What is it about Liberalism that makes people nuts?

More and more I find myself shaking my head in disbelief at the batsh*t ramblings of Liberals.  It makes me wonder if Liberals might not suffer from an undiagnosed mental illness that manifests itself in the belief in improbable conspiracy theories.  Critical Narrative relates one such case.  Mike Malloy, a Liberal talk radio host and former CNN writer posits that the Underpants Bomber planned the bombing in cahoots with Republicans in order to embarrass the Administration.  Cue up the theme music from The Twilight Zone:

"Now, the inquiry, the questions are being raised as to whether or not this is not a deliberate attempt to embarrass... ah, that's not quite a strong enough word, but let's start there, embarrass the Obama Administration - that there are forces at work in this country, and I believe this as surely as I put on my right shoe before my left - that there are forces alive who are very active, very wealthy in this country, at work in this country that want Obama to fail no matter what and the idea of killing 200 to 300 people on a jetliner in order to make the point is nothing. It means nothing.

"We kill that many in a week in our adventures around the world in places where we're bombing where we shouldn't even be. So, apparently, there's some investigation, I don't know who's going to do the investigating, lot of questions to be answered.

"My gut feeling is this was deliberate, this was deliberately done in order to put the Obama Administration in such a vice grip, that it's impossible to get anything done, to raise so much fear, this is what Republicans do, this is what they do..."

 Obviously this is a cry for help.  Sad, very sad.  And typical.

Systemic Failure

Credit Where It's Due [Mark Steyn]

Oh, be fair, Jonah.

2010: The United States Government revokes Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's visa a mere 12 days after he tries to kill 300 people.

2002: The United States Government approves Mohammed Atta's visa six months after he's actually killed 3,000 people - and is, in fact, himself deceased.

If that's not objective, measurable improvement in the U.S. bureaucracy, I don't know what is. Like they say, the system worked!

P.S. Now that he's no longer legally entitled to be in the United States, does that mean Mr. Abdul Mutallab is eligible for release to art school in Saudi Arabia?

Do you ever look around and think, "we are so screwed."?

Congressman Paul Ryan Endorses Marco Rubio

From Marco Rubio 2010

Miami, FL – U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio today announced that he has earned the endorsement of Congressman Paul Ryan (WI-01).

Making today’s announcement, Congressman Ryan said, “In the coming years, America faces critical decisions on government spending, taxes and entitlements that will require idea-driven leaders. Marco Rubio has proven he is exactly the type of consistent, principled conservative the Republican Party needs to ensure the relationship between the federal government and the individual is one that maximizes freedom and prosperity.

“Marco’s record of conservative leadership offers convincing evidence that he will hold Washington accountable, prevent government from wasting our tax dollars and lead a new generation of Republicans offering bold, innovative solutions to the challenges our nation faces in the years ahead.”

Welcoming Ryan’s endorsement, Rubio commented, "Paul Ryan has become one of the Republican Party’s brightest stars because of his willingness to tackle today’s policy challenges with innovative and compelling conservative ideas. Paul Ryan’s willingness to stand up for his principles and offer real solutions to our nation’s challenges has made him one of the GOP’s intellectual giants and a leader taxpayers can depend on to look after them and their hard-earned dollars. I look forward to working with Paul in Washington to promote freedom, protect taxpayers and show why Republicans are the party of ideas.”

On behalf of my fellow Conservative Floridians I thank Congressman Ryan for his endorsement.  The primary is still eight months away but Rubio is picking up more and more steam every day. 

Breaking News!

Jim Treacher uses racist imagery* to attract readers to The Daily Caller:

*Because everyone knows it is racist to show a black man bored out of his skull while listening to the inane ramblings of a potted plant.

Dorgan Announces That He Will Retire Rather Than Seek Re-election

Don Surber:

The key to changes in Congress is not in targeting incumbents — who win 98% of the time in the House — but in taking the open seats.


Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota had a safe seat until Obamacare came along. His retirement announcement today makes the race wide open.

Or not.

Congressman Earl Pomeroy, a fellow North Dakota Democrat, might step up. While he, too, voted for Obamacare, his vote against cap-and-trade may be bigger. North Dakota is an oil-rich state now. It’s unemployment rate was a mere 4.1% in November, the nation’s lowest. North Dakotans may be cool to change.

And it is not a sure thing about Republican Governor John Hoeven seeking the office.

However, the Hill pointed out: “North Dakota gave Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) a 53-45 win in the 2008 presidential election, but it gave President George W. Bush 63 percent of the vote in 2004 and is among the most conservative states in the country.”

I don't see how you can look at this as anything but good news. 

Consensus has been achieved on Climate Change

The Bride of Rove and I both live in Florida. The Bride of Rove says it is cold. I say it is cold.We have reached a consensus. Anyone who denies that it is cold is an anti-science flat Earther who should be exiled to Minot, North Dakota (high tomorrow, -10 degrees F, low, -28 degrees F). Are we all on the same page?

Alan Grayson Volunteers to Write the Forward to Dick Cheney's Book

The Hill:

The Prince of Darkness himself might be best-suited to write the foreword to former Vice President Dick Cheney's forthcoming book, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) suggested Monday.

Given the size of his ego it doesn't surprise me that Grayson thinks that he is best suited to write the forward to Cheney's book and he may soon find himself with extra time on his hands.

Florida State Legislator Aims to Knock Off Alan Grayson

For a while, potty-mouthed Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida has seemed like one of this cycle's most vulnerable. He represents a district that is usually pretty Republican (Obama carried the district by 5 percentage points) and that Republican Bill McCollum represented for a lot of years. Grayson's style in office has been the opposite of a centrist, carving out his niche as the sneering and obnoxious id of House Democrats. Yet the GOP had trouble finding a top-tier challenger, someone who has run a race or two before and who has a good reputation in that section of Florida.

Now they've found one: Florida state representative Kurt Kelly, who's making it official today.

Prediction: Grayson's sorry ass is going down.

Florida GOP Chairman Resigns

Jim Greer, Chairman of the Florida Republican Party, has resigned. This is excellent news for those of us who believe that candidates should be chosen by the voters rather than appointed by behind doors by a cabal of party insiders.

"I cannot be a participant in the shredding and tearing in the fabric of the Republican Party," said Greer, blaming his conservative critics for their plan to stage a divisive fight over his post at a party meeting Saturday. His critics were willing to "burn the house down and try to destroy the Republican Party," Greer said.

Greer, a close ally of Governor Charlie Crist, is the highest-profile casualty to date of the conservative insurgency that, in Florida, backs Marco Rubio against Crist.

"I am not a purist," Greer said, begging his fellow Republicans to "stop the fight between moderates and conservatives [and] focus on electing Republicans in 2010."

Greer sounds eerily like Sen. John Cornyn, head of the NRSC. Both cling to the fallacy that the voters don’t know what is good for them and therefore need the “leadership” to make all their important decisions for them. The Florida race between Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio is a perfect example of this line of elitist thought.

Crist and Rubio both easily beat Kendrick Meek, the likely Democratic candidate in the Florida senate race. Yet only Crist received the backing of Greer and Cornyn. Why? Because for all their bluster about getting Republicans elected, Greer and Cornyn don’t want just any Republican elected, they want their Republican elected even if the voters want someone else.

Voters expressing a preference for one candidate over another is not tantamount to “…the shredding and tearing in the fabric of the Republican Party,". It is democracy. Greer either doesn’t understand the process, or more likely, doesn’t believe in the process. Either way, his resignation is good news for Florida Republicans.

