Schoolhouse Rock: America Rocks!

Thank God for Youtube so I can get them all in once place. I love these history ones especially. In no particular preferred order:

How a Bill Becomes a Law


Shot Heard 'Round the World


No More Kings


The Preamble


Great American Melting Pot


Mother Necessity


Elbow Room


Fireworks


Three Ring Government


Sufferin' 'Till Suffrage

THAT Didn't Take Long...

Former Black Panther Bobby Rush reminds us once again that he has neither dignity nor class.

"I would ask you to not hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer," Rush said Tuesday...

Biggest Freaking Wah In The Universe

This thing is as big as your head. And it's LOUD and SHRILL. The gain knob on the side only adds about a trillion dbs when it's cranked. The upper end of the wah is like having an icepick in your ear. The jury is out on whether this one will remain in the collection or not.

I've wanted to try a Morley for a while. I had a Dunlop Crybaby and it broke with minimal use so I'm off that brand.

The imbroglio gets more knotted

So Blago appoints Roland Burris to Obama's senate seat. He's a swine to appoint anyone and Burris is a fool to accept. What could either hope to gain from this. This whole mess was funny for a while. Not anymore.

The Senate will not seat Burris, IL Secretary of State White will not certify the appointment. Why couldn't those losers in Springfield have impeached Blagojevich by now?

But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering...

Occasionally I succumb to the temptation to complain about this or that aspect of how my life has turned out thus far. Irrespective of whether I have any right to complain or not, and regardless of what I may or may not have done to change things. (It's hard when you're the only person on earth who recognizes your genius, and that you've obviously were made for greater things. Yuk yuk.)

Given this tendency of mine, I was humbled this morning by Phillipians 2:17, in which the apostle Paul writes "But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all."

If I, Paul, a prisoner, spend the rest of my days rotting in prison, so that you, my friends in Phillipi, may grow in your faith and welcome more into the body of Christ, then I rejoice. Wow.

If my life's purpose, and the sum of its accomplishments, amounted to nothing else that to see my children come to know Christ as Lord, and to see my wife and children grow in their faith--if there were no other accomplishments or victories, and if the remainder were spent slowly dying sitting at a desk pushing paper around, would it still be a good life? Paul says it would be a life to rejoice over.

YEAH I haven't blogged in a while

And couldn't care less. Week off. Christmas plus the middle child's birthday on the 27th has meant a nonstop toy bonanza. As if all three of my kids didn't get enough junk on Christmas they also got plenty of spending money and a few return items to boot so Toys R Us and Target have been like second homes the past few days.

I happened upon some Christmas lucre myself and am off to Sam Ash in search of a new Wah pedal. Maybe the title of this blog has come to fruition.

Tee Hee.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

From Luke Chapter 2 (New International Version)

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.
4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels
8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Praise be to God for coming as the Savior of mankind.

And happy 232nd anniversary of Washington crossing the Delaware to capture the Hessians at Trenton.

How indictment sausage gets made

Very interesting and illuminating email from an assistand US Atty to Hugh Hewitt. So that's how Fitz does it. When that guy has you in his sights, you're going down. it's only a matter of time. He scares the hell out of me, actually.

No Quid Pro Quo

I love how we're supposed to just accept the Obama administration's official report that there was no quid pro quo in the discussions between the PE's aides and Blago & Co. The media is heralding this report as if it's the final authority on the subject.

Maybe all Blagojevich needs to do is have his lawyer write a similar report and he can put all of this unpleasantness behind him. "Because after all, it's time for Illinois to move on. Time to heal. And it's time for the governor to get back to the business of the people of Illinois."

Look, I don't actually believe that the PE's administration was involved in anything illegal here. But you'll excuse me if I wait for the official version from the US Attorney's office.

Wait, this just in. Charles Manson has just issued an exhaustive report from prison that he says has completely exonerated him from any involvement in the Manson Family murders. We expect his release momentarily.

Tonedeaf Christmas Carols

Just sang some Christmas carols with the kids and a few tonedeaf inlaws. We only sounded a little bit like this.

KA-BOOM!

The US Attys interviewed The President-elect last week.

According to certain ficticious sources, among the first questions the prosecutors asked Obama was: "Do your boobs hang low? Do they sway both to and fro?"

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

So, I tend to catch movies when they're out on video. There's probably some pop-culture term for people like me, but I think the moniker most suitable for me and my ilk are "tightwads."

So, just got around to seeing the latest (final?) Indiana Jones flick. My biggest fear going into it was that Spielberg & Lucas would find some not-so-clever way to turn the baddies into a metaphor for the Bush administration. I'm glad to say they resisted the temptation. This is a real sore subject for me when I happen to care about the franchise or will ever want to see the movie a second time (which is why George Clooney and Tim Robbins can do whatever the hell they want)--I'm sure Lucas thought he was being clever with his pathetic and warped cariacature of Bush in Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars EP III. But all he accomplished was to let the fans down and ensure that his epic would be weakened for all time. Is anyone going to give a damn in 20 years that George Lucas gave a damn about George W. Bush? "Only a Sith speaks in absolutes." What is that? So Jedi are moral relativists, and Sith could be the good guys, depending on your point of view? Why have Obi Wan spout some silly locution even he himself doesn't believe? Why I oughta...

So, suffice it to say, once the flick cleared this first hurdle with me, I was going to be easy to please. Yes, McCarthyism. Yes yes, widespread paranoia, yes overblown anti-red rallies around every corner, yes yes yes. Whatever. If there was ever anti-red hysteria at Yale I must have missed it. But this was a paranthetical.

The story was, mmmmmm, okay. Of all the stories, it was by far the campiest. Indy, and starry-eyed, Marian, and baby Mutt makes three. Awww.

But still. I had fun. I don't expect rigorous intellectual stimulation when I watch an action movie. It might have been a little light on the Professor Jones, archeology geek angle. And it didn't really have that one breathtaking scene like when the sunbeam shines into the subterranean map room and hits the crystal, marking the location of the ark's resting place, or when Indy steps into thin air and lands on the invisible bridge leading into the chalice room, or--my personal favorite--when the host of heaven come down and melt all of the Nazis. Maybe the stuff with the aliens at the end was supposed to be that, but how many alien freakout scenes have we seen by now--and how many by Mr. Spielberg alone? ET was something. This was hackneyed.

But it was good fun nonetheless. At the end of the day, the good guys were the good guys, the commies were commies, the good guy gets the girl, the commies get sucked into another alien dimension--you know, the way they used to make 'em. Cate Blanchett can't help but be awesome. Harrison Ford looked like he hadn't aged a day since the Last Crusade, and gave an excellent, enthusiastic performance (a phone-in was my second biggest fear). John Hurt was fantastic. And best supporting actor should definitely go to the killer ants. I feel happy in reflecting on this movie, which is how movies used to make me feel. I will definitely see this one again.

It's true...

They do start to sag after 40.

Kept Themselves Alive

Thank you Alex Brown, for saving Peterson's hash and keeping our playoff hopes alive.

Thank you Robbie Gould for not missing.

He's A Mean One

To get us in the Christmas spirit, here's Gary Hoey doing Mr. Grinch:



Gary Hoey Plays The Grinch At Winter NAMM 2007 - video powered by Metacafe

He also does Linus and Lucy. Lemmee see if there's a vid of that.

Update: Here's the audio at least:

Why they must be hunted down and killed.

This breaks my heart.

I cannot fathom those who would rush to defend subhumans like the ones who ruined this little boy's life.

