Here's an item you don't see on the average bookshelf:

A heavyweight study of the future of soft cheese won Britain's annual competition to find the year's oddest book title on Friday.

The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais, by Philip M. Parker won the Diagram Prize, awarded by trade magazine The Bookseller...

Fromage frais — literally "fresh cheese" — is a dairy product that originated in France and has a similar consistency to sour cream.

Sounds like a fascinating read. But the $795.00 I'd have to shell out for a new copy at Amazon is a bit daunting.

I think I'll wait for the movie.

Labels: Books, Humor, Links, News

Holy crap, man. Not that I'm defending Rick Wagoner, but should ANY politician have this kind of power over the private sector?

-- General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner was forced out after President Barack Obama’s task force decided he was unable to craft a plan to save the automaker he ran for more than eight years.

Wagoner, 56, said he agreed to an administration request to leave. Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson will become CEO and director Kent Kresa will succeed Wagoner as chairman. GM had been seeking as much as $16.6 billion in new U.S. loans after an initial installment of $13.4 billion.

Pay attention, fellow free marketers. Just because we're paranoid, that doesn't mean that they ain't really out to get us.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

The headmaster at a private school in Boston is denying that the school is teeming with vampires:

There are no vampires at Boston Latin School, says headmaster Lynne Moone Teta...

"I seek your cooperation in redirecting your energy toward the learning objectives of the day. Please do not sensationalize or discuss these rumors," Teta wrote in a notice obtained by the Boston Globe and sent to faculty, students and parents.

Teta said she was concerned that some students' safety might be jeopardized because of the rumors...

HT: Moe Lane.

You know, there are things that a person might seem to confirm by denying them.

It's weird that this headmaster is basically saying "Nothing to see here! Get back to your studies!" Almost sounds like a cover-up. Not that I believe in vampires. (Or, "Vampyres" if you're one of those gay-ass goth kids.)

Zombies, now ... that's another story. If a headmaster of a school ever issues a statement denying a zombie problem ... well, I'll take it as an absolute certainty that the school has been overrun by the walking undead. I mean, some things are just obvious lies, ya know?

Labels: Humor, Links, News

If South Park isn't the smartest and funniest thing on TV right now, I'd like to know what is.

Breitbart offers analysis:

Labels: Humor, News, Politics

I've been blogging about personal stuff lately, and it's theraputic to get that stuff out. It helps.

But I realize that things could be much worse for me. I could be as dillusional as Fred Durst:

The Limp Bizkit frontman, no doubt all too aware that his band's rap-rock sound is dead and gone, is once again propping himself up on the one thing he figures people will remember, his alleged fling/relationship/whatever with Britney Spears back in 2003...

"It just became a fiasco of madness," Durst, 38, tells MTV News about the alleged fling and subsequent story breakup. "(But) I always stay true to my heart and true to everything I did and my intentions, and I am in no way a liar..."

"I look back on it as very interesting (in terms of) how things have been sort of unraveling for her since," he says. "(But) it is what it is. I can sleep at night knowing I made decisions that I wanted to make. (Still) I'm a supporter. I was then, I guess I am now. ... "I just guess at the time it was taboo for a guy like me to be associated with a gal like her," he adds.

What a peckerhead.

Labels: Entertainment, Music, News

I don't really buy any of this. I don't buy into conspiracy theories in general because I tend to believe that people are stupid ... people in large groups are EXTREMELY stupid ... and large groups of stupid people can't manage the kind of secrecy and organized deception that would be necessary to pull off a global conspiracy.

Conspiracy theories are goofy.

Having said that, I get a kick out of the fact that there are conspiracy theorists out there who're already targeting Obama:

HT: Pasadena Closet Conservative.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

This is just amazing. How did this f---ing DOLT ever make it eight years in the White House?

Addressing the divisive topic of stem cell research, our beloved former President said:

"...we’re not taking embryos that can - that under any conceivable scenario would be used for a process that would allow them to be fertilized and become little babies..."

Of course, you know and I know that embryos are already fertilized. But, then again, you and I have at least half a brain between us, right?

We're not even talking about the issue of embryos already being baby humans. I don't think ANYONE argues that they haven't been fertilized.

But that's really what Clinton thinks. It wasn't an instance of misspeaking. Because he KEPT. HAMMERING. THE. POINT.

..."(Obama) he has apparently decided to leave to the relevant professional committees the definition of which frozen embryos are basically going to be discarded, because they’re not going to be fertilized..."

"...I believe the American people believe it’s a pro-life decision to use an embryo that’s frozen and never going to be fertilized for embryonic stem cell research..."

"...any of the embryos that are used clearly have been placed beyond the pale of being fertilized before their use..."

"...these committees need to make it clear that they’re not going to fool with any embryos where there’s any possibility, even if it’s somewhat remote, that they could be fertilized and become human beings..."

We used to call this moron Slick??

Labels: Media, News, Politics

I finished 11 to 7 yesterday; man, I hate that shift. I live like a zombie when I work graveyard.

Now I'm playing catch-up and I have a ton of things to do today. But first, morning coffee, blogs, etc.

So what's on the pile for today?

• New year, new schedule of surgical processes ... worst of all, the deductible starts all over for the year. I had surgery in January, I'm having another procedure next month, and damn! I'd just finished paying off last year's medical bills!
  
  I think David summed it up up adequately when he said "Is this real life? Why is this happening to me? Is this gonna be for EVER? AAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!"
  
  But enough bitching about my personal junk.

Some of the internet junk from the past days/weeks that I've wanted to link to and/or comment on but just haven't bothered ...

• Good stuff from Scrappleface:
  

  President Barack Obama has reportedly written another private note to his Russian counterpart offering to halt deployment of a defensive nuclear missile shield in Europe, this time in exchange for Russia’s help in dealing with U.S. talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh.



• I've written before about how much I dislike Rush Limbaugh, but the way the liberals and RINOs are piling on him is triggering a bit of a personal backlash.
  
  I've been praising Mike Steele for ages, but no politician is perfect and I guess it was inevitable that even he would put his foot in a pile of bullshit.
  
  How, Mike, did it make even a little bit of sense to deign to wade into this anti-Limbaugh flap? And to do so from the leftist point of view? You blew the call on this one, buddy... and you handed the left a great stick to beat you with.


• Zo puts the recent Limbaugh BS in perspective, and does a better job than anyone else. Zo always puts it all in a nutshell better than anyone else, so it's not like it's anything new. I've mentioned that Zo rules, right?

  You know what a truth rush is? It's when you hear the absolute truth spelled out in simple, understandable terms that make you feel excited and energized. Whenever I listen to Zo I always get a truth rush.
  
  Rush WHO? When will Zo get a talk program? I'd listen every damn day.



• Comedian Louis CK tells Conan that today's young people are "the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots.... non-contributing zeroes." And he's right. I hate to generalize ... well, no I don't. I do it all the time. And I really tend to believe that damn near everyone born after 1975 or so is a whining, self-absorbed, unrealistic, childish, spoiled moron. (You know who you are.)
  
  Of course I also tend to believe that the baby-boomer generation is just as bad. So, yeah, basically everyone should always ignore everything I ever say because I'm a bitter, miserable old bastard.
  
  Give this clip a couple of minutes to really get going, it's well worth it and it's funny and dead-on. This had me laughing really, really hard and I'll be looking out for this guy from now on. Check it out:

  HT: BlackFive.



• I haven't mentioned the Octomom here because the story just disgusts me. But it ain't going away and more stuff comes to the surface every day. So here's my one Octomom post, let's get this over with.
  
  What do we know about Octomom so far? Well, in no particular order...
  
  
  • She's a psycho who has children by the litter.
  
  
  • She's obsessed with Angela Jolinie (or whomever) and has had her face carved and injected so she can look like her favorite movie star.
  
  
  • She's trying to sell the videotape of the birth of her litter.
  
  
  • She flips out and calls 911, threatening to kill herself in front of her children.
  
  
  • The cops have repeatedly investigated reports that she neglects her kids.
  
  
  • She says she might do a porn move, "maybe in a year, when the baby-fat goes away."
  
  Now, we all know weirdo moms ... flake-jobs who breast-feed in public (and sometimes until their kids are in middle-school) and have their kids sleep in the same bed with them and give their kids names like Armani and Timberland. But this woman is beyond weirdo mom. This woman is a dangerous nut.
  
  My take on it is that the doctor who performed her artificial fertilization ought to be held accountable for the well-being of those children. He knew that this woman was insane and he enabled her in the worst possible way. A responsible medical professional would be advocating that this woman be forced to have her tubes tied. And that's all I got to say 'bout that.

Labels: Links, Media, Michael Steele, News, Politics, You Tube, Zo

Given the shocking disaster that is the failed Obama administration, we might as well have elected Spongebob last November.

Sure, we wouldn't have been able to pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves on electing our nation's first black PotUS ... but we could have made a big to-do about having put our second yellow, invertebrate cartoon character in the Oval Office (Bill Clinton, of course, was the first).

Even the Washington Post is fretting over the...

...massive deficits and tax increases (that) President Obama unveiled last week in his first budget request, a 10-year spending plan thick with political friction points.

HT: Patterico.

Of course, President Dipshit continues to try to impress with grand distractions, saying:

"The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don't."

I wonder who he thinks he does work for. The Chinese? Consider the hole he's digging:

...his plan would produce annual deficits far larger in dollar terms than any recorded before the recession. As a percentage of the overall economy, the budget gap is projected to settle down to a more manageable 3 percent by the end of Obama's term. But Washington would continue to borrow heavily, and the national debt would double over the next five years...

"If you think with this kind of incredible growth in government that they're going to only tax wealthy people, then I have some old lottery tickets I want to sell you," said Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee.

I keep hearing about how, for the past eight years, Dubya did nothing but cut taxes for the rich. Well, I don't know about you, but over the past eight years my income and stability have only gotten better and better. Seems to me that cutting taxes on the rich must be a damn good idea.

Of course, I've actually worked for my money and tried not to make stupid decisions. I haven't bought a house I can't afford, I don't have any big-ticket luxury items, I avoid debt like the plague. But that's just me, I'm silly that way.

Obama says that his loony plans to tax and spend us into oblivion are part of...

"..the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November."

What scares me is that I'm sure he actually believes that.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

Over the course of a remarkable career he developed the ability to evoke common sense and reason with just the sound of his voice.

RIP, Paul Harvey, he was 90 years old.

Labels: Media, News

Harvey at IMHO has a post about a small-town mayor who's in political hot water for forwarding a racist anti-Obama cartoon.

The cartoon's caption is something about this year's White House Easter egg hunt not happening. The image is a picture of the White House with a huge watermelon patch.

Yeah, it's racist. And it's dumb. And it brings up an issue that I've never understood.

Why is there a stereotype about black folks liking watermelon and fried chicken? I don't get that. Don't YOU like watermelon and fried chicken, regardless of your race? I LOVE watermelon and I'm crazy about fried chicken. EVERYBODY loves watermelon and fried chicken. So what's up with this stereotype?

Is the message of this stereotype that black folks sure know good food when they see it? Because I think that's a pretty positive stereotype.

You don't hear a lot of generalizations about white folks when it comes to food. Or any other races, for that matter.

Maybe whites should have a food stereotype. Since watermelon and fried chicken are already taken (and that's a shame, since those are both awesome foods), I'll suggest the following: Why don't we start insisting that white folks sure love them some ice cream and cheeseburgers.

I love ice cream and cheeseburgers as much as watermelon and chicken, so I'm gonna speak for whites and say we got dibs on the burgers and ice cream.

Wouldn't it be pretty cool, really, if every race had a foodist stereotype?

I'll suggest a few:

• Eskimos can't get enough saltwater taffy.



• Jews are just totally nuts over snow-cones.



• Oriental Asians really enjoy a nice rump roast.



• Native Americans are just totally in love with clementines.



• People of Arab extraction eat yogurt constantly.



• Latinos are just bugshit crazy about mashed potatoes.



• If you see a Korean, it's a safe bet he'll be chowing down on a muffin.



• Filipinos really enjoy a nice plate of fish-sticks.



• Laotians eat peperjack cheese like it's going out of style.

OK, that's enough for now. Not because I've run out of good foods to assign, but because I'm running out of ethnic groups. But if you represent a group I've skipped and you've got a favorite food, let me know. I'll be happy to put you on the list.

Labels: Humor, News, Politics

I've asked before, I'll ask again: Feeling stupid yet, Obama voters?

The Obama administration on Friday told a federal judge it would not deviate from the Bush administration's position that detainees held at a U.S. air base in Afghanistan have no right to sue in U.S. courts.

HT: Pasadena Closet Conservative.

Since this is one of the areas where Dubya had it right, I'm pretty happy about it.

But, uh ... change we can believe in?

Hardy. Har. Har.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

Hey, look, it's Obama's Spendulus Package in action!

Toilet paper was a dollar-twelve, now it's SEVEN BUCKS!

This time next year we'll be standing in line for two hours to buy that seven-dollar toilet paper!

Thank you, Comrade Obama!

(This post has five exclamation points!)

Labels: Humor, News, Obama Watch

Before I write anything about the Oscars I should come clean and admit that I don't really give a rip about the Oscars. So you should know that. And you should also know that there are a lot of other places you can go to read better, more thoughtful, more insightful Oscars posts than this one here. For instance:

• Rhodester, the only show-business insider in my blogroll, always has a unique perspective.


• Rey has a clip of Hugh Jackman's opening salvo.


• Bob Parks offers a few thoughts on the political nature of Sean Penn's Oscar.


• Scott Nehring sums it all up very economically.


• RC really delves in and tries to make sense of it all.


• Kevin Williamson at NRO has a couple of interesting observations about the Oscars ceremony as per Anthony Hopkins.


• There's a story at Newsbusters about about the Oscars and CBS's Harry Smith, who is apparently a giant, weepy, PC douchebag.


• Armchair Commentary breaks down the show with a best moments/worst moments thing.


• I Watch Stuff live-blogged the show with a collection of quips so funny that it (almost) made the ceremony tolerable to watch.


• The Onion found a laugh in the program's budget.

As for me, I don't have anything really worthwhile to say. I'll just stick to my usual formula; mocking things I don't understand and generally behaving regrettably.

This year I saw an all-time high of four out of five movies nominated for best picture. I didn't see Milk, I can smell a posturing PC screed a mile away and you couldn't pay me to see Milk. I did see the winning film, Slumdog Millionare, and I thought it was only OK, not even remotely the best movie of the year. Frost/Nixon, on the other hand, really was a very good film and deserved to be nominated. And I thought that The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button was a well-polished turd of a movie; lots of obviously expensive special effects but no story worth sitting through.

As far as I was concerned, the best movie of 2008 was The Reader, which I saw only recently and reviewed at this blog over the weekend. The Reader, in fact, is one of the best movies I've seen in a long while. If the Academy had any integrity the award for best picture would have gone to that challenging, thoughtful film instead of the showy, flashy, and ultimately empty Slumdog.

I knew the minute that I heard about the movie Milk that Sean Penn would win the Best Actor Oscar. Hollywood simply had to come up with a way to thumb it's nose at Prop 8. Besides, playing a gay guy is a very safe way to get an Oscar, or at least a nomination. (See Capote, Philadelphia, Brokeback Mountain, Before Night Falls, and Gods And Monsters for examples from just the past ten years.)

Of course, playing a retarded or derranged guy is almost as sure a bet to win an Oscar as playing a gay guy. The Academy sure does love those homos and wackos. Along with his Philadelphia Oscar, Tom Hanks won for Forrest Gump, and last night's winner was also nominated for playing a retarded dude in I Am Sam back in 2001 ... the same year that Russell Crowe was nominated for playing a nutball mathematician in A Beautiful Mind.

Johnny Depp has been nominated a number of times but never won an Oscar. One of these days he's going to have to commission a script called That Crazy C--ksucker and star in the film as a guy who's both gay and deranged. Maybe do it as a biopic about Larry Craig with an angle about how his homophobic self hatred drove him crazy in an airport men's room. End it with a fantasy dance number wherein Craig comes out of the closet and/or stall and denounces the GOP. The Academy will send a guy out to the shoot to give Depp the Oscar before the film is even finished.

I hope it's clear that I'm mocking the affectations and the politics of the Motion Picture Academy, here. I'm not mocking crazy guys or homos. Crazy guys and homos are just fine in my book. It's the way the Motion Picture Academy patronizes them that I find contemptible.

Or, more specifically, the way the Academy seems to expect us all to patronize them.

Kate Winslet won the Best Actress Oscar for The Reader and I think that's pretty cool. She was very good in the movie and I hope she enjoyed receiving the recognition of her peers.

And Danny Boyle won for Slumdog..., which seems kind of weird since he only co-directed that film. I didn't stay up long enough to see the whole ceremony because, as I've said, I don't care ... and I haven't really looked around the net to find out yet ... but I have to wonder what Boyle's co-director, Loveleen Tandan, thinks about all of this.