Cross posted at Not One Red Cent

Strolling Down Memory Lane

Remember George W. Bush? He used to be President of the United States. Bush was a Republican, some would even say a conservative, and as such, Democrats didn't much like him. But they put their dislike aside and supported him because that is what we do.

Do you remember the funny little "pet names" they gave President Bush? Here's a reminder from a a post Doug Ross wrote June 21, 2008:

The progressives have a lot of names for President George W. Bush:

Dubya, Bushie, Shrub, Chimp, Smirky, Bushitler, Chickenhawk One, Hitlerburton, Chimpowitz, Rove's Puppet, Cowboy Hitlerstein, AWOL McPsycho, Bushollini, Cheney's Sock Puppet, Chimpy McDrunkard, Darth Moron, Toxic Texan, Dim Son, Drinky McCokeSpoon, Emperor Chimpatine, Fearful Leader, Herr Bush, Moron-in-Chief, and Satan's Monkey.

But it was all just good fun, right? Wrong. The Left was vicious during the Bush years. Bush wasn't the only target, his entire inner circle were subjected to a barrage of ugly slurs. Sometimes it seemed as if the Left saved their nastiest bile for Secretary of State Condi Rice, who was subjected all manner of racist remarks, rants and racially degrading "cartoons". Unlike President Obama they didn't call Rice "haughty", they called her a House Nigger. There weren't pictures of Rice looking down her nose, instead she was dressed up as Aunt Jemima or drew cartoons that portrayed her as a slut.

Little Miss Attila:

But that is the problem with much of the left: it projects its own racism upon its political opponents. When it tries to fight dirty by labeling political dissent as “racism,” it only shows its own hand. (emphasis added)

Absolutely. The Left accuses the Right of racism because if the roles were reversed, when they were reversed, they acted like disgusting, racist beasts and they enjoyed it.

Just out of curiosity, is it okay to throw around the title Satan's Monkey now?

Analyze Glenn Reynolds’ Body Language: I Want to Play!

Welcome Instapundit readers. And thank you for the link, Prof. Reynolds. You are both adorable and fabulous!

Thanks to Chuckles Johnson for the pictures of Instapundit. He is adorable!

Where's My Global Warming?

Don Surber:

Who said the Copenhagen conference on ending global warming was unsuccessful?

Even as delegates convened, temperatures dropped and Denmark enjoyed a rare blizzard.

The president came home to two feet of snow and on Christmas Day, two-thirds of the nation’s lower 48 were under snow. Ho, ho, ho.

Yeah, well that's all well and good for the rest of you but I'm freezing down here just south of Tampa. No, really. Check this out: Average Tampa Bay Weather & Temperatures, January high 69.8° F, low 50.0° F

As you can plainly see, I should not be sitting here freezing, yet I am. I don't expect July temperatures in December (though it would be nice) but I don't think normal highs and lows are too much to ask for. Its not just for me-think of the poor tourists who are feeling totally screwed right now.

I realize that Al Gore and Dr Rajendra Pachauri stand to make a lot of money off Global Warming but they'll never scam, um, earn their second billion if the weather doesn't co-operate.

So you see, I'm not being selfish at all.

Heavens to Betsy, Could This Administration BE Any More Embarrassing?

I almost hesitate to ask because it appears that the answer is not only "yes" but "HELL YES!" (or in this case, "YES WE CAN!").

Via Paco:

So, now we're going to offer the Christmas-day bomber a deal? Perhaps he's going to spill his guts in return for, what, a guilty plea on a charge of indecent exposure? Smoking on an airplane?

It is impossible to take this administration seriously on the subject of terrorism. Govern yourselves accordingly.

See the Counterterrorism blog for more information on the Nigerian terrorist and on the growing problem with Yemen.

Gee, what happened? Did the "pretty please with sugar on top" thing not work out? The man is a terrorist. Once upon a time, we didn't bargain with terrorists. Now we fluff their pillows at night and leave them a chocolate mint in the morning. One can imagine Osama sitting around the campfire in his cave with his buds laughing his ass off as they all take turns suggesting a more appropriate and wussified name for America now that were too girly to be referred to as the Great Satan.

In less than a year we have gone from the super power to a bunch of pretty in pink, Mother, may I, pansies. Even the French have bigger balls than us. How embarrassing is that?

I Believe it is Called "Dripping Contempt"

Jeez, the look Obama is giving his VP says you are so going to wake up with a severed horse head lying next next to you.

Granted, Biden is an idiot but that speaks worse of Obama for choosing him than it does of Biden for accepting.

I (almost) feel sorry for Biden. Obama needed an "elder statesman" in the number two spot to deflect attention from the fact he was completely unqualified to be in the number one spot. Biden proved convenient because, frankly, he isn't bright enough to know that he is a pawn and at this late stage in his career, he probably doesn't care. However, it must be grating for Biden to be forced to defer to a man lacking one-tenth of his experience.

It would be interesting to see the look on Biden's face when this picture was taken. I betcha he is thinking that he'd like to smack the smug right out of there.

h/t Instapundit

And Speaking of Rasmussen...

Partisan Trends
Number of Democrats Falls to New Low, Down Six Points Since Election 2008:

In December, the number of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats fell to the lowest level recorded in more than seven years of monthly tracking by Rasmussen Reports.

Currently, 35.5% of American adults view themselves as Democrats. That’s down from 36.0 a month ago and from 37.8% in October. Prior to December, the lowest total ever recorded for Democrats was 35.9%, a figure that was reached twice in 2005. See the History of Party Trends from January 2004 to the present.

The number of Republicans inched up by a point in December to 34.0%. That’s the highest total for Republicans since December 2007, just before the 2008 presidential campaign season began.

I wouldn't expect to see any large increase in the number of people who self identify as Republicans. If anything, Conservatives care more about conservative candidates than they do about party affiliation. Unfortunately, Sen. John Cornyn, head of the NRSC, shows no sign that he has any understanding of the Conservative voter.

On the other hand, I know more than one Democrat who is embarrassed by their vote in 2008. They may not have gone to the trouble of officially changing their party affiliation but they also aren't eager to be identified as Democrats.

By an almost 2 to 1 ratio more people identify as "conservative" rather than "liberal". Further, more people identify as "conservative" than "moderate".

If more people vote their ideology rather than by party affiliation it will force the political parties and candidates to be more responsive to the voters. The days when people automatically vote according to party may be behind us. If so, it will benefit the country as a whole.

Blaming the Pollster Instead of the President

Politico:

Democrats are turning their fire on Scott Rasmussen, the prolific independent pollster whose surveys on elections, President Obama’s popularity and a host of other issues are surfacing in the media with increasing frequency.

The pointed attacks reflect a hardening conventional wisdom among prominent liberal bloggers and many Democrats that Rasmussen Reports polls are, at best, the result of a flawed polling model and, at worst, designed to undermine Democratic politicians and the party’s national agenda.

On progressive-oriented websites, anti-Rasmussen sentiment is an article of faith. “Rasmussen Caught With Their Thumb on the Scale,” blared the Daily Kos this summer. “Rasmussen Reports, You Decide,” the blog Swing State Project recently headlined in a play on the Fox News motto.

“I don’t think there are Republican polling firms that get as good a result as Rasmussen does,” said Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow with Media Matters, a progressive research center. “His data looks like it all comes out of the RNC [Republican National Committee].”