Now is the time to rededicate ourselves to the line in the sand drawn by President George W. Bush: "You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists."

I know it's too much to expect the President-elect to maintain this standard. But those of us who still recognize evil can further our own resolve to stand against it.

Class Act

Samir Sumaida'ie, Iraqi Ambassador to the US, delivers a well met and classy respose to idiot code-pinkers requests to free the shoe thrower.



I've been ignoring the usual whorish suspects in the MSM and the left at large as they have postured to express their support Muntadhar al-Zeidi. To support such a man is a far greater self-inflicted insult than anything I could lob their way. But when someone distinguishes himself with such fine words, as Mr. Sumaida'ie has done, it is deserving of praise. Well done sir.

Oh, turns out that al-Zeidi has the hots for Mookie Al-Sadr. In other words, he's a terrorist supporter. Not just your run-of-the-mill Iraqi off the street, expressing a common sentiment. But the MSM props him up, as they prop up the fable that Iraqis universally believe that they were better off under Saddam and that George W. Bush has ruined their lives. Remember the good old days, when the Hussein boys would drag Iraqi women off to their rape chambers, or when Saddam would extract confessions from the alleged disloyal by torturing their children in front of the parents' eyes? Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame.

All A-Twitter

Been having fun dialoging with and following some great people at twitter.com. You can find me at twitter.com/gswhite71

Snow on the Strip...

Yet another sign that Global Warming is going to kill us all.

Joseph Sangl

Went to see this guy do a financial seminar at my church yesterday. Great guy, lot of fun, lots of great advice.

One way to return debt reduction into a game is with Joe Sangl's House Payoff Spectacular. Here's an example. This is going up on the fridge shortly.

Hopefully it's catching...

Wow, you mean some good political news from my neck of the woods? Whoopie.

The Star Wars Birthday

My middle child turns six in a few days and we had his birthday party today. We generally do our kids parties at home, because that's generally what we can afford. When you see a handful of six year olds running around screaming, having the time of their lives, it kinda makes you feel smart that you didn't blow a couple hundred bucks on a Chuck E Cheese party.

My son woke up this morning with a big ol' smile and greeted me with "today is the day I get PRESENTS!!!"

The theme of the party was Star Wars. A few lighlights.

Darth Vader and Yoda Cake


Pin the lightsaber on Darth Vader (illustrated by the birthday boy)


The birthday clone chillin' in the crib

JellyTelly

Just stumbled across the latest brainchild of Phil Vischer's Jellyfish Studios, JellyTelly.com

For a measly $3 a month, you can watch quality kid's Christian programming. Much of the material is made up of Vischer's own creations, such as puppet newsman Buck Denver, but Vischer says that he also plans to provide a forum for other up and coming Christian animators and storytellers. Vischer's goal is to use this forum to ensure that Christian kids have a solid biblical foundation and a strong identity in their faith before they leave home.

Check it out, and become a subscriber.

Holy Macaroni

IL Atty Gen Lisa Madigan (heretofore known to this blog as "Tori Spelling") has filed a petition to the state supreme court to remove G-Rod from office.

She said in her press conference that this in no way obviates impeachment proceedings. It's just to get his butt out of the chair pronto.

Over time, I have found my level of respect for the AG to be on the gradual uptick. I must say this action impresses me--for now. The caviat is the rumor that Pat Quinn will name Madigan as Obama's replacement to the US Senate once he assumes command.resignation. That would honk me off considerably. There needs to be a special election for that seat.

The Net Gets Wider

The forty bajillion dollar question right now is, who besides G-Rod is going to prison?

From what I've learned from observing Pat Fitzgerald in recent years, I would say that right now Jessie Jackson Jr. stands a better than 50% chance. J.J.Jr. rushed to a microphone as soon as it was to be learned that he was "Senate Candidate No. 5." Of course, he denies any wrongdoing, and vehemently denies having sent an "emissary" with a promise of 1.5MM to G-Rod in exchnage for Obama's senate seat. Maybe he's telling the truth, maybe not. But something (perhaps all of the reporters and newspaper editors screaming for J.J.Jr. to be more forthcoming) leads me to believe that, even if he was unaware of the specifics of this deal, he was certainly up to something that he doesn't want us to know about. And trying to keep a secret from the Special Prosecutor is a bad, bad idea. J.J.Jr. will have to be verrrrrrrry careful when he goes on record before the US Attorneys. If he gives them any reason to think he's not been completely honest with them, he absolutely will go to jail.

But the plot thickens. Jessie Jackson Sr. feels the need to make it known that he was not the "emissary." What might Papa Jackson know and when might he have known it? The thought of Jessie Jackson having to spill his guts to the Feds--and any number of things that we might learn about "the reverend" in the process--is almost too delicious to comprehend.

And then there's Rahm "no questions" Emanuel, the President-elect's right hand guy. Kind of funny, when an Illinois feller who is thisclose to Obama doesn't have anything to say about the greatest scandal to rock the Land of Lincoln in his lifetime, no? Which by the way, involves his new boss's old job? Care to comment, Mr. Emanuel? Fugheddaboutit.

A word to the wise: People who come clean sooner get paroled faster.

Now back to Blago

This guy was trying to sell the vacant senate seat? In November? After Levine's testemony? After which Blago's indictment was already a virtual certainty? What was this guy smoking?

Of COURSE They Knew...

Jonah Goldberg on the "stunning revelation" that Fannie and Freddie knew that their lending practices would lead to disaster well over a year ago.

Of course they knew that their lending practices were unsound. They still felt the barrel of the gun that the Clinton administration had put to their collective heads. They were doing what they had been instructed to do.

In light of this "revelation," I'm sure that there will be inquiries and hearings with much consternation and outrage from Democrats. Which will be like a coven of foxes demanding to know why the henhouse was left unprotected. It will be amusing to see whether or not Barney "the Kickback King" Frank looks down his nose and Fan/Fred execs in feigned outrage. That will seem slightly less hypocritical than Jamie "the Wallbuilder" Gorelick demanding answers on the 9-11 Commission. Maybe.

Maybe they can bring back the Poliburo sedan...

So it wasn't just a bad dream that the government is going to take an ownership stake in the big 3.

And the thing that troubles me is the CEOs of the auto industry seem to be okay with this. They're fine with government intrusion in the running of their businesses, so long as they get the dough. Pathetic.

And now, a brief interlude...

From the earth shattering Blagojevich scandal.

This is precisely why I take great pains to teach my children American history. They will learn of American exceptionalism, and they will take pride in from whence they cometh. They will learn that this country, warts, sins and all, is still the greatest country in the history of mankind, to the praise and glory of God. They will not be citizens of the world, they will not defer to foreign powers but will recognize this nation's sovereignty. They will be Americans.

Oh My Word.

The Feds have arrested Blago.

I knew this was coming. I didn't realize it was going to happen so soon.

A million questions abound, on how this effects everything from the President-elect to George Ryan and all points in between. More later.

The Clintons Were Conservatives?

Liberals are all fired up over all of those rabid right-wing Clinton Administration retreads that Obama has recruited.

Not the least of them that Hillary, mind you. She makes Pat Buchannan look like Richard Simmons.

Screwed Again

Sorry Ronnie.

The veteran's commitee has no soul.

Gasoline

While filling up my Acura Integra for less than $16 the other night, my first thought was, "jeepers it's cold out here!"

My second thought was "Boy, it would be nice if gas is this still cheap when the economy turns around." This quaint illusory gave me a hearty chuckle as I replaced the nozzle and screwed the gas cap down.