Maybe the message the Academy was trying to send was "Those scenes from Slumdog that Danny Boyle directed were top-knotch. Loveleen Tandan's scenes totally sucked, but Boyle's scenes were good enough to make up for it."

And that's all I have to say about the Oscars. I have the feeling I've already said far too much.

Labels: Movies, News, Politics

Shouldn't a monkey be judged by the content of his character rather than the color of his scrotum?

...a DeBrazza monkey has escaped and Woodland Park Zoo is in lockdown while its recovery is in progress. No word on the sex, but if it is a male escapee, it'll have a bright blue scrotum, which may aid in spotting it.

Just so you know, any monkeys without blue scrotums that you might see cavorting in the area are harmless. It's only the blue-scrotumed ones we're worried about.

And lest anybody level charges of racism against me for paraphrasing Dr. King, you ought to know that the blue-monkey-scrotum race-card has already been played and it was a wash:

Huffpo had posted what appeared to be a video of Fox News's John Gibson jokingly referring to Attorney General Eric Holder as a monkey with a "bright blue scrotum." That last bit is a reference to an unrelated news story about a Debrazza monkey that escaped from a zoo in Seattle...

It didn't happen, though. Huffpo now says the video of Gibson was doctored. By whom is unknown. The phony video has been removed from YouTube.

Is this the way it's going to be now? Every mention of a monkey is going to bring charges of racism? Even if soundclips have to be fabricated in the process? Who are these people who send up red flags every time someone mentions a monkey? WTF?

I mean, what kind of standard is that?

And are we going to start identifying miscreants based on the characteristics of their scrotums? What effect will that have on mug shots?

Labels: Humor, News, Politics

This moron we elected last November is entertaining, at least. At most, really. I propose a new nickname for him: D'OH-Bama.

Remember how slick he seemed while campaigning? How did he maintain that illusion for so long? Turns out that, in reality, he has the physical grace of Homer Simpson ... the integrity of Caligula ... the same grasp of economics as a bag of rocks ... the hypocracy of, well, any liberal, really ... and, most comically of all, his stimulus package now has the endorsement of Jimmy Carter.

Jimmy Carter has full confidence in Obama's "stimulus" bill? Man, that's a riot.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that having Jimmy Carter endorse your economic policy is like having Dina Lohan endorse your parenting skills.

Hey, Obama voters ... feeling dumb yet?

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

Attention, pro-lifers: Be careful about voicing your opposition to the Obama administration's abortion policies. Especially if you live in Oklahoma.

Last week an Oklahoma City police officer pulled over Chip Harrison because of a sign in his car window reading, "Abort Obama Not the Unborn". The officer took the sign away, saying Harrison was entitled to his beliefs but that the US secret service "could construe this as a threat against President Obama".

Harrison got a visit from the Secret Service before this debacle was over:

Secret Service agents determined Harrison was no threat to the president after conducting a walk-through of his southeast Oklahoma City home. Agents conducted a field interview on his patio, Harrison said...
Harrison admitted some concern once the Secret Service was contacted. Agents called him at work, advising that he needed to return home so they could search his house.

Citing stereotypes of agents kicking down doors and rummaging through personal belongings, Harrison told them that he wanted to get the advice of an attorney.

"I (thought), 'Boy, I'm in deep trouble because of a simple sign,'" he said.

I think it's interesting that the officer who confiscated Harrison's sign did so because he felt that the word "abort" constituted a threat:

"My description of the word meant termination or remove, and one of the police officers said no it means to kill, so you're basically saying you want to kill Obama," said Harrison.

At least the cop seems to associate the concept of abortion with killing. Because, of course, abortion is killing. But I digress.

Can you imagine the outcry if someone had been pulled over due to a bumpersticker or sign critical of a Republican? Can you imagine if that hypothetical person had received a visit from the Secret Service? The lefties would have gone all to pieces.

Of course, those of us who aren't liberals have enough common sense to recognize that this just amounts to an Oklahoma cop with poor judgment. Simply voicing criticism of President Daffy isn't illegal.

Yet.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

It seems kinda weird to me that most of the Travis the Chimp related news coverage is focused on one of two things:

• Calls for laws to prevent private ownership of certain kinds of animals


• All this idiotic hand-wringing about an editorial cartoon

Shouldn't the focus be on the survival and recovery of the woman that was attacked and nearly killed by the chimp? The damn thing destroyed her face, for Pete's sake.

I did find one story about Charla Nash's status:

“While she remains in critical but stable condition, her vital signs are improving,” Dr. Kevin Miller, an attending surgeon at Stamford Hospital, said at a news conference. “We are thankful that we are able to report that Charla Nash has made good but small progress.”

Scott Orstad, a spokesman for the hospital, said in an interview that her vital signs were “a huge positive for someone who had the amount of surgery she had within the first 72 hours.”

“She’s still not out of the woods yet,” he said, “but she’s improving.”

Screw the monkey, man. This woman is a human being and we oughta focus on her. Her condition won't be improved by screaming for laws, either.

And, yeah, I know that chimps are apes and technically not monkeys (or monkies). But I don't care.

And to hell with the editorial cartoon. It was in bad taste, yeah ... but only to the extent that it looked for humor in human suffering. Suffering that is ongoing.

Labels: News

Cube mentioned that President Obama has had a bust of Winston Churchill removed from the Oval Office.

Cube says she wonders with whom the President will replace Winston. I'd imagine he'll commission a bust of Neville Chamberlain ... maybe include a caption along the lines of "The Unclinched Iranian Fist In Our Time."

What a putz.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

That's not the question. In fact, that's a dumb question. They say there are no dumb questions, and they're wrong. That question is genuinely dumb.

No, the relative merit of greed isn't the issue. The question is this: is greed real? You bet your ass it is. And you better live in a society that responds to it in a way that allows for the most individual freedom. That is, unless you like $40 per roll toilet paper.

In this classic clip, currently making the rounds in the blogosphere, Milton Friedman breaks it down:

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be better if people would all just..." yadda yadda yadda.

Yeah, and it would all be better still if we each had a pet unicorn that shit gold.

Greed is real. Deal with it.

Labels: News, Politics, You Tube

Does Jimbo at BlackFive speak for all of us? Maybe not. But he damn sure speaks for me:

Language warning: Jimbo uses the appropriate terms to discuss President Daffy Duck's shit sandwich.

You know, I've avoided debt all my life. I've never lived beyond my means. If I can't afford it, I don't need it. A life dangling from a credit card is no life at all.

My mama taught me that. I've tried to teach it to my kids.

Thank you, you titanic f---heads in congress, for trying your best to undo all those lessons. We've got a word for you Rent-A-Center low-lifes down around these parts: White Trash. I don't give a damn what your race, color or creed is. Every one of you who voted for this bill is plain ol' White Trash, pure and simple. May each and every one of you rot in hell.

Labels: Blogs, Links, News, Politics

I made fun of Christian Bale the other day for his infamous tantrum. Well, the guy has publicly expressed regret and contrition. Good for him. He manned up. Everybody behaves regrettably from time to time, God knows I do, and Bale's apology is a good example for all of us.

Good job, Batman.

Labels: Links, Movies, News

Typically when leftist celebs start ranting it just gets on my nerves. But the things that this creepy, plastic, washed-up old rasin had to say are so out there, so weird, that I really enjoyed this clip. Comedy gold!

I don't think that even that demented old whore Barbra Streisand has ever been this funny.

Labels: News, Politics, You Tube

President Obama says it would be a "catastrophe" for congress to fail to pass his demanded trillion dollars in "stimulus" spending.

If you've swallowed that even for a second, you really need to read Charles Krauthammer in today's Washington Post:

Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill...

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

I don't think that even those of us who opposed the Obama campaign had any idea he'd wreck things so thoroughly, and so soon after inauguration.

He seems to be flailing around, ranting, desperate. It's as though we've elected Daffy Duck.

Obama has turned out to be something of a parody of the classic liberal; the kind of politician who really seems to believe that you can solve all the problems in the world if you just do two things:

• spend money...


• and talk.

Have you heard the latest about the War on Terror? The Failed Obama Administration seems to think that the best way to win it is to change it's name:

...the Obama administration is searching for alternatives to the term "war on terror."

What's being sought is a more precise phrase that can recast the U.S. government's counterterrorism fight in ideological as well as military terms. Obama publicly signaled the new approach this week. When asked about the "war on terror" phrase by CNN's Anderson Cooper, Obama said, "Well you know, I think it is very important for us to recognize that we have a battle or a war against some terrorist organizations … Words matter in this situation..."

Oh, yeah. I've always taken it as a given that when Bin Ladin's guys flew those planes into the World Trade Center on 9/11, they were thinking "This will teach them not to chose their words so esoterically!"

On the money spending front, President Daffy is warning us it will be "catastrophe" if the House and Senate fail to pass his demanded trillion dollar spending bill. Fewer and fewer Americans really believe that this so-called stimulus bill is really going to solve anything.

If only this many Americans had felt such reasonable doubt about Barack Obama in November.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

For two weeks now, the United States has been neck-deep in the failed Obama administration, and no one seems to have an exit strategy.

I blame Colin Powell. In February of 2003 Powell appeared before the UN and argued for the invasion of Iraq. In October of last year, Powell endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States. How many more times will we allow this man to lead the US into a quagmire?

At least this time Powell can say that our nation's security really was compromised by a real WMD (Washington Media Darling).

America will eventually have time to catch our collective breath and figure out just what went wrong. When we do, here are some of the issues we'll have to address:

• How did 'Bama manage to screw things up so badly in North Korea?
  

  ...dark warnings of "unavoidable" war are spilling out of North Korea almost daily. On Tuesday, news media reports here and in Japan said North Korea is preparing to test-launch a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

  
  Is this the international crisis that Joe Biden tried to warn us about? Has the President been so busy courting tax evaders that he has left one or more of our national loins thoroughly ungirded?



• On the occasion of the President's inauguration it seemed that the entire world embraced this once great nation. I'm amazed that in relatively little time 'Bama has squandered all of that international good will:
  

  The European Union (EU) says it will lodge a formal complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) about new US President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package.
  
  Mr Obama's plan, which is currently being debated in the US Senate, includes a 'Buy American' clause that seeks to ensure that only US iron, steel and manufactured goods are used in infrastructure projects.

  
  It's a source of terrible shame that our President's "go it alone" cowboy attitude has alienated us from our allies abroad.



• And then there's 'Bama's penchant for obvious, flagrant cronyism. Consider the people he's surrounded himself with since he's been in DC:
  
  Nancy Killefer:
  

  President Barack Obama's choice to oversee budget and spending reform, Nancy Killefer, withdrew her nomination on Tuesday because of tax problems, she said in a letter released by the White House.

  
  
  Tom Daschle:
  

  In a stunning setback for President Obama, Tom Daschle abruptly withdrew his nomination to become secretary of Health and Human Services today, following an admission that he failed to pay about $140,000 in back taxes.

  
  
  Timothy Geithner:
  

  Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner survived his tax controversy -- not paying taxes on income earned while he worked at the International Monetary Fund, despite receiving written notification saying he needed to.
  
  "These are not rocket-science kinds of tax issues," said University of Cincinnati law professor Paul Caron...




• And finally, there's the President's stubborn habit of simply ignoring the will of the people:
  

  Americans strongly oppose the commander-in-chief's first two executive orders -- allowing federal funding for overseas abortions and closing Guantanamo -- according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.

The way out won't be easy. We still have somewhere around three years, eleven months and two weeks of the failed Obama administration to endure. But let's hope that 2012 will finally bring America change we can believe in.

Maybe in the form of Jeb Bush.

Labels: Humor, News, Obama Watch, Politics

Typically I don't post this kind of stuff, but this is really, really funny and extremely unsafe to play at work. EXTREME language warning. Like five-thousand F-bombs.

First, the setup: You've probably heard by now that Christian Bale apparently had a melt-down on the set of Terminator: Salvaton last summer and ended up cursing and verbally abusing the director of photography.

For that full story, click here. Audio is embedded at that link; if you want you can listen to a recording of Bale's rant. But, again, remember that the language is extreme and isn't safe to play at work ... unless you work in a crack-house or on a tuna boat.

OK, so that's the set-up, here's the inevitable payoff: Somebody chopped up the recording of the rant, added clips of the infamous Barbra Streisand on-stage rant from a year or two ago, and came up with a techno dance song that has me laughing like crazy:

Yeah, it's chidish and vulgar, but so am I. In my defense, what cracks me up is the way the remix really highlights the total absurdity of Bale's rant:

"It's f------ distracting, oooooooh good!
It's f------ distracting, oooooooh good!"

I'll hum that all day.

And for the record, although it might be a stretch, I'll give Bale the benefit of the doubt. This might be the worst he's ever behaved on the set of a film and might not be an indication of what it's like to work with him normally.

Yeah, it's a real stretch, but maybe.

Labels: Humor, Movies, News, You Tube

We all know that the New Messiah, President Obama, is all about human rights. That's why he's closed Gitmo and instructed the CIA to close all it's "secret prison" locations all over the world.

But you might be curious to know that he's kept the practice of "extraordinary rendition" as his go-to tactic when it comes to dealing with the bad guys.

"Extraordinary rendition" is when our guys grab one of the bad guys and, rather than torture him themselves (because we don't do that, right?) they take the bad guy to another country... one where torturing terrorists in order to save innocent lives is seen as a necessary evil.

So the bad guy gets tortured and, hopefully, spills the beans ... and innocent lives are saved when the bomb is defused, the plane is grounded, yadda yadda yadda, all that gnarly Jack Bauer stuff.

I'm not mocking that Jack Bauer stuff. I think it's awesome. Especially when it's done in real life. You real life Jack Bauer's out there, you guys kick ass.

Anyway, Obama wants to make it clear that his administration isn't going to engage in torture. They'll just engage in a little kidnapping from time to time, and if the countries we turn the bad guys over to engage in a little torture, well, The One's hands are still clean, right?

Classic liberal thinking.

And it gets better. Even the leftists DC organization called Human Rights Watch is on board with "extraordinary rendition," at least as per the Obama administration:

“Under limited circumstances, there is a legitimate place" for renditions, said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.

But, of course, Human Rights Watch is really just a human rights themed arm of the Democratic Party ... and they were singing a different tune during the Dubya administration. This is from their own website, March 2005:

The current practice of so-called “extraordinary rendition” is an affront to the fundamental human right not to be subjected to torture. This prohibition is absolute. Just as governments cannot torture people, they cannot send people to countries where they are likely to be tortured. Rendition to torture is the legal and moral equivalent of engaging in torture directly.

So to put it all together, according to Human Rights Watch, "extraordinary rendition" is an affront to human rights and is the legal and moral equivalent of engaging in torture directly, the need to ban it is absolute... aaaaaaand there is a legitimate place for it in the Obama administration.

You Obama supporters, you think the rest of the world is swallowing this crap, right? Like we don't know hypocrites when we see 'em?

Human rights? Bullshit. Human Rights Watch has no interest in preserving the fundamental rights of humanity. The group is just another Democratic extra-curricular activity. Don't believe the hype.

And just in case you're curious, Dubya's boys didn't invent the concept of "extraordinary rendition." It's a practice that goes back to Clinton, and some say further. According to Richard Clark, Al Gore loved the concept of "extraordinary rendition", saying:

"That's a no-brainer. Of course it's a violation of international law, that's why it's a covert action..."

And of one terrorist suspect in particular:

"The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass."

What's that? The Clintons, you say? Al Gore? More Democrats with blood on their hands? Why, it can't be! The Democrats are the good guys, they protect people from those bad old Neocons! Right? And Al Gore protects us from the sun! The Leftists are the nice ones, right??!? That's why we elected Obama! So he'd change things from the way the Neocons ran things, right? And there would be no more wars and no more bad stuff and everyone would hold hands and sing. right? RIGHT??

Wake up, dummy.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

Of course I absolutely HAVE to extend an enthusiastic congratulations to

(fill in name of team here)

_________________________________

for having (circle one)

• soundly


• narrowly


• impressively


• magically


• apparently

defeated the

(fill in name of other team here)

_________________________________

in last night's Super Bowl!

I think we can call agree that Super Bowl

(Sprinkle liberally with X's, I's, V's and maybe an M)

was the most (circle one)

• captivating


• phenomenal


• crowd-pleasing


• mind-numbing


• ass-kicking


• coma-inducing


• car-jacking

athletic event of all time! Wow, I'm so glad I saw it!

(Note to self: remember to check Google News, find out who was playing, fill in all the blanks and post this thing Monday morning.)

Labels: News

This makes me happy: The GOP picked a good man to lead them during these ... ahem ... changing times.

Change, change, change, changididdily changie changaroo. Change, change. Etc.

