gardiner's article were entertaining.  Here's a typical slobbering liberal:

Rosenblum:
Fox News is the worst. To call it news is questionable at best. Fox entertainment would be more accurate. That it appeals to the idiot faction in America is no surprise. As HL Mencken said, ‘no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the average American.’

That a nation that almost elected Sarah Palin and did elect George Bush should be drawn to the likes of Glen Beck is hardly a shock, though deeply saddening. This is what you get when you debase your educational system for a generation.

He doesn't even notice that his logic collapses in upon itself when you consider that this same nation of boobs he criticizes elected his empty hero Barack Obama.

Someone named TerribleTurk gave Rosenblum the torching he so richly earned:

RosenBum is just soooo much smarter than everybody else! Screwhog, blow-it-outcherass! I get so damned sick of the self-anointed, pseudointellectual, libtard jackasses like RosenBum, I could puke. RosiBum, up yours and Mencken’s both!

Also, jerk, I hazard the guess you haven’t read Mencken–I have–or you’d know that smartasses like you were also on his list!

Question:  When has CNN, MSNBC, or any of the "Big Three" ever sparked as much political and social debate as Fox News or Rush Limbaugh? 

No wonder the doctrinaire left hates them so much.

Telegraph
The Hill - Obama's Enemies

Harry Health Care

Senator Harry Reid, who on even one of his better days looks like he's suffering a pack of sulfurious hemorrhoids, came out yesterday in favor of socialized medicine.  He lamented the fact that Olympia Snowe (Liberal Republican from one of those northeast states where they talk funny), refuses to go along with a plan that only 25% of Americans now support:

"We hope that Olympia will come back. She's worked hard. She's a very
good legislator.

I'm disappointed that the one issue, the fact that I killed a man in Reno just to watch him die, has been something that's frightened her," Reid said.

The Blob That Ate Everything

"The more people learn about the legislative blob slouching toward passage, the less they like it."  (KC Star - McClanahan)

33% of Health Care Costs Are Due to Waste

Reuters provides an annual breakdown of the inefficiencies:

* 37% ($200 to $300 billion):  Unnecessary care such as the overuse of antibiotics and lab tests to protect against malpractice exposure

* 22% ($200 billion):   Fraud.   Fraudulent Medicare claims, kickbacks for referrals for unnecessary services and other scams.

* 18% Administrative inefficiency and redundant paperwork

* 11% ($50 to $100 billion):  Medical mistakes. 

* 5% ($30 to $50 billion):  Preventable conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes.

Wouldn't it be great if somebody, anybody in the GOP stood up on their hind legs and rallied voters to their side on this one?   Cut waste first is a simple message that a majority of voters agree with.


Is anybody in the GOP smart enough to capitalize on growing public mistrust of this "legislative blob?"

After all, like many Democratic proposals, this medical monstrosity is fundamentally un-American, according to Arthur C. Brooks:

public resistance stems from the sense that the proposed reforms do violence to three core values of America's free enterprise culture: individual choice, personal accountability, and rewards for ambition.

If the GOP can't make an issue of this, they are through as a party. 

Reuters

Conservative Gut Check

I am a conservative with libertarian leanings.  I hesitate to call myself a libertarian because that only invites savage attacks from the True Libertarians.  I do admire how they guard their ideological turf.  The GOP could learn a thing or two from them...

Anyway, I think government is too big and must be scaled back.  Anyone who opposes big government will at some point experience a "gut check" when trimming it back hits you or your "constituency group":

The flow of mail — including prescription drugs sent through the Tricare Mail-Order Pharmacy program — is about to slam to a halt for about 4,800 military retirees and their survivors living overseas who use APO and FPO addresses at U.S. embassies and consulates.

As part of the initiative to separate State Department and military mail, State has said it cannot be responsible for the costs of mail going to military retirees at embassies and consulates. (Source:  Marine Corps Times)

I may end up living overseas in my retirement, so I'm sympathetic with my fellow veterans who face having their access to the US Mail cut off.  But on the other hand, why should taxpayers be subsidizing a global mail system for a few thousand military retirees? 

Late breaking update:  A Vietnam vet who owns a mail service in Panama has already stepped up and offered any vet the first 16 oz per month for free for anyone who signs up.  See? Military veterans, being self-sufficient, don't cry when Uncle Sam cuts them off, they move on and fill the gap!

"Starve Old People"
Then there is the automatic mechanism that determined that Social Security beneficiaries get no cost of living increase next year because the consumer price index hasn't budged, and besides, per 2008 CPI calculations, the raise last year was higher than it should have been.

I'm many years away from collecting social security, and count me among those who think flying saucers landing here is more probable than me collecting a check.  But my grannies collect social security, and it ain't a lot. 

"Go Weak On Defense"
And finally, defense.  How much is enough?  Invading other countries is very un-conservative and definitely un-libertarian.  So is using taxpayer funds to build missile shields for other countries.  Defense spending cannot increase indefinitely.

