I’ll check in while on vacation, but I doubt I’ll post anything new until Jan. 3, 2008. Until then, feel free to comment on existing topics.
I hope everyone has a tremendous Christmas and New Years Day, and thank you all for making 2007 my biggest blogging year yet! Your support and input is greatly appreciated!
I don’t usually do this, but RV is a friend of mine (despite his misguided fondness of a certain cow pasture school in Gaysville), and since he “tagged” me, I’ll play along. The rules state that I have to state the rules (kinda circular, huh?):
OK, here goes:
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1. Wrapping or gift bags?
Both, but it depends on the shape of the present.
2. Real or artificial tree?
Artificial. Buy it once, use it forever.
3. When do you put up the tree?
More often than not, Thanksgiving weekend.
4. When do you take the tree down?
Between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
5. Do you like eggnog?
Yes, but most of the time, I avoid it (on days other than Christmas) due to the calories.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Castle Grayskull, He-Man.
7. Do you have a nativity scene?
No, and it’s not out of disrespect. My neighbors have enough for the whole ‘hood.
8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Clothes, as a child. Now that I’m older, clothes rock!
9. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?
Most of the time, neither.
10. Favorite Christmas movie?
A Christmas Story. “You’ll shoot your eye out!”
11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Around payday in the middle of December.
12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Mom’s sweet potato casserole and broccoli casserole, Dad’s smoked turkey, anyone’s pumpkin pie. I make a mean mushroom-sourdough dressing!
13. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Colored (I know…I’m “racist”, right? Help me out here, Chilerkle! 
).
14. Favorite Christmas song?
“Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, “Mary Did You Know?”
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I’ll tag the following four (and I’ll forgive you folks if you don’t participate or if you wait until after Christmas):
My homies from the Memphis Posse, The Truth Hurts and A.C. from Fore Left.
Merry Christmas, y’all.
Borrowing a page from her hubby’s former veep who claimed to have created the Internet, Her Highness lays down this whopper (from FactCheck):
Clinton says, “You would think that … National Guard and Reserve … would have had health insurance. But they didn’t.”
That’s not exactly true. First of all, long before Clinton became a senator, members of the National Guard and Reserve were covered by federal health insurance while on active duty and for a period thereafter. So were their dependents. As for those not on active duty, four out of five were covered by health insurance through their civilian employers, their spouse or some other source, according to a 2000 survey by the Department of Defense.
It is certainly true that Clinton was among those pushing to expand and improve federal coverage for reservists while they’re not on active duty. But it’s just wrong to say the National Guard and Reserve didn’t have health insurance, because the large majority did.
What a shameless b#tch she is! Her being a “world-class genius” and all, she appears to have brilliantly figured out a plan to claim credit for something she was nowhere near. She must still be stuck in her old habit of just expecting her words to go unchallenged. They may go unchallenged in the MSM, but not in the new media.
Finally, my friends! We’ve finally got that Bu$hitler McRummyburton nailed on this torture issue, because we’ve found the diabolical b#stard’s torture chamber! From the AP:
Blood-splotches on walls, chains hanging from a ceiling and swords on the killing floor — the artifacts left a disturbing tale of brutalities inside a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq torture chamber. But there was yet another chilling fact outside the dirt-floor dungeon. Villagers say they knew about the torment but were too intimidated by extremists to tell authorities until now.
Stories such as these — claims of insurgent abuses and the silence of frightened Iraqis — have emerged with increasing frequency and clarity recently as U.S.-led forces push deeper into former extremist fiefdoms and forge alliances with tribes seeking to reclaim their regions.
The reports and tips now pouring in build a harrowing portrait of rule under al-Qaida and its backers: mass graves, ruthless punishments, self-styled Islamic courts ordering summary executions.
…
The floor was littered with food wrappers, plastic soda bottles and electric cables that snaked to a metal bed frame, presumably where detainees were shocked, according to the U.S. account of the discovery during a Dec. 8-11 mission.
The rooms “had chains, a bed — an iron bed that was still connected to a battery — knives and swords that were still covered in blood,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, the top U.S. commander in northern Iraq.
Nearby were nine mass graves containing the remains of 26 people, he said. …
Um. Yeah. It wasn’t…um…Dubya’s torture chamber, was it? It belonged to…uh…al-Qaeda? You mean, al-Qaeda is torturing people, and not our babykillers…er, soldiers? Uh…well…ummm…
In that case, nothing to see…move along…
Not just a “genius”, but a “world-class genius”, at that. Yes indeed, this “genius” was so brilliant that she had no idea that her hubby was a serial philanderer or a pathological liar! She is such a “genius” that she never remembered a damned thing whenever under oath in a deposition. She is such a “genius” that she had no idea that she had left the Rose Law Firm billing records that had been subpoenaed out on a table in plain sight that had been checked a bazillion times.
With that kind of “genius” in the Oval Office, God have mercy on this country.