Nonetheless, Mike Steele is my kind of politician and I hope he's as good for the Republicans as I think he'll be.

Labels: Michael Steele, News, Politics

I think there's significant cause to start preparing for the zombie apocalypse, which is apparently right around the corner.

For one thing, the zombie-apocalypse-survival game Left 4 Dead is hugely popular. As I mentioned once before, I love the game and play it every time I get a chance.

This game is very useful for virtually learning the skills that we'll all need when the zombies attack. But virtual preparation isn't enough...

College students have taken to real life practice sessions so that they might be ready for the rise of the walking undead. As we all know, college students are the world's best barometer for trends in common sense and pragmatism. So I think we would all do well to follow their lead.

Then there are the incidents involving electronic road signs that have been changing lately to indicate that, apparently, there's no room left in hell:

As we all know, nazi zombies are the worst kind, since they're evil before they even become zombies. So that's, like, double zombie jeopardy or something. The only thing I can think of that would be more evil would be if a member of the cast of the Hills died and then became a zombie ... and then joined to the Nazi party.

Of course, local governments deny any knowledge of the zombie road-sign alerts ... which means, of course, that the federal government is controlling things. Obviously there's some sort of government virus lab somewhere and things have gone wrong there and it's only a matter of time until the deceased crawl from their graves. And the government will eventually mention those signs and say "Well, it's not like we didn't warn you." But, in the meantime, mum's the word.

Then there's George Romero's Zombie Generator, which lets you transform even the prettiest faces into horrific zombie visages:

That way you can monitor familiar faces for signs that the infection is changing them.

I mean, damn: zombies have even started creeping into classic literature.

So don't say I didn't warn you. Of course, now that I've made a public spectacle of the coming zombie apocalypse, the government is going to move to silence me, just like they did with Jimmy Hoffa and Elvis. That's OK, I'm willing to be that martyr.

Maybe someday after it's all over and civilization rebuilds itself, they'll erect a monument in my honor.

I'd like it to be like the Lincoln monument, only three times as big. Please make a note of it.

Labels: Humor, News

Congratulations to the people of Illinois. An arrogant, lying, power-hungry politician is no longer one of the major political players in their state.

But enough about sending Obama to DC. Today they got rid of their corrupt Governor, too.

Labels: News, Politics

OK, times are tough right now. The economy sucks. Everyone is feeling it. Even the labor unions are feeling it; last week the USW had to lay off six congressmen. (Rimshot!)

But the present looks pretty amazing when you go back to the past and look at today as the future.

That might not make sense, but it will. Check out this video of a local newscast clip from San Francisco in 1981.

This harkens back to a time when simply being a "home computer owner" was rare enough to get you identified that way on the local news ... when the only way to get on line was to physically put your rotary phone's handset on top of a modum ... and when a total of eight newspapers were on the internet. Watch the whole thing, it's really pretty funny and gets funnier toward the end:

My favorite quote in the whole thing: "We're not in it to make money."

This video has been posted at a number of blogs, including Hot Air, where I saw it.

Labels: Humor, Media, News, You Tube

This is pretty darn cool. I saw it at Geekologie.

At gigapan.org you can see an an amazing picture of the inauguration that you can manipulate almost endlessly.

You can scroll, drag and zoom to an extreme degree, going from as far back as this:

To as close as this:

The technology that makes this possible is explained at the site if you're interested. Basically this panoramic picture is really a series of many, many pictures all stuck together. Super powerful megacomputers and lasers and voodoo are all employed, I'm sure.

I found myself crawling all over the picture for a long time, first noticing some of the famous people who had roles to play that day...

...and former Presidents and their wives...

I'm a big fan of Supreme Court Justice Clarance Thomas, and I don't blame him for taking the occasion of Obama's speech to grab a quick nap...

And then I started scanning the crowd for celebrities. And I found a few!

Check it out, it's TV and cinema's Michael Chiklis...

...and hippity hoppity rapper extraordinaire Snoopy Doggity Dog...

...then I saw radio talk-show host and vigilante Curtis Sliwa with a big-ass camera...

...and boxer Mike Tyson and his date, cleverly disguised as Eskimos...

...and a real legend from the world of cartoons, Elmer Fudd...

...and, look! It's Ruben Studdard and the late Ossie Davis, elbowing each other as they chuckle over one of Obama's "promises," har har har...

...then things got really freaky. Imagine my surprise when I saw the hideous, haphazardly constructed Frankenstein's Monster...

...and Bilbo Baggins, only a millisecond after he slipped on The One Ring to disappear into the crowd...

...and what's a view of a panoramic crowd without an appearance from Waldo?

Labels: Humor, Links, News

So why did Caroline Kennedy take herself out of consideration for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat?

Because she realized that she's utterly and completely unqualified?

Was she trying to avoid scandals over her taxes and illegal employees?

Or because she woke up, smelled the coffee, and came to the conclusion that celebrity and nepotism aren't legitimate reasons to serve in the nation's highest body of lawmakers?

Could it be that this spoiled little wealthy princess who doesn't always take politics seriously enough to even bother voting simply lost interest?

Nope, not according to Anne Kornblut at the Washington Post. It's that stubborn glass ceiling, holding women down again:

With her abrupt exit this week from consideration for the Senate, Caroline Kennedy added her name to a growing list: women who have sought the nation's highest offices only to face insurmountable hurdles...

(Former Clinton Press Secretary Dee Dee) Myers said that "questions about (Kennedy's) résumé absolutely have to do with her gender."

Yep, those damned misogynists ruined Caroline Kennedy's rightful assent to the Senate. Dang. If only she'd had some powerful friends or an influential family name, maybe she could have figured out a way around those mean ol' woman haters.

Labels: News, Politics

I don't often mention "celebrity news" at this blog, I just don't care about celebrity gossip. But I had to mention this Joaquin Phoenix story because ... damn.

Man, he looks rough. He looks like he he's recently been shooting up in a culvert somewhere.

He looks like Zach Galifianakis after a three-night bender.

He looks like Jim Morrison circa 1971, minus the bathtub.

Only a few years ago Phoenix was turning in exemplary work and now he says he's done with acting, he's going to be a rapper, and his rap album is going to be produced by Diddy.

His debut performance at a Las Vegas club ended with him falling off the stage after one song. The shenanigans were taped for inclusion in a documentary ... which makes me wonder if this is some elaborate Borat-style prank. I hope so. I'd hate to think the guy has gone 'round the bend.

Labels: Movies, News, You Tube

James Earl Jones is awesome. It's nice to hear from a celebrity who isn't rolling around in the floor and rubbing himself all over because of Obama's inauguration:

JEJ is positive, he's upbeat, and he's rational. I'm glad there's someone out there who doesn't think we've just put some combination of Jesus Christ, FDR and Kanye West in the White House.

HT: Bob Parks.

Labels: News, Politics, You Tube

Isn't our new President just dreeeeeamy?

Then, with a wave of that very same hand, he turned the National Reflecting Pool into wine. And oh, how they danced, the little children of DC.

Gimme a f----ng break.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics

There are only three things in the world that are organized: Sports, religion and labor. As far as I can tell, all three of them are fixed.

The UAW has famously played a major role in the collapse of Detroit's big three auto industry. And their top dog, Ron Gettelfinger, seems to think that President Obama is going to be his ace in the hole:

"There's a lot of provisions in the (bailout) loan guarantees that the companies had to sign," Gettelfinger said. "We don't really have any documents to work from other than their loan agreements, so we're waiting to see until President-elect Obama gets in power, then we'll see how this thing comes out."

Gettelfinger added that "obviously there's going to be a lot of change in Washington. He's sympathetic to the industry, and he also is not anti-union."

Gettlefinger would have you believe that he represents the huddled masses of labor in the auto industry... hard workers who are barely getting by.

Bullshit. The truth is a lot uglier, as it always is:

In May and November 2007, the UAW forked over nearly $53,000 for union staff meetings at the Thousand Hills Golf Resort in Branson, Missouri. In September 2007, the UAW dropped another $5,000 at the Lakes of Taylor Golf Club in Taylor, Michigan and another $9,000 at the Thunderbird Hills Golf Club in Huron, Ohio. Another bill for $5,772 showed up for the Branson, Missouri golf resort. On Oct. 26, 2007, the union spent $5,000 on another “golf outing” in Detroit. In May and June 2007, UAW bosses spent nearly $11,000 on a golf tournament and related expenses at the Hawthorne Hill Country Club in Lima, Ohio. And in April 2007, the UAW spent $12,000 for a charity golf sponsorship in Dearborn. In August 2007, the UAW paid nearly $10,000 to its for-profit Black Lake golf course operator, UBG, for something itemized as “Golf 2007 Summer School.” UBG had nearly $4.4 million worth of outstanding loans from the union. Another for-profit entity that runs the education center, UBE, had nearly $20 million in outstanding loans from the union.

But what about the average UAW worker ... those guys are the real victims, here, right?

Well, no. Everybody has a finger in the pie:

Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m. at Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts working -- on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.

"We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings in or read the newspaper," he says. "Otherwise, I've just sat."

Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers and Delphi Corp. as part of an extraordinary job security agreement with the United Auto Workers union...

General Motors Corp. has roughly 5,000 workers in its jobs bank. Delphi has about 4,000 in its version of the same program. Some 2,100 workers are in DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group's job security program. Ford had 1,275 in its jobs bank as of Sept. 25 (2005).

Nice work if you can get it.

Remember that when you hear anyone say how important it is that we bail out the US auto industry. Every single person advancing that position ... Gettelfinger, Obama, George W. Bush, the bosses in Detroit, each of 'em ... is completely full of shit. The US auto industry has been trying to kill itself off for years. Don't throw any more tax money in the hole. Let it die.

No industry that's this inept in all facets, from the CEOs down to labor, deserves to stay lazy and happy on the public dole.

Labels: News, Politics

Two-pot-a-day coffee drinkers like me might have reason to be a little worried about a recent study which indicates that too much caffeine can cause hallucinations:

People who take in the caffeine equivalent of three cups of brewed coffee (or seven cups of instant) are more likely to hallucinate, a new study suggests.

The researchers found that people with a caffeine intake that high, whether it came from coffee, tea, chocolate or caffeinated energy drinks or pills, had a three-times-higher tendency to hear voices and see things that were not there than those who consumed the equivalent of a half-cup of brewed coffee (or one cup of instant coffee).

I'd write more but I have to get into the kitchen and try to kill all those giant Methodist spiders.

Labels: News

It'll either make you grin or get on your nerves. It made me grin:

Labels: Humor, News, Politics, You Tube

...to stain how a lot of us think about all of them.

I realize that only maybe 5% of the cops in the world are blowhards and assholes. It just seems to me that, over the course of my life, I've had to deal with 99% of that 5%. What follows is very typical of what I've come to think of as classic cop attitude; the usual cop behavior.

This is video of Baltimore cop Salvatore Rivieri throwing his weight around, freaking out, and generally treating a bunch of kids like they're the mafia:

A message to Salvatore Rivieri: You're an asshole, dude. You're a punk with a chip on his shoulder and you're a disgrace to that badge that you're so proud of. Dude. Dude, dude, dude. Asshole. Dude.

I wonder if he's ever tried this crap with someone his size? It would almost be worth a court appearance to bust this big whining bitch in his big mouth.

And, no, this isn't an isolated incident. This kind of behavior is Sally-Boy's standard operational crap:

Turns out that the 14 year old kid in the first video, Eric Bush, is suing Officer Salvatore "Asshole Dude" Rivieri. Goooooood. I just hope this cop loses his job and has to go to work doing security at Wal-Mart where he belongs: "Hey, you come back here and let me check off your receipt! You better RESPECT this yellow highlighter!"

Hat Tip to Bob Parks, who sees this story quite differently than I do.

Labels: News, You Tube

Gonna be busy for the next few days. I'll talk to you after Christmas. Meanwhile:

• I will never, ever, ever, ever, EVER blog again after taking prescription drugs that impair my judgment.
  
  I'm not taking anything that I'm not supposed to take ... but some of the drugs I have to take occasionally do make me goofy. Really goofy. They makes me say silly things and laugh at silly things ... and type silly things. And the next morning I look at what I barely remember posting the night before and I spend about ten seconds trying to figure out what I was talking about and then I hit the delete post button as quickly as possible.
  
  Some writers have been lucid, creative and interesting while under the influence of controlled substances. Good for them. Chuck Palahniuk I am not.



• The Weather Channel is biased:

  
  

  I do take issue with the assertion that the Weather Channel uses "smooth jazz" to distract their viewers. I've heard Phish on the Weather Channel and they're a jam band.
  
  But, come to think of it, it did distract me.




• Some people are all to hell about Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration. The political gays (homosexual and heterosexual alike) are writhing in conniption fits about it. The moonbats at The Daily Kos (in this instance, the chief moonbat) compare Warren to Fred Phelps and David Duke.
  
  Remember, disagreeing with political gays regarding the definition of "marriage" is the same thing as hate. If you don't see things their way, you are a HATEMONGER!
  
  Look, I'm no Rick Warren fan. I think the guy is a hack and a snake-oil salesman. but compared to some of the "ministers" that Obama has associated with in the past, this guy is a huge step in the right direction. Warren is, at least, capable of a modicum of self-control.
  
  (Sidebar rant begins here)
  
  And before any Warrenites take issue with my assessment of their "purpose driven" clergyman ... yes, I have read Rick Warren. I bought The Purpose Driven Life after a protestant minister told me that I should read it, that it would change my life. He was right, it did change my life. It made me fifteen bucks poorer.
  
  So I'm entitled to my opinion that Rick Warren is a profit driven schmuck who peddles feel-good Wal-Mart "theology" to people who don't really want to think all that hard about religion.
  
  You really want to read about Christianity? Read a Bible. The actual words of Christ are in there. And this Paul guy had some interesting ideas, too. (Heard of Paul? He wrote this letter to some Christians in Rome that's just dynamite stuff; really, really good. He wrote some other stuff, too. He was a big Jesus-booster back in the day. Check the New Testament, I think some of his stuff is in there.)
  
  (And, by the way, you don't have to buy Rick Warren's Purpose Driven New Testament, only $18.95 this week at Target. You can pick up a King James Bible for just a buck at the Dollar Tree, and nearly all* of the whole Bible is actually in there! For a buck! Can you believe it! I know, crazy, right?!)
  
  Other than the Bible, read St. Thomas Aquinas, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton and the indispensable Deitrich Bonhoffer. (Bonhoffer. Wow. Now there is a real purpose driven life. His book The Cost Of Discipleship might not "change your life," but it will humble you.)
  
  But, look, if you just want something with the substance of a Hallmark card, then the Rick Warren / Max Lucado / Five People You Meet In Heaven crap is just fine. Read it. Mist up. Feel good.
  
  (Sidebar rant officially over)



• Bob Parks has a great picture of the ravages of global warming: Snow falling in Las Vegas.



• Speaking of the wackos at the Daily Kos, some of 'em are pleased as punch with the idea of Caroline Kennedy as a Senator. Nothing against the woman, but Caroline Kennedy's primary qualification for political office is that she is currently breathing.
  
  
  Which is not to knock those Kennedys who are no longer breathing ... or any of them who might be fish-breathing at the moment.
  
  Caroline Kennedy is a peachy choice for the US Senate. Right. Barely a month ago these same morons were telling us that Sarah Palin wasn't qualified to be VP.



• Scott liked In Bruges. Good. In Bruges was my pick for the second best film of 2007.



• Roanoke R N'R knows exactly what she doesn't want for Christmas.
  
  Oh, I dunno. I think Christy Lane ROCKS!

  Every single time I hear her singing Shake Me I Rattle I just want to grab her by the shoulders and shake the s**t out of her.
  
  But that's just me.

Labels: Blogs, Links, News, Politics, You Tube

Just some things that caught my eye:

• Smashing Pumpkins don't intend to release another album:

  According to The Pulse of Radio, SMASHING PUMPKINS frontman Billy Corgan says the band will not release any more new albums, citing the lack of enthusiasm for their 2007 comeback effort, "Zeitgeist", as one of the reasons.

  Rock fans reacted to the news with shock and horror, exclaiming "Smashing Pumpkins released an album in 2007?! Why??"


• It looks like UAW greed and hubris have killed the auto company bailout for now. Good. Modern labor unions can keep their heads in the sand if they want, but they shouldn't be able to drag the tax payer down with them.
  
  Then again, maybe it's not willful obstinance on the parts of the labor unions. I've spent enough time with union types to tell you that they really might just be that stupid.


• Speaking of the auto bailout, here's an awesome graphic that's making the rounds. I saw it at Fairly Conservative:

  

  
  It's funny because it's true. Throw in the entitlement attitude of the UAW and you've got a pretty strong batch of socialist BS brewing up, there.
  