Excellent! From where I’m standing the Left’s dismissal of the Rasmussen polls couldn’t come as better news. So long as those on the Left only pop their collective heads out of their collective tailpipes just long enough to engage in a tepid game of Snipe at the Pollster instead of addressing problems a wee bit bigger than the Messiah’s falling numbers, they are ceding the Right a straight shot to victory in 2010 and 2012.

Yep, it’s not the economy, unemployment, the apology tours, the bowing, the pathetic response to terrorists, ObamaCare, Cap and Trade, Stimulus, Communist Czars or cronyism-it’s the pollster! Keep up the good works, comrades. Nobody expected it to be this easy.

More at:

Memeorandum

Jules Crittenden Messenger Under Fire

Gateway Pundit It Has Begun… Dems Lash Out at Pollster For Not Reporting More Favorable Numbers

Yid with Lid Political Hubris: Democrats Blame Pollster Rasmussen For Voters Rejection of Their Agenda

Don Surber Poll: 2009 was worse than 2008

and from Doug Ross:

In related news, Democrats also blasted a long list of organizations for "biased and unfavorable reporting that hurts the administration's agenda". The list includes:

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics for continuing to report on double-digit unemployment and increased mass layoff events.

• USA Today for reporting that job losses during President Obama's rookie year exceeded the job losses in any single year since World War II.

• John Mauldin of Frontline for pointedly noting that almost every government-issued statistic is becoming "more and more distorted" (i.e., bogus).

• Various California newspapers for predicting that the state's home values have yet to hit bottom.

• Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge for warning that the U.S. Treasury stands at risk, stating: "Brace for impact: in 2010, demand for U.S. [bonds] has to increase eleven-fold... or else."

• Wells Fargo for warning that commercial real estate remains dramatically overpriced.• John Williams of ShadowStats for stating unequivocally that "[the] U.S. has no way of avoiding a financial Armageddon."

• Vincent Fernando of Business Insider for noting that the Baltic Dry Index, which measures the level of international trade, "is collapsing."

• Real estate brokers in California for warning that a tidal wave of "shadow inventory" -- foreclosed properties -- has yet to resurface on the market, which would have "a substantial impact on the [local] housing supply if they were to come onto the market" by crushing home values.

• The New York Times for reporting that as many as 6 million Americans have no income other than food stamps.

Democrats do, however, concede that most of the "biased reporting" issues will fade in importance as the federal government institutes its regulations for bloggers and bails out the newspaper business.

The White House's Gift to Terrorists: Our Weakness

Obama is in trouble and he knows it. Consider this from the Telegraph:

In his weekly radio address yesterday, President Barack Obama patted himself on the back for having "refocused the fight - bringing to a responsible end the war in Iraq, which had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks".

He then told people to remember that "our adversaries are those who would attack our country, not our fellow Americans", before decrying "fear and cynicism" and "partisanship and division" - the code phrases for horrid Republicans used during his 2008 election campaign.

Complacency, faux moralising and partisan shots at Republicans. It was a neat summary of where Obama is going wrong after the Christmas Day debacle when the Nigerian knicker bomber managed to waltz onto a Detroit-bound flight. (emphasis added)

For a man who campaigned denouncing the politicization of national security under President George W Bush, it is worth noting how intensely political Obama's treatment of what might henceforth be known as Underpantsgate has been.

His White House recognized its political vulnerability more readily than it comprehended the level of danger faced by Americans. (emphasis added)

That last sentence should read: His White House cares more about its political vulnerability then it is concerned about the level of danger faced by Americans. Almost immediately after the Christmas day attack we learned of the bomber’s ties to Yemen and Anwar al-Awlaki, we learned that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s father had warned of his son’s radicalization and we learned of Al Qaeda’s involvement. But for all we had learned, the most important lesson was that when our country was attacked on Christmas it took our President three days to speak out and then he did such a weak job of it that he had to come back the next day for a mulligan. But there is no “do-over” when the American citizens learn that the White House had been given the information necessary to stop this attack and they did nothing.

Meanwhile, the White House was working overtime to build a case against Bush. A source in the White House counsel's office told The American Spectator of memos frantically seeking information that would "show that the Bush Administration had had far worse missteps than we ever could".

Yet, President Bush kept this country safe for all the years following 9/11. He was honest with the American people about the threat we faced and how we were going to defeat our enemies. And we were safe until a weak and ineffectual country club manager wannabe took over as president. After Obama was elected he scrubbed the hard language terrorism and substituted pansy phrases like “man made disasters” and in doing so he telegraphed our weakness to the world. And it didn’t take long for the world to respond:

Republicans smell blood. There is a pattern in the Obama administration of dismissing Islamist terrorist attacks as regrettable random acts. In his radio address after Major Nidal Hassan's slaughtered 13 at Fort Hood, Texas, Obama made no mention of terrorism or militant Islam, instead blandly promising that the "ongoing investigation into this terrible tragedy" would "look at the motives of the alleged gunman".

Hassan was a committed Islamist who had corresponded with the fanatical Yemeni imam Anwar al-Awlaki. In June, Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, a Muslim convert being watched by the FBI and who had previously traveled to Yemen, murdered a US Army recruit in Arkansas. That rated only a tepid statement by Obama about a "senseless act of violence".

But the violence wasn't senseless, it had a calculated objective - just as Abdulmutallab was not, as Obama described him, an "isolated extremist". No wonder many Americans want to grab Obama by the lapels and scream: "It's the Jihad, stupid." Dick Cheney, the former vice-president, clearly struck a nerve when he charged last week that Obama was "trying to pretend we are not at war".

Obama can pretend that we aren’t at war but our enemies know better. And as long as the President of the United States continues to broadcast our vulnerability and our unwillingness to act our enemies will continue their holy crusade against us. In less than one year, Obama has undone everything that President Bush put in place to keep us safe. The blood that Republicans smell in the water is our own.

More at RedState: Barack Obama’s Vulnerabilities Will Get Us All Killed

Gov. Charlie Crist Leaves Tallahassee and Moves to Some Place Called 'Da Nile'

Exhibit A from the St. Pete Times:

"All in all, I think it's been a good year — a good year in challenging times," Crist said. "These are tough times. It sure hasn't been dull, to say the least, by any stretch."

If Good Time Charlie thinks it's been a good year he sure hasn't been hanging out in Florida.

Lets review:

He miscalculated the danger of his "man hug" with President Barack Obama in support of the Democrats' stimulus package. He signed a no-new taxes pledge only to raise taxes weeks later to balance the state budget. And the biggest contributor in his campaign for U.S. Senate, Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein, was charged in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.

Speaking of that stimulus package that Crist supported and then denied that he supported and then denied that he denied supporting, what has Florida gotten out Crist's great big ol' man hug?

When Crist took office in 2007, the unemployment rate was 3.3 percent — less than a third of what it is now as more than 1 million Floridians can't find work. One in every 705 Florida homes was in foreclosure when he took office. Now the foreclosure rate is 1 of 165, according to RealtyTrac data service. (emphais added)

Even Crist's staunchest critics say many of Florida's woes are largely beyond his control. But they question whether Crist did what he could when he could. When the economy deteriorated, Crist paid visits to regional unemployment centers and held roundtable discussions with veterans and real estate agents, but he didn't propose and implement specific policies to halt the tide of foreclosures and layoffs. (emphasis added)

Crist has put his vastly unpopular "green policies" on the back burner but he himself admits that it is only a temporary move. He is currently touting "light rail" as his signature program. Apparently he is unaware that government backed railroad transportation has had a long history of abject failure.