I’ve decided to endorse someone in the two primaries. I know, my endorsement means jack shiite to you fine people, but it’s my echo chamber, so echo I shall.
Democrats: Joe Lieberman. Oh, wait…he’s not running. He endorsed another Democrat in John McCain. What? McCain’s not really a Democrat? And Lieberman isn’t anymore, either? OK, I’m confused. That’ll teach me for trying to endorse a Democrat, won’t it?
Republicans: This is a very lukewarm endorsement, since none of the candidates make me think “Now this is the guy I’ve been waiting for!” However, I’m gonna go with…..(drum roll)…..Mitt Romney.
I’ll go ahead and get my main beef with the guy out of the way: he comes across as a major league flip-flopper, saying anything to get his party’s nomination. Maybe it’s something in the water in the People’s Republic of Taxachusetts that causes flip-flopping. Who knows? All I know is that flip-flopping is a BIG turn-off for me.
That said, aside from the flip-flopping, he otherwise comes across as a true leader, especially in the business world (a big plus for a capitalist like me). Plus, if a Republican can figure out a way to get elected governor twice in Taxachusetts, then he’s got some brains in that gourd of his.
The fact that he’s a Mormon doesn’t bother me, and while I’m not fond of Mormonism, I don’t think I have to worry about a President Romney mandating that the Book of Mormon be read at the beginning of the public school day over the P.A. system. If he gets on TV and says that we should all allowed to have multiple wives, then I’ll have a case of buyer’s remorse. Otherwise, I’m not sweating the Mormon thing.
Is Romney a true conservative? Truth me told, I don’t think there is a true conservative (short of Duncan Hunter, who stands no chance) in this race. However, I do think that Romney is right-wing enough for my liking. But if the guy says or does anything that merits a verbal whacking, you can best believe that I’ll be administering it.
As for why I didn’t endorse the others, here’s a condensed version:
What say you, my friends?
Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called “consensus” on man-made global warming. These scientists, many of whom are current and former participants in the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), criticized the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore.
The new report issued by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s office of the GOP Ranking Member details the views of the scientists, the overwhelming majority of whom spoke out in 2007.
Even some in the establishment media now appear to be taking notice of the growing number of skeptical scientists. In October, the Washington Post Staff Writer Juliet Eilperin conceded the obvious, writing that climate skeptics “appear to be expanding rather than shrinking.” Many scientists from around the world have dubbed 2007 as the year man-made global warming fears “bite the dust.” (LINK) In addition, many scientists who are also progressive environmentalists believe climate fear promotion has ”co-opted” the green movement. (LINK)
This blockbuster Senate report lists the scientists by name, country of residence, and academic/institutional affiliation. It also features their own words, biographies, and weblinks to their peer reviewed studies and original source materials as gathered from public statements, various news outlets, and websites in 2007. This new “consensus busters” report is poised to redefine the debate.
Many of the scientists featured in this report consistently stated that numerous colleagues shared their views, but they will not speak out publicly for fear of retribution. Atmospheric scientist Dr. Nathan Paldor, Professor of Dynamical Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author of almost 70 peer-reviewed studies, explains how many of his fellow scientists have been intimidated.
“Many of my colleagues with whom I spoke share these views and report on their inability to publish their skepticism in the scientific or public media,” Paldor wrote. [Note: See also July 2007 Senate report detailing how skeptical scientists have faced threats and intimidation - LINK ]
That’s a lot of “Holocaust deniers“, wouldn’t you say?
There’s much more, so you should probably check it out. Exit question: Will the Chicken Littles of the junk science fad called global “warming” accuse all 400+ scientists of being on Exxon’s payroll?
If you have never checked out the conservative satire site The Nose On Your Face, you just may suck. To end the suction, check out this post from the guys. Beverage alert, my friends…put your drinks down before reading.
“How NOT to endear the base to your candidacy”, by the Huckster. Were he writing such an article, he could start right here:
What’s the Huckabee universe’s take on why Rush Limbaugh does not like the man from Arkansas? I asked a prominent DC-based Huckabee ally:
“Honestly, because Rush doesn’t think for himself. That’s not necessarily a slap because he’s not paid to be a thinker—he’s an entertainer. I can’t remember the last time that he has veered from the talking points from the DC/Manhattan chattering class. If they were praising Huckabee, he would be too.”
“Also, I have to think that he’s dying to have Hillary in the White House. Bill Clinton made Rush a megastar. Having another Clinton back in power would make him the Leading Voice of the Opposition once again.”
Nice job, “ally”! Insult the man held in high esteem by the vast and overwhelming majority of the GOP base! What’s next, theorizing that tax hikes are just the cure for the mortgage lending crisis? Not doing your man any favors, are you? By the way, does anyone know what in the blue hell this boob is talking about by his “DC/Manhattan chattering class” remark?
Idiot.
McCain’s campaign is dying from Ebola and a case of hypocrisy and corruption…but mostly from a case of hypocrisy and corruption.