  I'd really like to see lawmakers come up with the balls to shut this bailout down FOR GOOD. Make the big three file for bankruptcy and force the average UAW lunch-bucket member to wake up and smell the coffee. Maybe they'll ask themselves if big labor has been screwing us all for years now. Maybe? Nah, couldn't be. Those guys are watching out for the little guy, right?
  
  Sure they are, dumbass. Keep paying your monthly dues, no need to use the brain God gave you.



• The Ol' Broad had a fairly cute Obama-inspired reworking of The Twelve Days Of Christmas. You can click here to watch the whole thing, or just watch the truncated video below if you only want to hear the twelfth and final, complete verse:



• I don't agree with Scott at Good News Film Reviews about the movie The Dark Knight. I enjoyed the movie, Scott didn't enjoy the Batman Begins sequel very much at all. And, I have to admit, he makes a really strong case against the film. I'd hate to be the guy who has to go up against Scott in a formal debate.


• Bob Parks has the details on the body of a child found near the home of Casey Anthony. It's unfortunate ... tragic, really ... but if this turns out to be the body of little Caylee Anthony, at least there'll be some closure.
  
  And I'll just say this about that: Casey Anthony appears to be a self-centered, lying, down-right-evil bitch. It looks like her parents have enabled her and coddled her for her entire life. They never made her be accountable for her actions and they never made her stand on her own two feet. Of course, that doesn't always lead to murder, but no good ever comes of it.



• Dennis Miller says that if Obama really claims that he worked his way through the Chicago political machine without ever touching corruption, he's either "oblivious or disingenuous." It's darned hard to argue with that.
  
  It reminds me of my own former Senator, Chuck Robb, who once went to a hotel room with the woman on the Playboy magazine cover to the right. Robb admitted that he got naked in that room with that woman, and that she gave him a massage ... but that nothing else happened.
  
  This was Chuck Robb's way of saying "I believe that everyone within the sound of my voice is a f----ng idiot."
  
  Either that, or he's telling the truth and he's some sort of animate vegetable-alien thing from the planet Lethargis.
  
  And get this: Chuck Robb got re-elected. Which means that I can't say too much about the people who do the voting in Chicago.

Labels: Movies, Music, News, Politics, You Tube

We are going to have to live with him for at least four years, so I've been looking for things to like about Obama.

I could mope and get spiteful and bitter, but that's not going to do me any good. I walked around mad for the last six years of Bill Clinton's administration simply because I thought he was an awful president. Even worse than Dubya. I don't want to do that with this guy. I want to find things to like about him, even if only for my own positive mental health and to prevent ulcers.

I'm not going to put on any rose-colored glasses, but I am going to look for the good in the guy. Here's what I've got so far:

• "Change you can believe in" turned out to really mean "more of the same." That's not necessarily a good thing, but at least it isn't radical risk-taking.
  
  Pete Townshend said it best: "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."
  
  So hopefully all the young liberals who voted for Obama to bring about "change" will take note. Nothing substantial ever changes in Washington. The only change Obama has brought to the White House is superficial.
  
  Some people are wondering if Obama might be a "closet conservative." It's too soon to conclude that ... but at least he's not quite as naive as I thought he was. So that's good.
  
  Why do politicians always mean the exact opposite of what they say? George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" was actually a code phrase for "irresponsible liberalism." And it looks like "change we can believe in" actually meant "stick with the people you're sick of."
  
  
• Turns out he's not the sleaziest politician in Illinois. And the Blago scandal hasn't turned up any dirt on Obama at all. Good for the President-Elect.
  
  You know, I like the idea that maybe the Obama team was working with the Feds on the Blagojevich bust. Maybe they squealed on the guy. If so, they did the right thing.



• I think Barack is more honest and less smarmy than Bill Clinton. Obviously he's a much better speaker and a less muddled thinker than George W. Bush, and he's far prettier than the first President Bush. So for the first time since Reagan, when I watch the President give speeches, I won't be squirming for aesthetic reasons. I will likely squirm for other reasons (policy), but not because of the presentation.

Yeah, these are mostly superficial things. My policy problems with Barack Obama still far outweigh my trivial compliments. Still, it's nice that there are a few good things apparent about the guy.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

The legacy of Christine Chubbuck:

Britain's obsession with reality television reached new heights — or depths — Wednesday night with the broadcast of the assisted suicide of the 59-year-old terminally ill American at a Swiss clinic...

"There is a growing appetite from the British public for increasingly bizarre reality shows," said (an anti-euthanasia) group's director, Peter Saunders. "We'd see it as a new milestone. It glorifies assisted dying when there is a very active campaign by the pro-suicide lobby to get the issue back into Parliament."

(British Prime Minister Gordon) Brown did not venture an opinion, saying only that the government's "television watchdogs" will scrutinize the show after it is broadcast.

Next, we'll be broadcasting executions.

Watching "reality TV" is like throwing raw meat to the ugliest things hiding in the human psyche. How long until movies like this one and this one and this one are seen as prophetic rather than satirical?

Labels: Links, Media, News

I don't buy the whole "war on Christmas" thing for the most part.

But I gotta admit ... sometimes a store/agency/retailer/whatever seems to be going out of it's way to avoid the use of the word "Christmas," and sometimes it's kinda downright conspicuous.

Note to Amazon: What the heck does the phrase "12 Days Of Holiday" even friggin' mean?

I mean, ya know? Damn.

Labels: News, Politics

Planned Parenthood obviously targets unborn babies ... and as I mentioned the other day, they clearly target young pregnant girls, too.

Of course, they've always been a racist organization. Planned Parenthood's founder, Margaret Sanger, saw the eventual elimination of the black race as one of her goals. She said so, right up front. She called it "The Negro Project."

Did you know that, liberal abortion supporters? Do you care? Or is abortion, regardless of it's reality, simply worth preserving as long as it provides the theoretical option of getting rid of a baby that you've conceived but don't want?

And don't hand me that insulting, stupid shit about abortion being a women's rights issue. The people who throw that nonsense around might as well have forehead tattoos that read "I don't know anything about abortion." The reality of abortion is that both the baby and the mother are victims.

Margaret Sanger's final solution is working. Abortion is killing black people in shockingly disproportionate numbers.

Between killing them in the womb, keeping them dependent on welfare and telling them how to think, the Democratic Party is really a great friend to black Americans, isn't it?

Here's a clip I saw at Black & Right. I'm not a Limbaugh fan, but this clip is short and the information is, I would think, startling to anyone who supports Planned Parenthood but abhors racism:

So, again, abortion supporters ... keep telling yourselves what you need to believe so you can sleep at night.

Labels: News, You Tube

This got my attention:

Link:

Just a few comments:

O'Reilly is a dick. He's always been a dick, he'll always be a dick. The guy is just abrasive and unpleasant and I think he'd be about as much fun to be around as a cranky, senile, infected, knife-welding crackhead.

Megyn Kelly, as usual, is reasonable, well spoken, attractive and right. She really is my favorite talking head. As such, she now deserves her own tag here at SouthCon.

I'm offended by the atheist sign, too. But that's the point. Aren't Christians supposed to be the persecuted ones? Didn't that one guy tell Christians to expect persecution ... even to take comfort in it, for the world will hate you just as it hated him? You know, that one guy, that Jesus fellow. He's still got something to do with Christianity, right? As opposed to O'Reilly? Ya know?

Labels: Megyn Kelly, News, You Tube

If you're traveling in Muncie, Indiana, and a cop pulls you over, and that cop looks a lot like Ponch from CHiPS ... well, that officer just might actually be Ponch:

Former TV cop Erik Estrada has become a real-life officer after a reality TV flop gave him a new career option.

The CHipS star was among the celebrities who took part in short-lived show Armed + Dangerous, where he and LaToya Jackson, among others, trained to become police reserves in Indiana. And the experience fired up Estrada, who is now officially an officer on the Muncie Police Department.

I'm kinda at a loss to say exactly why, but I think that's extremely cool.

I think Angie Dickinson should become a cop, now, too. And that Lee Majors should be horribly mutilated in some sort of test flight gone wrong, and that his mangled limbs should be replaced by high-powered bionic limbs that make a neat "yangYANGyangYANGyang" sound when he uses them.

And I think that Lynda Carter should always dress just like this, and she should never age beyond whatever age she is in this clip:

I'd like all of these things done by the time I wake up in the morning... so, you guys need to get on it right away.

Barring that, I will settle for Erik Estrada being a real cop for now.

Oh, and a sidenote to today's twenty-somethings: My generation's tall, silly, well built brunette was WAY HOTTER than your generation's tall, silly, well built brunette. No contest, man.

Labels: Links, News, You Tube

In case you haven't seen it ...

A Shell Oil remote-controlled deep-sea camera videotaped this strange squid about a mile and a half down in the Gulf of Mexico. This guy has elbows:

The squid is kinda noteworthy because it's a Magnapinna. The squid family Magnapinnidae (named because of their large fins, also visible in the video clip) only has four known species as of now. Science has only known about this family of animals for ten years or so.

Shell is one of many oil companies that collaborates with marine biologists, contributing to the scientific communities' understanding of these squid and other species of oceanic life. Because, you know, big oil doesn't care about the environment, etc.

Labels: News, Trivial Matters

You have GOT to watch this video ... shot in secret, under cover, at Planned Parenthood in Indiana. The girl seeking an abortion tells the Planned Parenthood employee that she's thirteen and that the baby's father is thirty-one.

The Planned Parenthood employee INSISTS that she doesn't want to know the age of the baby's father so she won't have to notify Child Protective Services.

She even comes up with a lie for the girl about the father being a 14 year old.

Then the Planned Parenthood employee instructs the girl about getting an abortion out of state so her parents won't have to be notified.

Parents need to face the reality of what Planned Parenthood really is: It's simply an abortion provider that preys on young girls for political purposes.

So tell me again, liberals, about how abortion on demand is a "women's rights" issue. Go ahead, try to sell me that line of insulting bullshit again. And tell yourself what you need to believe so you can sleep at night.

Tell yourself what you need to believe about this guy, too:

Babies murdered in the womb, young mothers emotionally scarred for life, and Planned Parenthood is complicit in all of it.

And their biggest supporter takes the Oval Office next month.

So, go ahead, liberals ... tell me again how this is about "freedom of choice."

More here.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

The bad news: Washington wasted over SIX HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS on a new tourist center at the Capitol. It's just opened, more than $350 million over budget and four years late.

The good news: Now Harry Reid will no longer have to be bothered by the horrible smell of the people he represents:

What an insufferable dickhead.

Labels: News, Politics

Part of the reason that I tend to think of liberals as stupid people is because so many of them say such stupid things.

I remember a few years ago, reading a liberal blogger who'd written that the Bush administration bullies the majority into supporting them by using fear as a tool. I remember specifically that this particular airhead blogger referred to Islamic terrorists as "shadowy phantoms" that the GOP had conjured up to keep everyone uneasy.

This wasn't a perspective unique to this specific blogger. I've heard versions of that rant over and over since 2001. And so have you.

How much effort must it take to twist the reality of our world in order to come up with that crock of shit?

Anyway, those "shadowy phantoms" have struck again, killing scores of people in India. They were specifically targeting travelers from the west.

Wow. So, explain to me, liberals ... how'd Bush/Rove/Palin/Whomever do that?

Labels: News, Politics

No time to blog today, but I'll remind you that the really good stuff is in my Google Reader. You can pick a headline from the blue box to the left or click here for the latest and greatest.

I will post this, though, really quickly. I always think it's a riot when one of the talking heads at Fox puts some leftist moron on blast. Like this, a few days ago, from Shepherd Smith:

Labels: Blogs, Links, Media, News, Politics, You Tube

• Just a reminder that I really do believe that, nowadays, the best reason to visit this blog is to see the awesome stuff I share from my Google Reader. The box o' links is at the top of the column to the left.



• Keith Roy Weatherley was sitting in his car when the police tried to arrest him.
  
  He was pleasuring himself with a jar of spaghetti sauce.
  
  It took four officers to remove him from his car. While wrestling with those officers, Weatherley continued trying to pleasure himself.
  
  Afterwards, when the police searched his car, they found pornography, a home-made sex aid, women's stockings and a Jack Russell terrier.
  
  I DID NOT make any of that up.
  
  You know, I think that the best thing about having a physical relationship with spaghetti sauce is that you can't get it PREGO! HA!
  
  I also want to say that it's high time these simple, small-minded Republican bigots stop preventing marriages between people and pasta toppings.



• Yep, that's about it:

  

  HT: The Ol' Broad.




• It's turkey! It's food! Darn near all of you will be eating turkey next week, and that turkey will have been slaughtered in the exact same way! Get over it, geeeez, ya friggin' crybabies!



• The movie I now officially want to see more than any other movie is Darren Aronofsky's Mickey Rourke vehicle, The Wrestler:




• Hey, whattaya know! George Dubya ChimpHitler somehow managed during his administration to end global warming! Now, I know that it would just be FAAAAR too much to ask for you leftists to give him credit for his amazing feat, but can you at least quell the alarmist crap for now?
  
  HT: Instapundit.



• My non-blogging friend The Governor brought my attention to the following:
  

  Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif,), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee strategic forces subcommittee, with oversight of missile defense programs, said missile defense programs will receive hard and long scrutiny next year.
  
  No rogue nations have been dissuaded by formation of the U.S. missile defense shield from continuing to develop long-range missiles and nuclear weapons, she commented.
  
  "The truth is, is that it hasn't caused anybody to stop doing what they're doing," she said. "And if it hasn't done that, then holy moly, what's the point" of developing missile defenses?"

  
  Rogue nations are still developing long range missiles and nuclear weapons ... therefore, US missile defense programs are useless. Yep, makes PERFECT F&%$%NG SENSE to me.

Labels: Blogs, Links, Media, Movies, News, Obama Watch, Politics

You may have heard it said about someone who has unquestioningly swallowed some line of inexorable, uncompromising propaganda ... that the person in question has "drank the KoolAid."

It's possible that younger bloggers might not know about the origins of that phrase.

This week marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Jonestown Massacre. In the mid '70's, self-proclaimed messiah, socialist leader and clergyman Jim Jones brought his more than 900 followers, people of mixed ages, races, nationalities and abilities, to his compound in Guyana. Jones followers embraced him as their new Messiah, the one man who could save them from America's wickedness and intolerance. On November 18th, 1978, Jones convinced over 900 of his expatriate followers in Guyana to commit suicide by drinking a flavored drink mix spiked with cyanide.

First the children (over 300 of them) at Jonestown were poisoned, then the adults poisoned themselves. Over 900 people died on that November day because they chose to believe what they'd been told. They saw Jones as "The One," and they were ready to give the whole of their lives to their savior, leader and teacher:

Thankfully, the lessons of Jonestown are seared into our collective memory, to paraphrase John Kerry.

Never again will Americans look for someone to believe in, just to get caught up in the empty glitz of some charismatic new "messiah-figure."

Never again will we fall for the hustle when some flashy young man with a bright smile promises that yes, we can have the happiness we deserve if we just give him the power to create it for us.

If this new "messiah" condescends to us, just as Jim Jones did, by challenging the religious beliefs that we "cling to," we'll recognize him as a charlatan.

And we'll never again accept some self-styled savior's personal new vision of socialism as the secret to happy, productive lives.

Right? Never again, right?

Hello?

Oh, I'm sorry, 52% of America ... I didn't mean to interrupt you while you were enjoying that fruity, mixed beverage. Who mixed that up for you? Your friends over at NBC? How nice of them.

Looks tasty. I bet it goes down smooth.

You'll have to let me know if you notice any aftertaste.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

Remember when society didn't encourage and celebrate people turning themselves into androgynous, discombobulated freaks?

Language warning for this clip. Content warning, too. And I don't even know how else to warn you about the whack-job bizarreness of this clip. It features that senile old turd Larry King interviewing the "pregnant man" and her wife about their "sex life:"

Credit (blame?) to Newsbusters for the video.

The more I actually pay attention to the world around me, the more I agree with one of my favorite bands when they say:

"Some say a comet will fall from the sky
Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves
Followed by faultlines that cannot sit still
Followed by millions of dumbfounded dipshits.
Some say the end is near.
Some say we'll see armageddon soon.
I certainly hope we will.
I sure could use a vacation from this
Stupid shit, silly shit, stupid shit... "

Labels: Media, Music, News, You Tube

I'm sure there are those who'll call this "hate speech." I'm fine with that. Call it what you want. I don't hate homosexuals, I'm just disgusted by them. They inspire in me the same feelings that I feel about cockroaches. And this is why ...

The queers (it's still a derogatory term when I use it, and it's intended to be) seem to want a full on war over Prop 8:

At first, they just shouted at us, using crude, rude, and foul language and calling us names like “haters” and “bigots”...

Then, they started throwing hot coffee, soda and alcohol on us and spitting (and maybe even peeing) on us...

