Stupid enough, indeed

I don't follow all that many people on Twitter, mostly friends and my favorite bloggers. One of the people I follow is IowaHawk, a blogger I heard about from Toes.

David Burge is hilarious. Mostly, he's hilarious because he's got a sniper's talent for hitting at the very essence of an issue. A great example is this tweet from yesterday.

As one of those falling into that category, I must say: guilty as charged.

For years I've said that the official motto of the state of Maryland should be, "If you can imagine it, we can tax it". Maryland has been a one-party state practically non-stop since Reconstruction. And it shows. Maryland Donkeys put the "tard" in "libtard".

Not content with chasing off most of the state's millionaires by raising their taxes in 2008, Governor Martin O'Malley (known as "owe Malley" around these parts) and the one-party drones in the legislature apparently want to chase off the rest of the tax base as well.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Maryland is nuts.

Expect to hear that I've moved to Virginia sometime in the near future.

From each according to his ability...

Welcome to Amerika!

Americans break into two roughly evenly matched camps on the question of whether the government should enact heavy taxes on the rich to redistribute wealth in the U.S. Forty-seven percent believe the government should redistribute wealth in this way, while 49% disagree, similar to views Gallup found four years ago.

Republicans and Democrats have sharply different reactions to the government's taking such an active role in equalizing economic outcomes. Seven in 10 Democrats believe the government should levy taxes on the rich to redistribute wealth, while an equal proportion of Republicans believe it should not. The slight majority of independents oppose this policy.

I'm not at all surprised that 70% of Donkeys support wealth redistribution. I wish I could say that I'm surprised that 30% of Elephants support wealth redistribution...but I'm not. See McCain, John.

Of particular interest is the way men and women view wealth redistribution. Only 42% of men, regardless of political party, approve of it, while 52% of women think it's just ducky.

That any American citizen finds wealth redistribution acceptable saddens me. It is yet another example of how the public schools have failed us. Stealing from the productive does NOT end poverty. It just spreads it.

Maryland's lost icon

There are certain people one associates with Maryland. Cal Ripken. H.L. Menken. John Unitas.

One of those people synonymous with Maryland passed yesterday.

William Donald Schaefer, the dominant political figure of the last half-century of Maryland history, died Monday after a "do-it-now" career that changed the face of Baltimore while bringing a burst of energy to the city he loved. He was 89.

William Donald Schaefer was Maryland. No one before or since has dominated Maryland politics like Schaefer did in his heyday. He served 4 terms as Mayor of Bawlmer, 2 terms as Governor, and a couple of terms as State Comptroller for good measure. And he did it with a style all his own.

Schaefer transcended political labels. I voted for him every time he ran for whatever office he was pursuing. His party? Which office? Didn't matter. Willie Don Schaefer flat out got things done. Positive things.

Schaefer converted Baltimore from "Cleveland by the Bay" into the kind of place that actually attracts tourists (and their money). He acted to keep businesses in Maryland when his fellow Dems were actively trying to tax the bejeesus out of anything that moved (Maryland motto: "If you can imagine it, we can tax it").

But the most important thing WDS did, IMO, was take Maryland's third-world quality highway system and convert it into the East Coast's finest in the span of only 8 years. This is no exaggeration. Baltimore/Washington International Airport used to only be accessible via a 2-lane highway (actually a paved-over cattle trail) in the 1980's. Seriously, can you think of anything more third-world than that?

Willie Don could be a buffoon, to be sure. But it was calculated buffoonery. It was his self-deprecating way of calling attention to Maryland, and particularly to Bawlmer, HIS city.

RIP Willie Don. There'll never be another one like you.

Vulture Droppings: Budget negotiated, or theater of the absurd

Vulture Droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.

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At one point in the budget negotiations, Il Duce said, "It's time for adults to take over the budget talks."

As if!

Sadly for We the People, there are no adults in Washington. It makes for a lousy government. But it also makes for great theater, if "theater of the absurd" is your preference.

This edition of Vulture Droppings looks at the absurdities of the past week's negotiations.

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First, a little history.

Normally a budget is proposed shortly after the State of the Union speech and approved well before the end of the current fiscal year in September. Last year was different. Even with a Donkey as president, a Donkey-controlled House (by a big margin), and a Donkey-controlled Senate (with a 60-40 supermajority), Congress was unable (or, more accurately, unwilling) to complete a budget prior to the end of FY10. They elected to punt. The government has run on "continuing resolutions" for this entire fiscal year.

Fast forward to March. NOW all of the sudden it's the end of the world if the budget doesn't get passed! Mark this down on your score card as Childish Act #1.

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But that was minor league compared with what would follow. Over the past two weeks we've been treated to juvenile behavior the likes of which is seldom seen in any government at any time.

First it was the Elephants, trying to slip in targeted cuts based on pure ideology. Oh, don't get me wrong: the government has no business giving tax dollars to Planned Parenthood, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (PBS), National Public Radio (NPR), or the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Each and every one of those things need to have their funding cut. But, by playing the ideology card during a period in which the stated goal was to avert a shutdown (and the resultant boost to a wounded and vulnerable president: see Clinton, Bill), the Elephants proved yet again that they are the Stupid Party.

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Not ones to let an opening go to waste, the Donkeys used the de-funding of Planned Parenthood as the focus of their retrenchment strategy. Or as an excuse to come unhinged, depending on your viewpoint.

Sen. Charles Schumer roared, "The dangerous, ideological cuts to Planned Parenthood that passed the House are never, never, never going to pass the Senate.” Never mind that your dangerous, ideological spending on Planned Parenthood is part of our debt problem. Schumer also got in a cheap shot against the Tea Party, saying, “What we have here is a flea, wagging a tail, wagging a dog,”

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter said that Republicans are "here to kill women". Get hysterical much?

Nevada's curse on the country, Sen. Harry Reid, said, "Republicans want to shut down the government because they think there's nothing more important than keeping women from getting cancer screenings. This is indefensible and everyone should be outraged." Srsly, Harry? That was stupider and more hysterical than Congresswoman Slaughter. He also took a shot at the Tea Party, saying, "[T]he Tea Party...is trying to push its extreme social agenda, issues that have nothing to do with funding the bill." Extreme? Really, Harry? This from the guy selling "Republicans support cancer in women"?

And, as carefully choreographed as it always is, professional protesters appeared on the scene, complete with hysterical signs like, "Republicans! Stay away from my vagina!