Johnny Mac, the Arizona RINO whose purported contempt of “special interests” in DC spurred him to push a campaign finance reform bill, is screaming like a banshee right now. Mac, you bend over and kiss your campaigning behind goodbye. From Drudge:
MEDIA FIREWORKS: MCCAIN PLEADS WITH NY TIMES TO SPIKE STORY
Thu Dec 20 2007 10:56:57 ET
Just weeks away from a possible surprise victory in the primaries, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz has been waging a ferocious behind the scenes battle with the NEW YORK TIMES, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, and has hired DC power lawyer Bob Bennett to mount a bold defense against charges of giving special treatment to a lobbyist!
McCain has personally pleaded with NY TIMES editor Bill Keller not to publish the high-impact report involving key telecom legislation before the Senate Commerce Committee, newsroom insiders tell the DRUDGE REPORT.
The paper’s Jim Rutenberg has been leading the investigation and is described as beyond frustrated with McCain’s aggressive and angry efforts to stop any and all publication.
MORE
The drama involves a woman lobbyist who may have helped to write key telecom legislation.
The woman in question has retained counsel and strongly denies receiving any special treatment from McCain.
Rutenberg, along with reporter David Kirkpatrick, has been developing the story for the last 6 weeks.
Rutenberg had hoped to break the story before the Christmas holiday, sources reveal, but editor Keller expressed serious reservations about jounalism ethics and issuing a damaging story so close to an election. (Pffff-bwahahahahahaha! Yeah, I’m sure that concern really crossed Keller’s mind! – Ed.)
McCain campaign officials Rick Davis, Charlie Black and Mark Salter are also said to have met with the NEW YORK TIMES in an effort to halt publication.
When McCain decried the influence that “special interests” have, who knew he was referring to the influence they had on himself, too?
All Chris Cuomo does here is give us a glimpse of what goes through the average leftist’s gourd about his own country. Via Extreme Mortman (with a link to the video clip here):
Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama appeared on Good Morning America today. Most of the interview consisted of standard boilerplate political fare, but GMA host Chris Cuomo asked Obama one question that says more about Cuomo’s beliefs than anything else. He asked Obama what is the greater obstacle for him in the presidential contest, Hillary’s political machine or “America’s inherent racism.” Nice. To his credit, Obama doesn’t pick up the card and play it himself.
This merely lays the groundwork for a ready-made excuse should Barry O not win the primary (which would mean that Democrats are “inherently racist” for not picking him, right?) or the general election.
They tried that narrative when Harold Ford, Jr., was the only Democrat in a close Senate race to lose: Tennesseeans are just too bigoted to vote for a black man! Couldn’t it be due to TN’s conservative electoral make-up or Ford’s policies? Nope…it’s because Ford’s black. That kind of reflexive race-baiting without introspection or consideration of alternative explanations will likely be on display should Obama lose the general election, but will likely be absent should his own party reject him in the primary (since the MSM wouldn’t dare suggest that Dems are “inherently racist”).
From Instapundit:
GEORGE W. BUSH, CLIMATE-CHANGE HERO:
The Kyoto treaty was agreed upon in late 1997 and countries started signing and ratifying it in 1998. A list of countries and their carbon dioxide emissions due to consumption of fossil fuels is available from the U.S. government. If we look at that data and compare 2004 (latest year for which data is available) to 1997 (last year before the Kyoto treaty was signed), we find the following.
* Emissions worldwide increased 18.0%.
* Emissions from countries that signed the treaty increased 21.1%.
* Emissions from non-signers increased 10.0%.
* Emissions from the U.S. increased 6.6%.
In fact, emissions from the U.S. grew slower than those of over 75% of the countries that signed Kyoto.They told me that if George W. Bush were elected, the United States would lag behind the rest of the world on greenhouse gases And they were right!
UPDATE: Actually, if you look at the most recent years the news gets better:U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels decreased by 1.3 percent in 2006, from 5,955 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (MMTCO2) in 2005 to 5,877 MMTCO2 in 2006, according to preliminary estimates recently released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The economy, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), grew by 3.3 percent and energy demand fell by 0.9 percent indicating that energy intensity (energy use per unit of GDP) fell by 4.2 percent. Carbon dioxide intensity (CO2 emission per unit of GDP) fell by 4.5 percent.The market seems to be doing what Kyoto hasn’t. (Somewhat related item here).
Wow. “Do as I say, not as I do”, enviro-nuts?
I have been saying for quite some time that the overwhelming #1 reason that Kyoto (and similar crap) was passed was to burden the U.S. to the point of wrecking its economy, and this here proves it. After all, if other countries were primarily motivated by “saving humanity” from a cosmic microwave tomb, they would be leading the way instead of getting punked by the “evil” America.