Then, they started getting violent and started shoving us. At one point a man tried to steal one of our Bibles. Chrisdene noticed, so she walked up to him and said “Hey, that’s not yours, can you please give it back?”. He responded by hitting her on the head with the Bible, shoving her to the ground, and kicking her. I called the cops, and when they got there, they pulled her out of the circle and asked her if she wanted to press charges. She said “No, tell him I forgive him.”

Congratulations to the woman who offered forgiveness to her attacker. She really embodied Christianity. I'm incapable of that kind of grace. I'd have tried to beat the son of a bitch to death with my bare hands.

This is how leftists (in this instance, gay leftists) respond when Democracy doesn't go their way.

And can we please go back to calling them "queers?" The word "gay" doesn't fit them. They're not "gay," as in happy, joyful, care-free. They're "queer," as in abhorrent, unnatural, substandard, wrong.

Again, this is the way that queers behave toward Christians because they know that a Christian who truly follows his or her faith is going to respond with patience, non-violence, forgiveness and love.

They won't take their fight to the Muslims, the real gay haters, because the homos lack the courage of their convictions. These "militant" gays are really spineless cowards.

And that's probably why the military has never wanted them among their ranks.

Will I regret this post? Probably. Almost certainly. But not for a long, long time. I've seen too much of this in the past week to feel anything right now other than contempt and red-eyed anger.

Labels: Media, News, Politics

This is from How Obama Got Elected . Com:

Who voted for Barack Obama ... and just how much do those voters really grasp about the issues of the day? John Ziegler spent some time with some of Obama's supporters and got some interesting answers:

They can't tell you who Harry Reid is, they don't know who Barney Frank is ... but they by God know which candidate has a pregnant teenage daughter.

Congratulations, America, you've elected your first Reality TV Show President.

And he won the immunity challenge, so he doesn't have to leave the house for at least four years.

Ziegler has some interesting data from a Zogby Poll to back up his assertions:

512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points

97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates

Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions

57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)

81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)

82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)

88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)

56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).

And yet.....

Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes

Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter

And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.

Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we "gave" one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)

Emphasis above is mine. Palin gossip is entirely the MSMs.

In the words of Albert Camus, "Stupidity has a knack for getting its way."

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

My guy, Mike Steele, announces his candidacy for GOP Chair.

Labels: Michael Steele, News, Politics, You Tube

Tom Adkins wrote an extremely angry piece for the Philadelphia Inquirer about how Obama's election should signify the end of liberal white guilt. Some of it is too acerbic for me, but I did enjoy this bit:

Obama's ascension also creates another gargantuan irony. How can liberals sell American racism, class envy and unfairness when our new black president and his wife went to Ivy League schools, got high-paying jobs, became millionaires, bought a mansion, and are now moving to the White House? How unfair is that? Now, like a delicious O. Henry tale, Obama's spread-the-wealth campaign rendered itself moot by its own victory! America is officially a meritocracy. Obama's election has validated American conservatism.

That's awesome. How did Obama win? By deserving to win. Which indicates that in America, merit and character trump race and politics.

Wanna tell me I'm wrong, liberals? I'll gladly entertain any arguments that Obama didn't win based on merit.

HT: Bob Parks.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics

I read about this at Wizbang:

A radical gay rights group is claiming responsibility for a protest Sunday at Mount Hope Church in Delta Township.

Protesters who entered the Creyts Road church along with worshippers surprised the congregation when they stood up during the service, threw fliers at churchgoers and shouted slogans such as "It's OK to be gay," and "Jesus was a homo," according to David Williams, communications director at the church. His father, Dave Williams, is the church's longtime pastor. He was not preaching at the church Sunday.

The gay agitators have been all to hell about the Prop 8 issue for a week now, and they've been attacking Catholics, Mormons, Evangelicals, etc. They've been showing up at churches and freaking out like this to express their displeasure.

I've really had enough. So here are just a few things, in the form of an open letter, from me to the hell-raising homos:

Dear Militant Homos,

One, here's a hypothetical for you. How many legs would a dog have if you called it's tail a leg? Well, the dog would STILL HAVE FOUR LEGS. Because it DOESN'T F--KING MATTER what you call it's tail. It's still a tail, not a leg. Just like two gay guys living together IS STILL JUST TWO GAY GUYS LIVING TOGETHER, not a MARRIAGE.

Two, this is a democracy. The people of California voted. You lost. That's how it works in a democracy. GET OVER IT.

And, three ... if you want to protest against a religious faith that is REALLY intolerant toward homosexuals, try taking your protest to a Mosque. Given their propensity toward hanging and beheading gays, I'd say the Muslims are pretty thoroughly homophobic. Oh, but what's that? You won't go near a Mosque because you're F--KING COWARDS? Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.

And while I'm at it, since you're so fond of having things shoved up your asses, how about sticking your rainbow stickers up there.

Sincerely,
Darrell at SouthCon

Labels: Media, News, Politics

A thirteen year old girl in England has refused the heart transplant that might save her life. She's been in and out of hospitals since she was tiny and she says she's just had enough:

I can't decide how I feel about this. Different aspects of this girl's case keep popping into my head. I will probably have this story in the back of my mind for days. As a parent, this kind of thing just feels like a kick in the stomach.

A cousin of mine died of brain cancer at the age of 14 about ten years ago. It was absolute hell for the family to get through. Pray for this girl and her family.

HT: Ace.

Labels: News, You Tube

I think we can all probably agree that "android" like robots are evil and they should all be destroyed. Here's one that admits to it's nefarious plans. Lest you forget about Science Officer Ash, take a minute and get to know Jules:

HT: Geekologie.

Note to android creators: Giving these things amazingly life-like features and ranges of expression, and then programming them to talk about the destruction of entire cities ... that's not gonna generate the kind of PR you're looking for.

I'm just sayin'.

Labels: Humor, News, You Tube

My long time favorite politician, Michael Steele, is apparently campaigning to become the Chairman of the RNC. There's a lot of buzz about his efforts on the net; there's even a Draft Michael Steele website.

As you might guess, I'm pretty excited about the idea of the GOP having Mike at the wheel.

Other politicians are reportedly interested, too. I've read that Fred Thompson might like the gig. I was an early supporter of Thompson's Presidential bid ... until he proved to me that he was basically too lazy and indifferent to really campaign. Fred doesn't deserve to be the chairman of the RNC (or anything else) at this point.

There are also rumors about Newt Gingrich. Some say he's interested in the chair, some say he's not interested. As of now the most reliable reports seem to be the ones that indicate that Newt isn't interested ... and that he is, in fact, working with Mike Steele on the platform.

I like Newt, but he's not consistent. He opposed the recent bank bail-out at first, and his arguments were solid. Then he reluctantly flip-flopped and supported the thing at the last minute. Plus, Newt would have to shut up about "global warming" before I'd get enthusiastic about his leadership.

Newt and I do agree, though, about why the GOP lost last week's elections. In a nutshell, although I'm not convinced that Newt is the best choice to lead the party, he is usually a reliable conservative and I hope he'll continue to have a voice in the Republican Party's (hoped-for) rebirth.

Meanwhile, Mike Steele kicks ass! I think he'll be a much needed shot in the arm for the Republicans.

Labels: Michael Steele, News, Politics, Thompson 08

Bobby Jindal talks to one of the Obamabots at MSNBC about an upcoming conference of Republican governors. Sarah Palin is going to have a high-profile role in that conference, and the MSNBC ObamaZombie tries as hard as he can to provoke Jindal into giving him an anti-Palin soundbite. Jindal is a pro, he knew how to steer the conversation. He stayed on message and stayed clear, simply praising GOP Conservative Governors (including Palin) as people who get things done.

I really like Jindal, and I can see me backing him in four years. This guy has that all-important ability to relate policy to the people in immediate, meaningful terms. He also has the ability to grab the media by the horns and by-God steer the conversation. Jindal is a real pro. Check him out:

Labels: Bobby Jindal, Media, News, Politics, You Tube

Now that it's too late to make any difference, NBC has decided to do an interview with Sarah Palin in which she's treated with some modicum of respect. When she's given a chance to simply hear questions, think about them and answer them (rather than dodging attacks disguised as questions), Palin handles herself very well:

Again, I'm still not 100% sure I'll support her hypothetical campaign. But damm, I really like her and her husband and their family.

And, again, I'm tagging this with my "YouTube" tag. I'm not going to create a separate tag for every possible source of embedded video.

Labels: Media, News, Politics, You Tube

... P.J. O'Rourke comes dangerously close to throwing both of them out in his post-election article at the Weekly Standard.

I'm a big P.J. Fan, but I hate to see that he's apparently one of the many who's missed the point. The problem with the current American political climate isn't social conservatism, regardless of how well (and with how much nuance) P.J. tries to sell the idea:

Liberalism had been running wild in the nation since the Great Depression. At the end of the Carter administration we had it cornered in one of its dreadful low-income housing projects or smelly public parks or some such place, and we held the Taser gun in our hand, pointed it at the beast's swollen gut, and didn't pull the trigger. Liberalism wasn't zapped and rolled away on a gurney and confined somewhere until it expired from natural causes such as natural law or natural rights...

Nobody with kids is a liberal, except maybe one pothead in Marin County. Everybody wants his or her children to respect freedom, exercise responsibility, be honest, get educated, have opportunities, and own a bunch of guns. (The last is optional and includes, but is not limited to, me, my friends in New Hampshire, and Sarah Palin.)

...In how many ways did we fail conservatism? And who can count that high? Take just one example of our unconserved tendency to poke our noses into other people's business: abortion. Democracy--be it howsoever conservative--is a manifestation of the will of the people. We may argue with the people as a man may argue with his wife, but in the end we must submit to the fact of being married. Get a pro-life friend drunk to the truth-telling stage and ask him what happens if his 14-year-old gets knocked up. What if it's rape? Some people truly have the courage of their convictions. I don't know if I'm one of them. I might kill the baby. I will kill the boy.

The real message of the conservative pro-life position is that we're in favor of living. We consider people--with a few obvious exceptions--to be assets. Liberals consider people to be nuisances. People are always needing more government resources to feed, house, and clothe them and to pick up the trash around their FEMA trailers and to make sure their self-esteem is high enough to join community organizers lobbying for more government resources.

Well, no. I don't agree. The problem with conservatives isn't that our social values are too rigid. The problem is that we're too willing to concede, compromise and surrender.

Conservatives will continue to marginalize and undermine ourselves as long as we're willing to support liberals (McCain, Dubya) because they're preferable to radicals (Obama, Kerry, Howard Dean). If we keep showing the Republican party that we'll vote for whichever schmuck they throw our way, why should they bother trying to cultivate real leadership?

Make no mistake, the Republican party deserved to lose this election. I am sick to my stomach of having to vote for the lesser of two evils.

If anyone argues that the modern GOP or American conservatives have betrayed Reagan, I'm inclined to agree. But don't try to tell me that conservatives have betrayed Reagan by adhering too closely to his values.

Labels: Links, News, Politics

• A month or so ago (I think?) Rhodester suggested I check out Google Reader, a very handy tool for coordinating, organizing and reading blogs. I filed the advice away in the back of my mind, but I never bothered to really set it up for myself until last night. (I'm never the first to check out something new.)
  
  Well, I've ended up really grateful that Dave suggested Google Reader. I have 40 or 50 blogs that I try to check once a day, and Google Reader makes checking them much easier, much quicker and maybe more fun. So take Dave's advice, I'm glad I finally did. Google Reader is awesome.
  
  If you want to see how Google Reader looks, you can check this out: One option once you set up your reader account is to share things that catch your eye with ... well, with whomever. My shared page is right here.



• A couple of people have told me that they're surprised that I'm in relatively good spirits, considering how things went Tuesday. And here's the truth of it: Tuesday night wasn't a loss for me.
  
  Tuesday night was not a loss for conservatives.
  
  Tuesday night was a loss for liberal Republicans. Why should I give two s#!ts about liberal Republicans? Why should I care that they lost elections? They don't represent my views. Screw 'em.
  
  Richard Viguerie sums it up to my satisfaction:
  

  "Conservatism did not lose – big government Republicanism lost..."

  
  Let's hope that the GOP is paying attention now and that Tuesday's drubbing will yank their asses back into gear. Give us conservative choices and conservatives will put them in office.



• I can't get over this silly crap:

  

  The OFFICE of the PRESIDENT-ELECT??
  
  Have you ever heard any elected candidate refer to himself as the "President Elect?" It's just killing him to have to wait until mid-January to be sworn in, isn't it?
  
  This goes beyond affectation or pretension. This is just silly. This is just childish.
  
  Oh, and what did he do while standing there at his snazzy, all-official-looking new "President-Elect" podium? He mocked a sickly, 87 year old widow.
  
  You stay classy, now, Mr. Big Shot.




• DJ Drummond at WizBang shoots holes in the talk about Obama's election being historic:
  

  "...let's start with the notion that a black man winning election makes that election 'historic'. Really now, by that logic we have had a lot of 'historic' elections. George Washington was the first president, John Adams the first president not named Washington, various presidents were the first to be elected of their party, Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be elected in a contest decided by the House of Representatives, Martin Van Buren was the first natural-born American to be elected president, John Quincy Adams was the first president elected in an election where citizens voted for their states' electors, James Buchanan was the first and so far only bachelor to be elected president, John Kennedy was the first Catholic president, and so on and so on...
  
  What is strange about Obama's focus on being the first black president, is that he started his campaign claiming to be beyond that."

  
  I see where he's going with that. I won't say that I agree with him, not completely, but I concede the point that simply being an "historic" President isn't good enough.

Labels: Blogs, Links, Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics

Man, what a week, huh? My head is still spinning.

Here are some videos to close out a week's worth of fairly active blogging on my part.

This first video is political AND personal. It's a little long, like six minutes, so I understand if you don't want to watch it. My 9 year old stepson, Liam, really followed the Presidential election this year. He watched and read a lot of news, and he asked me a lot of questions about it. And he and I had a number of conversations about Obama and McCain. So I got out the video camera:

Of course, he's been influenced by my conservative perspective. The day will probably come when he and I don't see eye-to-eye on any number of political issues. But I go out of my way to make it clear to all of our kids that agreeing on everything isn't what's important. What's important is that we keep talking and keep listening to each other, and that we share our opinions with love and with respect. We're a family. That trumps everything else. You can disagree with someone in your family on political matters and still love and respect them.

This next one is the latest from the Mighty Zo Rachel. I've been following his YouTube channel for only a few weeks now and I check it daily to see if he's posted anything new yet. In this video Zo talks about the aftermath of Election 2008 and offers some good advice to his fellow conservatives:

Man, we need to goad Zo into getting into politics. I don't know where the hell the man lives, but he needs to start out running for city council or the school board or whatever. And then work his way up to state office, and then on to Federal office and then the White House around 2020. I'm dead serious, dude. He strikes me as a communicator, a leader, and a man with a clear, conservative vision. That's what we need. Zo Rachel For President.

OK, check this next bit out: Presidential dog Barney is taking some hate for having allegedly bitten a reporter:

It looks to me like Barney might have gotten a little snag on one of this guy's fingers. But that ain't the point. Here's the point:

If you know anything about dogs, you already know what this reporter did wrong. A dog is a living animal. An animal, not a toy, and as an animal it has to be approached in a certain way. That reporter didn't know a damn thing about Barney. All dogs are different, some are jumpy, some are territorial, some are nervous, some are just mean. You have to know what kind of dog you're approaching and you have to approach him properly.

Never just put your open hand on a dog. Don't offer your open hand to a dog, either. He might respond well to that, or he might feel threatened by it. Barney seemed to have felt threatened. And he did what dogs do when they feel threatened.

The reporter is lucky. Had Barney been a moody Mastiff or a St. Bernard, he might have taken the ends of two or three of those fingers.

When you approach a dog you don't know, first of all, ask it's owner or guardian if you can pet the dog. If you're given the go-ahead, the first thing to do is to offer the dog the back of your closed fist for the animal to smell. If he doesn't like what he smells, or just generally doesn't like you, he'll let you know with a growl or a snort, or he'll back off. If he accepts your fist with a tail-wagging and general happiness, that would be the time to go ahead and give him a little scratch.

You don't lay your open hand on a strange dog. You just don't do it. You might get bitten. Let's hope that reporter has learned and will remember one of the basic lessons of human - dog interaction.

OK, let's wrap this up with a little raw Anthrax, "Caught In A Mosh" and "Got The Time", recorded live in Sacramento in '98. This was back when 'Thrax had their best vocalist ever, the mighty John Bush. The technical quality of this clip just ain't all that happenin' ... but the energy is there and I'm sure it was a great show.

Coming Tomorrow ... SouthCon presents me hosting my own made-up version of an episode of MTV's Headbanger's Ball. It oughta be a lot of fun.