We could have $1.50/gallon gasoline, every day. It would be easy as pie. Our country is sitting on petroleum reserves three times those of Saudi Arabia. We can get it quickly, cleanly, efficiently, and with little impact to the environment. But no. We're not allowed to go after it. It must remain in the ground, doing nobody any good. And we must enjoy this temporary respite in gas prices while it lasts.

And we're somehow supposed to believe that it's good that things are this way. That it's right. That it is somehow the moral thing, just desserts, that we've been subjected to outrageously, economically crippling gas prices this past year. It's our penance. For driving gas guzzling SUVs. For being wasteful. For being American. For existing. We can't have permanently cheap gas, in spite of the technological ease through which we could bring this about, because we don't deserve it. Thus sayeth, in essence, the liberals in Washington.

This irrational rationale usually comes in the form of some snivelling, vaguely effeminate voice that whines "well after all, they pay SO much more for their gas in Europe."

Let me put this as politely as I can possibly conjure: I don't give a rat's sphincter what they pay for gas in Europe. It's not my problem how much gas costs in Europe. I'm not buying gas in Europe. I'm buying it here. And I want it CHEAP.

To paraphrase that great American political scientist, Ferris Buhler: I'm not European, I don't plan on being European... so who gives a crap if they're socialists? They could be fascist anarchists and it still wouldn't change the fact that my gas is too expensive.

Letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels

The much noted peals of delight with which the olfactorily delicate Harry Reid greeted the newly completed Capitol Visitors Center immediately came to mind when earlier today I stumbled across this gem by Benjamin Franklin. Written circa 1781 to the Royal Academy, Franklin lampooned the high-falootin' nature of the Academy's annual scientific challenge/contest by posing a much more practical throwdown. Would that some bright mind had risen to Ben's challenge. To think of all those cruel years Mr. Reid could have been spared.

The text:

Letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels
An Electronic Edition
Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790
Original Source: Benjamin Franklin, "Letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels" In Franklin, Benjamin. The Bagatelles from Passy. Ed. Lopez, Claude A. New York: Eakins Press. 1967

Copyright 2005. This text is freely available provided the text is distributed with the header information provided.

To the Royal Academy of * * * * GENTLEMEN,

I Have perused your late mathematical Prize Question, proposed in lieu of one in Natural Philosophy, for the ensuing year, viz. "Une figure quelconque donnée, on demande d'y inscrire le plus grand nombre de fois possible une autre figure plus-petite quelconque, qui est aussi donnée". I was glad to find by these following Words, "l'Académie a jugee que cette découverte, en étendant les bornes de nos connoissances, ne seroit pas sans UTILITE", that you esteem Utility an essential Point in your Enquiries, which has not always been the case with all Academies; and I conclude therefore that you have given this Question instead of a philosophical, or as the Learned express it, a physical one, because you could not at the time think of a physical one that promis'd greater Utility. 2.

Permit me then humbly to propose one of that sort for your consideration, and through you, if you approve it, for the serious Enquiry of learned Physicians, Chemists, &c. of this enlightened Age. It is universally well known, That in digesting our common Food, there is created or produced in the Bowels of human Creatures, a great Quantity of Wind. 3.

That the permitting this Air to escape and mix with the Atmosphere, is usually offensive to the Company, from the fetid Smell that accompanies it. 4.

That all well-bred People therefore, to avoid giving such Offence, forcibly restrain the Efforts of Nature to discharge that Wind. 5.

That so retain'd contrary to Nature, it not only gives frequently great present Pain, but occasions future Diseases, such as habitual Cholics, Ruptures, Tympanies, &c. often destructive of the Constitution, & sometimes of Life itself. 6.

Were it not for the odiously offensive Smell accompanying such Escapes, polite People would probably be under no more Restraint in discharging such Wind in Company, than they are in spitting, or in blowing their Noses. 7.

My Prize Question therefore should be, To discover some Drug wholesome & not disagreable, to be mix'd with our common Food, or Sauces, that shall render the natural Discharges of Wind from our Bodies, not only inoffensive, but agreable as Perfumes. 8.

That this is not a chimerical Project, and altogether impossible, may appear from these Considerations. That we already have some Knowledge of Means capable of Varying that Smell. He that dines on stale Flesh, especially with much Addition of Onions, shall be able to afford a Stink that no Company can tolerate; while he that has lived for some Time on Vegetables only, shall have that Breath so pure as to be insensible to the most delicate Noses; and if he can manage so as to avoid the Report, he may any where give Vent to his Griefs, unnoticed. But as there are many to whom an entire Vegetable Diet would be inconvenient, and as a little Quick-Lime thrown into a Jakes will correct the amazing Quantity of fetid Air arising from the vast Mass of putrid Matter contain'd in such Places, and render it rather pleasing to the Smell, who knows but that a little Powder of Lime (or some other thing equivalent) taken in our Food, or perhaps a Glass of Limewater drank at Dinner, may have the same Effect on the Air produc'd in and issuing from our Bowels? This is worth the Experiment. Certain it is also that we have the Power of changing by slight Means the Smell of another Discharge, that of our Water. A few Stems of Asparagus eaten, shall give our Urine a disagreable Odour; and a Pill of Turpentine no bigger than a Pea, shall bestow on it the pleasing Smell of Violets. And why should it be thought more impossible in Nature, to find Means of making a Perfume of our Wind than of our Water? 9.

For the Encouragement of this Enquiry, (from the immortal Honour to be reasonably expected by the Inventor) let it be considered of how small Importance to Mankind, or to how small a Part of Mankind have been useful those Discoveries in Science that have heretofore made Philosophers famous. Are there twenty Men in Europe at this Day, the happier, or even the easier, for any Knowledge they have pick'd out of Aristotle? What Comfort can the Vortices of Descartes give to a Man who has Whirlwinds in his Bowels! The Knowledge of Newton's mutual Attraction of the Particles of Matter, can it afford Ease to him who is rack'd by their mutual Repulsion, and the cruel Distensions it occasions? The Pleasure arising to a few Philosophers, from seeing, a few Times in their Life, the Threads of Light untwisted, and separated by the Newtonian Prism into seven Colours, can it be compared with the Ease and Comfort every Man living might feel seven times a Day, by discharging freely the Wind from his Bowels? Especially if it be converted into a Perfume: For the Pleasures of one Sense being little inferior to those of another, instead of pleasing the Sight he might delight the Smell of those about him, & make Numbers happy, which to a benevolent Mind must afford infinite Satisfaction. The generous Soul, who now endeavours to find out whether the Friends he entertains like best Claret or Burgundy, Champagne or Madeira, would then enquire also whether they chose Musk or Lilly, Rose or Bergamot, and provide accordingly. And surely such a Liberty of Expressing one's Scent-iments, and pleasing one another, is of infinitely more Importance to human Happiness than that Liberty of the Press, or of abusing one another, which the English are so ready to fight & die for. — In short, this Invention, if compleated, would be, as Bacon expresses it, bringing Philosophy home to Mens Business and Bosoms. And I cannot but conclude, that in Comparison therewith, for universal and continual UTILITY, the Science of the Philosophers abovementioned, even with the Addition, Gentlemen, of your "Figure quelconque" and the Figures inscrib'd in it, are, all together, scarcely worth a FART-HING. 10.

Give the gift of death!