This is but another chapter in my forthcoming book “Why We Should Ignore Liberals Who Say We Should Emulate Europeans”, and believe you me, I’ve got tons of material for that book! From the UK:
A convicted criminal has moved in with a married couple against their wishes after giving their address in court as his home.
Shane Sims, 19, has spent the last few days living with Brenda and Robert Cole after he was sentenced to a week’s curfew for breaching a supervision order.
But the couple claim the first they knew about it was when Sims, a friend of their daughter, moved in on Thursday – followed by security contractors who put a box in a bedroom to monitor his movements with an ankle tag.
Sims’ tag keeps him indoors between 7pm and 7am much to the horror of the Coles, who both have learning difficulties.
Mrs Cole, 47, said: “It’s turned our lives upside down.
“He’s taken over the whole place. He sprawls across the sofa and he’s always in the bathroom when you need it.
“It’s an absolute disgrace. They’ve let a criminal come into our home and there is nothing we can do about it.
“How can he get away with giving false details? Can crooks pick anywhere they like and just move in? Who needs to break into a house when the courts will do it all for you?
“When the men turned up and installed the tag box, I thought it was some kind of a joke. I told them there had been a mistake but they just said it wasn’t their problem.”
Sims appeared before magistrates last Thursday where he admitted breaching a two-year supervision order imposed for assault.
He gave the Coles’ Bristol address as his bail address but the Probation Service did not verify it.
Sims claims he was told he could stay by the Coles’ 16-year-old daughter Tanya after he fell out with his father.
He allegedly told Mrs Cole: “I’m staying here until the tag’s off. There’s f**k all you can do about it. The courts have told me to.”
The court said it was looking into the situation but police said they could not act without a court warrant.
Sims said: “I said ‘I’ll be gone before Christmas’ and I will be. I can’t see what the problem is. They keep changing their minds. I don’t even want to be here.”
A spokeswoman for South Gloucestershire Council, whose social workers care for Mr and Mrs Cole, said: “We are seeking legal advice and doing all we can to resolve the situation.”
Stupid. #ss. Euros.
Yesterday, I posted about how Congress was approving “emergency” money to fund defense lawyers for criminal aliens. That post was based largely on House member Roy Blount (R-MO), who one would assume has actually read the bill. Well, one would assume incorrectly.
According to Michelle Malkin (with all the appropriate links):
These lawyers are the lawyers who work to defend and enforce deportation and removal orders. And the money included in the spending measure was at the President’s request.
In other words, these lawyers are the good guys.
I’ve raked idiot Democrat legislators over the coals for their refusal to read or understand what is in legislation on which they vote. If nothing else, I’m consistent: this Republican is just as stupid, if not stupider, for popping off at the mouth over a bill he doesn’t even understand. I expect that kind of “feeling, not thinking” (or, in this case, “reading”) from the left, but not from the right. Congressman Blount, please don’t humiliate yourself like that again, m’kay? Thanks in advance, bonehead.
The nutroots’ “Only Man Who Can Save America” went on FNC to defend his decision to keep donations from the vilest of society’s miscreants. From Allah:
Red herrings galore in response to Cavuto asking why he won’t return the $500 donation he got from Stormfront degenerate Don Black. Answer #1: “It’s probably already been spent.” Fortunately, money is fungible. Answer #2: “I see no purpose for me to start screening everybody who sends me money.” No one’s asking him to screen everybody (although major donors would be nice). The fact of Black’s donation was handed to him on a platter by a third party. If outside agents are willing to screen for you gratis, why not avail yourself? Answer #3: If he gives the money back, that’s $500 Black has back to spend on Nazism. In that case, why not re-gift it to a third party? I hear the Wiesenthal Center does good work. Answer #4: “The real evil” is the military/industrial complex. I’ve heard his supporters float this turd of an excuse before and it never fails to irritate me, not because there isn’t plenty evil about special interests but because it requires them to suddenly become very obtuse about the unique contempt with which racism, especially of the white supremacist variety, is regarded in America. We can argue about whether this or that Pentagon project is necessary for defense or just a lucrative money pit for militarists; not much room for argument on Don Black, though. Taking his money is a way of saying yeah, he’s a pig, but not much more of one than Boeing is, really. And even a pig’s got a right to eat, no? A small legitimization but a legitimization nonetheless.
So why not dump the money, particularly given what a small drop it is in the ocean of dough Paul’s swimming in and how his refusal to do so has extended the shelf life of this otherwise unpleasant but minor story? No idea.
Dude raises close to $6 million in one day, and he’s got a tough time returning $500 to a neo-Nazi? Boy, now that is the kind of principle (not to mention money mismanagement) we’ve come to expect from elected officials, huh?
Her Highness just so happened to be in Donnellson, Iowa, and just so happened to be talking about the importance of prayer and her religious faith, and just so happened to…well, why ruin the story? Check it out yourself:
According to the Associated Press, at a campaign forum in the fire station, which will be a caucus site come Jan. 3, Clinton happened to be asked about her religious faith. Practicing Methodist, she responded, adding, “I’m often asked if I’m a praying person and I am a praying person. My father prayed at his bedside every night and we prayed at the table over dinner.” (Presumably, this prayer with her father occurred well after he named her for a famous man who…um…had yet to become famous. – Ed.)