Labels: Dogs, Media, News, Personal, Politics, You Tube, Zo

• Apparently the Obama campaign has stiffed some of it's employees in Indianapolis. Stop complaining, Obama campaign workers. All that's happening is they're taking your money and spreading it around elsewhere, right? What's wrong with that?

  
  HT to Bob Parks for the story.
  
  By the way, Fairly Conservative points out that the Obama campaign spent about eleven bucks per vote.




• Rush Limbaugh has bought a new car for one of his listeners to cheer her up after the election.
  
  I know there were times in the past when I wrote at this blog that I think that Limbaugh is an a-hole. Well, I'd like to take this opportunity to assert that I must have misquoted myself. At the very least I took my remarks out of context. What I was trying to say is that Limbaugh is a hero of mine and probably the greatest and most generous radio personality who's ever lived. There's nothing that I'd rather do than listen to the EIB while driving around in my brand new Dodge truck. You know, if I had a new Dodge truck. Which would really cheer me up.



• John McCain showed himself to be graceful in defeat Tuesday night. Not everyone who's worked for him can do the same. Sarah Palin has responded briefly to the McCain campaigners who've been smearing her since the election:

  Look, here's where I stand on Palin. I like her. I am still a little reluctant to call myself a Palin supporter in any political sense, but I agree with her on a great number of things and I really like her.
  
  And as these disgruntled, bitter, failed, anonymous McCain campaign staffers continue to prove the quality of their characters with this sniping, it makes me want to defend Palin. The conservative blog Red State is behind an effort to identify and out these people who're attacking Palin anonymously. I like that. I hope they are able to ID some of these people and I hope that future political campaigns remember what they've done and think twice about hiring them.




• Scott Ott at Scrappleface usually writes hilarious political satire. But he occasionally posts something serious, such as this video about Reagan's response to losing the GOP nomination in '75.

  Dutch would NOT give up and he never lost his focus. Stay hungry, my fellow conservatives.




• A McCain supporter writes to CNN that he or she is gonna do everything he or she can to trip up Obama:
  

  "We have to watch this guy and not give him an inch," one McCain supporter wrote. "The same way he criticized every move of President Bush. We have to make things as difficult for him as he did for Bush."

  
  That's the wrong approach. That's the kind of thing the liberals have done to Dubya for eight years. And I admit that I've not always been above that kind of personal stuff when it comes to politicians. But we're stuck with this guy for four years, so we should probably focus on trying to help the next President do the right things and trying to discourage or prevent him from doing the wrong things. The man himself isn't important. Policy is what matters.
  
  And, no, liberals. Right and wrong are not subjective concepts. We're not going down that relativism road.



• This cartoon from Town Hall hits the nail on the head:

  

  It's really that simple. Look, if you call yourself pro-life and you voted for the most dedicated abortion booster to ever run for President, you are completely full of shit. Period. You can't be both pro-life and an Obama supporter. But then, you already knew that, didn't you?




• Little Green Footballs reports that Seattle radicals are waving the flag this week. I'm not surprised by that.
  
  One way to interpret this is that these radicals are suddenly patriotic because they think they've gotten what they want. My understanding of this issue is a bit more ... well, nuanced.
  
  In his book The Enemy At Home, Dinesh D'Souza argued convincingly that radical leftists really are patriotic, as they understand patriotism. They do love America in their own way.
  
  The thing is, Conservatives love America for what it really is, warts and all. We're honest with ourselves about our country, it's flaws, what's good here, what's great here, and what needs improvement.
  
  Radical leftist Americans love a hypothetical America. They love what this country might be, if only people would do things their way. So when they say that they love America, they aren't telling a lie. They love America by their own understanding of that concept.
  
  The problem with leftists isn't that they're unpatriotic. The problem is that they're irrational, incapable of empathy, and spend most of their time with their heads in the clouds. They don't love the real America, not even the one that elected Barck Obama. They love the hypothetical America that they think Obama is going to create for him. And when he doesn't, they'll be more bitter than ever.



• Here are two articles worth reading:
  
  I've been saying that the GOP needs to return to the policies of Reagan. George Will gets even more old school, asking what would Goldwater do?
  
  And Joan Vennochi ponders closing the door on victimhood.
  
  Vennochi concludes:
  

  With Obama's victory, the torch is passing to a new generation of black leaders. But they still face some of the same old challenges.

  
  
  I'd agree. But I'd assert that many of those "same old challenges" are presented by the lingering, backward-thinking anger of many of the previous generation's "racial leaders."

Labels: Links, Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

• I'm thinking Bobby Jindal in 2012.



• The backlash begins. Apparently Obama's campaign is trying to deal with all the unreasonably high expectations people have for the President Elect.
  
  That's funny. Unreasonable expectations are what got this guy elected. Unreasonable expectations are what he campaigned on! Unreasonable expectations are the foundation of Obamamania. Too late to try to get a handle on that. That ship sailed a long time ago.



• Rhodester pointed out in a recent comment that only a few days ago I said I was going to take a break from blogging. And then I started posting one or more posts a day. Dave is probably right not to take me seriously when I say it's time for a little break. Apparently nothing makes me want to ramble like saying I'm trying to quit.



• Now that the election is over I finally figured out a way to express what it is that bugs me about all this talk of "unity." Seems that's all we've heard about, the need for this country to be united. Well, here's the thing: "Unity" has always struck me as a code-word for "conformity." I cherish my right to disagree, even to disagree with the majority ... maybe even to be the only person I know who holds a particular opinion. I'd rather continue not fitting in, thank you very much, if "unity" means I have to become pro-abortion ... or that I have to believe everything some politician tries to sell me ... or that I have to let anyone else ever do my thinking for me.



• I've been seeing Karl Rove on Fox News regularly lately. He's hardly made any impression on me at all. He seems smart, restrained, thoughtful and really pretty bland. I honestly can't understand why so many people hate Karl Rove. I can understand disagreeing with him, but hating him? What's to hate? The guy is milquetoast.



• The Onion, as usual, is soooo funny and soooo dead-on:

  
  

  Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are
  
  Best quote: "Worst case scenario is that someone with evil intent seizes control of them. They've proven their minds can be taken over by empty rhetoric."




• Tonight I saw a montage of clips from the concession speeches of a number of politicians who've run for President. It's true that nothing tells us more about who a man really is than seeing how he handles failure. My gut reaction was that we've had a string of graceful, thoughtful and likable guys from both parties lose the race for the Presidency in the last several years.



• If what I've been reading is true, there are members of the McCain campaign who blame Sarah Palin for their defeat. I think that's foolish. I can't imagine that there was any really significant number of people who were swayed to vote for Obama because of Sarah Palin, Dennis Hopper not withstanding. I suppose that people who advise politicians for a living have to cast around for someone to blame other than themselves when their campaign tanks. Some of these accusations are ugly and simply impossible to believe. And considering that these things are being said anonymously, there's no reason to take them seriously. Either own up to your claims, make them publicly and attach your name to your statements, or shut the #%@# up, you cowards.
  
  It may be safe to assume that some of these McCain campaigners have already burned bridges with Sarah Palin and they're trying to preemptively taint her prior to 2012.
  
  Of course, if any of these accusations about Palin really are true, she'll probably fade into a footnote without any help from McCain's failed staff.



• I was sorry to hear that Michael Crichton died amid all the election excitement.

Labels: Bobby Jindal, Media, News, Politics, You Tube

• Judging by the venom and spite they continue to throw her way, it looks like some of the leftists are still all to hell about Sarah Palin. Might they be bracing themselves for 2012 already?



• If you were one of those who suffered from the delusion that the "Arab Street" would drool all over itself with affection for the US after the election of Barack Obama, it's time to wake up:
  

  The Saudi daily Al-Watan stated in an editorial: “There is no significant difference between Obama and McCain. They disagree only on the means to achieve America’s chief goal, which is to rule for another hundred years.”

  
  And this is from a fatwa from Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, issued right before the election:
  

  “The Democrats kill you slowly without you noticing it - and therein lies the danger. They are like a snake whose touch is not felt until its poison enters your body.
  
  “Therefore, I hope that McCain comes to power, so that the motivation for jihad remains in our hearts, and so that we do not [begin to] rely on the infidels - [which will cause us] to be struck by the fire [of Hell].”

  
  Hey, it looks like Islamic Extremists hate the Newly Anointed One as much as they ever hated Bush! Gosh, how'd that happen?



• Look, I don't begrudge Obama's supporters their celebrations. God knows the campaign was hard-fought and they deserve to be happy that things went their way. But what in hell were some young Obama supporters doing waving a USSR flag out in front of the White House last night?

  I'd like to be able to attribute this to the fact that most young people are stupid, drunk and confused. But who knows?




• John Kerry has admitted that he'd consider a position in the Obama cabinet.
  
  Some insiders claim that he's practically begging to be Secretary of State.
  
  That's pretty funny. It must be really interesting to see John Kerry from his own perspective. I'd like to buy him for what he's actually worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth.



• The Sun tabloid in London usually runs a photo of a topless young woman on page three of every issue. Thus the famous Page 3 Girls. This morning, however, they dropped the cheesecake in favor of a photo of Barack Obama.
  
  I think we can all agree that the preemption of boobies is simply taking the media bias too far.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

Time to spread the wealth and slaughter the goats! Election 2008 is in the books.

So, for starters, what is there to be happy about? I can think of something:

I never thought I'd be able to say it, but I lived to see the first non-white guy elected President of the US. If I put aside all of his policies and all the things about him that I dislike, I have to admit ... this one aspect of his election is pretty darn cool. Racism will probably never totally disappear from the human mind ... but America's specific and unique style of racism took a major kick in the stones just now. I gotta admit, that makes me happy.

If I were still working in radio I'd play my favorite Fishbone song and dedicate it to Barack Obama tonight.

Oprah says she hasn't seen this kind of unity since 9/11. Come, now, Oprah, the Obama election isn't a disaster on quite that level, is it? Ha ha.

And there's this: Guys like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have made careers of talking about how racist American society is. What are they going to say now? That in America a black man can never possibly rise any higher than ... President? Time to look for new jobs, Al and Jesse.

I also want to say that you're not going to hear too much doom and gloom from me. We elected a President who's policies I oppose. OK, fine. My fellow conservatives, it's time to regroup, think about what we did wrong, think about what we can do from here, and get on with it. I've never had any respect for all the left-wing crybabies who threatened to leave the country after Bush was elected in 2000 and 2004. What is that crap? "Play my way or I'll take my toys and leave?" Conservatives, now is our chance to really demonstrate the differences between us and them. Liberals can't even be gracious in victory, much less defeat. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. Don't forget it.

This is still a great country. We survived the Presidencies of Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Herbert Hoover and Woodrow Wilson. We can survive this guy, too. Remember, conservatives, we're the optimists. We talk about how strong, generous and free our country is, right? We gotta mean that. We're proud of our country, right? Don't forget that ... even when things don't go our way.

And the thing is, Barack Obama seems pretty optimistic, too. He's just optimistic for the wrong reasons. We're gonna have to out-optimistic the guy. ;)

Now don't get me wrong ... there are things to worry about. I think the real problem here is that the Democrats have picked up a bunch of legislative seats. My biggest fear is that President Obama will manage to get one or two extreme leftists appointed to the Supreme Court, and with little resistance from Congress. Hopefully we can swing both houses of Congress back the other way in 2010. And then elect a real President (black, white or otherwise) in 2012.

So what are the lessons we can take away from Election 2008?

Here's my list:

• Republicans Can't Beat Democrats At Their Own Games ... Part 1
  
  George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" turned out to be a code word for "liberalism." His second term was especially disappointing. Bush's 2004 pronouncements about working toward an "ownership society" proved to be empty promises. Instead, he's increased the size of the government, he's created new entitlement programs and he's spent money like John Edwards at a beauty salon.
  
  Bush's push to get the recent bail-out bill passed was probably the last straw. That bill was unpopular with the vast majority of Americans, and it remains so. If it looks like corporate welfare, walks like corporate welfare and talks like corporate welfare, dammit, it probably is corporate welfare.
  
  Bush had only two conservative successes in his second term, and those were the appointments of Judges Roberts and Alito to the SCotUS. And even the Alito selection was a last-minute save after the disastrous Harriet Miers washout.
  
  When Republicans govern like Democrats they give us very little reason to keep electing them.



• Republicans Can't Beat Democrats At Their Own Games ... Part 2
  
  Hey, let's face it, John McCain hasn't really been any better. We all knew he was too liberal from the get-go. And towards the end he got even more liberal. I think his proposal to have the Treasury Department buy up all the crap mortgages was probably the death nell for his campaign.
  
  Why should voters elect a pseudo-socialist when they had a real one available?
  
  So I hope that the lesson the GOP learns is that they have to "dance with who brung 'em," as they say. Clearly Mitt Romney would have been a better choice. And if we'd still lost with Romney, at least we'd have known that we retained our principles in the process.



• What Would Reagan Do?
  
  Look, the neocons have had their shot. And they've cost us an awful lot. You know, eight years ago I didn't even really know what "neoconservative" meant. After the past eight years I've come to believe that a "neocon" is basically a liberal who's pro-Israel and believes in the preemptive strike.
  
  Nothing wrong with loving Israel ... but it ain't enough.
  
  It's time for the GOP to get back to real conservatism. To heck with "compassion." I don't look to the government for "compassion." That's what our families, friends and churches are for. Our government, dammit, is supposed to LEAD US, KEEP US SAVE AND SERVE OUR INTERESTS.
  
  The GOP should, in all things, reference Reaganism. When it comes to policies, candidates, positions and ideology, Reagan is the touchstone. It's not enough to just talk about how awesome Reagan was. The Republican party has to go back to promoting his kind of governance.
  
  And that means decreasing the size of Government, not increasing it.
  
  That means a return to good-old-by-God Trickle Down Economics. The American people won't need the government to take care of them if you free up the marketplace to do what it naturally does, and that's create prosperity.
  
  That means being ready to strike fear in the hearts of those who'd even kill a couple of Americans in a disco in Germany ... much less actually attack us on our own soil.
  
  What would Reagan do? That's what we should do.



• Don't Let The Democrats Co-Opt Conservatism
  
  I saw it in '96 and to a large extent I feel like I've seen it again.
  
  Bill Clinton got elected to a second term by coming to the middle, as the phrase goes. Obama has gotten elected by doing much of the same.
  
  In 2006 Obama was saying that he wanted us out of Iraq immediately. RIGHT NOW. His policy now isn't significantly different from the current administration's policy. He even admitted that the surge worked "beyond our wildest dreams" in September.
  
  He also ran as a tax-cutter, promising lower taxes for "95% of Americans." Look, you know and I know that the math on that doesn't work. It's nonsense. The point, though, is that he ran as a tax-cutter. In spite of his occasional, candid admissions of his socialist ideology, Obama ran ads promising to cut taxes.
  
  He even posed as strong on national defense when he talked about invading Pakistan.
  
  What's that all about?
  
  Clearly the guy said what he had to say to get conservatives to vote for him. Maybe the GOP spent a little too much time focusing on Bill Ayers, ACORN and Joe Biden's gaffes and too little time focusing on Obama's policy inconsistencies.
  
  Yeah, I knew he was inconsistent and you knew he was inconsistent ... but it doesn't look like the message was significantly delivered to "Joe Six-Pack."

So there are my ideas, you can take them for what they're worth. The ramblings of a fat ol' conservative redneck from newly blue Virginia probably don't mean a whole heck of a lot at this point.

I'm gonna wrap this up now. Obama is giving his victory speech and I don't want to miss it. It is, after all, history. And the good Lord knows that the guy gives amazing speeches.

So congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama. Enjoy your first term ... I'll be doing what I can to make sure it's your only one! ;)

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics

By the way, according to at least one source, I was worthy to cast my vote today:

---

---

You're darn tootin', Skippy.

Labels: Blogs, Links, News, Politics

I didn't see this story from Halloween night until now. A McCain supporter refused to give Halloween candy to kids who wouldn't tell her that they don't support Obama:

A whole slew of little kids who've NEVER been effected by politics before will have this as their first political memory: "The mean old Republican lady wouldn't give me candy on Halloween."

Do all us conservatives a favor, Shirley Nagal: Start supporting Democrats.

Labels: Media, News, Politics, You Tube

The Black Panthers are practicing a little bit of good ol' fashioned voter intimidation in Pennsylvania. On the off chance that someone reading this doesn't know what the Black Panthers are, the explanation is simple: The Black Panthers is a terrorist organization. They're analogous to the KKK or skinhead nazis. Subhuman shit, in other words.

An army vet had this to say about his experience while trying to vote at a Philadelphia polling place:

"As I walked up to the door, the two gentlemen in Black Panther garb, one of them brandishing a night stick, standing immediately in front of the door... As I walked up they closed ranks next to each other. You know, I'm an army veteran. That doesn't scare me. So I walked directly in between them, went inside and found one of the poll watchers. They said they'd been here about an hour. And they told us not to come outside because a black man is going to win this election no matter what."