Can you think of a better way to remember the birth of the Christ child than to give one of these? [H/T porembskiponderosa]

Order by December 9th and they'll throw in one of these!***



***Disclamor: the photograph and the sentence above it do in fact together comprise the literary device known as satire. Any suggestion that Planned Parenthood would send you a baby in a T shirt (if you order your gift certificate before december 9th or for any other reason) is meant in jest, and is not in any way meant to be taken seriously, as a statement of fact, or in any other way that would incite the hotheads at PP to litigation. Why, the very idea that Planned Parenthood would send you a baby in a t-shirt like the one above is preposterous on its face. For one thing, the t-shirt is intended to convey open mockery of and expose the flawed moral logic of the position upon which Planned Parenthood has come to depend in order to make a buck; secondly, the intended humor of the satirical device as depicted above in part depends on the presupposition that Planned Parenthood would be sending you a live baby, and we all know how Planned Parenthood feels about live babies. The proprietor of this humble establishment would never insult the integrity of Planned Parenthood by suggesting that they feel otherwise.

THANK. YOU. JESUS.

Saxby Chambliss wins re-election.

Wie Gates?

Victor Davis Hanson on yet another decidedly wise Obama appointment (man those last five words were weird to type):

The Gates reappointment is welcome news, given that he has provided stable, sober leadership during two wars, and overseen dramatic improvement with the Petraeus surge. Gates’s stellar academic record and years of government service probably make him on paper one of the most qualified government servants in American history. He has proven tough in firing people who were caught in scandal or free-lanced to the media, and has been outspoken when necessary.

Politically it makes sense that for a year or two Obama won’t have to worry that a wartime liberal secretary might embarrass an incoming Democratic administration (cf. the ill-starred Les Aspin and controversies over homosexuals in the military, bottoms-up-review, no tanks for Somalia, etc., and, then cf., the Clintonian face-saving scramble to find a centrist professional like Perry and then a Republican moderate replacement like Sen. Cohen).

That said, one wonders if, while these centrist appointments please moderates and conservatives (given the possibility of something much harder left), in aggregate they will undermine the hope and change mantra.

You see we are now moving well beyond the tentacles of the Clinton octopus (Emanuel, Podesta, Holder (?), etc) and even the promise to reach across the aisle and appointment a Chuck Hagel-like anti-Bush maverick — and instead are entering Bush territory itself. And that raises questions beyond “adjustments” seen during the campaign on everything from drilling and coal to campaign financing and NAFTA.

Rightly or wrongly Gates is the custodian of existing Bush U.S. military/defense policy (despite earlier positions on Iran not that much different from Obama’s advocacy of engagement without preconditions) and that touches upon everything from staying in Iraq until 2011 in accordance with the Petraeus withdrawal plan; keeping Guantanamo open a bit longer; being tough on Russian aggression in Georgia; homeland-security provisions; movement ahead on missile defense (cf. the Obama campaign video on that); present policy toward Iran; Predator strikes in Pakistan; and on and on — many of which policies candidate hope-and-change Obama in the past has strongly denounced.

Imagine Candidate Obama announcing in August, “And if I am elected President I promise to enact hope and change with Ron Emanuel as my chief of staff, John Podesta as my transition chairman, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Larry Summers as my chief White House economic adviser, and Bob Gates as my secretary of Defense.”

Bottom line: very good appointment

Swiped from NRO's The Corner

The Fountainhead

Author/Philosopher Ayn Rand is something of a controversial icon among libertarians and conservatives. Rand's Objectivist school of thought, with its emphasis on rugged (perhaps ruthless) individualism, laissez faire capitalism, and man's personal happiness as a moral end, has had as significant an impact on some in the modern conservative movement as the late, great William F. Buckley. (Ironically, or perhaps not, Buckley's National Review mocked Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged when it was first published. Whittaker Chambers's review included the now-famous: "from almost any page of Atlas Shrugged, a voice can be heard, from painful necessity, commanding: "To a gas chamber — go!")

Rand summed up Objectivism as "in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." Anything that detracts from man achieving his highest is immoral. This can include anything from personal cowardice to planning committees to government intrusion. To Rand it was natural that the objectivist pursuit could only occur in a society based on the principles of lassez faire capitalism and minimal government intrusion. It is not suprising that she held this view when one considers the events of her life: Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Rand was twelve years old at the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917. She lived under Soviet opression until she was fortunate enough to obtain a travel visa to the United States in 1926. Shortly after her arrival, Rand defected and adopted America as her home.

The fountainhead portrays this battle between objectivism and totalitarianism in very stark terms. On the one hand, You have Howard Roark, the living embodiment of Objectivism, who comes across as much a force of nature as a man, the essence of will personified -- the book begins with Roark's expulsion from architecture school. When the dean asks Roark whom he supposes will "let him" build his buildings, Roark responds "that's not the point. The point is, who will stop me?"

On the other side of the battle stands Ellsworth Toohey, who desires to quash a man's spirit and therefore to rule him. (Toohey makes it his primary ambition to destroy Roark from the moment he lays eyes on him).

Both men are ardent atheists, Toohey being the archetypal communist and Roark viewing mankind at its full potential as godlike. The conclusions that both men draw from their atheism are perverse in their distinct ways. Roark's crowning achivement is a temple that he builds to humanity, for the worship of humanity. Toohey wants to drive all hope or sense of exceptionalism from humanity in order to control it.

Toohey is the obvious villain, Lenineqsue if not Stalinesque: "I shall rule...Make a man feel small. Make him feel guilty. Kill his aspiration and his integrity...His soul gives up self respect. You've got him and he'll obey...Kill his capacity to recognize greatness or to achieve it. Great men can't be ruled. We don't want any great men...Don't allow men to be happy...Happy men are free men...If you get caught at some crucial point and somebody tells you that your doctrine doesn't make sense, you tell him...that he must not try to think, he must feel...Can you rule a thinking man? We don't want any thinking men."

Roark is clearly meant as the hero by Rand, but his worldview and its practice lead to outcomes that can also be troublesome if not repugnant. As his defense in the climatic trial at the end of the novel, Roark delivers a lengthy manifesto which contends that "the first right on earth is the right of the ego. man's first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the persons of others. His moral obligation is to do what he wishes, provided his work does not depend primarily on other men. This includes the whole sphere of his creative faculty, his thinking, his work. But it does not include the sphere of the gangster, the altruist and the dictator." Perhaps not the dictator, but there is room for the sexual predator. Roark rapes the female protagonist Dominique Francon. Rand attempts to mitigate this by suggesting that a woman as strong as Francon has to be be dominated by a superman like Roark in order to be satisfied (Rand later said it was "rape by engraved invitation."); the reason he is standing trial is because he has blown up a partially completed high rise building. His reason, for which he feels fully justified, is because other architects have modified his original designs.

While Roark's relentless individualism can be at times refreshing, the Objectivism which he embodies must necessarily be repugnant to the Christian, for it is worship of the self.

Obama's Brain Trust

EJ Dionne on the PE's money guys [HT HH]

Like most conservatives, I'm relieved that the President-elect didn't appoint the presidents of various chapters of the American Communist Party (I'm kidding, potentially). Like most conservatives, I'm trying to put on a happy face about the incoming administration and breathing a sigh of relief with every appointment that could reasonably said to be pragmatic on the part of the President-elect. When it comes to money matters, the PE seems to recognize the need for people who know what they're doing. These appointments also suggest that he is coming to terms with the fact that he is not going to be able to raise taxes, at least for now.