Most damaging for Crist is the perception that Crist really doesn't stand for anything and that he is one of those politicians who sticks his finger in the air in order to determine the direction of the political winds. Consider this:

Newly married to New York socialite and businesswoman Carole Rome, Crist spent the days just before 2009 hunting for Christmas gifts in the rural North Florida antique mecca of Havana. There Crist ran into a local who paid him such a compliment that he pulled a reporter aside and made her repeat it. (emphasis added)

"I believe he's a closet Democrat," Shirley Aaron said.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Crist said. "We have, in Florida, Republicans and Democrats and independents, but we're all Floridians first."

If Crist knew or cared about the profound ideological differences between the two political parties he wouldn't feel complimented by being called a closet Democrat. But for Crist, ideology is only skin deep and can be easily shed when it no longer suits Crist's needs.

Now that Crist has tanked in the polls, he is trying make up his lost ground but pretending that everything is just fine in Florida won't get him very far. Come the August primary Florida voters will be voting on whether they believe things are just fine and who they will trust to represent them. I don't expect that a year from now Crist will be sounding as enthusiastic as he is trying to sound now.

Cross posted at Not One Red Cent

The Epic Fail of No Consequences

Many years ago I dated a man who had a young daughter. One day he and I took our respective children bowling. We bowled our requisit three games and then got ready to leave. My friends daughter decided she wasn't going anywhere. My friend, I kid you not, began to count. One. Twoo. Threee... Now, my Mom counted a couple of times but she never made it past two. I knew better. There were consequences for misbehaving and they far outweighed the momentary thrill of "acting up." My friend's daughter knew that there would be no consequences and as a result she didn't budge.*

Our relationship with Iran bears a striking resemblence to my former friend and his daughter. Iran knows that we will make absolute fools out of ourselves counting to infinity but we will not act.

Legal Insurrection:

My, how the tables have turned.

It used to be that the Obama administration gave Iran deadlines on reaching agreement on nuclear fuel reprocessing. The most recent deadline was December 31.

None of those deadlines meant anything, as the Iranians figured out long ago.

That's the problem with deadlines, which Obama hasn't learned. Deadlines only mean something if the failure to meet the deadline has consequences.

Now the Iranians have given us a deadline to reach agreement on their terms, or they will simply ramp up their own nuclear fuel production:

Iran warned on Saturday the West has until the end of the month to accept Teheran's counterproposal to a UN-drafted plan on a nuclear exchange, or the country will start producing nuclear fuel on its own.

Somehow, I think the Iranians will put more weight behind their deadline to us, than we have put behind our deadlines to them.

We are the weak horse in this race and nobody respects a wuss. Iran knows this. Obama doesn't.

*The standoff at the abowling alley ended when I told my friend to take my kids out to the car. Once he was out the door I told his daughter that if she didn't get in gear I would put her over my knee and spank her in front of everyone. She hesitated, I took a step towards her and she (wisely) made for the door. She knew there would be consequences. Honestly, I don't miss him at all but I still miss her. We got along very well from that day forward.

The End of the World is Nigh!

From Troglopundit:

Will that be in the morning? Or in the afternoon?

Biblical scholar’s date for rapture: May 21, 2011

Harold Camping lets out a hearty chuckle when he considers the people who believe the world will end in 2012.

…Camping, 88, has scrutinized the Bible for almost 70 years and says he has developed a mathematical system to interpret prophecies hidden within the Good Book. One night a few years ago, Camping, a civil engineer by trade, crunched the numbers and was stunned at what he’d found: The world will end May 21, 2011.

I might find this a little more disturbing if he hadn’t made the same prediction about Sept. 6, 1994.

Sorry, I'm sticking with 12/21/12. Somehow the end of the world coinciding with my daughter's birthday just makes sense to me.

All due seriousness aside, who cares? Those who believe in life after death are prepared for the last day whenever it occurs and those who don't aren't going to prepare for something that they don't believe in. So, eh.

Updating the Blogroll

I have finally updated the old blogroll and the first order of business was putting in The Other McCain's new Wordpress address. Coach McCain and Smitty are looking mighty spiffy over there. (Hey Smitty, how about a little tit for tat?) After checking out Stacy's new site jump over to No Sheeples Here and vote that Carol gets her much deserved autographs from Stacy.

The Camp of the Saints has also moved over to Wordpress so don't forget to update accordingly. Bob has been a good friend to this site and I vow to follow him wherever he goes (in a non-creepy, non stalker manner, of course).

Just out of curiosity, can someone drop me an email and explain the advantages of Wordpress vs Blogger? I am always happy to receive advise and criticism that helps me to improve my site.

While changing the blogroll to include Bob and Stacy's new digs I added several sites that I visit every single day day but had never gotten of my lazy ass and put on the blogroll. If I missed anyone, and given my lack of attention to detail I am sure I did, please drop my an email and let me know.

I would love to be a member of the Million Hits Club but until then I would like to thank those people who have made this site a regular on their daily rounds. Please help me grow by passing this site on to your friends and family and as I stated above, please let me know how I can improve.

Bless you all.

Danish Cartoonist Attacked

A few days ago the Danish rag Politiken wrote a piece comparing President Obama favorably to Jesus Christ. More than a few us noted that comparing Obama to Jesus rather than to Mohammed was a far safer (and wussier) bet. It didn’t take long for that to prove true.

Mark Steyn:

Remember the Danish cartoons? A 27-year old Somali does:

Danish police on Friday shot and wounded a man trying to enter the home of an artist who drew controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The man, a 27-year-old Somalian who was armed with an axe, was caught trying to break into the home of Kurt Westergaard at 10pm local time, police said.

Police shot the man, injuring him in his leg...

Mr. Westergaard's cartoon was seen at the time as the most controversial, as it depicted the Prophet with a bomb in his turban.

"Controversial" but entirely vindicated by events since. To return to the theme of my post a couple of days back, a significant percentage of Muslims in the west do not understand concepts such as pluralism and freedom of expression. A further percentage understand them very well but reject them as loser fetishes incompatible with the requirements of Islamic supremacism - and have a shrewd sense that when, push comes to shove, a lot of these fine liberal concepts crumble to nothing. Is the percentage of Muslims who support Mr. Westergaard's right to free expression and the broader principles of intellectual liberty sufficient to make the importation of legions of "27-year old Somalians" a net benefit to Denmark?

The answer to that seems obvious. But Mr. Westergaard is 74, and I'll bet his half-century-younger attacker grasps however crudely the demographic symbolism, in Scandinavia and beyond.

I seem to remember that at the time the cartoons were published more people expressed disgust at the cartoons than at the literally murderous riots that took place in several cities in Europe. It struck me odd that the same people who defended Piss Christ and statues of the Virgin Mary smeared in dung were the same people who condemned the Mohammed cartoons.

It really does matter whose ox is being gored but beyond that, if you support free expression then support it across the board. But those who claim that their “out thereness” is brave are only brave when bravery is not required. A quick look at Memeorandum reveals that only right of the center blogs are speaking out on the attack against Mr. Westergaard. The left of the center blogs who consider themselves to be the champions of all things great and small are their usual silent selves when it comes to Westergaard’s right to express himself with the fear of being beheaded.