Want smaller government?  What are you willing to cut?  This is why the GOP has a rough row to hoe...

Why I Love Mark Steyn

Mark Steyn puts a humorous, wry twist on his conservative observations of our politics and culture.  The guy knows how to write!

About Obama administration lefties such as Anita Dunn:

A famously fair-minded centrist told me the other day that he'd been taken aback by some of the near parodic examples of Leftie radicalism discovered in the White House in recent weeks. I don't know why he'd be surprised.

When a man has spent his entire adult life in the "community organized" precincts of Chicago, it should hardly be news that much of his Rolodex is made up of either loons or thugs. The trick is identifying who falls into which category.

Anita Dunn, the Communications Director commending Mao Zedong as a role model to graduating high school students, would seem an obvious loon. But the point about Mao, as Charles Krauthammer noted, is that he was the most ruthless imposer of mass conformity in modern history: In Mao's China, everyone wore the same clothes.

So when Communications Commissar Mao Ze Dunn starts berating Fox News for not getting into the same Maosketeer costumes as the rest of the press corps, you begin to see why the Chairman might appeal to her as a favorite "political philosopher".

The liberal press attacked Rush Limbaugh over fake quotes, then shrugged at Anita Dunn praising a Communist Dictator who murdered 40-70 million people.  That ridiculous dichotomy inspired this beautiful piece of Steynian high parody:

The White House now says that Anita Dunn was "joking." Anyone tempted to buy that spin should look at the tape: If this is her Friars Club routine, she needs to work on her delivery. But, for the sake of argument, try a thought experiment:


Midway through Bush's second term, press secretary Tony Snow goes along to Chester A. Arthur High School to give a graduation speech.


"I know it looks tough right now. You're young, you're full of zip, but the odds seem hopeless. Let me tell you about another young man facing tough choices 80 years ago. It's last orders at the Munich beer garden – gee, your principal won't thank me for mentioning that – and all the natural blonds are saying, 'But Adolf, see reason. The Weimar Republic's here to stay, and, besides, the international Jewry control everything.'


And young Adolf Hitler puts down his foaming stein and stands on the table and sings a medley of 'I Gotta Be Me', '(Learning To Love Yourself Is) The Greatest Love Of All' and 'The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow.' And by the end of that night there wasn't a Jewish greengrocer's anywhere in town with glass in its windows.


Don't play by the other side's rules; make your own kind of music. And always remember: You've gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?"

Anyone think he'd still have a job?

It's not what you say.  It's not even how you say it.  It's who says it that matters to the chattering left.  And when Mark Steyn says it, the left is stripped of any and all pretense of reason.

Hope Floats

Balloon Dad is a douche bag

I hope they throw every charge in the book at him.  Our publicity-obsessed culture is out of control and it's time we made an example out of someone.

He went too far when he led us to believe his small boy was in that balloon.  Fame crazed people think nothing of the feelings or emotions of others; it's all about them.  

He could have made a splash by simply releasing his stupid UFO balloon over the city of Denver

Denver is full of gullible liberal transplants who voted for Obama, so we know they would have fell for it.  Hell, they probably would have chased it down and tried to befriend the little green men they believed to be inside, begging them to not hurt us and demanding schools include UFO people in their diversity training. 

Michael Eden

API News: Letterman's Rape Victims Include Keith Olbermann

Letterman's Sexual Victims Included Famous Men

 
Those times when Keith appeared to be squirming in his chair with self-righteous outrage? Now the truth comes out:

"He was actually suffering painful after effects of one of Dave's many rearguard attacks."

"I mean, Dave was just a monster, and he loved the backdoor stuff."

"His influence in the industry is way underestimated.  Keith knew Dave could break him if he didn't comply..."

It's in italicized quotes on the internet (right here, because I just typed it), so it must be true!

It's also rumored that Nobel Laureate Al Gore and Tycoon George Soros are part of the Wangdoodle clan that tried to wipe out the Oompa Loompas. 

This news bulletin was sourced using the same standards as CNN and other respected news media outlets.

Liberals Blowing Smoke and Breaking Windows

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, used a Wall Street Journal article to extol the virtues of carbon trading to her Wall Street constituents: 

According to financial experts, carbon permits could quickly become the
world's largest commodities market, growing to as much as $3 trillion
by 2020 from just over $100 billion today. With thousands of firms and
energy producers buying and selling permits to emit carbon, transaction
fees for exchanges and clearing alone could top nearly half a billion
dollars.

That $3 Trillion Will Come Out Of Our Pockets

What's good for Wall Street is bad for Main Street.  It takes carbon to heat our homes and bring consumer goods to the store. We will end up footing the bill for these transaction fees as businesses pass these Wall Street costs onto us in the form of higher light bills and rising retail prices. 