I do not expect this administration to be nearly so "pragmatic" when it comes to judicial appointments, freedom for faith based organizations to act according to the mandates of their individual consciences, or stare decisis on partial birth abortion; in fact, I expect hell on earth. But at least when it comes to the economy, be it illumination, persuasion by others, or awareness of the ticking time bomb about to land in his lap, he is showing startlingly good judgement.

Plus, appointing a guy to your team who managed to get himself fired from Harvard is pretty cool.

They share nothing more a home state, as it should be.

Jonah Goldberg on why we don't want Obama to be another Lincoln.

Jonah Goldberg, with a typical example of the sort of staid, cerebral, profound-if-not-sublime responses that conservative points of view elicit from the left.

Great Moment In "The Office"

I think I literally spat out my drink when I saw this the first time.

Why we shouldn't bail out the "Big 3"

George Will nails it.

It seems we as a nation are on the verge of a fork in the road, each path being one way. The sign on the leftward fork reads "Socialism," the rightward, "Capitalism."

We just shilled out $700 Billion (our rather, our Lord Protectors just shilled it out on our behalf) to bail out the mortgage industry. One of the reasons this made me extremely queasy was because I knew that the bankers would turn out to be just the first party in line. I was virtually certain that the auto industry would be next. And here they are. Who might follow after them? Well, let's see, what other industry is perpetually in the red and has previously been a beneficiary of Uncle Sam? Hint: their products have wings.

A newly emboldened, possibly soon-to-be-a-supermajority democratic party has already made some noise about gaining a controlling interest in the Big 3. They already own more of the mortgage industry than they used to. Will future bailouts come at the price of state ownership?

It may hurt in the short term (it may be agonizing in fact) but I think for the long term health of our country, ie, to avoid the slippery slope toward increased government involvement (and ownership), we have to take a stand and let these industries weather the storm on their own--even if it means filing for bankruptcy. As Will points out, this could have long lasting positive consequences (In the case of the auto industry, ridding itself of untenable union concessions).

The Architect...

Gives the GOP some (at times encouraging) food for thought about the road ahead.

Money quote:

Then there were those who didn't show up. There were 4.1 million fewer Republicans voting this year than in 2004. Some missing Republicans had turned independent or Democratic for this election. But most simply stayed home. Ironically for a campaign that featured probably the last Vietnam veteran to run for president, 2.7 million fewer veterans voted. There were also 4.1 million fewer voters who attend religious services more than once a week. Americans aren't suddenly going to church less; something was missing from the campaign to draw out the more religiously observant.

Translation: pick a conservative, not a RINO, next time around.

"He Gave Up His Life For His Dog."

So reads the headlines in today's Sun Times, in a manner meant to convey heroic altruism rather than tragic stupidity.

Over the last few years I've observed the progressively unhealthy elevation of animals toward a place of equality with human beings in our society. The latest example.

Commie Cars?

The lurch toward socialism continues. Dems now want an ownership stake in the Big 3.

Your state-sanctioned hybrid handles like a dream, does she not, comrade?

Drudge reports:

"Democrats prepare to move forward with investigations of the Bush administration... Developing... "

I guess it is possible to win big on election night and still be a bunch of losers. Don't these losers have anything better to do?

Professor Hanson

Throws in his two cents on what the Obama victory doesn't mean.

Veterans Day

To all veterans, and all who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, happy Veterans Day.

To the USMC, happy belated birthday.

PJ Sez...

It's a virtual guarantee that I'm going to disagree with much of what PJ O'Rourke has to say on any given post. But it's also a guarantee that I'm going to laugh and find some food for thought.

"We blew it"

I concur that a big chunk of the pain that we're experiencing today is a result of conservatives morphing into big-government "get alongers" instead of stepping up and being the grown-up party. Conservatives chose to be the "cool" parents who let the kids and their friends drink at home instead of breaking up the kegger and grouding the little punks for a month.

...and I'll get on my knees and praaaaaaaay...
We won't get fooled again

What's 2 Trillion Among Friends?

Unbeflippin'lievable

Oh well, Barney Frank says it's okay, and that should make it all better. It's not like Frank has been the largest receipient of contributions from the companies that are getting bailed out or anything. Oh wait, yes he is.

I wonder who received the second largest amount in contributions. Didn't he just win an election or something?

Oh well. We can all rest assured that our government is much more responsible with our money than we are. I feel better about socialized medicine already.

Just a thought...

I don't know if his transition team has gotten around to thinking about this, but if the President-elect is serious about bringing the country together, "reaching across the aisle" and all that, a classy gesture would be to ask Rick Warren to deliver the prayer at his inauguration.

RAGE!

Rush is talking right now about how when people on the right disagree with Obama, it's not dissent, it's "rage." He's dead right. Thou shalt not disagree with The One, to do so is evidence of rage. Your state sponsored orderlies will be along shortly to usher you to your mandatory anger management therapy. Remember, it's only because we care.

After the 2004 election, a new expression, "post-election traumatic stress disorder," was coined to describe the massive depression that swept Blue State America. Jonathan Chait coined the term "Bush Hatred" in a column about how much he literally hates George W. Bush (the right renamed the term "Chaitred). Liberals literally needed therapy. There were loud promises (woefully unkept) of mass migrations to Canada. Red-state America was bitterly dubbed "Jesusland" by the left. I remember how in the runup to the '04 election (shades of things to come) Chris Matthews absolutely lost his mind and started screaming at Michelle Malkin for an entire segment because she wrote, of all things, a book about Liberals who lose their minds. It was the liberals who expressed rage. It was the liberals who expressed contempt. It was the liberals who screamed and sobbed like bedwetting little girls (okay, they did that at the Obama victory party too). The right does not respond with rage when their candidate (in this case, Sarah Palin) loses. In the words of Ol'Blue Eyes, we "pick [ourselves] up, dust [ourselves] off, and start all over again. This obsession the left (with it's proud history of racism, eugenics, internment and silencing of debate) has with branding the right as "full of rage" or hatred, is so laughable, it's almost cute.

I remember having a conversation with some relatives of mine (well, really I wasn't really part of the converation, I just sat there listening in silent fascination) about Rush. One person who will remain unidentified commented that Rush was obviously so incredibly talented, but yet "so full of hate" that he couldn't bring himself to listen to Rush's show. I didn't bother to ask where that assumption came from. Apparently, that "truth" was supposed to be self evident.

Redwall

As heartrending as it can be that my sons are growing up on me (my oldest just turned eight! Who said he could do that?), each phase still contains new joys and memories. I took my sons on their first camping trip earlier this year, and many more will follow, of that you may be certain. I'm forcing them (and there was much kicking and screaming) to learn to play the guitar. I'm actually able to tackle them now when we play football. We can study history together (and grieve Presidential elections gone bad together). We can watch the Star Wars trilogies together. We can lightsaber duel together, and I've got the welts on my knuckles to prove it. And we're able to read longer books, that don't involve pictures, together.

We just started reading Redwall. I've never heard an ill word breathed about this series, which I myself have never read. I'm hoping we all enjoy it.

The Fountainhead

So one of the things on my "haven't gotten around to yet" list is in the process of being checked off. I'm reading an Ayn Rand novel. I had planned to comment/review/critique/whathaveyou at the end but there was one quote that was so magnificent I just couldn't let it go.

A description of social workers assembled to hear a speech:

...a flat sheet of faces, faces lecherously eager with the sense of their own virtue...

Love it.

Blueprint For The Future

Booyah.