More at:

Fausta’s Blog
Jules Crittenden
Gateway Pundit
The Jawa Report
Cold Fury

Nelson Can't Catch a Break

Poor Ben Nelson, he just can’t catch a break. For selling his soul to the company store all he got in return was contempt from the voting public, including those in his own state of Nebraska, and now his efforts to get a group of state Attorney Generals to “call off the dogs” is being rebuffed (and mocked):

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) reached out Thursday evening to South Carolina GOP Attorney General Henry McMaster, the leader of a group of 13 Republican state attorneys general who are threatening to file suit against the Senate health care bill, and urged him to forgo any legal action, POLITICO has learned.

According to a copy of a memo sent by McMaster’s chief of staff to other GOP state attorneys general detailing the call, Nelson asked McMaster to “call off the dogs,” a reference to recent threats by the state AGs to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Medicaid provision in the bill that benefits Nebraska at the expense of other states

Nelson is trying to claim that eventually the deal he received will be extended to all fifty states. Of course, the only way the federal government can relieve the states governments of any burden is by either cancelling the programs to cause the burden or raising taxes. Anybody think that the government will be cancelling any programs any time soon?

Most of us understand that when we screw up, we have to take our lumps. Nelson screwed up and he is desperately trying to avoid taking his lumps. Man up, Bennie.

More at Memeorandum

David Broder: President of the Janet Napolitano Fan Club

I came back from mini vacation to Largo on an emotional high. I can’t think of a better way to recharge and regroup than spending time with dear friends. Kara and Damon were incredible hosts and even though it had been over two decades since we had seen each other, we picked up right where we left off. Then I had my “Earth to Carolyn” moment.

It came as no surprise to anyone who knows her that Napolitano handled the incident and its aftermath with aplomb. In the years I have known her, she has managed every challenge that has come her way with the same calm command that she showed in this instance. If there is anyone in the administration who embodies President Obama's preference for quiet competence with "no drama," it is Janet Napolitano.

Is David Broder serious? He’s talking about Janet “the system worked” Napolitano, right?

…She is being criticized for saying "the system worked," but her part of the response system did work.

It must have been a frantic time for her. She was in San Francisco, far from her Washington office, and she must have had a sleepless night. But her eyes were bright, and her voice was calm. Everything appeared to be completely normal, except that her usual sense of humor was absent, as it should have been, given the circumstances.

…her part of the response system did work. In what possible way? Does Broder believe that the Department of Homeland Security is an after the fact agency? If that is the case we should rename the agency the Department of Homeland Janitorial Services. However, I think most American would prefer that a security agency prevent terrorist attacks, not come in after the attack and clean up the mess left behind.

Broder defends Napolitano’s dismal performance on television immediately after the attack by saying that she “refused to speculate…”. There was nothing to speculate about. The government had known about the Underpants Bomber for months prior to the attack. What Napolitano did was attempt to spin the attack in such a way that the American people would not find out that our government failed at their prime directive to keep this country’s citizens safe.

Our government failed but they got lucky. The Underpants Bomber was every bit as incompetent at his mission as Janet Napolitano was at her’s. We can’t count on luck. The American people need confidence that their government is looking out for them and when there is a failure that the government will deal with the failure in an upright and honest manner.
We did not get honesty or competence from Janet Napolitano. Broder is not looking at the situation with a critical eye. He is acting like a White House hack.

Off to See an Old Friend

The other day I received an email at the email address that I set up for this blog. It started out, "Hi its Kara, remember me?"

I hated Florida when I first moved here. I was fresh out of college, newly divorced with two small children and I didn't know anybody except my parents and my great aunt.

Then on my first day of my first (real) grown up job I met Kara. She was working while her husband was in college. We went to lunch together and became best buds. We joined the bank's mixed softball team. Kara played second base and I played third. My kids were the bat boy and bat girl and Kara's husband would cheer us on from the stands.

Then her husband graduated and got a job in Dallas. We promised we would stay in touch but twenty-five years ago neither of us had email and eventually the letters petered out.

Long story short (yeah, I know), Kara and her husband have moved back to Florida. One day she was surfing the Conservative blogs online and viola! I'm off to spend New Years with Kara and her husband. I'll be back some time New Years day.

In the mean time:

A Wish for a Friend

Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!

Happy New Year,

Carolyn

Traficant for Congress

Why not?

Traficant hinted at the possibility of returning to Congress two weeks ago when he hosted a press conference in Canfield to unveil plans to develop a casino/resort in the Mahoning Valley. He said then that he would be circulating petitions in the three districts to assess his political strength and support in the region, but stopped short of announcing he would jump in the race.

Traficant’s announcement comes just four months after the former congressman was released from a federal prison in Rochester, Minn., where he served a portion of a seven-year sentence for racketeering and bribery. The congressman was convicted in 2002 and became the second member to be expelled from of the House of Representatives since the Civil War. (emphasis added)

Seven years in federal prison for racketeering and bribery? Sounds like he would be a perfect fit for the current congress.

So Who is Paying for Nelson's 30 Second Holiday Bowl Ad?

From Michelle Malkin:

Cornhuckster sellout Sen. Ben Nelson will grovel before Nebraskans in a 30-second political spot airing tonight during the Holiday Bowl game.

Can you disguise the taint of Demcare bribes and beclowning with half a minute of folksy chatter?

Methinks not:

As a fresh poll measured the political cost of Sen. Ben Nelson’s health reform vote, he prepared Tuesday to take his case directly to Nebraskans during Wednesday night’s Holiday Bowl game.

Nelson will air a new TV ad in which he attempts to debunk opposition claims that the Senate legislation represents a government takeover, and he makes the case for health care reform.

“With all the distortions about health care reform, I want you to hear directly from me,” the Democratic senator says in the ad.

Nelson, dressed in an open-necked shirt and sweater, speaks directly into the camera during the 30-second ad.

The message will be launched during the Nebraska-Arizona football game and continue to air statewide for an undisclosed number of days. (emphasis added)

Okay. A thirty second ad during the Holiday Bowl and the ad will continue to be aired for an undisclosed number of days. That must cost a pretty penny. Who the Hell is paying for it?

I would assume that the taxpayers aren’t paying but these days, anything is possible. Is money left over in his campaign fund? If that is the case, it really doesn’t concern me because I’ve never contributed to Nelson’s or any other Democrat’s campaign. On the other hand, if I had contributed to Nelson and he used the money to bail his butt out of a freefall I would be pissed.
Maybe Nelson is paying out of his own pocket. Does anybody know?

Related posts via Memeorandum

Teach Your Children Well

Children really are little sponges eagerly sopping up everything, good and bad, around them. Children are born hard wired to process enormous amounts of information and with an almost maddening amount of curiosity. As parents, and grandparents, we hold our small children on our laps and read aloud, pointing at the pictures and using different voices. Just as we reach the final page we hear, “read it again” and we do. We sing the ABC’s and count our 123’s and somehow manage to answer all those “whys.” Then one day we excitedly and nervously send our little ones to elementary school where we trust that the lessons we have begun will be continued. Imagine the pain and frustration of finding out that you’ve sent your child to a school where learning is discouraged.

The two students each received $50,000, and two family members who filed the suits on their behalf received $25,000 apiece ....

Title VI prohibits allowing a racially hostile educational environment in schools and programs receiving federal financial assistance and provides for a private cause of action for violations....

Both students were African-American, and so was most of the elementary school’s student body, according to [the students’ lawyer, Lawrence C.] Kobrovsky....