Then, the most incredible thing happened. Someone pointed out that Clinton’s childhood Sunday school teacher, Rosalie Bentzinger, from her Park Ridge, Ill. days happened to be right there in the very same Iowa fire station at that same moment. What are the odds? The Sunday school teacher stood up. Clinton rushed over to hug her. It was a warm moment.
The 84-year-old Bentzinger gave Clinton a photograph she happened to have with her. And Clinton announced, “She has a picture of my confirmation class — March 27, 1959.”
Last month, some folks may recall, Clinton was forced to admit planting questions in a similar forum audience in Newton after a student revealed a Clinton campaign staffer had handed her a question on global warming to ask. Clinton denied this was a regular practice and vowed it wouldn’t happen again.
Today, Clinton aides said they were unaware the Sunday school teacher was in the crowd. Still, the incident happened to make a warm story to help personalize the candidate.
Wow. What are the odds that a woman she just so happened to attend Sunday school with many moons ago would just so happen to show up in a small Iowa town nowhere near the teacher’s hometown, and would just so happen to be carrying a picture nearly a half-century old that showed Her Highness as a good little church girl? I mean, that’s just a remarkable coinkidink, wouldn’t you say? Nah…me neither.
She just can’t help herself, can she? She’s a compulsive “gardener”, and a compulsive liar, too. No wonder her and Bubba are made for each other.
A spokesperson for Iranian company, Iran Khodro, says its “Islamic Car” should be readily available throughout the Middle East, parts of Asia, and Africa, in three years.
The car will have options including a compass to find Mecca and a compartment for a Koran. Priced between $8,700 and $12,000, the vehicle is meant to appeal to buyers who would like a car designed with Muslims in mind and produced by a company that acts in line with Muslim values.
No word as to whether or not the vehicle will come with a self-detonate button or a hybrid engine that runs on both gasoline and the blood of Jewish women and children, but I’m sure those details are forthcoming.
The House did the responsible thing by passing a fiscally sound bill that includes $10 million in “emergency” funding for a border fence.
Come on, people…you know darned well I’m shiiting you! From CNS News:
What can you say about a 3,500-page appropriations bill that stands more than a foot tall? Nothing good, according to Republicans. But Democrats are spinning the spending bill as a step in their much-talked-about “New Direction.”
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said the bill is full of “misguided” policy decisions: “On one page, for instance, you will find a set of new restrictions on the construction of our security fence along the border; on another, $10 million in ‘emergency’ funding for attorneys of illegal immigrants.
…
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed passage of the catch-all measure as a positive thing, saying it would end “seven years of failed Bush Administration economic policies that are out of touch with the concerns of the American people.”
That’s the Dems’ answer to criminal immigration: give ‘em lawyers. It’s not bad enough they want bloodthirsty camelhumping weirdbeards in Gitmo to have counsel, but now they want people who wantoningly disregard our laws and aren’t here lawfully to have them, too. Is this what San Fran Nan considers “in touch with the concerns of the American people”?
I’m telling you to go ahead and mark this on your calendar as a prediction made three years out: Harry Reid will not run for re-election in 2010. That could be the only sane explanation for why he keeps saying crazy shiite like this with impunity.
Harry Reid doesn’t know when to give up, or more precisely, when to give up on giving up. After spending the last several months trying to live down his declaration of America’s defeat in Iraq on the Senate floor, Reid once again gave al-Qaeda a propaganda boost that sounds as if he took it from Ayman al-Zawahiri’s latest video message:
Indeed, Republicans have gotten their way in the battle over spending, have forced Democrats to jettison rollbacks of tax breaks for oil companies, and have beaten back attempts to pay for expanded children’s health care programs with a tobacco tax increase. Even though they’re in the minority, the GOP, backed by President Bush, has used the filibuster to block Democratic priorities over and over this fall.
“Who’s winning?” Reid asked a group of reporters. “Big Oil, Big Tobacco. … Al Qaeda has regrouped and is able to fight a civil war in Iraq. … The American people are losing.”Really? I realize that Reid spends most of his days in denial, but even the media has dropped this meme. The Petraeus surge has driven AQ to the brink of complete disaster in Iraq, so much so that many of them have shifted to Pakistan. The level of violence in Iraq has starkly decreased, avoiding the “civil war” that Reid seems eager to declare.
Remember Hillary’s insult to David Petraeus involving a willful suspension of disbelief? Reid must have a willful suspension of reality.
Go to hell, Reid.