Liberals are Economically Ignorant

Gillibrand and her economically-ignorant fellow Democrats have fallen for the broken window fallacy.  Cap and Trade creates no new wealth.  Rather, it destroys wealtht through regulatory compliance costs and transaction fees.



About - Economics

WSJ - Gillibrand

Don't Cry for US, Argentina

Less than a century ago, economic basket case Argentina was a great nation.  Could the United States be following in her footsteps? 
 

"The worst psychological state is a superiority complex coupled with an inferior status."
 --Jagdish Bhagwati, economist

When I discovered this quote, my first thought was of Argentina .  My next thought was of the  US...

Argentinians have a sneering disdain for the US, and her neighbors are resentful of the  perceived arrogance of her citizens.  I've often thought that we are two countries so much alike that we can't stand each other:  Mirror images at opposite ends of the hemisphere.  One major difference being we still have some economic and military strength.  All Argentina has left is pride.

For quite awhile now I've been recommending Americans read up on the sad decline of Argentina, because our nation is on a similar downward path: 

A venal political class insulated from the vagaries of real-life, seeking power through burgeoning bureaucracies, irresponsible social programs and out of control spending.   

Entitled citizens willing to swap votes for goodies from the public treasury and state-sponsored demagoguery of the "rich."   

Inability to adapt to changing global markets; weakening currency...  It's all there.

The road to economic hell is paved with excellent intentions—a desire to save troubled industries, relieve poverty, and bolster communities that support the present government.

But the higher the spending and the deeper the deficits, the worse the effects on productive enterprise and the heavier the penalty placed on thrift and enterprise.

As matters deteriorate, governments have a natural tendency to divert blame onto some unpopular group, which comes to be labeled in terms of class, income, or race.

Judd Gregg, Republican Senator from New Hampshire summed it all up:

“This deficit is driven by us,” New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg candidly said Sunday [...]

“You talk about systemic risk. The systemic risk today is the Congress of the United States“ [...]

"we’re basically on the path to a banana-republic-type of financial situation in this country. And you just can’t do that. You can’t keep running these [federal] programs out [into the future] and not paying for them.

And you can’t keep throwing debt on top of debt.” “Standards of living will drop if we keep this up,” Gregg also said."

Why is it politicians only find such candor when they're on their way out?  Regardless, he's right.  Just ask the Argentinian mowing your neighbor's yard.

Are we in decline?  Further Reading:

American Conservative - US & Argentina
WSJ
Telegraph - Adam Smith
Telegraph - UN Currency
Samuelson - Downward Mobility
CNN - Judd Gregg

Eurotards Applaud Iraqi Shoe Thrower in Geneva

These are the same people who applaud President Obama

GENEVA (AP) - The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush leaned back in his chair and soaked in the round of applause.

This was not Baghdad or Damascus or Beirut. This was Geneva, where Muntadhar al-Zeidi was given a hero's welcome Monday far warmer than the subdued reception in his own homeland.

al-Zeidi was cheered by reporters and others after recounting his tale of torture at Iraqi hands, his inspiration for throwing the shoes at Bush, and his demands that U.S. forces leave Iraq and Bush face an international tribunal.

This paragraph reveals just how fetid our European "friends" have become, implicitly criticizing the US while lounging under our security umbrella...

Al-Zeidi's reception in Switzerland was noteworthy. While his shoe-throwing act of protest in December made him a hero for many in the Muslim world, there was little public outpouring of support for him when he was released last month in Baghdad.

The Iraqis know this man, one of their own, is an idiot to be ignored, but these Euros piss down their leg over the guy. 

Please go read this short dispatch.  I sense the reporter is not in the bag for the global lefties.  His report is sprinkled with balancing statements such as this one:  

His claims were often inexact, and it was unclear if the confusion was a result of faulty interpreting.

This is how reporting should be.  Remember this reporter's name, he may be fired shortly.  Look for Mr. Shoe to be in contention for the Nobel Peace Prize next year...

AP - Shoe Thrower

What Next in Afghanistan?

Counter-Terrorism or Counter-Insurgency?  Good People Disagree 

Ralph Peters, a good and patriotic retired Army Colonel with lots of active-duty contacts, disagrees with General Stanley McChrystal's proposed strategy.  Peters is a keen military mind from the General Sherman "War is Hell" school of war fighting who supports a Counter-Terror strategy for Afghanistan that involves less troops and more predator strikes.  His criticism is respectful, giving full props to the general.

Such debates and reasoned disagreements are productive, especially for us non-experts who want the best for our troops and our country.  We need to hear from all responsible corners while tuning out the chickenhawks on the right and the "General Betrayus" screaming idiots on the left.

PRESIDENT Obama faces three options in Afghanistan. Hints from the White House suggest that he's going to choose the worst: a non-decision decision.

The McChrsytal Plan: Surge 40,000 more US troops from a weary Army to renew the failing effort to apply our counter-productive counterinsurgency theory -- which attempts to cure cancer with herbal tea.