[The younger student] claimed she suffered emotional trauma because she was subjected to racial and sexual slurs at ... elementary school ... Despite complaints, school administrative staff and district officials allowed the abuse to “escalate to the point where [she] was physically threatened, assaulted and battered,” the suit alleged.

“You have a culture where to act like you want to do well in school is considered acting white. And that is part of why we’re saying that it was racial, even though the students were all of the same race because they weren’t acting how the others thought they should be acting as members of that race,” Kobrovsky said....

This is elementary school. At this early stage a child’s attitudes are formed by their home environment. This story says to me that children were taught by their parents that education has no value and that those who seek to become educated are to be mocked and in the case of the little girl, physically assaulted. Sadly, this is not a new phenomenon. Yesterday Charles Payne related on the Glenn Beck Show that he was ridiculed as he was growing up for “acting white” because he excelled at academics. He credited his mother for instilling in him the value of education and her insistence that he do well in school.

The love of one’s child isn’t determined by race. The desire to see one’s child succeed in life is not determined by race. So why does it seem that the value of education, is determined by race?

When black children see Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Barack Obama, Condoleezza Rice, Bill Cosby, on and on and on, do they see people who are acting white or do they see successful people?

Parents of all races need to explain to their children that for every Ludacris or Eminem there are thousands on food stamps living day by day without hope or a chance of a brighter future. Children, all children, need to be taught at home, that succeeding at education is the ticket to succeeding at life.

h/t Instapundit

Are We the Next Israel?

Christopher Hitchens writing in Slate:

What nobody in authority thinks us grown-up enough to be told is this: We had better get used to being the civilians who are under a relentless and planned assault from the pledged supporters of a wicked theocratic ideology. These people will kill themselves to attack hotels, weddings, buses, subways, cinemas, and trains. They consider Jews, Christians, Hindus, women, homosexuals, and dissident Muslims (to give only the main instances) to be divinely mandated slaughter victims. Our civil aviation is only the most psychologically frightening symbol of a plethora of potential targets. The future murderers will generally not be from refugee camps or slums (though they are being indoctrinated every day in our prisons); they will frequently be from educated backgrounds, and they will often not be from overseas at all. They are already in our suburbs and even in our military. We can expect to take casualties. The battle will go on for the rest of our lives. Those who plan our destruction know what they want, and they are prepared to kill and die for it. Those who don't get the point prefer to whine about "endless war," accidentally speaking the truth about something of which the attempted Christmas bombing over Michigan was only a foretaste. While we fumble with bureaucracy and euphemism, they are flying high. (emphasis ended)

Watching a news show or special or something several months back I remember them showing a schoolyard playground in Israel. Among the slides and swings and jungle gym were brightly colored bomb shelters. Even the youngest of the young children in Israel know that when the siren blows they have mere moments to get in the shelter. Every building, every event, every person is a target. Is that our future?

I agree with every word that Hitchen’s writes but I disagree with the finality with which he writes. There is a certain acceptance, an “it is what it is” about his words. I don’t accept that we are incapable of defeating our enemies. I want Hitchens to write one more paragraph, the happy ending, so to speak. I don’t think he’ll do that nor is it his job. We have an enemy bent on depriving us of our lives and our freedom. We must find the resolve to write our own happy ending.

The Danish Are Taking This Whole "Messiah" Thing A Little Too Seriously

AllahPundit:

Think about it. Jesus? The miracle of the loaves and fishes. The One? The miracle of jobs “created or saved.” Jesus? Water into wine. The One? Money from thin air. Jesus? Capable of being everywhere all at once. The One? Ditto. And of course, people have been known to pray to both.

In fairness, to a left-wing atheist, I’d imagine this is a toughie.

He's referring to an article in the Danish newspaper Politiken titled Obama greater than Jesus.

No, really.

I would laugh except that in a very real way it just isn't funny. I don't mean from a religious point of view. Anybody who would compare Obama to Jesus and find Jesus wanting is beyond any words that I could say. It just strikes me as sad that anybody, even some editor unknown to me, feels the need to deify any mortal. Denmark must be a very bleak place.

Sorry, it is so over the top it is a little funny. Or as Jim Geraghty said:

Come on, you wimp, call him greater than Mohammed.

I doubt we will be seeing angry Christian mobs rioting in the streets, burning Danish flags or issuing death threats against the editor of Politiken.

Image from gettomass.com

Why O' Why Won't Dems Defend Obama?

Giggle Alert! Doofus Crossing! Hmmmm:

Are Democrats so cowed by Republican attacks on Obama’s foreign policy that they’re unwilling to defend him?

It’s now been five days since the attempted bombing of Flight 253 in Detroit, and Congressional Democrats are still turning the other cheek to Republicans who are using the incident to attack Obama’s entire approach to national security.

At first, I thought this line of attack, pushed by Rep. Peter Hoekstra and Rep. Peter King, might fizzle out, but this is clearly not going away. Take South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint’s comments to Fox News yesterday, which were featured in this morning’s lead POLITICO article on the Republican response:

“[S]oft talk about engagement, closing Gitmo, these things are not going to appease the terrorists,” he said. “They’re going to keep coming after us, and we can’t have politics as usual in Washington, and I’m afraid that’s what we’ve got right now with airport security.”

Once again, these are not just complaints about the Homeland Security bureaucracy; Republicans are calling Obama, and his strategy, weak on terrorism. While Democrats have shown a willingness to ding DeMint for putting a hold on Obama’s nominee to head the TSA, they have been completely silent in the face of these wider criticisms, even after the president articulated a defense of his foreign policy yesterday.

Yada, yada, yada. I don’t suppose anybody ever told His Verklemptness that you can’t defend the indefensible? After spending more political capitol than they process (see: Nelson, Ben) Democrats sure aren’t going to climb out on the ledge for Obama over this. Let’s face it, it took Obama three days to respond and then his response sucked. And, there is plenty of blame to go around, so it isn’t surprising that Democrats prefer to engage in a rousing game of “duck and cover.”

As far as Republicans calling Obama weak on terrorism, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

h/t Instapundit

Ponder This

In Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s own words:

"I imagine how the great jihad will take place, how the muslims will win, insha
Allah and rule the whole world, and establish the greatest empire once again!!!” reads one Feb. 20, 2005, post. The words “insha Allah” are the phonetic translation of the Arabic for “God willing.”

Sheesh! And the Left worries about the “Religious Right”! What will it take before the Left recognizes the threat that radical Islam poses to freedom? People like the “Underpants Bomber” aren’t interested in living in harmony with the rest of us, they want to dominate us and they are quite willing to use violence to achieve their goals.

The Left needs to remove their blinders and instead of harping over Conservatives take a moment to consider what their lives would be like under Sharia.

And So it Begins

Cardiologists sue Sebelius over Medicare fee cuts:

Heart specialists on Monday filed suit against Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius in an effort to stave off steep Medicare fee cuts for routine office-based procedures such as nuclear stress tests and echocardiograms.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, charges that the government's planned cutbacks will deal a major blow to medical care in the USA, forcing thousands of cardiologists to shutter their offices, sell diagnostic equipment and work for hospitals, which charge more for the same procedures. (emphasis added)

"What they've done is basically killed the private practice of cardiology," says Jack Lewin, CEO of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), which represents 90% of the roughly 40,000 heart specialists in the USA.