You can't make this stuff up.

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The Elephants were more restrained, but still managed to underwhelm. House Majority Leader Boehner haughtily sniffed that the Donkeys weren't serious about cutting spending. Various members of Congress sniped at the idea of our troops not getting paid. Uh, whose fault would THAT be, exactly?

To the Elephants' credit, Sen. Paul Ryan presented a serious budget plan that would result in eliminating the debt. This plan, of course, was met with hysteria by none other than the former Air Force 3, Nancy Pelosi, who called the plan "a path to poverty for America's seniors [and] children and a road to riches for big oil". Damn, Nancy! You hit two hot button moonbat issues in one fell swoop.

For the record, Sen. Ryan's plan has a snowball's chance on the plains of Hell of passing.

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Bottom line, nothing real was accomplished. The Elephants and their sycophants at Fox News are trumpeting a GOP victory. Victory? Srsly? You reduced spending by $31 billion in a budget whose deficit alone is $1,500 billion! That's a victory?

No, that's sad.

Coming soon: the rematch, as the Elephants and the Donkeys renew their kabuki dance with the looming debt ceiling brawl. Hilarity will ensue. Sadly, hilarity will ensue.

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Il Duce sets a trap

Il Duce gave his State of the Union speech last night. Deadeye watched the speech. I went to bed - 4:30 AM comes early, ya know. She said Il Duce did a good job. Good for him. [/sarcasm]

I read the transcript. It's the best way with these kinds of speeches. It's just so easy to get caught up in the applause lines and rhetorical flourishes otherwise.

The speech was actually quite good. Give credit where credit is due. But he also set a trap for the Republicans, a trap they'd be wise to avoid.

Now, I have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law. (Laughter.) So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses. (Applause.)

What I'm not willing to do — what I'm not willing to do is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a preexisting condition. (Applause.)

I'm not willing to tell James Howard, a brain cancer patient from Texas, that his treatment might not be covered. I'm not willing to tell Jim Houser, a small business man from Oregon, that he has to go back to paying $5,000 more to cover his employees. As we speak, this law is making prescription drugs cheaper for seniors and giving uninsured students a chance to stay on their patients' — parents' coverage. (Applause.)

So I say to this chamber tonight, instead of re-fighting the battles of the last two years, let's fix what needs fixing and let's move forward. (Applause.)

Let's fix what needs fixing and let's move forward. Yeah.....

If Team Elephant's so-called leadership falls for this "please don't throw me in the brier patch!" tactic, they deserve the electoral slaughter they'll incur in 2012.

Il Duce is trying to set up a situation where the abortion that is Obamacare becomes associated with Republicans as well as Democrats. If he gives a little here and there but keeps the essential structure of Obamacare intact, he reasons, when people face the nightmare that health care will become, their ire will be bipartisan.

Of course, the RINO leadership in Congress is just stupid enough to fall for this transparent ruse.

I said some time ago that the Tea Party made a gargantuan mistake by not forming a third party or joining forces with one of the existing third parties. When I'm right, I'm right.

Demagoging tragedy

Frankly, I don't know which sickens me more: the abhorrent mass murder committed by a sicko-psycho in Arizona that also left Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded, or the reaction to her wounding in the media.

Big Media (the BM for short) -- the same BM that demanded that we "not rush to judgment" following the Ft. Hood mass murder by a sicko-psycho -- rushed to judgment bigtime this time.  "Right-wing rhetoric" was blamed by some, an ironic claim, it turns out.  The shooter was described as "quite liberal" and a "political radical" by classmates.

Turns out when it comes to hateful rhetoric, the left doesn't fare too poorly itself.  Caribou Barbie hung in effigy.  Il Duce quoted as saying, "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun". Ironic.

  Sarah Palin Caribou Barbie was blamed for "putting a bulls-eye on Rep. Giffords", an ironic claim, it turns out.  A Daily Kos blogger said that Giffords was "dead to me" just two days prior to the attack.  Not quite a bulls-eye, but ugly nonetheless.

Of course, Faux News came out all in defense of Caribou Barbie.  What?  You expected differently?  Regardless of where you get your news, children, you're gonna get spin.

Naturally, the Tea Party was blamed as well.  Yeah, all of that "hateful rhetoric" about sticking to the Constitution really makes folks want to kill their Congress-critter [/sarcasm].

Naturally, the Succubus of State had to weigh in, calling the shooter, "an extremist".  Takes one to know one, I suppose...

But the simple fact is that the shooter is mentally unbalanced.  How unbalanced?  Enough to where his college classmates were scared of him.

No one is blaming Caribou Barbie, or the Tea Party, or even Calvin Klein for this kook who castrated a journalist.  Not the right political angle, I suppose.

Look, it's no secret that I hate Team Donkey and Team Elephant equally.  Anyone who thinks that either of them is "the good guys" is drinking the Kool Aid.  But the partisan demagoguery on display the past two days has been nauseating.  And frankly, you have to ask, if the wounded Representative had an 'R' after her name, would there be all of this finger pointing and whining about "hateful political rhetoric"?

I think you know the answer to that question...

Vulture Droppings: Electoral Defeat

Vulture Droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.

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Some of you are going to read the title of this point and come to the conclusion that I've finally gone around the bend.  You're going to assume that I've completely LOST IT.  While you may, in fact, be right about my failing sanity (until you've lived a workload like I've had for the past 4 months, you have NO IDEA what insanity really feels like), I am speaking from the heart here.

This edition of Vulture Droppings deals with my analysis of the 2010 elections, which are, thankfully, finally over.  If I had to watch one more ad for Candidate A in which Candidate B was painted as Hitler's more evil twin, followed apace by an ad for Candidate B in which Candidate A was painted as worse than Stalin, I think I would have stuck a pencil in my eye.

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It is said that a pessimist views the glass as half full, while the optimist sees it as half empty.  So what does that make me?  I see the glass as nearly empty, leaking, and what little water remains in it is polluted.

What most so-called conservatives are touting as a major electoral victory is nothing of the sort.  Team Elephant won the House - hey, how 'bout that?  "Oh come on, Vulture!  Even you have to concede that the historic taking of the House is a major victory!"

No.  No I don't.

The House will make for a nice, boisterous legislative soap opera for the next two years.  But the Senate is still under the control of Harry Reid (more on that later), and the White House is still in the clutches of Il Duce.  Good luck getting anything constructive done in the next two years.