The party needs to concentrate on the next generation of young conservatives, toot sweet. I'm very encouraged that the strategists are concentrating on names like Palin, Jindal, and Pawlenty. The era of the RINOs, culminating in the downfall of John McCain, is over. It had darned well better be if this party ever wants to win again.

As a reminder of what a winning strategy looks like, I reprint here that li'l ol' document that 14 years ago led to a GOP pickup of a mere 54 House and 8 Senate seats:

REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA
As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.
That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing, we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.

This year's election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.

Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act "with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right." To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:


FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.

1. THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses. (Bill Text) (Description)

2. THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer's "crime" bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools. (Bill Text) (Description)

3. THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility. (Bill Text) (Description)

4. THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society. (Bill Text) (Description)

5. THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A S500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief. (Bill Text) (Description)

6. THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world. (Bill Text) (Description)

7. THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years. (Bill Text) (Description)

8. THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages. (Bill Text) (Description)

9. THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: "Loser pays" laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation. (Bill Text) (Description)

10. THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators. (Description)

Further, we will instruct the House Budget Committee to report to the floor and we will work to enact additional budget savings, beyond the budget cuts specifically included in the legislation described above, to ensure that the Federal budget deficit will be less than it would have been without the enactment of these bills.

Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this Contract with America.

Danny Gatton

Alright, time to cheer the heck up. The late, profoundly great Danny Gatton:


I have no idea how he gets sound out of that guitar holding a towel.

A Time For Choosing

The GOP must respond to this stunning electoral defeat by getting up and getting to work immediately. They must seek out and cultivate candidates who are at once charismatic, inspiring, scandal free, and who can connect with a wide swath of voters while at the same time holding true to traditional conservative values. As an archetype, might I suggest for the short list...


Bill the Cat.

Alternately...

The cast of the Gigglesnort Hotel.

The Illinois GOP

So I showed up at Lake County GOP headquarters in Libertyville at 6:30 yesterday morning. No one was there. I went to Starbucks for my free coffee and came back around 7, at which time the lone staffer was there to unlock the door. No one else was there. (One other person showed up 10 minutes or so later). I said, "put me to work." They had me drive around to various polling places to make sure the McCain and Greenberg signs hadn't been taken down. Okay, fine.

I get back to to headquarters about 11:00am, and in addition to a few old guys standing around doing nothing, there were maybe 4 or 5 people in the back calling voters using their own cell phones. (When I volunteered in 2004, not only were there people out the yingyang, but there was a bank of dedicated land lines for making calls.) Not having a cell phone on me, I was asked to drive over to a Kirk campaign location in Vernon Hills to help them out (I later learned that the few people making calls at GOP headquarters were actually Kirk volunteers). The Kirk campaign call center had more people than they knew what to do with. However, I was able to make myself useful by driving a sweet, 93-year-old lady to the polls. I asked the Kirk staffer who gave me the assignment if I should talk to her about voting GOP. He basically said nah, she's already for Kirk and the other races don't matter. This stunned me, but I didn't say anything else about it.

When I got back to the Kirk call center around 1 pm, they debated sending me to another call center in Northbook, but that location too was fully stocked with volunteers and in fact, idle helpers were being sent back to the Vernon Hills location. So I told the Kirk staffer that I was going to go back to GOP headquarters to see if I could be of further assistance.

Upon arrival back in Libertyville I took the office's sole available landline and sat down to make some calls. Upon reading the script, I realized that headquarters also was exclusively focusing on Congressman Mark Kirk. The script didn't contain any exhortation to get out and vote for McCain, or for Steve Greenberg, the challenger in my district. No, in addition to having a number of his own dedicated call centers, Congressmen Kirk also had GOP headquarters making calls exclusively for him.

So, I sat there and "got out the vote" for Kirk until about 5pm. I'm glad that Kirk maintained his crucial Congressional seat. But why was there no effort focused on any other Congressional district? Greenberg, apparently, was expected to go it alone. So it seems was Sauerberg, who was running to unseat Dick Durbin. Why was I the only volunteer on the premises when the office opened? What were those guys standing about doing nothing actually doing? Why was there no phone bank, why were we not exhorting voters to vote for McCain/Palin? I don't get it. There's no Lake County GOP blog, no electronic campaign, no nothing. What I sensed was serious disorganization and serious defeatism in this party.

Okay, then

Before I comment further, a few brief words of gratitude toward those without whom the outcome of this particular Presidential election would not have been possible:

First, to former Illinois Senator Peter Fitzgerald: If you sir had not wussed out and decided against seeking re-election, Barack Obama most likely would not have become the junior senator from my home state, and would most likely not be my President-elect. So thanks just a whole bunch for that.

Second, to the Republican primary voters who for reasons ranging from anti-Mormon bigotry to willful stupidity decided to stand behind Mike "let's put people with AIDS in concentration camps" Huckabee: Good work. Without you, John McCain, the unelectable scourge of his own party, never would have made it as far as he did. Thanks for giving John those few months of false hope, and the rest of us that persistent sinking feeling in our gut. We'll never forget you, and the way you denied the party nominiation to Mitt Romney, the only man who ever stood a ghost of a chance.

Okay, just needed to get that off my chest. Moving right along, the good and bad about this election (I already commented on the ugly):

The Good:

Our country did just elect its first black President. However you slice it, that is a historic achievement and should (but won't) shut the mouths of all the fools who said that America was too racist to do such a thing. I wish it hadn't been this man in particular (I seem to recall hearing something once about content of character mattering more than color of skin...), but America has done it. For better or for worse, Barack Obama is a living refutation of any idiot who says that my country is just a bunch of ignorant racists.

The next four years will provide me with an enormous opportunity to grow in my faith.

Taking a 93 year old woman who had just recovered from knee surgery to her polling place was the highlight of my day.

The Democrats were not able to gain a filibuster-proof majority. Although that may be a moot point. Remember how conservatives were all crowing about the "nuclear option" after the '04 election? The difference was, republicans were too wimpy to use it. Not so the democrats.

Exceptional voter turnout. The people turned out en masse to make their voices heard. That is a good thing. I don't like the choices they made, but they have spoken, this is how Democracy works, and we take the good with the bad.

An opportunity for conservatives to show their character. When conservatives' candidates lose an election, as many did yesterday, conservatives don't cry like girls, enroll in therapy, apologize to the world (which, considering that we're the only western nation in recent memory not to move to the right, might be tempting for some), scream about disenfranchisement, or talk about moving to Canada (which is one of the nations that just moved rightward). We get off our butts, dust ourselves off, and get back in the debate.

A clearer understanding of what it takes to win. McCain Feingold is a joke. Limiting yourself on campaign contributions is a joke. President Obama has clarified for the world the kind of money you need to raise in order to win an election (though unlike him, our guys should try to do it legally), and reminded us in Axelrod that a campaign needs a mastermind. McCain's campaign had no Karl Rove. No Lee Atwater. And he needed one big time.

The Bad:

Where to start. Massive numbers of ultra left wing judges, appointed to positions for life, who will by fiat overrule any state that attempts to define marriage as one man-one woman, or that attempts to restrict or ban abortion within its borders, who will allow for greater persecution of faith based organizations, who will continue to remove any mention of God from the public square in the misguided name of "separation of church and state,"; An Obama-Reid-Pelosi troika that will unleash draconian global warming legislation, tax increases, a renewed ban on offshore/ANWR drilling, and who will attempt to silence free speech via a re-introduction of the "fairness doctrine"; A President who is a friend to unrepentant terrorists and hate spewing "holy men," whose campaign has just committed massive donor fraud, who has said he will bankrupt the coal industry, "spread the wealth around," raise electric bills, and wouldn't mind $8.00 per gallon gasoline, who couldn't bring himself to defend babies that have survived botched abortions, and indeed, views such babies as "punishments."