The issues raised in the lawsuit are not related to the health reform legislation being hammered out on Capitol Hill. But the dispute offers a revealing case study of the impact of payment reform on one specialty — cardiologists — and, ultimately, their patients.

It also illustrates the vulnerability of the heart doctors, who over the past few decades have invested heavily in nuclear scanners and other costly tools of their trade only to discover that they may be too expensive to operate in an era of increasing restraint on medical costs.

I doubt that by the time the “reforms hit the pavement” that cardiology will be the only field affected. The problem with cost containment is that bureaucrats, not doctors, decide who will be allowed to be treated and what that treatment will be. If a panel in Washington decides that mammograms are unnecessary for women under the age of fifty younger women will not be given routine screenings despite the fact that breast cancer is the leading cause of death for women between the age of 15 and 54.

It is easy to call any particular medical procedure unnecessary unless you or your loved one needs it. That decision should not be taken away from doctors and their patients.

More at Memeorandum

Nelson Takes a Tumble

Rasmussen has a current poll out that can be summed up in four little words, sucks for you, Bennie:

The good news for Senator Ben Nelson is that he doesn’t have to face Nebraska voters until 2012.

If Governor Dave Heineman challenges Nelson for the Senate job, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows the Republican would get 61% of the vote while Nelson would get just 30%. Nelson was reelected to a second Senate term in 2006 with 64% of the vote.

Nelson's health care vote is clearly dragging his numbers down. Just 17% of Nebraska voters approve of the deal their senator made on Medicaid in exchange for his vote in support of the plan. Overall, 64% oppose the health care legislation, including 53% who are Strongly Opposed. In Nebraska, opposition is even stronger than it is nationally.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters in the state believe that passage of the legislation will hurt the quality of care, and 62% say it will raise costs.

Looks like Nelson is learning the hard way the voters send their representatives to Washington to act in their interest not in the representative’s interests. Gone are the days that once elected a congressman can do any damn thing they like and still count on the shmucks back home to support them. The voting public has found their voice and congressmen need to listen or ignore the voters at their own peril.

I have a great deal of faith in the American public and that faith has been reaffirmed by the polling numbers coming out of Nebraska, particularly that Nebraskans overwhelmingly oppose the deal that bought Nelson’s vote. Voters don’t want perks, they want fiscal responsibility.

Nelson won’t be up for re-election until 2012. Between now and then, he has a lot of road to make up and fences to mend.

Related:

Hot Air: Rasmussen: Ben Nelson down 30 points to Heineman after health-care reversal

The Weekly Standard: Rasmussen: Obamacare Vote Puts Nelson 30 Points Behind

Sister Toldja: 2012 election: Is Ben Nelson in trouble?

Memeorandum

Synthenol? I'll Stick With the Real Thing

Where you go:

Synthetic alcohol, or synthenol, produces a hang-over free high perfect for escape and revelry. The main ingredient is found in Valium, so it works on the brain to relax. Unlike natural alcoholic beverages, however, synthenol does not affect brain functions that alter moods. Synthenol will not affect the areas of the brain related to addiction.

This type of alcohol can be imbibed all night without causing extreme drunkenness. Synthenol can also come with an antidote, perhaps in pill form, which will immediately stop the euphoria—in case, for example, driving home or operating heavy machinery is necessary.

Hang over free alcohol? Does it come in beer flavor?

Look, I can see the advantage of synthenol but I like my drink just the way it is now, thank you. My sloppy drunk days are years behind me so I can go out and have a good time without any “extreme drunkenness.” Learning to handle your drink is a part of growing up, which I suddenly did somewhere in my mid forties.

On the other hand, alcohol addiction has destroyed many families and many lives. If alcoholics could successfully substitute an addiction to alcohol for an addiction to synthenol, which at least on the surface appears far less harmful, I am all for it. Yes, I know, better not to be addicted at all, but in the real world it is easier said than done.

But somehow the thought of “relaxing” with synthenol and then taking a pill to counteract the effects just seems creepy. After all, isn’t it the negative effects of over imbibing that leads people to the decision to not over imbibe? There is something about creating a “fix” for something that most people will fix on their own that seems nannyish.

It will be years before synthenol is available. Until then I’ll just kick back with a Bud Lite and see how it plays out.

Asking Questions

By now we know that the attempted airline bombing on Christmas day was planned by two former residents of Gitmo who were released and sent back to Saudi Arabia. We know that the “Underpants Bomber” was trained in an al Qaeda camp in Yemen and we know that Obama has plans to send up to eighty current Gitmo residents back to Yemen. We also know Mr. Underpants was initially in a chatty mood, opining that there are plenty more like him out there. How much more will we know in the coming days? Not much.

By arresting Mr. Underpants and processing him through the civilian courts, giving him Miranda rights and providing him with a lawyer we effectively ended any chance that we could have had to gather information necessary to thwart other attacks. Not only did Homeland Security fail before the attack, they failed miserably after the attack.

Marc Thiessan has an informative article in today’s USA Today that deals with just this problem. We no longer question terrorists. We either kill them in air strikes or we lawyer them up. Thiessan:

Instead of looking for ways to release these dangerous men, we should be capturing and interrogating more of them for information on planned attacks. But that is something the U.S. no longer does. President Obama has shut down the CIA interrogation program that helped stop a series of planned attacks — and in the year since he took office, not one high-value terrorist has been interrogated by the CIA. (emphasis added)

The job of Homeland Security is to prevent attacks against Americans, not release ridiculous statements after the fact. When it comes to national security, what we don’t know will kill us.

Related:

No Sheeples Here: Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right. Homeland Security Stuck In The Middle.

Ruby Slippers: Underwear Bomb Contained Enough Explosives to Bring Down Plane

Another Black Conservative: Great Balls of Fire: Photos of the Underwear Bomber’s briefs

American Power: The Politically Correct Myth of Airline Bombers

2009 Tax Stinkers

Howard Gleckman has posted on The Ten Worst Tax Ideas of 2009. The TaxProf lists his favorites, here are mine:

8. Obama’s Middle-Class. This is a rerun from last year, but it is too good to leave out. The President thinks we will somehow reduce the deficit and fix the tax code without raising taxes by a dime for those poor souls making a quarter million dollars-a-year or less. Unfortunately, that's 95 percent of us. Can’t wait to see how he does it.

4. California. It claims to be the fifth largest economy in the world but can’t pass a serious budget, and can’t govern itself. It is the poster child for dysfunctional state governments and fiscal crises everywhere

3. The homebuyer credit. Congress started the year by giving away $8,000 in subsidies to "first-time" homebuyers, as many as 74,000 of whom, it turned out, never quite got around to buying a house. Then, it extended the boondoggle to current owners who buy up. Bottom line: People who were already going to buy will get billions of dollars in government subsides. But you gotta make those real estate agents happy

The problem with the Obama’s pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class is that it just doesn’t pass the smell test. You can’t go off the social agenda deep end without raises taxes to break the fall. Then there is the fact that if that stinker Cap & Trade passes it is the middle class who will be overwhelmingly impacted. Don’t even get me started on the VAT and the middle class. No offense but when I buy something I find out what it costs right up front. When my government is trying to sell me something, I want the cost right up front. Which brings us to…

California is living proof that the path to Hell is paved with good intentions. In the Land of Perpetual Good Deeds every good deed is now being punished. The citizens of the state tried to turn their state in to a social utopia and what they ended up with is a fiscal cesspool. You really can tax, spend and regulate yourself out of business and now that California has reached the end of the road they still aren’t willing to take the necessary actions that will allow the state to (slowly) rebuild. They deserve their lot.