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What constitutes victory? What defines defeat?  Let me take a stab at it.

• Victory would have included a major purge of Team Donkey leadership.  

See Harry Reid?  Still standing.  See Nancy Pelosi?  Sure, she's no longer the Screecher of the House...but she's still standing.  See Barney (Elmer Fudd's evil twin) Frank?  Still standing. Team Elephant might not have had a legitimate chance at taking down "Air Force 3".  But that senile old fool Harry Reid was ripe for the taking.  And Barney Frank was extremely vulnerable, given his cozy relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  But the elitist snobs that run Team Elephant (into the ground, I might say) weren't about to lend any material support to a commoner like Sharon Angle.  She wouldn't fit in at a Washington cocktail party at all!  Neither was there any real effort on the part of the Elephants to take down Frank.  You leave Harry Reid and Barney Frank standing -- that's not victory.

• Victory would have included a change in the kind of candidates elected by the Elephants.  

Set aside for a moment Rand Paul's win in Tennessee.  See anyone else "different" winning anywhere?   I don't.  And, no, Marco Rubio doesn't count.  I think he's every bit the faux conservative that John Boehner is.

Sharon Angle?  Joe Miller?  Christine O'Donnell?  They were undermined at every turn by the Elephant elites.  Face facts, conservatives: your side threw the game.  They were happier with losing those races than with dealing with commoners in their midst.

But don't worry.  John McCommie won reelection.  Yeah....

• Victory would have set the stage for the dismantling of Obamacare.

You can't roll back Obamacare with just the House.  Face facts -- we're stuck with it.  In 2 years, even if the Elephants win the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, they'll throw up their hands and say that Obamacare can't be rolled back because too many people are dependent on it.  That's Washington DC Realpolitik.

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You're going to think I've lost my mind, but I'm actually sorry that Russ Feingold lost his Senate seat in Wisconsin.  Yeah, he's a big Lefty.  But he's an HONEST big Lefty.  And he was one of the few in Washington willing to stand up to the abuses of the DHSS (you can't spell Schutzstaffel without the double S).

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One final observation on the election.  No matter the political climate.  No matter the economic parameters.  Even if the very survival of the human race were at stake, it just wouldn't matter.  The People's Republic of Maryland will vote Democrat.

The Elephants didn't even bother to field a candidate against Senator-since-Reconstruction Barbara Mikulski.  Yeah, there was some guy's name with an 'R' next to it on the ballot.  But I wouldn't recognize him if he was standing in my kitchen carving the turkey at Thanksgiving wearing a sweater with his name embroidered on it.

6 of 8 Congressional districts went Donkey.  The 2 that didn't?  Frederick County and points west, and the Eastern Shore, both heavily agricultural.

Martin O'Malley, quite possibly the worst governor in the State's history, won in a crushing landslide against former governor (and RINO) Bob Erlich.

Yeah, I'm ready to move.  You can't live in Libtardia for 20-plus years and not have it affect you.

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Vulture Droppings: Most Importantist Election Ever Edition

Vulture Droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.

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There's an election tomorrow.  Hey, how 'bout that? [/sarcasm]

"Shame on you, Vulture!  It's the most importantist election ever!"  Uh huh.

"Vulture!  It's all different this year!  The Tea Party is gonna change everything!"  Really?  How so?  The Tea Parties have been completely co-opted by Team Elephant.  Why would I say that?  What evidence do I have of such a thing?  A sampling:

Some traditional Republican consultants are advising — with a straight face — that newly elected Republican members of Congress "reach across the aisle…and "work with the Democrats."

John Boehner "rallies the troops" with empty (and limp) words "backing" Tea Party principles.  He swears spending will be rolled back to "pre-bailouts levels".  Seriously?  Going from $1.5 trillion deficits to $1 trillion deficits?  Oooooh!  I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO impressed!

And worst of all, the Queen of Inside the Beltway faux conservatism "celebrates" the Tea Party as having "saved" Team Elephant from King George the Dim.  Ms. Noonan, for those of you who weren't paying attention, was one of King George's biggest apologists during his 8 year reign of error.

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"Vulture! Even YOU have to admit that we're better off with Republican-co-opted Tea Party candidates than with the Dhimmi-crats who have rammed a 50-year wish-list of Progressivism down our throats the past 4 years!"

Better?  Better HOW?  BETTER would have been for the Tea Parties to have come together as a third party or under the umbrella of one of the existing third parties (Libertarian or Constitution, for example).  BETTER would be for those candidates to be able to enter Mordor on the Potomac (hat tip: Mike Church) with a clean slate and a fresh canvas than to walk into the clutches of Mitch McCommie and John BaneTurd.

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Here's the big reason I'm so unenthusiastic.  I'll lay it out in a single sentence.  The co-opting of the Tea Parties by Team Elephant guarantees the failure of the principles that brought those people together.  Guaran.  Effing.  Tees it.

There is no principle that Republicans will not run from, no compromise they will not accept, no stand crucial enough for them to make.

What happens to the Tea Parties after their "champions" are relegated to the Congressional equivalent of the Back Bench, and the John Boehner Business-as-Usual express continues propping up Crony Capitalism?  What happens after Mitch McConnell compromises for the umpteenth time on a point of principle that just SCREAMS for men of courage and conviction to just say "NO!"?

You kill this once-in-a-political lifetime awakening of the sheeple, and you kill any chance we ever have of wresting power away from the looters.

But that's the idea really, isn't it?  That's why the GOP has co-opted the Tea Parties.  They like the gravy train that is "public service" in Washington every bit as much as Team Donkey does.

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Vulture Droppings: Interesting Times

Vulture Droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.

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The old curse is, "May you live in interesting times."  We do.

This edition of Vulture Droppings looks at the "interesting" goings on of the past week, which, of course, had to occur during a week when I was absolutely slammed at work.

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Election rhetoric is in full stride as "the most importantest election ever" nears.  Team Donkey, always disdainful of the little people in flyover country, is in full throat blaming the voters for the coming slaughter they face.

Democrats seeking to boost voter turnout this fall are beginning to sound like the late comedian Chris Farley's portrayal of a "motivational speaker" on Saturday Night Live. Farley's character sought to inspire young people by announcing that they wouldn't amount to "jack squat" and would someday be "living in a van down by the river."