When she’s not busy suffering multiple defeats on an Iraqi surrender bill, San Fran Nan is doing “the people’s work” in productive ways like this:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may have left her progressive instincts at the barn door when she drove a starch-, sugar- and fat-bloated bill that all but left out organic farmers through the House last summer, but when it comes to food for Congress, it’s out with high-fructose corn syrup and in with uncaged hens and hormone-free milk.
Under Pelosi’s signature “Green the Capitol” initiative, the House cafeterias will get a full-blown makeover Monday to the very latest in organic and locally grown cuisine under a new contract with Restaurant Associates, caterer to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The vast House food service operation that feeds the belly of the beast – more than 2.5 million meals a year for members, staff, tourists, lobbyists, lawyers, journalists and other highly regarded species that inhabit the Capitol – is switching to locally grown, organic, seasonal and generally healthy food. It will be served in compostable sugar cane and corn starch containers instead of petroleum-based plastics. Even the knives and forks will be biodegradable.
Leadership, my friends. You better recognize. For those of you on the left, the prior two sentences were sarcasm.
Polls are about as useful as the United Nations, especially this early in campaigns. I mean, the ABC News poll has Obama ahead of Shrillary and Silk Pony 33%-29%-20%. But according to InsiderAdvantage’s poll (used by MSNBC, in this article), Silky leads over the Hildebeast and Barry O to the tune of 30%-26%-24%. Our local news last night said that Hellary is now up by 17% after the endorsement of major newspapers (anybody know when an MSM endorsement ever meant anything?).
Fortunately (and mercifully), the Hawkeye Cauci is only about two weeks away. I don’t know about you, but I’m already tired of the campaign, and we’re nowhere near the general election yet.
You all are painfully aware that Democrats are functional economic illiterates. Every time you turn around, you hear some leftist halfwit claim that Bush gave tax cuts to the vile rich, and thus the rich are undertaxed.
Ignoring the reality that the top 1% of income earners already pay over 39% of all income taxes and that the top 50% of income earners pay a whopping 97% of all income taxes, there’s another fundamental flaw in leftards’ line of thinking: it just ain’t freakin’ true! From the WSJ:
Every Democrat running for President wants to raise taxes on “the rich,” but they will have to do something miraculous to outtax President Bush. Based on the latest available tax data, no Administration in modern history has done more to pry tax revenue from the wealthy.
Last week the Congressional Budget Office joined the IRS in releasing tax numbers for 2005, and part of the news is that the richest 1% paid about 39% of all income taxes that year. The richest 5% paid a tad less than 60%, and the richest 10% paid 70%. These tax shares are all up substantially since 1990, and even somewhat since 2000. Meanwhile, Americans with an income below the median — half of all households — paid a mere 3% of all income taxes in 2005. The richest 1.3 million tax-filers — those Americans with adjusted gross incomes of more than $365,000 in 2005 — paid more income tax than all of the 66 million American tax filers below the median in income. Ten times more.
…
Notably, however, the share of taxes paid by the top 1% has kept climbing this decade — to 39.4% in 2005, from 37.4% in 2000. The share paid by the top 5% has increased even more rapidly. In other words, despite the tax reductions of 2001 and 2003, the rich saw their share of taxes paid rise at a faster rate than their share of income. How could this be?
One explanation is that the Bush tax cuts reduced the income tax liability of middle and lower income households by more proportionately than the rich. The average family of four with an income of $40,000 saw its income tax liability fall by about $2,052 a year from the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.
This part is sure to piss off life’s losers:
The IRS statistics also tell a more complicated economic story than the media claim. First, America continues to be a society of upward income mobility. Over the past decade, millions of Americans have joined the once highly exclusive club of six- and seven-figure earners. Some 304,000 Americans earned $1 million or more in annual income in 2005, compared to 110,000 in 1996 and 176,000 in 2000. Because there is no cap on the top income share, this increase in millionaires pushes the top income (and taxes paid) share higher. The number of millionaire households in net worth also increased to nine million in 2006, up from six million in 2001, according to TNS, a global market research firm.
Liberals decry this as proof of a new “gilded age.” But we’d say these gains are a sign that more Americans are joining the ranks of the truly affluent. More than 13 million American households, or about one in 10, had an income of more than $100,000 a year in 2005. This is the kind of upward mobility that a dynamic society should want because it means that incomes aren’t stagnant and opportunity continues to exist.
Well, slap my chiseled tush and call me Sally! You mean that we don’t live in an oppressive society that only affords select people the opportunity to succeed with the help of big government? Who knew?
The icing on the cake:
The amount of capital gains declared on tax forms has doubled since the tax rate was cut to 15% from 20% in 2003, which has also contributed to more Americans being “rich.” Dividend income has also increased by at least 50% since that rate was cut to 15% from nearly 40% in 2003. So part of the income gains of the rich are simply a result of assets that have been converted into taxable income — in part because of lower tax rates.
We hate to break up the media’s egalitarian chorus with these details, but facts are facts. If Democrats really want to soak the rich, they’ll keep tax rates where they are, or, better, lower them some more.