The Homebuyer’s Credit speaks for itself. It was just another government program that “enticed” people to buy something that they were already planning to buy. Oh, and like every other government program it is rife with fraud. Double whammy.

Actually, taxes are an easy target for ridicule. Problem is, when you spend, you tax, so we’re far more likely to see more stinkers in the years to come.

h/t Ed Driscoll

Bush vs Obama: The Vacation Pictures

You can tell a lot about a man by how he chooses to use his down time. For instance, this looks like a man of action who is willing to do the heavy lifting necessary to get the job done:

On the other hand:

I'm just say...

h/t Don Surber

"Terrorists - 1, United States of Fear - 0" My A$$

Let me share with you a comment I received on my earlier post "Lefties: What's the Big Deal About Blowing Up a Plane Full of People?":

Anonymous said...
Terrorists won the moment the "war on terror" was declared. The goal of terrorism is not to destroy, it is to undermine a society by TERRORIZING it, and that is EXACTLY what they have done.Terrorists - 1, United States of Fear - 0.

Where to begin?

First, I admire the simplicity of the commenter’s thought processes. “Anonymous” seems to be saying that if we simply ignored terrorists terrorism would not exist. Poof!

But no, we (read: Bush) declared the “war on terror” and in the thinking of Anonymous, we (read: Bush) created terrorism.

Anonymous opines that terrorists aren’t actually trying to kill us, they just want to scare us. Well it seems to me that the 9/11 crew and Maj. Nidal Hasan caused a great deal of destruction but I doubt that the people who stand on Anonymous’ side of the fence spend much time thinking about the lives of Americans lost or their loved ones left behind.

I think the part of the comment that bothers me, aside from its total inanity, is this: “Terrorists - 1, United States of Fear - 0.” Speak for yourself, puppy. I don’t see my fellow citizens crouching in fear. Just the opposite. Most Americans recognize the threat that radical Islam poses and rather than cowering they are resolute and fearless.

Reading between lines of the comment’s silliness is the typical Lefty assertion that America deserves to be a target. Bull hockey. We are the Land of Opportunity and Freedom. To this day scores flock to our shores to be part of the greatness that cannot be found in any other country on Earth. And it is, to paraphrase Tolkien, by the blood of our people that countless lands are kept free.

No, the terrorists have not won and they never will so long as patriotic Americans fearlessly face them down.

The "I Wish I Had Said That" Award

Ruby Slippers wins the “I wish I had said that” Award for this spot on title:

Max Baucus Imitates Drunk Sailor on Spending Binge

Obama Doesn't "Get" It

Related to yesterday’s post Why is Obama Silent on Iran-Again? is this post from Nile Gardiner writing in the Telegraph (emphasis added):

Now once again huge street protests have flared up on the streets of Tehran and a number of other major cities, with several protesters shot dead this weekend by the security forces and Revolutionary Guards, reportedly including the nephew of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, and dozens seriously injured. And again there is deafening silence from the Commander-in-Chief as well as his Secretary of State. And where is the president? On vacation in Hawaii, no doubt recuperating from his exertions driving forward the monstrous health care reform bill against the overwhelming will of the American public and without a shred of bipartisan support.

This is not however a time for fence-sitting by the leader of the free world. The president should be leading international condemnation of the suppression of pro-democracy protesters, and calling on the Iranian dictatorship to free the thousands of political dissidents held in its torture chambers. Just as Ronald Reagan confronted the evils of Soviet Communism, Barack Obama should support the aspirations of the Iranian people to be free. The United States has a major role to play in inspiring and advancing freedom in Iran, and the president should make it clear that the American people are on the side of those brave Iranians who are laying down their lives for liberty in the face of tyranny.

It seems to me that the only person who doesn’t get that the leader of the United States is expected to step up when freedom is threatened is Barack Obama. It is embarrassing and frustrating and disheartening that we are being led my a man who rushes to defend tyrants but remains silent when freedom is being crushed in the streets of Iran. It calls in to question Pres. Obama’s priorities and his loyalty to freedom and democracy.

Why is Obama Silent on Iran-Again?

Prof. Jacobson asks, Will Obama Remain Silent About Iran Protests Again? So far it appears that the answer is, "Yep."

It seems an obvious assumption that the President has been briefed on the protests. Surely he has seen the pictures, or at least has been told, about the protesters risking the their own lives to save their countrymen from the gallows.

As the professor notes, the White House did release a statement earlier today, but White House statements are not what the freedom fighters in Iran need. They need the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, to take ten minutes from his vacation to make a personal statement. The man is be no means camera shy and if ever there was a good time for him to take to the air this would be it.

By not making a personal statement strongly condemning the actions of the Iranian government, Obama is projecting weakness. It debases the United States in front of the Middle East and emboldens not only Ahmadineja but his imitators as well.

Obama needs to show leadership now.

My Cats are on a ROLL!

My Kentucky Wildcats are 13-0 and there is no slowing them down! They play Florida on January 12th, so Doug, let the smack talk commence. My Cats will be eating Gator tail appetizers for dinner.

Oh, did I mention that on my lovely daughter’s birthday, my Cats won their 2,000th game? We’re busting records baby!

I'm Familiar With Drunk Blogging but Drunk Legislating?

Via NewsBusters

I've heard of drunk blogging, drunk calling and drunk emailing, all of which I'd advise using extreme caution, assuming that one can be drunk and cautious at the time, but drunk legislating is a whole different game.

Far be it for me to cast aspirtions on the esteemed Sen. Max Baucus but if I were a betting woman I'd say the man has a snort full. As they say, I report, you decide.

Don't Put Your Faith in "Blue Dogs" When it Comes to Cap & Trade (or anything else)

Politico is reporting that Senate Democrats are trying to convince the White House to drop Cap & Trade:

Bruised by the health care debate and worried about what 2010 will bring, moderate Senate Democrats are urging the White House to give up now on any effort to pass a cap-and-trade bill next year.

“I am communicating that in every way I know how,” says Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of at least half a dozen Democrats who've told the White House or their own leaders that it's time to jettison the centerpiece of their party's plan to curb global warming.

Call me cynical but I would sooner believe that Landrieu (D-Show me the money) is angling for another multi-million dollar deal than I would hope that she realizes that Cap & Trade is one big crap sandwich nobody outside of the watermelon crowd wishes to dine upon.

Further down in the article we treated to this gem:

“I’d just as soon see that set aside until we work through the economy,” said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). ?“What we don’t want to do is have anything get in the way of working to resolve the problems with the economy.”

Well, we know that Nelson can be bought and sold like a cheap hooker, or as my friend Bob Belvedere likes to put it, Ben Nelson is a cheap whore. Hooker/whore aside, any supposedly “pro-life” man who would sell out our unborn children has far too much blood on his hands to ever be trusted to do the right thing.

Look, I pray that Cap & Trade disappears down the rabbit hole but I’m not counting on self-serving Blue Dog putzes for aid nor comfort. While we continue to fight the abominable ObamaCare, we must recognize that Cap & Trade, like health care “reform” is just another means of taking the American economy hostage. We must continue to fight against all government takeover programs whatever form they take.

Oh, and if you live in S. Carolina, home of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Sell out), get loud and tell the good senator that if he keeps pressing for Cap & Trade you will replace him with someone who gives a damn about this country.