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who prefers sailing vessels to vans by the river, recently tried out the Farley method. Said Mr. Kerry, "We have an electorate that doesn't always pay that much attention to what's going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what's happening." Bay State voters are surely thrilled to be represented by a man so respectful of their concerns.

This week President Obama chimed in with another uplifting message about the American electorate. Mr. Obama told Rolling Stone that the tea party movement is financed and directed by "powerful, special-interest lobbies." But this doesn't mean that tea party groups are composed entirely of corporate puppets. Mr. Obama graciously implied that a small subset of the movement is simply motivated by bigotry.

The President said "there are probably some aspects of the Tea Party that are a little darker, that have to do with anti-immigrant sentiment or are troubled by what I represent as the President." The tea party is now supported by a third of the country in some polls.

Perhaps advocates for smaller government shouldn't take Mr. Obama's comments personally. In the new Democratic attacks on the voting public, not even Democrats are spared. Vice President Joe Biden recently urged the party's base to "stop whining" and "buck up," a message echoed by Mr. Obama in his Rolling Stone interview. The President demanded that his supporters "shake off this lethargy," warning that it would be "inexcusable" for liberals to stay home on Election Day.

Mr. Obama added that "if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place." Making the case for left-wing voters to show up in November, Mr. Obama told Rolling Stone that he is presiding over "the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward."

We'd agree, but his problem is that most Americans don't like that agenda and millions of voters in both parties wanted him to oversee an economic expansion instead. Blaming the voters is not unheard of among politicians, but usually they wait until after an election.

Great stuff. The Donkeys are selling a stupid electorate so they don't have to face the reality - that their policies are poison.

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And why wouldn't they blame the voters?  After all, it's not like they have anything else to fall back on, particularly when the Screacher of the House has approval ratings that mirror those of BP.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's negative ratings have hit an all-time high in the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. A full 50 percent of those surveyed have a somewhat or very negative impression of Pelosi, while just 22 percent have a somewhat or very positive impression of her.

Pelosi's negative rating is precisely the same as oil giant BP, which has taken a public relations beating in the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill.

Negatives on par with BP. Priceless.

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Stimulus was going to revive the US economy, remember? So why is it that it is China receiving the jobs stimulus was going to save?

Caterpillar, the world's largest manufacturer of construction equipment, will build a factory in China to produce mini hydraulic excavators, the company said in a statement.

Caterpillar, you may recall, was one of the companies claiming that stimulus was going to allow them to rehire laid-off workers.

Jim Owens, the CEO of Caterpillar, Inc., "said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off."

Hey, Owens! Thanks for "rehiring" all of those workers.

Asshole.

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We're constantly told that government spending cuts are impossible.  Tell that to France.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's government launched a "historic" attack on France's soaring overspending on Wednesday, unveiling a budget which closes tax loopholes and imposes unprecedented spending cuts.

Such a reduction so quickly is widely regarded as a huge undertaking, and a correction on this scale has never been achieved in modern French history.

Hey, how 'bout that?

But our spineless government can't find the will to do anything remotely similar. Sad.

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A brilliant campaign strategy

If you're going down - I mean going down hard - and you know it, what do you do?  You could just give up, I suppose.  But if you're Team Donkey, you never say die!  In what may be perhaps the single most brilliant campaign strategy ever, the Donkeys are unveiling a brilliant strategy of threats of what they will do if they lose Congress in the 2010 elections.

That's why there have been signs in recent weeks that party leaders are planning an ambitious, lame-duck session to muscle through bills in December they don't want to defend before November. Retiring or defeated members of Congress would then be able to vote for sweeping legislation without any fear of voter retaliation.

"I've got lots of things I want to do" in a lame duck, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W. Va.) told reporters in mid June. North Dakota's Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, wants a lame-duck session to act on the recommendations of President Obama's deficit commission, which is due to report on Dec. 1. "It could be a huge deal," he told Roll Call last month.
[...]
Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, chair of the Senate committee overseeing labor issues, told the Bill Press radio show in June that "to those who think [card check] is dead, I say think again." He told Mr. Press "we're still trying to maneuver" a way to pass some parts of the bill before the next Congress is sworn in.

Other lame-duck possibilities? Senate ratification of the New Start nuclear treaty, a federally mandated universal voter registration system to override state laws, and a budget resolution to lock in increased agency spending.

Then there is pork. A Senate aide told me that "some of the biggest porkers on both sides of the aisle are leaving office this year, and a lame-duck session would be their last hurrah for spending." Likely suspects include key members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Congress's "favor factory," such as Pennsylvania Democrat Arlen Specter and Utah Republican Bob Bennett.

"SOOOOOOOOOOOO! You think you can just discard us like yesterday's trash!  Try it an we'll unleash hell!"

How brilliant is this strategy?  My first thought after I read the article was, "OMG!  We'd better pray that the Donkeys win in November!"  Then the portion of my brain dedicated to cynicism (that would be 99.9%) kicked in and I realized that the reaction I had is the reaction their strategy is intended to trigger!

Give credit where credit is due.  They're evil geniuses, those Donkeys.  Evil effing geniuses.

Further proof "conservatives" don't get it

I frequently receive email advertisements from NewsMax.com.  It's what happens when you don't pay attention to checkboxes when you "register" for a website.  I could unsubscribe.  But then I'd miss gems like this.

It is remarkable that Theodore Roosevelt (TR to his friends), who has been beloved as an iconic patriot and president, would become a controversial figure today.

This unusual development is largely due to the rise of Glenn Beck.

Glenn has been right on many issues and his views are resonating with Main Street.

But he is wrong on one big issue: Theodore Roosevelt is not, as he claims, the root cause of President Obama’s intrusive, “big government” policies.

It is no accident that TR’s face is chiseled into Mount Rushmore along with those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, as he is rightly regarded by historians as one of the greatest presidents in American history.

As TR himself might say, "Balderdash!"

TR is on Mount Rushmore because President Calvin Cooledge was adamant that, in addition to the Father of our Country, George Washington, the monument must include two additional Republicans and one additional Democrat.  Since Republican Presidents not named Reagan have been uniformly dreadful, TR was settled upon as the second Republican, the tyrant Abraham Lincoln being the first.

Notice that the two Democrats chosen for the monument had been dead in the neighborhood of 100 years at the time they were chosen.  You really do have to go back that far to find a Democrat who was worth a damn.

Back to TR.