The Biden Strategy: Focus ruthlessly on the destruction of al Qaeda and its auxiliaries across the border in Pakistan or wherever they may appear in Afghanistan. This is the counter-terror practice that's worked for 3,000 years.

The "Vote Present" Strategy: Send a token increase of 10,000 or so troops, make cosmetic changes to the mission, try to please everyone partially -- and kick the can down the road.

The evidence on the ground, the lessons of history, and our real security needs strongly favor the Biden approach, but giving Gen. Stan McChrystal the full surge he wants would be far better than "more of the same, with new slogans."

I don't know what to think for sure, but I tend to side with McChrystal because he's the guy on the ground responsible for 100,000 US and coalition troops.  However, Peters does make a good case that though a brilliant tactician and operator, perhaps the general is missing the bigger strategic picture. 

Those quick to criticize McChrystal as a "touchy feely" enemy coddler need to remember he is a Green Beret who has also been through the grueling Army Ranger School.  He spent five years in Iraq hunting down high value targets.  Saddam Hussein and Musab al Zarqawi are his most famous trophies.  His efforts were also key in forging alliances with the Iraqi Sunni Sheiks and turning them against Al Qaieda.

Trade-Offs

There are no crisp, clean solutions here.  If there were, there would be no disagreement.  His emphasis on protecting the locals and being more judicious with airstrikes has been criticized by Peters and others for causing more troop casualties. 

McChrystal wants to erase the locals' perception that we are indiscriminate bombers who care nothing of their life or property.  Blackfive, a blog of military experts who come from the trenches, has an excellent article on General McChrystal's Tactical Directive.  Read it here.  

McChrystal is a special operator so he brings that mentality to his strategy. It includes getting out of the armored personnel carriers and integrating with the locals to protect them and peel them away from the embedded bad guys.  This too will surely bring more casualties, but the counter-insurgency experts say this will eventually pay dividends as the locals grow to trust us and provide intelligence needed to find and snuff the terrorist interlopers.

Part and parcel of this, also criticized by the right more than the left, is the prospect of rehabilitating Taliban fighters willing to lay down arms. 

This is not a stated part of McChrystal's plan, but it goes hand in hand with counter-insurgencies.  Making nice with Taliban fighters who lay down their weapons, rehabilitating them, would be far from unprecedented.  We just did that in Iraq.  The FMLN and the Sandinistas, Central American leftist guerrilla movements we helped El Salvador and Nicaragua defeat in the 1980's, are now unarmed political parties in their respective countries. 

We didn't even attempt to dismantle Noriega's political party after the Panama invasion.  It also helps to recall we did not kill every last Nazi and Japanese Imperial soldier.  We prosecuted the criminals and rehabilitated the remainder, who reintegrated with society.

It's Us against Them

The ultimate aim is to split Al Qaeda from Afghan society and kill them or drive them from the country.  It's us against them, and McChrystal want the "Us" to be the Afghan people and our ISAF forces.  McCrystal's "Them" are the Taliban fighters and Al Qaida. 

This is not how things shake out right now, but he believes a patient counter-insurgency strategy can get us there.  Stay Tuned.    

WaPo - McChrystal Plan
NY Post - Ralph Peters
Blackfive - McChrystal's Directive
FT - McCrystal

Obama's Peace Prize, Global Warming, and Other Fantasies

Obama's Peace Prize is really about getting the US to pass cap and trade and then sign on to a disastrous climate change treaty this December

Here come the scolding mommies from Europe, demanding we "Do Something!" in response to their incomprehensible fairy tales about global warming making Mother Earth hot and mad ...

Delegates wrap up two weeks of talks in Thailand tomorrow in an effort to replace or extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, whose emission limits for industrialized nations expire in 2012.

Failure (of the US) to have a new law in time for Copenhagen’s final round of negotiations would raise question marks over what commitments the U.S. can make, Falkenberg said.

Note the arch, scolding, passive/aggressive tone these internationales use:

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama faces “more than an embarrassment” should his nation fail to lead international negotiations to complete a new climate-protection treaty by December, a senior European climate negotiator said.

“Obama and his administration are very committed, and it will be more than an embarrassment for them if at Copenhagen they would have to admit they are not ready,” Falkenberg said late last night in Bangkok, where more than 180 nations are meeting for talks.

“We can just help, but helping them also means directly telling them that the world has an expectation.”

I don't like the pompous tone from these little pissant busybodies!  Nobody talks to the US President like that, and we sure as hell don't care about "the world's" expectations.

I was getting really angry reading this piece, until I came across this laugher:

The UN is pushing for a deal that would limit the rise in world temperatures since industrialization began to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

A deal on limiting the earth's temperature?  Who do they propose to negotiate this with?  Old Man Winter?  Mother Nature? The sun?  

The International House of Scandal and Corruption and the polyglot dingleberries who cling to it can't even agree on a what constitutes terrorism or a human rights abuse.  Yet they propose to turn down the earth's thermostat?  