Watch the Fox News story, complete with the quote above, right here:

Here's some cellphone video another person shot:

My favorite part is when the guy with the camera phone says that brandishing a night stick is intimidating and the moron with the night stick says "Who are you to decide that?"

Apparently you don't have to be all that smart to join the Black Panthers. There's a shock.

From what I've seen, this is a fairly good representation of the mentality that's about to put an unqualified, shady socialist in the White House.

But of course those of us who aren't voting for Obama ... We're the real racists, right?

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

Well, we'll see what happens today I guess. Either we'll elect a liberal who's changed his positions with the polls and wants the government to solve everything from home foreclosures to "climate change" ...

OR...

We'll elect someone who's actually far worse than that liberal: His opponent, Senator Barack Obama.

Yeah, McCain is too damn liberal for me. But let's be honest about this new Messiah that so many people seem thrilled about and ready to put in the Oval Office:

• Obama has no leadership experience AT ALL. He's spent his life in the leftist closed circuits of academia and law practice. This is what we're electing? A lawyer and college professor? Have you ever spent much time talking with either a lawyer or a professor? If so, did EITHER of them strike you as people who were in touch with the average American perspective? Obama is both a lawyer AND a college professor. You can't get any more caught up in the dark side than that.


• His record on abortion is the most radical of any Democratic Presidential candidate ever. And, given the opportunity, he'll load the courts with extreme leftists who share his radical perspective.


• The money you work for is yours. No one else's. YOURS. Obama wants to take it from you and spread it around. He's been honest about that. If that doesn't outrage you, you just aren't thinking.


• Obama's ideas are bad. That's why he disavows them and accuses those who call him out on his ideas of "smearing" him. Obama's associates are questionable at best, reprehensible at worst. Obama's experience is negligible. And Obama's colleagues in the Senate, including fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton and others, have made no secret of their doubts about him.
  
  Are we really going to elect our next president based on novelty?

Sadly, I think we are.

Just watch this video, that's all I ask ... and then vote your conscious.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

I wrote the other day that I wasn't gonna take time to blog for a while. But today I saw that Zo Rachel has a new video posted. And I watched it, and as usual, it's brilliant, insightful and funny. Zo kicks all the ass, man. So I wanted to log on and post it, and here it is:

Zo is hugely quotable: "Obama and the Democrat party are the ones who stand above you holding up the heads of the rich, as you work yourselves into a frenzy, so they can toss it to you. Now, I'm just wondering, how does this make your life better as you destroy the ones who could give you jobs?"

Zo also does a great job in this one of blasting the whole argument about how "Obama is a community organizer, just like Jesus!"

And he talks a little bit here about the attacks he gets for being a black man and a conservative. And his observations are so good and so smart, and he presents them so well, that he left me wanting to pump my fist and yell "Yeah!" ... and I'm not even a black guy.

The point is, Zo is an awesome communicator. Not just a "good speaker," but a communicator. There's a difference. A "good speaker" can talk for a long time and sound really cool, but never really say anything. (As in "Hope, change, hope, change.")

A great communicator can say incredibly important things in very few words ... and say them clearly, directly, concisely and creatively ... and say them in a way you instantly understand and relate to and will remember. (As in "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.")

Obama is a "speaker." Zo is a communicator.

You guys enjoy him on YouTube while he's there, because he's headed for a much bigger future than this.

But, anyway, I got to thinking about the race issue as Zo addressed it. One of the good things about the Obama candidacy is that it's interjected the subject of race into the national conversation ... as it relates to ideology and politics.

It seems to me that number of people who "aren't supposed to be conservative" have been speaking out lately, "outing" themselves as conservatives. A great many people who are minorities and/or women are refusing to pack themselves onto the bus with Obama and Hillary (remember Hillary?), where the Democrats seem to think they belong.

The Democratic party has claimed to hold the monopoly on "diversity" for a long time. But it's always been obvious that Democratic "diversity" is a very stifling kind of "diversity." After all, liberals and Democrats don't believe in ideological diversity. You must agree with them on every topic ... abortion, taxes, the environment, civil rights, the war, etc ... or you're out in the cold.

Meanwhile, among conservatives, there's plenty of room for both ideological AND cultural diversity. Plenty of conservatives disagree on any of the topics listed above, and on other topics. My opposition to the death penalty, for instance, doesn't make me a "fake conservative." And my fellow conservatives never tell me that I don't really understand that issue, or that I'm a "sell-out," or that I'm deluded.

Differ from the Democratic party on any issue and you'll find out quickly how little tolerance they have for ideological diversity:

• Have doubts about the specifics of climate change? Then you're a "global warming denier," kinda like a "holocaust denier."


• Have concerns that abortion on demand might be irresponsible at best, or maybe murder at worst? Then you're some kind of monster who wants to oppress women.


• Oppose the Obama campaign? You RACIST!


• Support the troop surge and the successful result's it's generated? WARMONGER! NEOCON!


• Insist that immigration be a legal process? You're a racist and you're ignorant.

And as Zo has pointed out, if you're a black man and you hold any of these opinions, you can expect to be labeled an "uncle tom," too.

So if you're going to be a liberal Democrat, good luck. You better get a copy of the approved liberal positions and adopt each and every one of them. There's no room for individual thought. Thinking for yourself, after all, is divisive. Shut up. Be happy. Vote Obama.

Meanwhile, the real diversity can be found under the great conservative umbrella. The ideological diversity has always been here. And more and more, the real cultural and constructive diversity is obviously here, too.

Conservatism: It's what America looks like, it's what America thinks like. It's the foundation that keeps America great. Great enough to withstand anything, even the coming four years of Obama socialism.

Here's a snapshot of what Conservatism looks like in America in 2008. Click the pictures below and get to know some of our very best (especially that dude on the bottom, pimpin' out with the fuzzy pink hat.):

Labels: Blogs, Links, Media, News, Politics, You Tube, Zo

Prophet Yahweh, self-described "UFO summoner," says by way of official press release and YouTube video that space aliens are going to present themselves to the people of the earth as a show of support for the campaign of Barack Obama on or about October 31.

That settles it. Up until now I hadn't been swayed by all the endorsements that Obama has received. Colin Powell's recent endorsement didn't effect me. Oprah's endorsement? Oprah Schmoprah. I hadn't even been swayed by the Opie, Andy and the Fonz video endorsement, and I actually really enjoyed that video.

But if space aliens are going to endorse Obama, then I guess I gotta get on board. I'll be voting for Obama, I'll be voting early and I'm sending in my vote by way of flying monkey. The monkey, of course, will fly out of my butt.

From the press release:

(Prophet Yahweh) claims that these space beings are the Angels of Yahweh, the Creator of all things. And, they are talking to him, on a daily basis, via a sophisticated form of telepathic, non-verbal, none-talk, brain-to-brain communication. Most of the time, when they contact him, he is sleep. At that time, he hears a voice speaking to him inside his head...

"YAHWEH wants people to know that if Barak Obama does not become President, America will quickly be led into a war with Russia via Iran that will result in: a cut off of oil from the Persian Gulf, a great depression, stock market crash, runaway inflation, devaluation of the dollar, food shortages, riots, famine, race wars, out breaks of disease, etc."

Here's the video:

Highlights from the video include:

Prophet Yahwah: "I will be going live with my own channel from inside the broadcast studio ... we're going live to the world, via some channel. I don't know."

Shortly after that quote a dog starts barking in the background.

Toward the end: "Spaceships are preparing to fill, appear, right up there. Right up there. We don't have but a few days, I'm going to end this broadcast, but you just know one thing: There is no possible way it's not going to happen. But those of you all, just listen, don't be going out and betting money to your friends and all of this and betting it in Las Vegas on this, 'cause what if something happens? What if I got it wrong and it's next year during the same time? Which I doubt. Then you'll lose your money and you'll want to kill me."

So just remember: Space aliens definitely endorse Obama for President and there is no possible way that they won't show that support for Obama on October 31. Unless they don't.

Labels: Humor, News, Obama Watch

Not your father's Democratic Party...

Maybe the problem isn't Obama ... maybe the problem is the modern electorate:

HT: Ol' Broad ... the cartoon is from Chuck Asay.

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Pretty Lady, Fancy Clothes

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid:

The Republican Party has spent $150,000 in upmarket designer stores on dressing Sarah Palin for the part of vice-president...

The party also spent nearly $5,000 on hair and makeup.

It would have been easier, cheaper and quicker to let the Obama campaign make "Out Of Touch" signs for the Palins to wear on their foreheads.

Who authorized this spending and what the hell were they thinking?

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Tightening up?

Polls are all different, and none of them are really a solid indication of exactly what's going to happen ... but the AP reports that Obama and McCain are virtually tied in Virginia ... and everywhere else, too, for that matter.

Your guess is as good as mine.

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Good Ol' Joe (The Plumber)

The new McCain web ad is really a good one:

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Good Ol' Joe (The Senator)

Blogger Jim Treacher has Joe Biden's "clarification" of his remarks about the "international incident" that's sure to follow Obama's first days in office:

"Ya know, I kinda put my foot in my mouth the other day... [chuckle] You folks know how I can get, with the words and the talking and the babbling and the yammering and so forth. But I just wanted to clarify those remarks. I know I speak for Obama when I say that we are ready to lead. Come what may, we are gonna be out there in front. Because I gotta tell ya, when this great man, this fantastic young African-American kid who I'm proud to call my closest friend, when he becomes president, the American people need to know that you are all gonna be grabbin' your ankles every April 15 for the rest of your probably-shortened lives.

Yeah, it's satire. The whole thing is funny. go read it.

Labels: Humor, Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

Update: I'll apparently be blogging a lot today, I keep finding stuff I want to post. So I'll just update this post occasionally rather than throwing together a heap of little posts.

Update 2: Post surgical pain has just kicked in, pretty damn hard, and mostly out of the blue. The pills ain't touching it right now. The only thing that doesn't hurt at the moment is standing, leaning against a wall. So I'm gonna go do that for a while ... I'm done adding to this post.

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Speaking In Tongues

So now we can't say that socialism is socialism without being racist??

The "socialist" label that Sen. John McCain and his GOP presidential running mate Sarah Palin are trying to attach to Sen. Barack Obama actually has long and very ugly historical roots.

J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI from 1924 to 1972, used the term liberally to describe African Americans who spent their lives fighting for equality...

McCain and Palin have simply reached back in history to use an old code word for black.

AAAAGGHHH! I'm ready to start pulling my hair out.

Do me a favor, leftists. Shut the f%$# up. For ten minutes, please, if you can't come up with something useful to say, just shut the f$%# up.

(HT: Ace.)

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Mike Steele on Values

Man, I love Mike Steele. This guy ROCKS. Even when I'm good and pissed off about politics, Mike chills me out by putting it all in perspective:

"Become the blueprint for those who are trying to find their way to the American dream."

I'm telling you, this guy is the new Reagan. I just wish he'd get back into politics and leave the cushy job at Fox News behind. We NEED you, Mike!

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The Emperor's New Smears

Batton Lash gets it right:

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Riot!

Paul the Regular Guy contemplates the threat of "urban unrest" if Obama loses the election ... and remembers the horrific violence that we experienced in our inner cities and metro areas following other recent Presidential elections. (Snicker, snicker.) It's good stuff, go read it.

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Joy Behar calls Limbaugh a "terrorist"

If you don't know, Behar is one of the hysterical old biddies who makes up the panel at The View. I don't watch the show (unless clips on The Soup count), but from what I've read, there's one sane woman on the program (the young hot one, Elizabeth Hasselbeck) and three neurotic old hens.

Apparently one of the hens has proclaimed that Rush Limbaugh is a terrorist.

Like Joy Behar, I'm no fan of Rush Limbaugh.

Unlike Behar, I'm not a stark-raving, confused old loon. Calm down, Mrs. Behar. Limbaugh isn't a terrorist. He's just one more blowhard with his own personal soapbox who likes to spew his weirdo opinions all over the place. Like you.

Like me, too.

Labels: Media, Michael Steele, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

... presented, admittedly, from a voter who opposes most of Obama's policies adamantly.

But don't just take my word on these issues. I've rounded up some resources. People who argue for the things I believe with much more clarity, style, good humor and optimism than I'm capable of.

Especially this guy:

Obama: Wrong On Healthcare...

Zo Rachel has a new video up , featuring his usual spot-on analysis (this time he looks at the last PotUS debate.) Zo also presents some ideas about where we are and where we're goin' in terms of ObamaCare. Listen carefully, take notes if you need to. Use your pause button. As usual, Zo seems to have damn near everything down to a science:

A message to the "undecideds" out there, if such things really exist: When in doubt, go Zo.

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Obama: Wrong (And Radical) On Abortion...

Gloria.tv has a great capsulization of of the John McCain and the Barack Obama positions on the abortion issue. This video absolutely sums it up. There's just nothing else to say beyond this:

I know a few people who say that they agree with me that abortion on demand is murder, but are planning to vote for Obama. Well, it's time to put up or shut up. Make your choice: It's either Obama or protection for the unborn. You can't have both.

And when all is said and done and you've voted for Obama, the most radically pro-abortion candidate ever nominated by the Democrats, don't be telling me about how pro-life you are. I'll shut that shit down right quick. If you vote for Obama, you have supported abortion-on-demand. You have used the political power allotted to you, the power of your vote, to advance the cause of those who believe in unrestricted abortion, no questions asked. Period. That's what you've done, that's who you are, and that's all there is to say about it. So don't try to explain your reasoning to me. You don't owe me an explanation. You know when you'll have to account for that act, and to Whom you'll make that accounting.

So pick one. Babies or Barack. If you've got love for one, you've got no love for the other.

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Obama: Wrong On Everything Else...

Some folks at Hot Air have put together a comprehensive argument against Barack Obama. In fact, they're billing it as THE Comprehensive Argument Against Barack Obama, and it's really pretty thorough.

Packed with quotes, news stories, videos and all kinds of valuable information, if you want to know why the Obama presidency is going to be bad for America, go to Hot Air now and read that post. At least you'll have some opportunity to brace yourself for the coming problems by being well informed.

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Meanwhile, the Moonbats at the Daily Kos seem to have surrendered that one last working braincell to the Kool-Ade. They're contemplating the possibility that Obama really is the savior. I kid you not.

I really don't see any way we can stop the Obama Juggernaut at this point. And McCain is too busy playing the nice guy to try. But if we keep trying to get the information out there, I guess there's some hope. Maybe.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube, Zo

Permalink -- Posted by Darrell at 09:32 --  0 Comments -- Links to this post

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This is from the same YouTube user who's video I embedded on Monday:

It's hard to decide what part of that video is my favorite. There are so many classically liberal moments:

• There's the guy who keeps yelling "Joke the Plumber!" at the mention of Joe the Plumber. He seems to be under the impression that Joe himself is the reason for Joe's celebrity. I think most people would agree that Obama's unguarded confession of his socialist world view was the real focus of that incident.


• Then there's the guy who shoves a sign in the questioner's face rather than try to somehow coherently defend the socialized health care he supports.


• Then there's the woman in the red sweatshirt and glasses. The questioner asks her if Obama's health care plan is socialism and she responds "Pretty much. I don't know ... we're done here." And then walks off waving her Obama sign. Classy AND smart.


• Then there's the genius who calls himself a scientist ... and who says that one or even five babies left to die after they've been born is acceptable. Oh, sure, there's a line that shouldn't be crossed somewhere ... he just doesn't know where it is. (Hint: Allowing even one person to die needlessly is not OK, Einstein.)

This is a good cross section of the people who'll be putting Obama in office. Obama's philosophical predecessor, Vladimir Lenin, is said to have called them "useful idiots."

I understand why P.T. Barnum supposedly said that nobody ever went broke by overestimating the stupidity of the public.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

Just stuff...

• How they do that?
  
  Watch this video, it's just over a minute long:

  How in the world did they do that? It looked totally real. We're really at the point now where even seeing video of an event isn't necessarily proof that it actually happened.




• Failed talk-show host: "Blah, blah, blah."
  
  Chevy Chase is one of the most outspoken liberal has-beens in Hollywood. And he's unhappy that Sarah Palin generated record-breaking ratings for Saturday Night Live this weekend:
  

  “Quite frankly, it’s a big mistake to let her go on,” Chevy told Access Hollywood at the Give Food a Chance benefit in New York. “What was brilliant about [‘SNL’ chief] Lorne [Michaels] was that he had nothing written for Sarah and that apparently she cannot improvise herself out of a paper bag!”

  
  And after all, the most important skill a VP candidate can bring to the White House is a capacity for improvisational comedy.
  
  I'd mock Chase some more ... but he's been over for ages and I just feel sorry for him.