I've been reading a book called American Progressivism.  It's a tough read; it mostly consists of the speeches and political writings of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.  Mr. Ruddy, TR was everything Glenn Beck says he was.  He may even be worse than Beck has alleged.  Roosevelt was actually proposing grander Fascist policies during the 1912 Presidential campaign than Wilson was!  While Roosevelt may not have brought about the world's first Fascist government -- that was left for Wilson to accomplish -- he was instrumental in setting the table for Wilson's abuses.

So why is Ruddy so adamant in defending Roosevelt?

A few words of disclosure here: I am an ardent Theodore Roosevelt devotee and have been a longtime member of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (the membership roster has me listed after another TRA member, Karl Rove).

And my brother, Daniel Ruddy, a historian, is the author of a new book called “Theodore Roosevelt’s History of the United States” (published by Harper Collins). It draws upon TR’s own words to construct a unique history of the United States based on Roosevelt’s colorful insights and provocative views.

Ah, now it becomes clear! His brother has written a "history" of Roosevelt. The word "history" is in scare quotes because we're all familiar with the kind of "histories" we get when authors with a predisposition to adulation for the subject of their work write.  They tend to produce slavering paeons that conveniently omit the subject's peccadillos.

Anyone who calls themselves a conservative but thinks that TR was peachy keen is no friend of freedom.  No one -- I repeat, NO ONE -- who loves freedom can justify the policies and pronouncements of this smug, "I know best what's good for you the sheeple" elitist a-hole.

Of course, that's the kind of disinformation we get from the Team Elephant mainstream these days.  Get used to it.  Because, notwithstanding all pronouncements to the contrary, this Elephant hasn't changed its spots.  It's every bit the Donkey Lite party in 2010 that it was in 2008.

The case for a third party

There is a particular litmus test I have for whether or not someone is serious about restoring this country to its former state as a Constitutional Republic.  That test is this: are you opposed to the creation of a third party whose purpose is to elect candidates committed to a return to the Constitutional rule of law?  If the answer is "no", then you've shown yourself to be yet another duped sheeple drinking that Team Elephant Kool-Aid.  I cannot in good conscience take you seriously.

Many blathering heads take umbrage with my stubborn insistence that the current political parties are totally co-opted and cannot be reclaimed.  They quote Ronald Reagan, who said, waaaay back in 1977:

I have to say I cannot agree with some of my friends—perhaps including some of you here tonight—who have answered that question by saying this nation needs a new political party.

I respect that view and I know that those who have reached it have done so after long hours of study. But I believe that political success of the principles we believe in can best be achieved in the Republican Party. I believe the Republican Party can hold and should provide the political mechanism through which the goals of the majority of Americans can be achieved. For one thing, the biggest single grouping of conservatives is to be found in that party. It makes more sense to build on that grouping than to break it up and start over.

Rather than a third party, we can have a new first party made up of people who share our principles. I have said before that if a formal change in name proves desirable, then so be it. But tonight, for purpose of discussion, I’m going to refer to it simply as the New Republican Party.

At this point they follow up with a rather childish, "See? See? The great Ronald Reagan said it! We need to stay Republican and save the Party."

There's only one problem with that illogic: Reagan failed.

For all of the accomplishments of Ronald Reagan as President, he was unsuccessful in his quest to fundamentally change the character of the Party.  Look at the last four candidates for President in the post-Reagan era:

• George H. W. Bush, Rockefellerite
  


• Bob Dole, Big Government true believer
  


• George W. Bush, Neocon
  


• John McCommie, RINO
  

That's not the slate of candidates a party espousing individual liberty and small government foists upon its followers.

"But Vulture!  The Republicans have changed!  They've really changed going in the 2010 elections".

No, no they haven't.  They haven't changed one bit.  You know how I know that?

• Michael Steele is still the RNC chairman
  


• John McCommie is being pushed by Party elites over J. D. Hayworth because he's "more electable"
  


• Party elites are still pushing for Mitt Romney to be the standard-bearer in 2012
  

Here's the rub.  We know that Team Donkey wants power to implement their vision of Big Government.  But the same is true of Team Elephant - they want power to implement their vision of Big Government.  Neither gives a rat's ass about you or your personal freedoms.

A strong third party will offer a chance for real change in Washington, if done correctly.  It can be a haven for small-L libertarians, small government conservatives, and independents, as well as for current members of Team Donkey fed up with the Fascist takeover of their party by the toxic 60's generation.

Perhaps even more import is the impact it would have on the two big Parties.  Both would be forced to move from their current entrenched positions - either further to the Left or drawing back to the Right - in order to attract voters away from the new party.  For the first time since Reagan, libertarians and conservatives wouldn't have to hold their noses to vote.  That alone is reason enough for me.

Think I'm full of it?  Hit me with your best shot.  I'm dying to see where you think I'm "wrong".

Scott Brown - once messiah, now turncoat?

Of all of the stupid nonsense! Scott Brown, once hailed as the golden boy, the new Team Elephant messiah, is now being lambasted as a Benedict Arnold on "conservative" web sites. His crime? Voting for Il Duce's "jobs" legislation.

"We campaigned for you. We donated to your campaign. And you turned on us like every other RINO," said one writer, using the initials for "Republican-In-Name-Only."

The conservative-tilting Drudge Report colored a photo of Brown on its home page in scarlet.

Get hysterical much, Elephants?

Brown, to his credit, went on the offensive.

The new senator responded by calling in to a Boston radio station.

"I've taken three votes," Brown said with exasperation. "And to say I've sold out any particular party or interest group, I think, is certainly unfair."

The senator said that by the time he seeks re-election in two years, he will have taken thousands of votes.

"So, I think it's a little premature to say that," he said.

Look, people. Let's get something straight. Winning Ted Kennedy's seat with a slick, carefully scripted "man of the people" campaign didn't make him the Team Elephant messiah. Brown's win seemed to be of greater importance because his win derailed much of Il Duce's Fascist agenda by eliminating the Donkeys' 60 vote "Go eff yourselves Elephants" super majority. Beyond that, it wasn't all that surprising. Hell, even the People's Republic of Maryland elected a "moderate" Republican in the past decade, and for the same reason that Brown won Massachusetts: because he ran against an "entitled" candidate who happened to be a moron.

Bob Ehrich won the Maryland Governor's race in 2002 because his opponent Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's sole qualification for public office was her maiden name. She lost -- against all odds in heavily liberal Maryland -- because she possessed the intellect of a house plant.