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Finally, the article hints there is hope:

Obama’s scope is limited because the U.S. Congress may not approve a domestic law to control emissions before the December deadline for signing an international climate accord...

Bloomberg - Climate Change Nonsense

Liberals Kill Racism

Liberals going after Rush Limbaugh remind me of the sweaty, screaming hordes of pious Muslims at Mecca, inflamed by fervid religious passion, stoning Satan and trampling fellow believers in the emotionally-pitched frenzy.

Why is is the Rush story important? 

Because they've called him a racist.  A serious charge.  Words mean things, and the misuse of words cheapens them.  Everyone on all sides have thrown "Hitler" and "Nazi" around until, unfortunately, being called a mass murderer or a member of his hideous regime is no longer an insult. 

"Racist!" has lost it's sting

The left has done the same mortal damage to the word "racist."  They shout it through media bullhorns as they clutch their chain of worry beads, caressing the "bigot" and "speaking in code" beads as they go.  

Well, I'm done. That word doesn't work on me anymore.  And after this past year of leveling the charge at everyone who didn't vote for Obama or anyone who now criticizes him, the word "racist" is a spent shell casing. 

The libs went full auto, scattering rounds everywhere, hitting nothing

And that's unfortunate, because bigotry still exists in this country, but it's legitimacy is held hostage by limousine liberal races hustlers, including the NFL crowd. 

WSJ - Limbaugh's Article
Big Hollywood - NFL Owners Who Use the N-Word and Wet their Pants on Stage

Flying saucer shaped balloon crashes into a Burlington Coat Factory, causing mobs of angry right-wingers to charge that Obama is an alien.

Excellent Limbaugh Summary... By a Brit, No Less!

Toby Herndon has the best Rush summary I've seen so far.  He sums the issue up nicely and provides buku links.

Here's a short excerpt that summarizes how these virulent (and completely made-up) quotes got into the national bloodstream:

Trouble is, he didn’t say either of these outrageous things. 

And it wasn’t difficult to check, as protein wisdom shows here. They originated from, er, Wikipedia and Wikiquotes. Both quotes ended up in this book – a hit job that doesn’t cite any sources. They’re also included in this internet list posted a year ago and endlessly ripped off ever since.

 I love this trenchant dig at our lazy, biased press:

The irony is, of course, that the people reporting this as fact are the same types who are always denouncing bloggers and the internet as forces of evil intent on destroying proper journalism – proper journalism being the kind that involves checking facts.

In the case of Rush Limbaugh, however, it seems to be enough that the intention (i.e. to show the talk radio host is a racist) is considered pure.

British reporters in America...  Doing the work American reporters just won't do...

Read his entire article here:  Toby Harnden - Telegraph

Health Care in Black and White

The health care debate goes racial

I shook my head in sadness when I read this article.  Not so much over the minority activism; we all have the right to petition our government.  What made me shake my head was how the average reporter consumes, lives, breathes, and craps liberal tropes and shibboleths. 

Here she talks about how minority voices are finally entering the debate:

Missing from the noise so far: the voices of minorities, who are disproportionately represented among the poor and uninsured and could benefit the most from reform, and who are more likely than others to have chronic illnesses such as diabetes. They are symbols of the failures of the current system.

How does the plight of minorities symbolize the "failure" of our health care system?  Is the system a failure because it isn't free (i.e. funded by taxpaying citizens or money borrowed from China)?  Are chronic diseases like diabetes racist for preying upon minorities more than white people?

Here's a clue to what the root cause is:

In recent weeks, his group has been highlighting the fact that blacks and Latinos are more likely to be uninsured than whites. According to 2008 census figures, 10.8 percent of whites are uninsured, compared with 30.7 percent of Hispanics, 17.6 percent of Asians and 19.1 percent of blacks.

Bingo!  Blacks and Latinos are also more likely to be unemployed than whites.  If you don't have a job you can't pay for insurance.  No racist conspiracy there.

This is a failure of the system, all right.  A failure of state and local governments to provide an attractive business climate so people can find a job and take care of themselves.  Low taxes, reasonable regulatory environment and a dependable, educated workforce is all a business asks for. 

Community organizers and their liberal political enablers all across this great land have failed to provide these requisites that would make their adult charges self-sufficient.   Notice how communities full of working people don't need organizing?

It's all about jobs.  If everybody had one, liberals and most of government would be out of theirs.

WaPo - Healthcare and Race

Hush Rush: Bigotry Goes Equal Opportunity

Why haven't we cowards accepted Attorney General Eric Holder's invitation to racial dialogue? 

The outcry over Rush Limbaugh's attempt to purchase an NFL franchise is exhibit A.  Entitled groups own the conversation and make the rules, often on the fly.  Those authorized to freely dialog on race form an exclusive club. 