Finally, in lieu of "the ugly," I give you "the depressing": The get out the vote effort for the Illinois Republican Party. What a sad, sad, unfunny joke. I'll comment on what I witnessed when volunteering yesterday in another post.

Ain't said much lately

Haven't blogged much lately. What's to write? Everyone's got it covered. Barry planning to take down the coal industry is just more of the same--and by same I mean "crazy."

It's too close to call. I've said many times that I refuse to believe polls because they are dishonest and designed to depress, and they've worked. A lot of conservatives are depressed and fearful--and the race is too close to call. So why the depression?

Barry may well win tomorrow and have a supermajority of Dems behind him come January. But I'm not going to have to look at myself in the mirror and say I did nothing. Tomorrow, I'll be at my local GOP headquarters, volunteering.

If by some miracle somebody I don't know stumbles across this blog and leans right: do something. Get out there. Volunteer, talk to your neighbors. This election will be based on turnout and nothing else. Turn out.

Holy Armageddon, Batman!

Drudge has a Zogby poll showing the Mac Daddy up 48-47.

Canards

This isn't really apropros of anything, but I was thinking back to SNL's sketch of the debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. The one moment of the sketch where they came even remotely close to slamming Biden was on the issue of gay marriage. The actor portraying Biden waxes eloquent about the need for equal rights, visitation rights at hospitals, beneficiaries in wills, etc. Then the actress playing Gwen Ifill asks him "so do you support gay marriage?" To which Biden responds, "no, absolutely not."

Now, the fact that the left uses the term "civil unions" so they don't have to say "gay marriage" is well established (and this is what SNL was wrist slapping Biden for). What this sketch really reminded me of is the straw man that the left clings to that anybody wants to deny basic civil rights to homosexuals. Who thinks that way, at least in this day and age?

I don't know anyone who wants to deny homosexuals the right to visit each other in hospitals, or to leave their belongings to whomever they wish in their wills, or to deny the right of same sex partners to purchase property together. These are rights that everyone already has. And nobody, at least nobody I know, wants to take them away. Nobody I know even cares if gay couples want to call their union a marriage. If two men want to say that they're married, it's none of my darned business. What IS my darned business is changing the commonly held definition of marriage as understood by Civilization lo these last 4000+ years, and forcing society to adopt this new definition. But as far as everyday rights, does anyone (apart from a few whacko so-called "Pastors" and their flocks, who are so full of hatred that they'll get on a bus and drive to a dead soldier's funeral and cheer that God's judgement was visited on said soldier because of our country's tolerance for homosexuals) care? Does anyone really want to deny gays their basic civil rights?

Best news I've heard so far today.

Norm Coleman leads Al Franken by six points.

I don't know how this election is going to turn out. My worst nightmare could come true, ie: Obama takes the White House, the Democrats take a supermajority in both chambers of Congress, and we enter in to a new era of socialism, nanny state entitlements, full amnesty and citizenship for 20,000,000 illegal aliens in our country, and most importantly, a federal judiciary stacked with the left wing idealogues who will rewrite the Constitution from the bench and remake America in their image. Hello, unfettered ACLU/AUSCS intimidation and legal action against churches and other faith based organizations. Hello reparations. Hello the "fairness doctrine." Goodbye home schooling, etc.

But even if that happens: (assuming he wins) we'll always have Norm.

When I heard this poll result earlier today (contrary to what I said before: if the poll shows the Republican up I tend to believe it, because he's probably actually up more than the media is letting on), I literally shouted for joy. Uber liberal Al Franken, the "tax-dodging pornographer," as some have called him, is absolutely wrong for this country, in addition to being an all around total jerk. He is one of the few Americans who if I met, (and though I know it would be wrong) I would be tempted to challenge to a fist fight. Perhaps it's because he has a long track record of resorting to violence and unhinged rage against his opponents instead of using the intellect that probably resides somewhere between his ears.

At the 2004 RNC, Franken charged the table where former Laura Ingraham radio show producer Lee Habib was sitting, and screamed himself hoarse at Habib.

When Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review said something that didn't sit well with Franken, Al publicly challenged Lowry to a fist fight.

During the 04' primaries, Franken physically assaulted a protester at a Howard Dean speech.

And lastly, he thought it was in good taste to write a comedy sketch about rape. This guy is just nuts. I'm heartened that the citizens of Minnesota appear to agree.

Coleman could still lose, but I am encouraged.

Fox News asks...

Here's the (LOL) story

Searching for a good caption.

"Barry, pay no attention to that dagger in my left hand."

"You may kiss my ring... as opposed to that other thing I told you to kiss."

Back when SNL didn't like Obama

This is awesome:

Hey Joe! Whaddaya know?

Aerosmith Axeman endorses the Mac Daddy.

Dream until your dreams come true.

Revelations No One Cares About

So, we learn that Barry is deliberately accepting illegal donations, and as Mark Steyn points out, the media are doing their best to not report it while reporting it.

Why this would surprise anyone, I know not. We already know that the allegedly non-partisan ACORN (which has publicly endorsed Obama--explain that one to me)has registered innumerable duplicate, nonexistent, or otherwise inelligable voters. Why should it shock anyone that Barry's campaign has deliberately removed all safeguards against fraudulent or illegal campaign donations, such as the one that was sent by one "Adolphe Hitler, Berlin Germany"?

Another revelation which may get peoples' attention, but which may have come too late: Slow Joe Biden lets slip that $250,000 is really $150,000. This after Obama was recently quoted lowering $250K to $200K. So if the trend holds, by Election Day everyone making over $100,000 will be facing a tax hike, and by the time Obama is (Heaven forbid) sworn in, I'll be wondering what happened to my tax cut.

If the MSM isn't trustworthy...

If MSM Isn't Trustworthy, Why Are Conservatives Trusting The MSM 8 Days Out? Asks Duane Patterson.

He's right. The thing I have found far more disconcerting than polls has been the head over heels willingness of some conservatives to give up hope as a result (for example, all of the bloggers at National Review). I have had a number of email exchanges with a staffer at a well known conservative publication. Calling himself a "Pollyanna," he cheerfully and confidently predicts that McCain has a 5% chance of winning.

If Barry truly were the chosen one this would be over by now. Patterson makes an excellent point that "The only poll that got the 2004 results close was the IBD Tipp poll. Most of the other polls then had John Kerry up around five points before the election." That sounds fairly similar to the numbers out there now. And the IBD poll has it very close, McCain within 4.

Today's banner on Drudge, a 2001 interview of Barry lamenting that SCOTUS hadn't mandated socialism, isn't going to help Obama. Nor will Andy McCarthy's piece about the LA Times sitting on a videotape which shows Barry heaping praise upon Yasser Arafat's spokeman at a dinner in 2003.

It ain't over till it's over.

By the way.

It's Wednesday!



I hate any day that's not Saturday or Sunday.

Another "Shock" poll.

Further evidence that this is anyone's game

And that NYT/CBS are full of it.

This is the third such "shock" poll that I've seen that show this race at a dead heat. It's only shocking because it stands contrary to all the propaganda "polls" the MSM is force feeding us. Apparently the American people aren't as keen on socialism as we thought.