I'm sorry if I insulted any house plants with that comment.

Likewise, Scott Brown would have NEVER beaten a Donkey with any kind of charisma or ability to articulate an intelligent thought. He won because he ISN'T Martha Coakley. That and nothing more.

That Scott Brown would turn around and shaft the people who got him elected is no surprise, either. The problem with "conservatives" is that they haven't yet learned that the Elephants are not their friends. The Elephants are every bit as bought-and-paid-for as the Donkeys. They're simply a different side of the same coin. They care as little about you and your ideals as the Donkeys do.

You have to believe me when I say that only a third party or a hostile takeover of one of the two existing major parties will allow "conservative" and libertarian voices a place at the table in Washington.

Missed it by that much

Right about now Il Duce is feeling the sting of defeat. And the Vulture is enjoying the bliss that is schadenfreude. Why? Because health care legislation the forcible take-over of 1/7 of the American economy by the federal government has gone down in flames.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she lacks the votes to move the Senate's bill through the House and to Obama's desk. Under a plan backed by the White House, the new law would be followed by a separate measure making changes sought by House members, such as easing the Senate's tax on higher-cost health plans.

"Air Force 3" lacks the votes? But...the American people demand government health care! Il Duce said so!

The turning point? No surprise there: it was the election of Scott Brown as Senator in Massachusetts.

Pelosi, D-Calif., spoke to reporters after House Democrats held a closed-door meeting at which participants vented frustration with the Senate legislation.

Many rank-and-file Democrats said the stunning defeat in this week's Massachusetts special election — in which Republicans captured the Senate seat held for decades by the late Edward M. Kennedy — meant it was time to seek more modest health legislation.

Let me translate. Team Donkey Congresspukes saw one of their own go down in flames in the most liberal place in America outside of Berkeley, and it occurred to them that their cushy gig in Washington would surely meet a similar fate if they were caught on the wrong side of the steaming legislative turd crafted by "Air Force 3" and Harry Reid.

One vote. One special election turned the tide. Pelosi and Reid and Il Duce were simply going to hijack 1/7 of our nation's economy, the people be damned. One vote saved us from that.

We missed this fate by the narrowest of margins (as Maxwell Smart would say, "Missed it by that much!"). We just missed having our very lives consigned to Der Staat, signed, sealed, and delivered. We would have gone from citizens to property overnight.

Now is the time to ponder whether Il Duce is a skilled politician or simply an ideologue who's in way over his head. As I wrote prior to Duce's inauguration, he can overreach and recover, like Clinton. Or he can overreach and expose himself as a simpleton W-A-A-A-A-Y out of his league, like Carter. Or - the worst scenario of all - he can go all Woodrow Wilson on us and unleash the deadly power of Der Staat against its citizenry.

Interesting times. Interesting times indeed.

Vulture Droppings - Il Duce's first year in office

Vulture Droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.

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It's been 1 year since Il Duce took his oath of office. 1 year ago, Il Duce put his hand on the Bible and swore that he would uphold the Constitution. And he has - if by "uphold" you mean "wipe your ass with it".

This special edition of Vulture Droppings is a look at the Obama presidency, year 1. And what a year it's been.

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The following is a list of Il Duce's greatest achievements from his first year in office.

* sound of crickets chirping *

Uh.....yeah.

Even the Associated Press expressed dismay with the lack of tangible achievements from the President's first year in office in a piece entitled "After year, hope turns into disappointment."

Forget "can," "change" and, above all, "hope." The new word echoing in the blogosphere and beyond as Obama enters Year Two: disappointment.

Disappointment may be the word of the day for supporters of the One World Socialist Utopia, but the rest of us are left jaws agape at the magnitude of overreach perpetrated by Big Media's (the BM for short) Chosen One.

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Where to begin describing the voracious magnitude of Il Duce's grasping? Here's the short list - I'm sure I've forgotten something.

• The nationalization of 2/3 of the American automobile industry
• The nationalization of a large number of financial institutions
• A cabinet full of tax cheats and grifters
• A racist Supreme Court appointee
  
• A gargantuan, monstrous stimulus package (read: corporate welfare)
  
• The decision to treat terrorists as criminals, complete with the rights guaranteed to American citizens
• A Nobel Peace Prize for.........hmmm, I STILL haven't figured that one out yet
  
• Cap-and-Trade legislation
• The Hopenhagen "deal" (non-binding, thankfully) for reducing greenhouse gases
  
• Escalation of the war in Afghanistan (breaking a campaign promise in doing so)
  
• Nationalized health care (read: the forced takeover by the federal government of 1/7 of the American economy)
• Trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see
  

Now, in fairness, it must be noted the the nationalization of the automotive industry and financial institutions was simply a logical continuation of King George the Dim's policies. It must also be noted that Mr. Obama inherited Afghanistan.

But the rest of it is all Duce's - every last fetid, steaming, freedom-sapping piece of it.

---

Il Duce's stunning affinity for the fascist (or corporatist) economic model has been breathtaking. Many mistakenly call Duce a socialist or communist. Oh no, not he! He is a National Socialist in the tradition of Mussolini, Franco, Peron, and, of course, Hitler.

Mind you, I want to make clear that Duce's comparison to Hitler is economic only -- at least for now. We'll see if he goes "Woodrow Wilson" on us as his plans for the reinvention of America begin to run into increased opposition.

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So what can we expect in the coming year? It's hard to say, particularly today, when Massachusetts (WHA-WHA-WHAT?!?!?!?!) has elected a Republican to Teddy Kennedy's seat in the senate. There have been more documented Bigfoot sightings than Republicans elected to the Senate by Massachesetts, for crying out loud! I didn't think anyone could top Bill Clinton's feat of losing the House of Representatives to the Republicans after 40 years of Team Donkey control; this may, in fact, be bigger than that.

The fallout has been stunning. Many Donkeys are running for cover, not wanting any part of the healthcare legislation that Scott Brown used as the fulcrum to pry Kennedy's seat away from the Donkeys.

Il Duce insists that he is going to stick to his agenda. Apparently, that would include even more nationalization of private businesses, starting with student loans. It remains to be seen if Donkey party members of Congress will play along after losing the People's Republic of Taxachusetts.

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So here's hoping that the DoublePlusGoodHopeChange we were promised dies a quick and painful death before our nation does. The 2010 elections can't come soon enough.