The rest of us can only come in through the back door, and then we must sit quietly while we are admonished and clucked over by the aggrieved and the anointed.  We must choose our words, nay, even our targets carefully lest we be branded with the scarlet R.    

Too often, the dialog becomes a lecture, and ordinary Americans of all stripes don't like being shouted at through bullhorns.  I know many black people as well who have refused to join the dialog because they are worn out by the implied tokenism. 

Many also tire of getting cornered into defending the Jacksons and Sharptons, or worse, repudiating them when they may actually agree with their larger point while simultaneously decrying their bombast.  

Bigotry still exists in America, but life's too short.  It's easier to just shut your pie hole and keep moving.

Even Jason Whitlock, the nation's most credible traffic cop working the intersection of sports and society, thinks Limbaugh owning the Rams would be a bad idea.

Here are two quotes from the best-of Rush Limbaugh racist collection:

"You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray (Dr. King's assassin). We miss you, James. Godspeed."

And ...

"Let's face it, we didn't have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: Slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back. I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."

You can argue the comments are presented out of context and were meant as jokes. Then I'd argue that Limbaugh needs to get on the comedy-club circuit and out of the business of attempting to influence presidential politics.

Jason admits the comments were yanked from their larger, sarcastic context by provocateurs wanting only to inflame, but it doesn't matter.  Limbaugh is not authorized to make such cracks that are routine fodder for liberal comedians, black and white. 

Rush doesn't belong to that exclusive club, but he brazenly barges in the front door amid billowing clouds of fragrant cigar smoke and pungent right-wing commentary.  He doesn't know his place.

So he is deemed a racist.  This is why a large segment of the population just avoids the whole subject.  Invite me in to "dialog" and then castigate me for saying the wrong thing?  Nah, I don't need the hassle.

There are certain franchises in America, exclusive clubs, where only the right kind of people are welcome.  I'm staying away.  I know my place. 

Black Voices
Sporting News
Fox Sports - Jason Whitlock

Dangerous Deleware Cub Scouts

"The law is an ass."  And public officials who hide behind zero tolerance are bigger asses

Zachary Christie, 6, was ordered to spend 45 days in his district's alternative school for troublemakers after he tried to use the combination folding fork, knife and spoon to eat lunch at Downes Elementary School in Newark, Del.

The knife is banned as a dangerous instrument under the Christina School District's zero-tolerance policy, and officials said they were forced to act regardless of Zachary's age or what he planned to do with it.

Zero tolerance policies are are the last refuge of cowardly scoundrels too weak to join battle with craven lawyers who have softened up the battle field with frivolous lawsuits that benefit no one but themselves and the smug liberals they're in bed with.

Instead of protecting our liberties, our laws now pad and guardrail every aspect of life, boxing us into tighter and tighter spaces.

We've allowed the stupidest and most dangerous to dictate our lives

Airport security has spawned mini-me TSA wanna-be's all over.  Last summer, I was busted by private company uniformed personnel for trying to get into Six Flags with a pen knife.

So what happens if school officials let the kid go, and then some other kid gets punished for threatening someone with a knife?  Now the little thug's defenders shriek special treatment because the first kid got off scot-free. 

Well, if someone cannot see the difference between eating lunch and threatening others, then they are too stupid to argue with and should be banished from any responsible position in society.

ABC News

Barack Milhous Obama adds FOX to his Enemies List

An increasingly Nixonian White House is using the power of the presidency to attack a private news organization.  (Source:  NY Times)

“We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent,” said Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, in a telephone interview on Sunday. “As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.”

"We’re not going to legitimize them as a news organization.”

So the president's staff now determines what constitutes a "legitimate news organization."  Does their criteria include tingling legs and fawning, uncritical coverage?

President Obama even singled FOX out, if not by name, earlier this year:

“I’ve got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration,” he said in June, though he did not mention Fox by name. He added, “You’d be hard pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front.”

Boo hoo!  President Bush had every station attacking him when he was president, and he never whined about it.  The press corps was a pack of snarling, ass-biting curs during his administration. 

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

A little less narcissism and a little more Harry Truman would do the current president and his staff some good.

Smear and Discredit replaces Rebut and Debate

This is the favored tactic of the intellectually bereft left:  Smear and discredit your opponent because you can't refute his message. 

If FOX is so unfair, why doesn't the administration send a staffer a day to go on their shows and fight back?  If the FOX meanies really are so dumb and unfair, a little debate and pushback should make their scurrilous attacks collapse like a house of cards, right?

Every Regime Needs Scapegoats

If someone were smearing and trashing me, I would relish a chance to go on one of their most-watched programs to expose their nonsense and prove them wrong.  But that's not what this is about.  It's about scapegoating. 

The most famous regimes in history have all used scapegoats, and now Obama is channeling Nixon the same weekend he's awarded an anticipatory Nobel Peace Prize.  Who'd a thunk it?