• Left-wing political figure endorses left-wing political figure
  
  Colin Powell has been known as many things over the years: General, National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of State ... and just lately he's been known as an improvisational dancer:

  One thing Powell has never been known as, however, is a conservative.
  
  Powell favors abortion-on-demand, affirmative action and gun control. In 2001, he joined the ACLU in working to block a flag protection amendment. He's served as an advisor for Barack Obama (and he'll continue to do so). Sure, Colin Powell is a Republican, but he's part of the Republican Party's small left wing ... with the likes of Lincoln Chafee and Michael Bloomberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  
  Yesterday, Powell endorsed Barack Obama. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone was surprised by this; and I can't figure out why the MSM is trying to sell the notion that this is a big deal.
  
  A leftist endorsed a fellow leftist. And?




• Sony crumbles under Muslim pressure
  
  Little Big Planet is one of the year's most hotly anticipated video games, an exclusive title for the PS3. And the struggling PS3 needs all the positive hype it can get.
  
  But Little Big Planet won't be in the hands of gamers as soon as it was supposed to be ... because some Muslims have balked at the game and Sony is cowering before them:
  

  The "social platforming" game is already gathering rave reviews, but it hasn't proven popular with one Muslim group, which issued a complaint to the game's publisher Sony concerning one background music track. Performed by award-winning Malian musician Toumani Diabate, the song quotes two verses from the Qur'an. Many Muslims consider the mixing of music and scripture to be deeply offensive.
  
  Although the game is already pressed, packaged, and reportedly sitting in the back rooms of many worldwide retailers awaiting its original Oct. 21 debut, gamers eager to get hold of it will have to wait at least another week while the offending content is expunged.

  
  I expected the world to change after 9/11. But one change I didn't expect was for everyone in the world to suddenly start quaking in their boots every time some Muslim got his feelings hurt.

Labels: Media, News, Politics, Video Games, You Tube

Barack Obama told his supporters to "get in their faces." His campaign encourages Obama voters to "be absolutely ruthless."

And the Obamabots are doing what they've been told:

If you can't lie your way into the White House ... if you can't promise your way in and if you can't guilt your way in ... I guess you can always bully your way into the White House.

Stay classy, Democrats.

Labels: News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

I'm recovering from surgery ... again ... and I'm awake in the middle of the night. Again.

I'm not sure if it's the meds keeping me awake or the spasms I'm having in my bladder in spite of the meds. Either way, I can't sleep. And I've found some neat stuff to read and watch:

• An October 17th news story shows that, with the election about two weeks away, the Democratic candidate is ahead by as much as ten points in thirteen key swing states ... and is poised to take the White House.
  
  Oh, wait... that story is from October 17th, 2004. I'd forgotten how it looked like a sure thing that Kerry was going to win. Just like it looks like a sure thing that Obama is gonna win this time. Hmmmmmm....


• Sarah Palin spoke in North Carolina and said that she always enjoyed the chance to speak in the "Pro-America" parts of the country. Joe Biden took offense at that, saying
  

  “It's disappointing, and I hope it's a slip of the tongue and she doesn't mean it, but she said it, it was reported she said that she likes to visit – quote – 'pro American' parts of the country..."

  
  I don't think it was a slip of the tongue. Governor Palin was probably thinking about San Francisco and Portland, for instance, in contrast to the small towns in America.


• Rey has clips of Obama and McCain speaking at a charity dinner. Both of them delivered very funny monologues. Here's a clip of McCain's best stuff:

  Rey has more, lots of laughs, go check it out.
  
  It's fun to watch these two guys share big, belly-bustin' laughs together. And it reminds me how much I used to like Obama before I knew anything about him. I still think he probably will win, even though he's not the guy I'm voting for, so I guess I better find stuff to like about him again. After all, we're probably gonna have to live with him for four years!



• A twelve year old girl wore a pro-Palin shirt to school and was branded a racist by some of her classmates. WTF?


• MCF has made one of my dreams come true: Finally I can fly and shoot lasers out of my butt.


• I have a new hero: The guy who ate the fifteen pound cheeseburger...

  



• The Democratic Party is the party of tolerance. That's why some Obama supporters threaten and beat up McCain supporters. (HT: Ace.)


• Rhodester got a lot of 'splainin' to do. Click right here and he'll explain dogs to you.

Labels: Humor, Media, News, Politics, You Tube

This is the first of the presidential debates I've watched. I didn't see any need to watch the last two, I've already made up my mind who I'm voting for ... and I'm already convinced that the other guy is gonna win.

Nonetheless, tonight was McCain's last chance to really shine ... and I think he has. I'm turning in, I've got a big day tomorrow ... but as of 10:15 I think McCain has won the debate thus far. He's beat Obama on substance, hands down.

The best line of the night: "If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have done it four years ago." Boo-Yah!

I think the "Joe The Plumber" stuff is working in McCain's favor, too. I don't think it'll make a lot of difference in three weeks. Too many people will vote based on infatuation.

But don't blame me ... I'm voting for McCain.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics

First of all, I'm not a Stern fan.

But this clip from Stern's program, which I found by way of Bob Parks, is REQUIRED LISTENING regarding the 2008 election:

Look, I know a few whites who're gonna vote for Obama simply because "it's time to have a black president."

I guess the black people interviewed in the clip above must feel the same way.

Throw in the "youth vote" (as capsulized yesterday) and we're really getting ready to elect our first pure-celebrity president ... and for all the wrong reasons.

Have you seen Mike Judge's film Idocracy? We're getting ready to elect President Camacho ... except in real life:

And if we're stupid enough to put this guy in the White House, then he's the President we deserve.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

Perfect. The only way this video could have been more perfect is if it had ended with the sight of John McCain being forced into a giant wicker statue and set on fire.

We're gonna have four years of this guy, man! FOUR FRIGGIN' YEARS! Once he's elected I expect the entire crew at NBC news to make their own version of the creepy kids video.

Labels: Humor, Media, News, Politics, You Tube

OJ Simpson has been known as many things: Football player, actor, wife-beater, acquitted murderer and thug. Now he's going to be known as something new: CONVICT.

The verdict came thirteen years to the day after an LA jury failed to convict Simpson for having murdered his ex-wife and one of her acquaintances outside of her apartment. Synchronicity.

OJ will probably be behind bars for a period of years, and just may finish his days in prison.

May this arrogant, unrepentant, murdering son of a bitch ROT in prison.

Labels: News

My post about the YouTube video of children being made to sing for Obama has inspired some good conversation in the comments. And, for once, I think I've actually presented my position fairly well.

Please stop by, if you haven't already, and contribute your opinion.

And while I'm recycling past content, I'll post my Obama Zombie video again:

I posted it yesterday ... and I'm posting it again because, hey, I think it's funny.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

Palin did fairly well. I'm still not convinced that she's exactly what we need on the ticket. But I'm still convinced that she's got a great personality, which is more important than it ought to be. She did no better, nor any worse, than I'd thought she would.

Biden was polished, an old hand at this kind of thing. I was really surprised, though, at the number of flat-out lies that he told. I caught him in quite a few myself. He misrepresented his votes on the war and McCain's stance on funding the war, and he got fast and loose on Obama's tax policy. I noticed that, during some of Biden's most blatant lies, Palin would kinda grit her teeth and shake her head. She knew that he was lying, too. But she never called him on any of it. I think she was mostly focusing on getting the McCain talking points out there.

I'd call it a tie. Most liberals aren't going to do the research to find out that Biden was lying about so many things. They'll take him at his word and think that he's strengthened their positions. And I don't imagine that anyone who wasn't already predisposed to vote for McCain/Palin would be swayed toward the ticket by Governor Palin's performance.

Did you notice Gwen Ifill telling Biden afterwards how well he'd done?

I just looked around before hitting the "publish post" button and found this: Ace lists fourteen lies that Joe Biden told during the debate.

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics

Only about a month to go ... better start preparing for the coming Zombie Apocalypse:

Labels: Humor, News, Obama Watch, Politics, You Tube

One time a few years ago I forgot to carry the one ... or something ... and I screwed up the math in my check book ledger. I ended up with an overdraft on my checking account.

Thankfully, though, the government came to my rescue and enacted an emergency measure to bail me out.

HA! HA HA HA F&%$!NG HA! HA HA HA!

I don't know about you but I oppose this bailout, period. Let the chips fall where they may. I didn't make this mess. I didn't buy a house I couldn't afford. I didn't loan money to people without checking to see if they had any chance of paying it back. I didn't force banks to make risky loans by giving rights and privileges only to the banks that made such loans. I didn't shut down any efforts made by McCain or the Bush administration to prevent the collapse. And I DID NOT SCREW UP THE MATH.

I resent having to send in a dime of my tax money to fix a mess made by irresponsible agencies, lenders and borrowers. I still believe in an outdated, antiquated concept, I guess.

But for whatever it's worth, I know who tried to stop this from happening ... and I know who made the mess in the first place:

Labels: Media, News, Politics, You Tube

The legendary actor, one of my favorites, has passed away at the age of 83.

"He was smiling... That's right. You know, that, that Luke smile of his. He had it on his face right to the very end. Hell, if they didn't know it 'fore, they could tell right then that they weren't a-gonna beat him. That old Luke smile. Ol' Luke. He was some boy. Cool Hand Luke. Hell, he's a natural-born world-shaker."

- From Cool Hand Luke.

Labels: Movies, News

On Friday the 19th, my unseen friend drew our attention to Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Some people are dragging it out and simply taking this pirate thing too far. Some people are acting like pirates.

My friend the Governor, who refuses to start what would be a wonderfully readable blog, no matter how I prod and poke him, sent me these two stories. So since he ain't postin' 'em, I'm stealin' 'em:

Mystery Surrounds Hijacked Iranian Ship:

A tense standoff is underway in northeastern Somalia between pirates, Somali authorities, and Iran over a suspicious merchant vessel and its mysterious cargo. Hijacked late last month in the Gulf of Aden, the MV Iran Deyanat remains moored offshore in Somali waters and inaccessible for inspection. Its declared cargo consists of minerals and industrial products, however, Somali and regional officials directly involved in the negotiations over the ship and who spoke to The Long War Journal are convinced that it was heading to Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia's Islamist insurgents...

Suspicion has also been cast on the ship's crew, half of which is almost entirely staffed by Iranians - a large percentage of Iranian nationals for a standard merchant vessel...

... Independent sources tell The Long War Journal that a number of pirates have also died. "Yes, some of them have died. I do not know exactly how many but the information that I am getting is that some of them have died..."

(Puntland Minister of Minerals and Oil Hassan) Osman also confirmed to The Long War Journal that during the six days he negotiated with the pirates members of the syndicate had become sick and died. "That ship is unusual," he said. "It is not carrying a normal shipment."

Why isn't the MSM covering this? It seems really important.

Then, there's this:

Somali pirates seize Tomex of Odessa owned carrier with 30 Soviet-era T-72 tanks

The carrier is owned and managed by Tomex of Odessa. On board the ship were 21 people on board: 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and a Latvian. The ship was shipping military hardware, including some 30 T-72 tanks and spare parts for armored vehicles for the troubled government of Southern Sudan...

Insurgents might pose the biggest threat ever to the Ethiopian soldiers supporting the TFG government. If they seize and use the arms which have been the case with some ships seized by the pirates, they will form a very powerful front and certainly overrun the government and the Ethiopian forces. This will lead to the return of Islamic courts Union which have been ruling the country before the Ethiopians came in.

All the emphasis in those two stories was mine.

I'd really like to have some idea why the MSM doesn't make an effort to really bring these things to our attention. This is a very unpredictable series of developments in very dangerous areas involving a number of warring factions.

It's important. Isn't it?

Labels: Media, News

(Note: I promise, the brief political bit here is played entirely for laughs. I'm laying off politics for a while in a desperate, flagrant, obvious attempt to get my four-or-so readers back.)

David Blaine is probably the world's greatest magician. Well, maybe he's really more an alchemist than a magician. He's figured out a way to turn nothing interesting at all into money, power and fame. And that's real magic.

In 2005, Forbes called Blaine the the 98th most powerful celebrity in the world. That's not quite as powerful as that Malcolm in the Middle kid, but clearly more powerful than Amanda Bynes.

David's most recent spectacle involved hanging upside down for a long time and then pretending to drop. Apparently, most people who saw the trick responded with boos/yawns. Something must have went wrong, and David Blaine says that it's all Dubya's fault. The emphasis below is mine.

Magician David Blaine pulled a string of excuses out of his sleeve to explain why his latest high-profile stunt went wrong - even blaming President Bush's Wednesday night prime-time speech.

A day after finishing his latest "trick" - hanging upside down over Central Park for 60 hours before taking a "Dive of Death" from a 44-foot-high platform, a TMZ.com cameraman asked Blaine why the stunt went awry...

"...because of the president's speech, my show was delayed 15 minutes and all of the wind picked up," he said.

The (hanging like a) bat thing lost some luster when Blaine started taking breaks every hour to stand on his own two feet.

Shortly after 11 p.m., Blaine nodded and smiled to hundreds of fans watching the stunt as they screamed, "Jump! Jump!" and, "Do it!"

The screams for Blaine to "Jump! Do it!" might not have been related to the trick.

I've really got to say, this is the last straw with Dubya, as far as I'm concerned.

First he stole the 2000 election, probably by dropping in on a wire like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible ...

... then he started a fictitionous war in the desert paradise of Iraq by telling a bunch of vicious lies ...

... then he borrowed the Sorcerer's hat and conjured up Hurricane Katrina ...

... and I've always suspected that Dubya kidnapped the Lindburgh baby.

But now he's gone too far. Ordering his cabal of fascist Neocon cronies to sabotage David Blaine is just beyond the pale. Dubya MUST be impeached. Impeached, severely scolded, hosed down with cold water and beaten with a rake.

Of course, Dubya is far too stupid to have pulled it off by himself. This smells like Dick. Dick Cheney, of course, must be responsible.

Blaine's magic is amazing. I'm not even sure how to describe some of his acomplishments. But I'll try.

David Blaine has:

• Laid in a box for a long time.


• Stood on top of a pole for a long time.


• Sat inside of a box without eating. As Chris Rock said, "That's not magic. That's life in the projects."


• Stood inside of a container of water and breathed through a tube for a long time.

Future stunts he's considering include

• Not changing his underwear for six days.


• Sitting on a couch and watching all 48 Hours of Nick-At-Night's Car 54 Where Are You? Marathon, sustained by nothing but root beer and Fritos. (I've tried this and it's very hard to do. Without dozing off.)


• Sitting in his car, in his driveway, and listening to all 100 songs of WXLZ 104 FM'S "100 Greatest Rock Songs Of The 70's". And get this ... he's considering singing along with Stairway To Heaven. So don't miss the final ten minutes.


• Playing Halo 2 nonstop for six hours without a bathroom break.


• Watching all 172 minutes of Beloved* without once rolling his eyes. Not even during the scene where Oprah pees in the backyard.

Personally, I can't wait. If anyone is capable of actually doing all of this nothing and getting paid for it, it's gotta be Blaine.

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*Totally unrelated, extremely obscure sidenote about Beloved... next time you go to the fridge and find nothing to pour on your cereal, the best way to react is to put on a huge frowny-face and say, in your mopiest voice, "They took my milk. Them boys, they took my milk."

HT to Rey, although he might prefer to be unacknowledged, for getting me thinking about the ridiculousness of Beloved. I hope I've tied the topic into this post in a spurious and confusing way, as is befitting that particular movie.

Labels: Blogs, Entertainment, Humor, Links, Movies, News

So I stumbled across this website, Make Me Babies, where you can upload pictures of any man and any woman and see what the couple's theoretical child would look like.

The website claims to use some sort of high tech computerfied programming thing. Probably has something to do with lasers.

Neat.

I couldn't resist messing around with it a little bit. But I didn't want to upload my own picture, of course. If the babies turned out ugly I'd have nobody but myself to blame. So I decided on an easy target, Senator Obama.

I couldn't decide on a woman for the Senator to hypothetically reproduce with, though ... so I just narrowed it down to three of the world's most famous ladies.

First, I generated the theoretical offspring of Barack and Madonna. I named the little baby Baradonna. Make Me Babies came up with this:

I dunno. Doesn't look much like Obama or Madonna if you ask me.

But the website says it's all technical and stuff, so I'll take their word for it.

Then I uploaded a picture of one of Barack's best known and most beloved supporters, Oprah Winfrey. I named the baby Obarah.

Again, I don't see it. You'd think two people as attractive as Oprah and Barack would turn out a prettier baby than that. That child is hideous.

Last but not least I couldn't resist uploading a picture of Hillary Clinton. According to the high tech computerfied technological stuff at the website, this is what the hypothetical love-child of Barack and Hillary would look like:

Oh, crap. I hope I haven't opened up a can of worms with that one.

Labels: Humor, News, Obama Watch, Politics