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Weekend wrapup

Ah, the weekend that was! 50 degrees and beautiful on Saturday, 40 degrees and rainy on Sunday. And thank God it was 40 degrees! Had the temps been 10 degrees colder, we'd have had about 1 1/2 to 2 feet of snow!

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Boy can the Vulture pick 'em! I was wrong on EVERY SINGLE GAME played in the Divisional Playoffs this weekend. Thank God I'm not a gambler - I would have lost my shirt!

The Cardinals started it off with a thud by playing the absolute worst defense in playoff history against the Saints. Then the Ravens laid an egg. Then the Cowpukes dropped a cow pie. And then the Norv Turner Project once again did what the Norv Turner Project does best - choke away the big one.

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And while we're on the subject of "choke" - how about that Pro Bowl kicker, Nick Kaeding? He gacked away 3 - count 'em, 3 - kicks, including one that would have made it a one-score game. When you look at Kaeding, Neil Rackers, and Shayne Graham, and their "performances" in this year's playoffs, I think it's safe to say that we may have witnessed the 3 least clutch performances of the 21st century in one playoff year.

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Boy are the Cowboys a big bunch of babies! Keith Brooking took umbrage yesterday when the Vikings put up a late touchdown with the game already firmly in hand. Hey, Keith! As Lou Holtz once said, "It's our job to score points. It's their job to stop us from scoring points." So stop QQ'ing and man-up!

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Am I the only one who was damn sick and tired of hearing about Haiti every 15 minutes during the football games? Yeah, they had an earthquake. Yeah, they're butt-HURTing right now. We get it. Can we PLEASE watch the games - our escape from the real world - without getting your faux sensibilities thrust in our faces? Please?

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Team Donkey is really sweating this Massachusetts special election for "Ted Kennedy's" seat. Wassa matta, Donkeys? Afraid you won't be able to ram any more fascism down our throats without your supermajority?

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Monday. It's like a glass of ice water in the face. Bye, weekend!

Wiener of the Year - 2009

It's time for the least prestigious unknown award currently offered on the old WWW - The Vulture's Wiener of the Year.

I started with a list of potential nominees I considered to be quite deserving. Toes made some suggestions of her own.

My nomination for WotY is the Prezbo. Second is a 3 way tie between Pelosi-Reid-Nepolitano. Can't forget Al Gore or the Nobel Committee

All good candidates, all deserving of the dishonor.

Before I name the Wiener, I'd like to give appropriate "props" to the also-rans.

• President Obama, Il Duce to you regulars. What an MCF of a presidency this guy has had so far! Stimulus dollars for his well-heeled buddies. The Fascist takeover of a large portion of the financial sector and 2/3 of the Big Three auto makers. Special deals for his "friends" buried in the disastrous health care reform Fascist takeover of 1/7 of the nation's economy. And let's not forget his participation in the grotesque charade that is the AGW myth. He's awful, and most deserving of a Wiener.
  


• Al Gore and his sycophants who comprise Big Warming. Not even the smoking gun of the leaked emails of faux scientists actively perpetuating fraud in the service of One World Socialist Utopia (AKA Climategate) has slowed Mr. Gore and his ilk from pursuing new ways to destroy the economies of the West and bring about their desired One World government. He's deserving of a Wiener; hell, he's deserving of a Lifetime Achievement Wiener!
  


• Pottawattamie County, Iowa, prosecutors. As I detailed last April, these execrable slimeballs deliberately hid exculpatory evidence that might have cleared two innocent men from prosecution for killing a police officer. For these lowlifes, winning the case took precedence over justice. They deserve to spend the same 25 years in jail that the two defendants endured. Wiener worthy? You bet!
  


• Congress. Where to begin? (I believe I used those same words for last year's detailing of Congress' Wiener qualifications). Ah, the accomplishments of this Congress! Nationalization of a large percentage of our nation's financial sector. Nationalization of 2 of the Big Three automakers. Passage of Cap and Trade. Passage of health care reform the fascist takeover of 1/7 of the nation's economy, pending committee resolution of the House and Senate bills. And let's not forget H.R. 4173, the "financial reform" legislation passed by the House earlier this month, which provides for as much as $4 trillion in emergency funding the next time Wall Street crashes. God help us when these avaricious clowns are in session. Most Wiener-worthy, particularly leaders Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi and Harry Reid.
  


• Big Media (the BM for short). These Il Duce-worshiping tools have been most successful at ignoring news that is inconvenient to his royal worship's dismantling of our economy. They've also managed to almost completely ignore Climategate. Virtually all news related to Climategate and its particulars has come from the British press. The BM should be ashamed. As I wrote last year, they are, collectively, as pompous, imperious, and out-of-touch a group of people as anyone on this planet outside of Congress. Their Wiener-cred is unchallengeable.
  


• Judge Barbara Walther (last year's Wiener). She has done everything in her power to steamroll through convictions against FLDS men accused of crimes in the wake of the militaristic (and questionably Constitutional) raid on the Yearning for Zion ranch last year. She has shown her true colors as an authoritarian who wipes her ass with the Constitution. She is worthy of a Wiener, but more appropriately deserves prison time for judicial malpractice.
  


• The Team Elephant establishment, who insist on marginalizing populists like Ron Paul and Sarah Palin in favor of Rockefellerite losers. There will be no two party system in this country so long as elitists run the Republican party. Wieners? You betcha.
  


• The Team Donkey establishment. The party of John Kennedy, Scoop Jackson, and Hubert Humphrey is now the party of Bill Ayers, ACORN, and Nancy Pelosi. This is NOT a party interested in advancing America or American interests. They are all about establishing a One-World Socialist Utopia. The only question is whether they are more deserving of a Wiener or to be brought up on charges of treason.
  


• Janet Napolitano. What a waste of oxygen! From the minute she took her position as the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHSS - you can't spell Schutzstaffel without the double S) she has been an epic fail. Her handling of the latest act of terrorism was epic in its incompetence. She needs to be fired. She's a walking example of what the Wiener award is all about.
  

This year's Wiener was chosen because of the harm that people like these pose to a free Constitutional republic (or, in the case of the USA, what REMAINS of a free Constitutional republic).

The 2009 Wiener of the Year is shared by two blogs: Caput Penitus Culus and FLDS Texas.

These two sites exist solely as a meeting place for bigots where they can share their bigotry in a little echo chamber.