Hot Air

Book Banning is Bogus

Book banning in America is a bogus issue used by leftists to tear down our American institutions and denigrate our traditional values

Last week was Banned Books Week, and the social libertines were out in full force.  From the website:

Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries.  [...]

People challenge books that they say are too sexual or too violent. They object to profanity and slang, and protest against offensive portrayals of racial or religious groups--or positive portrayals of homosexuals.

Yes.  Nice summary.  I don't want these adult perverts peddling homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian screeds, and sex and violence to my children.   I am also against censorship.  The two views are not incompatible... 

See how liberalism works?  

They take the legitimate issue of enforcing community standards, conflate it with book banning, and conjure the specter of America as Nazi Germany censoring, burning and silencing. 

The reality is more benign

By the organization's own admission, the top 10 most-challenged books are challenged in a school or public library environment because they are not age appropriate.  And most are trash anyway, not a classic among them.

No one is challenging the right to publish and peddle trash in this country, a casual glance around proves that.  This is about parents maintaining control over what is introduced to their children.

If a teacher introduced pornography and graphic battlefield narratives to my first grader and I protested, I would be considered pro-censorship to these people.       

I love books and I do not want my government committing First Amendment violations.  And guess what?  Removing a book from schools or public libraries based upon community standards is not censorship.

An author has no legal right to have her book placed in a school or community library, and community members have no right to find there any book they desire.  Indeed, if it were otherwise, every public library would be legally required to stock every book; a clearly unreasonable standard.

Judgments must be made.  Some books are in and some are out.

Removing or restricting a book from a public library does not silence the author and it does not prevent people from acquiring the book by some other means. This is about the right time and proper place.

Parents and responsible adults have a duty to introduce only age-appropriate material to our youngsters.  I decide what's appropriate for my children, not some hippie pedo-perv or oversexed woman marketing her teen sex fantasies to high schoolers.

Want to talk censorship?  When is the last time someone was allowed to read a bible or say a prayer out loud in a public school?

http://bannedbooksweek.org/index.html
Time - Banned Books

Whatever Happened to Global Warming?

Senator Graham Believes in Fairy Tales

Every time I scold one of my fellow conservatives for shouting "RINO!" in a clouded political environment, some damned GOP Senator goes and makes a monkey out of me...

Democrats picked up a prominent Republican supporter for their climate legislation this morning as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joined John Kerry in a NYT op-ed urging passage of cap-and-trade legislation.

American President Wins Peace Prize, Bombs Moon in Celebration

President Obama won an anticipatory Nobel Peace Prize

American liberals are celebrating because "The World" loves us again.

Jennifer Rubin throws a bucket of cold water on that notion:

No, it’s a bad thing, a very bad thing, because he got it — as one must to snag a Nobel Peace Prize — by denigrating American values and exceptionialism, demonstrating an aversion to moral clarity, refusing to call out despotic regimes (the Iranian students will be thrilled to know that they give prizes to leaders who think of them as an annoyance), disarming America, repeatedly distorting history to fit false narratives, refusing to stand up to international bullies (excuse me, members in good standing in the international community), and spinning a great deal of hooey about global wealth-sharing and environmental extremism.

And here’s the thing: these regimes don’t like America any more than they used to. They love a U.S. president who shares their disdain for America’s role in the world. So they gave him a prize. “America Isn’t That Great” Man of the Year isn’t something to cheer. Well, unless you work at the White House.

I also like Peggy Noonan's observation that this may give our international superstar president pause:

Assuming the White House did nothing to encourage or lobby for the award, it is not Barack Obama's fault that he has been embarrassed by this honor. And it may possibly hold for him an unanticipated benefit. It may give him pause:

"Look what idiots my biggest international supporters are. I may have to rethink a few things."

Knowledge and Flamethrowers

Intellectual Ammo:  Know your US Constitution
The Internet makes it easy.

Ontological Angst:  Press Protests the Protesters

Instead of Reporting, the press picks up the left's arguments and thows them at TEA Partiers:

The press eats this propaganda up and spreads it like manure, where a thousand liberal fantasies bloom. No argumentation, no logic examinations, just channeling the emotion.

Villainous Company has a funny piece on helping President Obama win other awards.

The Incredible Barackness of Being, or Things that Make You Go "WTF?"

US President Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

Is this some kind of international joke, a spoof played on America?  C'mon guys!  We all got a good laugh...  OK, who won, really?

The Nobel Peace Prize has been a joke for years, but this is real.  President Obama joins the esteemed ranks of terrorist Yassir Arafat, failed president and now senile embarrassment Jimmy Carter, and Reverend Al Gore of the International Church of Gaia.

The Nobel Committee's explanation is a Master's level course in how the left thinks:

The Nobel Committee said he won it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the Norwegian committee said in a statement.

"His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

This is the left's repudiation of George Bush

George Bush freed millions of poor Muslims, giving them a shot at making a better life for themselves, but that's no good.  He didn't have international goodwill in his heart when he did it.

