Drunk Pumpkins

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

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

Thanks for the picture OD!

Support the Troops by Listening to the Right People

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blackfive
Michael Yon
Michael Totten
Robert Kaplan

UN Protests "Summary Execution" Death by Drone

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

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

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

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

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

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

Disclaimer:  I am a humongous fan of Predator drones and the death they visit upon  7th century, goat violating, BO stinking, America haters.  My retirement flag flew on a Predator mission.  They told me a whole platoon of jihadis got smoked that night...

Yahoo - UN Funnies

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

Richard Milhous Obama Continues Assault on "Enemy" Fox

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

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

FOX News:  The only TV station where real debate happens

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

READ MORE >>>

Harry Health Care

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

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

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

The Blob That Ate Everything

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

33% of Health Care Costs Are Due to Waste

Reuters provides an annual breakdown of the inefficiencies:

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

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

* 18% Administrative inefficiency and redundant paperwork

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Reuters

Conservative Gut Check

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why I Love Mark Steyn

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

About Obama administration lefties such as Anita Dunn:

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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


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


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

Anyone think he'd still have a job?

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

Hope Floats

Balloon Dad is a douche bag

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

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

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

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

Michael Eden

Bloodiest Bedtime Stories

Anyone who has read the original stories of the Brothers Grimm know that Disney really cleaned them up before cleaning up with them.

The Independent has a cool feature on these stories with original illustrations.

API News: Letterman's Rape Victims Include Keith Olbermann

Letterman's Sexual Victims Included Famous Men

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Liberals Blowing Smoke and Breaking Windows

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

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

That $3 Trillion Will Come Out Of Our Pockets

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



Liberals are Economically Ignorant

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



About - Economics

WSJ - Gillibrand

Don't Cry for US, Argentina

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are we in decline?  Further Reading:

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

Eurotards Applaud Iraqi Shoe Thrower in Geneva

These are the same people who applaud President Obama

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AP - Shoe Thrower

What Next in Afghanistan?

Counter-Terrorism or Counter-Insurgency?  Good People Disagree 

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

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

READ MORE >>>

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

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

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

READ MORE >>>

Liberals Kill Racism

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

Why is is the Rush story important? 

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

"Racist!" has lost it's sting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read his entire article here:  Toby Harnden - Telegraph

Health Care in Black and White

The health care debate goes racial

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

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

READ MORE >>>

Hush Rush: Bigotry Goes Equal Opportunity

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

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

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

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

READ MORE >>>

Dangerous Deleware Cub Scouts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ABC News

Barack Milhous Obama adds FOX to his Enemies List

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

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

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

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

READ MORE >>>

Book Banning is Bogus

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

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

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

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

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

READ MORE >>>

Whatever Happened to Global Warming?

Senator Graham Believes in Fairy Tales

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

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

American President Wins Peace Prize, Bombs Moon in Celebration

President Obama won an anticipatory Nobel Peace Prize

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Knowledge and Flamethrowers

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

Ontological Angst:  Press Protests the Protesters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the left's repudiation of George Bush

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

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

But what has he done for peace?

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

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

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

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

* Obamawagen courtesy of Chicago Ray

Obama's "Empowered" America

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

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

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

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

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

READ MORE >>>

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

Obamamania Hangover

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

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

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

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Obama's Ugly America

Brazil got the Olympics over Spain, Japan and the US

Clear-eyed observers predicted it, because they know that despite Obama's election and ensuing apology tour, our "image" hasn't improved.  We still think they are surrender monkeys and they still think we are torturers.  Stereotypes are stubborn things 
 
Anybody who has lived in Europe knows this old joke:

Heaven is the place where the lovers are Italian, the police are English, the mechanics are German, the cooks are French and the place is run by the Swiss.

Hell is where the lovers are Swiss, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the

police are
German and the place is run by the Italians.