Must come as a disappointment to Team Obama. They've already set the rates they are charging the media to cover their victory party. That's nerve.

KiYAAAH!!

Great speech by Senator McCain. Quoted entirely from Drudge:

MCCAIN DEFENDS THE PLUMBER
REMARKS IN MIAMI, FL
Fri Oct 17 2008 13:45:02 ET

*** VIDEO ***

It's great to be here in Miami. Florida is a must-win state on November 4th, and with your help, we're going to win Florida, and bring change to Washington, DC. We had a good debate this week. You may have noticed-- there was a lot of talk about Senator Obama's tax increases and Joe the Plumber. Last weekend, Senator Obama showed up in Joe's driveway to ask for his vote, and Joe asked Senator Obama a tough question. I'm glad he did; I think Senator Obama could use a few more tough questions.

The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house. He didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn't recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks.

The question Joe asked about our economy is important, because Senator Obama's plan would raise taxes on small businesses that employ 16 million Americans. Senator Obama's plan will kill those jobs at just the time when we need to be creating more jobs. My plan will create jobs, and that's what America needs.

Senator Obama says that he wanted to spread your wealth around. When politicians talk about taking your money and spreading it around, you'd better hold onto your wallet. Senator Obama claims that wants to give a tax break to the middle class, but not only did he vote for higher taxes on the middle class in the Senate, his plan gives away your tax dollars to those who don't pay taxes.

That's not a tax cut, that's welfare. America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by redistributing wealth; we became the greatest nation by creating new wealth.

This is the choice that we face. These are hard times. Our economy is in crisis. Americans are fighting in two wars. We face many enemies in this dangerous world, and many challenges here at home.

The next President won't have time to get used to the office. He won't have the luxury of studying up on the issues before he acts. He will have to act immediately. And to do that, he will need experience, courage, judgment and a bold plan of action to take this country in a new direction. We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change. We have to act immediately. I said it at the last debate: I'm not George Bush; if Senator Obama wants to run against George Bush, he should have run for President 4 years ago. We need a new direction now. We have to fight for it. I've been fighting for this country since I was seventeen years old, and I have the scars to prove it. If I'm elected President, I will fight to take America in a new direction from my first day in office until my last. I'm not afraid of the fight, I'm ready for it.

I'm not going to spend $700 billion dollars of your money just bailing out the Wall Street bankers and brokers who got us into this mess. I'm going to make sure we take care of the people who were devastated by the excesses of Wall Street and Washington. I'm going to spend a lot of that money to bring relief to you, and I'm not going to wait sixty days to start doing it.

I have a plan to protect the value of your home and get it rising again by buying up bad mortgages and refinancing them so if your neighbor defaults he doesn't bring down the value of your house with him.

I have a plan to let retirees and people nearing retirement keep their money in their retirement accounts longer so they can rebuild their savings. I will protect Social Security so that retirees get the benefits they have earned, and I will bring both parties together to fix Social Security so that it is there for future generations.

I have a plan to hold the line on taxes and cut them to make America more competitive and create jobs here at home.

Raising taxes makes a bad economy much worse. Keeping taxes low creates jobs, keeps money in your hands and strengthens our economy.

The explosion of government spending over the last eight years has put us deeper in debt to foreign countries that don't have our best interests at heart. It weakened the dollar and made everything you buy more expensive.

If I'm elected President, I won't spend nearly a trillion dollars more of your money, on top of the $700 billion we just gave the Treasury Secretary, as Senator Obama proposes. Because he can't do that without raising your taxes or digging us further into debt. I'm going to make government live on a budget just like you do.

I will freeze government spending on all but the most important programs like defense, veterans care, Social Security and health care until we scrub every single government program and get rid of the ones that aren't working for the American people. And I will veto every single pork barrel bill Congresses passes.

If I'm elected President, I won't fine small businesses and families with children, as Senator Obama proposes, to force them into a new huge government run health care program, while he keeps the cost of the fine a secret until he hits you with it. I will bring down the skyrocketing cost of health care with competition and choice to lower your premiums, and make it more available to more Americans. I'll make sure you can keep the same health plan if you change jobs or leave a job to stay home.

I will provide every single American family with a $5000 refundable tax credit to help them purchase insurance. Workers who already have health care insurance from their employers will keep it and have more money to cover costs. Workers who don't have health insurance can use it to find a policy anywhere in this country to meet their basic needs.

If I'm elected President, I won't raise taxes on small businesses, as Senator Obama proposes, and force them to cut jobs. I will keep small business taxes where they are, help them keep their costs low, and let them spend their earnings to create more jobs.

If I'm elected President, I won't meet unconditionally with the Castro brothers, while they keep political prisoners in jail, stifle free media and block free elections in Cuba. When I am President, we are going to pressure the Cuban government to free their people. The day is coming when Cuba will be free. I will open new markets to goods made in America and make sure our trade is free and fair. And I'll make sure we help workers who've lost a job that won't come back find a new one that won't go away.

If I'm elected President, I won't make it harder to sell our goods overseas and kill more jobs as Senator Obama proposes. I will open new markets to goods made in America and make sure our trade is free and fair. And I'll make sure we help workers who've lost a job that won't come back find a new one that won't go away.

The last President to raise taxes and restrict trade in a bad economy as Senator Obama proposes was Herbert Hoover. That turned a recession into a depression. They say those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Well, my friends, I know my history lessons, and I sure won't make the mistakes Senator Obama will.

If I'm elected President, we're going to stop sending $700 billion to countries that don't like us very much. I won't argue to delay drilling for more oil and gas and building new nuclear power plants in America, as Senator Obama does. We will start new drilling now. We will invest in all energy alternativesÊ-- nuclear, wind, solar, and tide. We will encourage the manufacture of hybrid, flex fuel and electric automobiles. We will invest in clean coal technology. We will lower the cost of energy within months, and we will create millions of new jobs.

Let me give you the state of the race today. We have 18 days to go. We're 6 points down. The national media has written us off. Senator Obama is measuring the drapes, and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, take away your right to vote by secret ballot in labor elections, and concede defeat in Iraq. But they forgot to let you decide. My friends, we've got them just where we want them.

What America needs in this hour is a fighter; someone who puts all his cards on the table and trusts the judgment of the American people. I come from a long line of McCains who believed that to love America is to fight for her. I have fought for you most of my life. There are other ways to love this country, but I've never been the kind to do it from the sidelines.

I know you're worried. America is a great country, but we are at a moment of national crisis that will determine our future. Will we continue to lead the world's economies or will we be overtaken? Will the world become safer or more dangerous? Will our military remain the strongest in the world? Will our children and grandchildren's future be brighter than ours?

My answer to you is yes. Yes, we will lead. Yes, we will prosper. Yes, we will be safer. Yes, we will pass on to our children a stronger, better country. But we must be prepared to act swiftly, boldly, with courage and wisdom.

I know what fear feels like. It's a thief in the night who robs your strength. I know what hopelessness feels like. It's an enemy who defeats your will. I felt those things once before. I will never let them in again. I'm an American. And I choose to fight.

Don't give up hope. Be strong. Have courage. And fight.

Fight for a new direction for our country. Fight for what's right for America. Fight to clean up the mess of corruption, infighting and selfishness in Washington.

Fight to get our economy out of the ditch and back in the lead.

Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.

Fight for our children's future.

Fight for justice and opportunity for all.

Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. America is worth fighting for. Nothing is inevitable here. We never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.

Now, let's go win this election and get this country moving again.