Let's see... What has Obama accomplished?  He wrote two books about himself!  He got elected president!

But what has he done for peace?

He sent 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and his bombing the crap out of Pakistan makes Bush look like a pacifist.  Dictators everywhere are applauding him (literally at the UN) and now he gets the cherry on the cake...

The Prize is a Trojan Horse
The left doesn't hate America...  they hate the fact that we won't do what they say.  But Barack has given them hope!

This prize is a prod to get America to do the international community's will, especially in light of the global warming conclave of potentates coming up later this year.  The international left will be expecting much from their President, he's a made man now.

I guess they had to do something to make it up to him for the whole Olympics embarrassment thing...

* Obamawagen courtesy of Chicago Ray

Obama's "Empowered" America

Community organizing and neighborhood activism is not about helping people...

It's about harvesting their votes.  Despite billions spent and decades of activism, every dysfunction of poor communities is on the increase:  dependency, violence, school drop outs, drug use, unwed pregnancies.

Beat down by life, America's poor are coddled by community activists who stoke angry grievances against "the system," "the man," the "rich and powerful," whatever gets you through your miserable life.  Every now and then, a mischievous liberal will dangle a bauble or two in front of them just for kicks...

DETROIT -- Detroit's homeless and low-income residents have another opportunity for a chance at millions of stimulus dollars.  The money is available to help low-income residents from becoming homeless and homeless residents to find housing.

Thousands of people lined up Tuesday. Some people in line falsely believed they were registering for $3,000 stimulus checks from the Obama Administration.

This betrays a pathology in certain pockets of America, where people, despite the blows of reality, still believe in free money and the fairy tales their progressive keepers tell them.  They need to believe in themselves...

Here's what embattled ACORN boss Bertha Lewis had to say about empowerment as she railed against the forces assailing her corrupt organization:

"We've seen this play before, whether it was the civil rights movement or whatever, when you organize poor people to have real power, what you do is often turned against you."

Real Power? 

All those poor people standing in line for free stuff don't look empowered to me.  Ask them if it felt like real power being rousted out of their tenement blocks, plied with booze and smokes, and bussed off to go pull the lever for the latest slate of corrupt Democrat politicians. 

Who has the real power?

Liberal Democrats like President Obama, who harvest the votes of the inner city poor by promising them hope while distributing some meager goodies through corrupt community organizers. 

So how does an ordinary American, even an impoverished American, get real power? 

Three letters: J - O - B.   

And if you can't find one, it's time to M - O - V -E.

I am the king of my humble, 40 year old castle, standing on my deck, beer in hand, surveying my postage stamp yard over the lid of my BBQ grill.  I'll never dine at Cannes with the rich and beautiful, but as George Straight sings, "I ain't rich, but Lord I'm free."  And it's all because I have a job. 

And I might still be unemployed had I not escaped the rust belt at the tender age of 17.  What else did I do right? 

I followed Dr. Walter E. Williams' Rules to Avoid Poverty:

* Graduate high school
* Get married before you have children
* If you get married, stay married
* Get a job, any job. A minimum wage job is a stepping stone
* Avoid engaging in criminal behavior

I am not highly educated and I did not come from privilege.  One set of grandparents were Eastern Europeans who were dragged off to forced labor in Nazi Germany.  The other side of my family were itinerant dirt farmers.

If community organizers were sincere about giving the poor "real power" they would teach them the power of self-sufficiency contained in Dr. Williams' rules.  But then, that's no way to build a liberal political movement...   

ClickonDetroit
WaPo - Milbank

... And Afghanistan, 8 years ago...

Obamamania Hangover

Liberals are decrying the fact that Obama voters are not "staying engaged."

The Hopium smoke has dissipated, the buzz is wearing off.  Obama voters are shaking the haze from their brains and getting on with their lives...

"It's one thing to get excited about a presidential candidate. It's another thing to become a responsible citizen," says Jennifer Donahue, political director for the New Hampshire Institute Of Politics. She and other political analysts thinks they have yet to prove themselves.

Reality Sets In

He sees a lot of young people getting lost in the details, or bored by them. Or like a lot of us, they're more focused on their own worries, such as getting a job or paying off mountains of student loans.

Maybe it's just that people have real lives, real jobs or real college classes to pass. Regardless, the aging hippie vanguard that now indoctrinates our children on campuses all over America insists that Obama must keep the kids engaged.

Some say the president also could be doing more to engage this demographic that was so key to his early success.

"I think young people do have clout, and I think it's a mistake if he doesn't use them," says Mary Ellen Balchunis, a political science professor at LaSalle University...

This is what's wrong with America:  Too much politics, not enough real-life.  Must everyone and everything be politicized all the time? It's one thing to get excited about a campaign, and quite another to be a 24/7 political activist. Somebody's gotta pay the bills and the taxes.

Yahoo - Youth Obamamania