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The Benefits of Incompetence and Appeasement

The Obama administration's gross incompetence and naivete has an up side, at least in the foreign policy arena. It is forcing other nations to drop the anti-US crap, grow up, and act like adults:

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Mercedes Sosa: A Beautiful Voice Falls Silent

Mercedes Sosa, musical conscience of Latin America, passed away Sunday...

Mankind's loss is heaven's gain. Rest in peace Mercedes...

Why Polanski Must Face Justice

Europerv amoralists and Hollywood celebutards ask, "Why waste time and resources to extradite Roman Polanksi?"

He pled guilty and was convicted of unlawful sex with a 13 year old.  A 13 year old!  Because he has been convicted, the statue of limitations does not apply.  He fled the country to escape sentencing. 

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Cash For Clunkers: Government Math

I guess I must be on the wrong page on this "clunker" stuff...

A vehicle at 15 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline. A vehicle at 25 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.

So, the average clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year. They claim 700,000 vehicles – so that's 224 million gallons per year.

That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil…
5 million barrels of oil is about ¼ of one day's US consumption. And 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at $75 per bbl.

So, we all just spent $3 billion...to save $350 million.

Hmmmmmmmmm. How good a deal was that?
But, I'm thinking that they’ll probably do a great job with health care, though!

* - I got this in an e-mail. Origin unknown

The Constitution - Online resources make it easy

Viva Brasil!

Olympics Tip Sheet: Corruption, Socialist Beaches, or Global Warming?

Everyone is giddy waiting to see who the IOC will pick to host the 2016 Olympics.  The scandal-ridden international body is due to announce around at noon eastern.  Here's a quick tip sheet for those who couldn't care less:

USA - Chicago
As First Lady Michelle told us, this is for the children too fat and too dumb to ride bicycles.  But most of all, it's for the rich, over-privileged children of Barack and Michelle's millionaire slumlord cronies who stand to make millions if the committee is stupid enough to actually select that crime-ridden hell hole.

Odds:   2-1.  We kill and jail terrorists while laughing at global warming, so we have a few strikes against us.  But never underestimate the power of graft, corruption and international bribery.

Japan - Tokyo
Closed and xenophobic, Japan apparently had little to offer besides those little tiny cell phones and mp3 players.  But then their Foreign Minister broke down and cried about how the earth would likely burn up in less that a decade, making 2016 the last Olympics before the death of Gaia.

Odds:  4-1.  Who want to go to expensive, racist Japan?  Anyway, the committee probably saw these desperate histrionics for what they were.  Unless he shoved a pile of cash under the table during his crying jag, Japan is toast.


Brazil - Rio de Janeiro
Vibrant, lefty in a happy and prosperous kind of way, sexy, well-tanned as Berlusconi might say, Brazil is the odds-on favorite.  Anyone who has been there knows that Brazilians are happy, good-looking people, including their children.  There are 13-year old girls on the beach who have no business looking like that, and neither did I, so I forced myself to turn my head...

Odds:  1-1.  This is a goldmine for the perverts and pedophiles who infest self-important seats of international corruption like the IOC.  Throw in some good old-fashioned Latin American bribery (they learned it from Chicago) and Brazil is the clear winner.  

Spain - Madrid
Has anyone seen Spain lately?  Last I heard it was being threatened by terrorists.  Someone should knock on their door and check on them.  They may be dead in there...

HT to Dr Dave at Feed your ADHD for giving me this idea by posting a commentary much funnier than mine.

Lone Survivor: Afghanistan Now

 
Lone Survivor, a book published in 2007, is Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell's story of a 2005 Afghanistan battle. It is highly relevant to the current debate over our involvement in that distant, mountainous land.

I just got done reading Lone Survivor, by Marcus Luttrell. He tells the gut-wrenching story of ill-fated Operation Redwing, a special ops mission in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan that went horribly wrong for Luttrell's four-man SEAL team.

If you want to understand what's going on in Afghanistan, read this book. If you want a white-knuckle story of heroism under unimaginable conditions, read this book. If you want to reaffirm your faith in mankind, read this book. It will make you proud of your armed forces and proud to be an American.

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