See, tax cuts are NOT a zero-sum game, people! I’m trying to determine if liberals are that economically stupid, that deceitful, or some combination thereof.
Her Highness has set up a web site, called “The Hillary I Know”, to launch her new campaign initiative: likeability. In the South, we have this saying: You can’t polish a turd.
Here’s a tip: people who are truly likeable do not have to start a campaign to convince people that they are likeable! The fact is that Shrillary is a cold, calculating b#tch, and everybody knows that. The fact that she has some leftist shills on a web site asserting the opposite is irrelevant.
By the way, as Newsbusters points out, one of the aforementioned shills on Her Highness’ new turdpolishing site is Jim Blair. While CNN was busy touting the Hildebeast’s new site, others noted that one of the testimonials there belongs to “one of her closest friends in elementary school”…Jim Blair. Via Newsbusters:
Political junkies should know that name: Jim Blair is the Tyson Foods lawyer who mysteriously set rules aside and massaged Hillary’s $1,000 investment into a $100,000 bonanza in the cattle futures market over nine months in 1978 and 1979.
Yeah, that little tidbit didn’t quite make its way onto “the reality-based community” candidate’s site, did it?
Captain Crazy and his Merry Morons are giddier than Larry Craig in a bathroom stall at The Blue Oyster Club at the amount of jack they drew in the other day: $5.5 – $6 million. With that kind of fundraising prowess, dude may finally crack double digits in the polls. Then again, calling Christians “fascists” isn’t gonna score the Bircheresque crank many brownie points in a Republican primary, now is it?
There are those who are certain that a candidate’s ability to raise money quickly will translate into electoral success. Two words for those folks: Howard Dean. He raised a boatload of dough in 2003 and early 2004, only to flame in every state (save Vermont). The same thing will happen here, without question.
In addition to the Fairness Doctrine and campus speech codes, we now have another example of a kind of totalitarianism of which the left is fond: enviro-fascism. From David Thompson:
Transport policy-makers should start preparing now for a dramatic reduction in motorised travel that will be brought about by carbon rationing, one of the country’s leading environmental thinkers told LTT this week. “Just start reading the runes because what’s going to happen is the demand for road, rail and air travel is going to start falling away just as soon as we have rationing,” says Mayer Hillman in an interview with the magazine.
Hillman, senior fellow emeritus at the Policy Studies Institute, says carbon rationing is the only way to ensure that the world avoids the worst effects of climate change. And he says that the problems caused by burning fossil fuels are so serious that governments might have to implement rationing against the will of the people. “When the chips are down I think democracy is a less important goal than is the protection of the planet from the death of life, the end of life on it,” he says. “This has got to be imposed on people whether they like it or not.”Hillman’s anticipated Tyranny That Cares™ will, reassuringly, also apply to its author, as reported in a glowing Guardian profile from 2002…
Oh, please! These greenie weenies have a different (and higher) set of standards by which they live, all while preaching to us to lower our own standards.
When Democrats won control of Congress last year, one of their promises was to restore some semblance of fiscal responsibility. Those of us with brains knew they meant “raise taxes to pay for bloated big-government spending”, but others actually believed they would stop wasteful spending.
Instead, we’ve seen the Democrats thwart efforts at curbing earmarks (pork) and publicizing pork votes. It seems that regardless of who is in power, the thirst for taxpayer dollars for vote-buying pet projects is one that cannot be quenched. NRO has further evidence (as if you really need any):
Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R., S.C.) office is the first with a press release in my inbox:
- Earmarks: Instead of reducing the number of pork projects in the federal budget, the bill drives the number of earmarks up from last year. The bill contains over 8,000 earmarks, bringing the total for 2008 up to over 10,000 earmarks compared to just 2,658 in 2007.
- Spending Gimmicks: Instead of cutting wasteful spending out of the bill to bring its cost down to the President’s level, the bill uses budget tricks and gimmicks to hide at least $14 billion in extra domestic spending.
- Policy Riders: Instead of limiting the package to spending needed to fund government operations, the bill includes unrelated policy items. Many of these riders are backed by special interests, such as organized labor, and could not win passage on their own.
Cut spending? That’s just crazy talk!
New Jersey just recently banned capital punishment and commuted the sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison. In and of itself, that doesn’t bother me. After all, the 10th Amendment says that states are free to set their laws as they so choose, provided the laws are not unconstitutional.
However, this part does bother me:
The man who raped and killed 7-year-old Megan Kanka — the 1994 crime that inspired “Megan’s Law” — is one of eight men whose sentences were commuted to life in prison this week as part of New Jersey’s new ban on execution.
The Garden State on Monday became the first state in more than three decades to abolish the death penalty after a commission ruled the punishment is “inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.”
Gov. Jon Corzine the day before commuted the sentences of eight men sitting on the state’s death row. They will now serve life in prison without parole, according to the governor’s office.