They are openly hostile to arguments that bring their bigotry into question. They engage in the worst sort of character assassination imaginable against those whose views are different from their own. I was actually called a pedophile for simply opining on the Constitutionality of the YFZ raid!

Commenters who persist in questioning their views - particularly if those commenters match venom with venom - are banned as "trolls". There is no reaching these people with logic, reason, or even baseball bats.

So what makes them a threat to our Constitutional freedoms?

These are the very sort of people who made the Third Reich possible. They are people who are more than willing to attribute the worst sort of crimes to people different than themselves. They are people who are more than willing to see these scapegoated outsiders punished to the fullest regardless of what kind of shady actions were taken by the government to secure those convictions. All that matters to them is that the outsiders are punished (or, preferably, expelled).

They willingly sell our freedoms - particularly the 1st and 4th Amendments - just to assure that the government can "get" the outsiders. Then, as if that weren't enough, they pronounce legal justification for what has happened!

They are too caught up in their hatred and bigotry to figure out that they have imperiled anyone who is "different" in any way to be a target of voracious agents of der Staat. They're too stupid to realize that they've imperiled THEMSELVES.

You may disagree with my choice for WotY; if so, have at me via comments.

Congratulations, bastions of bigotry! You're the Wiener of the Year!

Soliciting nominees for WotY

In four days I will be naming the Wiener of the Year. As such, I am soliciting nominees for the "honor" from readers.

Currently the strong candidates are Il Duce, Big Media (the BM for short), Government Motors, Harry Reid, Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi, Congress, Team Elephant, Team Donkey, last year's winner Judge Barbara Walther, Big Warming (the email scandal was priceless!), plus a mystery nominee I'm keeping to myself.

Feel free to add your nominees via the comments like or email me.

Attempted balance

In a post last week, I excoriated the Left for their penchant for GroupThink. I certainly stand behind what I wrote. But it did get me thinking. Well, that and the Team Elephant leadership and their BS "big tent" (read: "Donkey Lite") electoral philosophy.

GroupThink isn't limited to Leftists. Life-long Republicans are just as guilty. "What?!?!?!?", you say. "Not ME!!!" Really? Answer honestly, dear Republican. Have you ever said or thought:

• A vote for a third-party candidate is a vote for the Democrat.
• A vote for a third-party candidate is a wasted vote.
  
• It doesn't matter who the candidate is, I vote for the guy with the 'R' after his name.
• Our nation's well-being can only be assured by Republicans.
• A RINO (i.e. John McCommie, Olympia Dukakis) is STILL better than a Democrat.
• The Republican party has the REAL interests of America at heart.
• Oh, he just says that stuff during the election to get moderate votes - he doesn't really BELIEVE those things; after all, he's a Republican.

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, you need to take a little quiet time to think things through. Because Team Elephant is led by individuals that are every bit as venal as those from Team Donkey and Team Elephant's record on ethics is every bit as tawdry as that of the Donkeys.

The fact is that every one of the statements in the bullet points is demonstrably false. A vote for a third-party candidate? It's an absolute DUTY for individuals in this country to vote their conscience and to vote for candidates -- regardless of party -- who reflect their beliefs. The only wasted vote is a vote for some despicable assclown for the sole reason that they have an 'R' after their name. If you have to hold your nose in order to vote for a candidate (i.e. John McCommie) then YOU'VE wasted your vote, NOT the individual who voted third-party.

RINOs have made much of the road to serfdom under a Fascist economic system possible. RINOs have made the abuses of the Education Department possible. RINOs -- particularly NeoCons -- made King George the Dim's Eternal War possible.

The bullet point that you need to rethink more than any other is this one: "Oh, he just says that stuff during the election to get moderate votes - he doesn't really BELIEVE those things; after all, he's a Republican."

It was THAT little gem of illogic that got King George the Dim elected.

An honest assessment

There's a reason why Camille Paglia is the one left-leaning columnist I consider a must-read. She is unfailingly honest. Though she supported Obama in '08 (and continues to support him now), she is not above criticizing him or his administration. She is one of the few Liberals to listen to rather than simply demonize blather radio (I don't know how she does it - I can't take more than about 20 minutes of that crap before I want to blow my brains out, especially if the blatherer in question is that gasbag pretentious phony Rush Limbaugh, who's nothing more than a cheerleader for Team Elephant).

Her latest column is further proof of her honesty. I can't do it justice with excerpts - please read it, you'll be glad you did. There are two paragraphs I will excerpt just to whet your appetite (I read them and said to myself, "I wish I'd written that!").

Throughout this fractious summer, I was dismayed not just at the self-defeating silence of Democrats at the gaping holes or evasions in the healthcare bills but also at the fogginess or insipidity of articles and Op-Eds about the controversy emanating from liberal mainstream media and Web sources. By a proportion of something like 10-to-1, negative articles by conservatives were vastly more detailed, specific and practical about the proposals than were supportive articles by Democrats, which often made gestures rather than arguments and brimmed with emotion and sneers. There was a glaring inability in most Democratic commentary to think ahead and forecast what would or could be the actual snarled consequences -- in terms of delays, denial of services, errors, miscommunications and gross invasions of privacy -- of a massive single-payer overhaul of the healthcare system in a nation as large and populous as ours. It was as if Democrats live in a utopian dream world, divorced from the daily demands and realities of organization and management.

Those of you on the political Right are applauding and hooting in appreciation right now. Hang on - she's got something for you as well.

Having said all that about the failures of my own party, I am not about to let Republicans off the hook. What a backbiting mess the GOP is! It lacks even one credible voice of traditional moral values on the national stage and is addicted to sonorous pieties of pharisaical emptiness. Republican politicians sermonize about the sanctity of marriage while racking up divorces and sexual escapades by the truckload. They assail government overreach and yet support interference in women's control of their own bodies. Advanced whack-a-mole is clearly needed for that yammering smarty-pants Newt Gingrich, who is always so very, very pleased with himself but has yet to produce a single enduring thought. The still inexplicably revered George W. Bush ballooned our national deficits like a drunken sailor and clumsily exacerbated the illegal immigration debate. And bizarrely, the hallucinatory Dick Cheney, a fake-testosterone addict who spooked Bush into a pointless war, continues to be lauded as presidential material.

Like I said - I wish I had written that! May both parties go the way of the Whigs, the Federalists, the Tories, and the Bull Moose parties.

Read Paglia and grok an honest assessment of the current political climate.