Among the eight is Jesse Timmendequas, 46, who was sentenced to death in June 1997 for Megan’s murder.
Prosecutors said Timmendequas lured Megan to his home by saying he wanted to show her a puppy. He then raped her, beat her and strangled her with a belt. A day later, he led police to her body.
“Megan’s Law,” introduced after her death, requires that authorities notify neighbors when a sex offender moves into an area. Timmendequas had twice been convicted of sex crimes — on 5- and 7-year-olds — before he murdered Megan.
The cretin who is responsible for the creation of Megan’s Law gets to continue drawing air through his piehole, despite having been sentenced by a jury of his peers (in a state that rarely executes anyone, just to get an idea of how heinous his crimes were). What also bothers me is that 53% of New Jerseyans opposed abolishing the death penalty, and only 39% supported banning it (poll here). Yet the liberal politicians knew the fallout of ignoring their constituents would be minimal, and so ignore them they did.
Maybe you support capital punishment, and maybe you don’t. That’s cool, since reasonable people exist on both sides. Most complaints that I have heard against capital punishment involve cases were the innocent are wrongly executed. That is a completely legitmate concern, and it’s actually one that I share. However, in the case of this scumbag Timmendequas, he confessed to everything, so there’s no doubt about his guilt.
If NJ wanted to implement a ban, my own personal opinion is that it would have been less controversial to have implemented it from this point forward, not retroactively to those who are currently condemned.
Check this out:
A northeastern Ohio high school senior who sent an e-mail to the Church of Satan threatening to kill his grandparents was taken out of school this week and remains in police custody, police said.
Andrew Culver, 18, told police the e-mail, detailing his intention to kill his grandparents and steal their money and car, was a joke, said Bazetta Township police Chief Charles Sayers.
According to police, Culver wrote he had access to an arsenal of weapons and wanted to “kill in the name of our unholy lord Satan.”
Culver sent the message on Wednesday to Peter Gilmore, the high priest of the New York City-based Church of Satan, Sayers said. Gilmore then alerted the FBI, which notified local police. Culver was taken out of class on Thursday and questioned by police, Sayers said.
“To send an e-mail making specific threats, to sign your name, that to me is not a joke,” Sayers said.
Gilmore said his church discards most of the hundreds of e-mails it receives a day. But Culver’s message stood out, he said.
“I thought it could be a joke, but with recent events in Colorado and Nebraska, I thought it was better to play it safe,” he said.
Culver, who lives with his grandparents north of Youngstown in Bazetta Township, had an argument with his family this week and left home for a couple days before returning Wednesday, Sayers said.
Messages seeking comment were left at the Culver’s home and with the Trumbull County Juvenile Detention Center, where Culver is being held.
Charges will be discussed at a scheduled hearing on Monday, Sayers said.
I wonder why the head Satanist dude alerted the cops. I mean, one would think the kid was just doing what the Satanists would approve of, right? Geez, what kind of evil servant of the Dark Master is this Gilmore schmuck, getting the kid locked up before he could inflict pain and violence in Lucifer’s name?
Harsh conclusion? You tell me:
Jeanne Assam, the heroine of the New Life Church shooting in Colorado Springs, would likely have been unable to carry the Beretta that she stopped the shooting with if she had been a licensed security guard.
An AP article published on 12 December noted that licensed security guards in Colorado Springs are restricted to the use of revolvers.
As Jeanne Assam was a volunteer parishioner who was performing security guard duties because the church did not want to hire “mercenaries”, she was almost certainly not affected by the regulations, which only apply to government regulated security guards.
Fortunately, her lack of official status with the state and city allowed her to carry a firearm with sufficient firepower to accomplish the necessary task.
Jeannette had to fire 10 rounds to keep her fellow parishoners safe.
Got that? Security guards in Colorado, per state law, (a) must be regulated by the state; and (b) cannot carry handguns like Jeanne Assam was carrying that fateful day. However, by the grace of God, Jeanne was acting as a volunteer and private citizen that day, and as such, was able to neutralize any further threat from the gunman. Had she been a government-approved security guard, more people would have died in that shooting.
Recall the story of the murder of Canadian Muslim teenager Aqsa Parvez, slaughtered by her own father for her refusal to wear an Islamic garb. What seems to be the concern of the Muslim community? This is:
El-Sayyed said Islam teaches that women have the right to choose whether or not they want to wear the hijab.
But the Muslim leaders admitted a child who didn’t wear the hijab could bring shame to a family, and the parents could be viewed as failures in the community.
Nice. “Shame to the family” isn’t brought about by murder. Nope, shame is brought about because that little parasitic whore wouldn’t wear a friggin’ scarf. I mean, if the dad wasn’t allowed to smite the impudent little harlot, just what was he supposed to do, right? The bloodthirsty camelhumper has a reputation, and if it means wasting his own flesh and blood so as not to appear soft in his fellow weirdbeards’ eyes, then so be it.
