Come join us for a slice of Americana with a helping of conservative politics on the side.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"
I guess its time to come in off the water, with lots of big bass in the skillet, and get the Barnyard back in order since election season is coming around and the Dems need to have their walking papers handed to them by us, the people, their damn bosses. Don't worry the old goat has kept himself informed about all the antics going on in DC these past few months and none of it has surprised him since he predicted it from the get go about two years ago. I am glad Glenn Beck has finally caught up with what I was telling y'all back then.
Anyway I have been catching up on my long put off reading list and have been devouring books at a breakneck speed, some political and some a mixture of politics and pleasure. As any of the malcontents that have kept up with me over the years know, I am always interested in politics and Special Forces warfare so that lead me to quite a few fantastic authors that weren't on my original list. I went through Vince Flynn's spy thrillers like his ace Mitch Rapp does our enemies , we need a few more like him for real, and expanded from there. Next was Marcus Luttrell and "Lone Survivor", awesome story about a lone SEAL team survivor against incredible odds.
That got me interested in the SEALS, our baddest and best warriors, so I read Roy"SEAL founder" Boehm's ,"The First Seal" which sent me on to Richard Marcincko's "Rogue Warrior" series, so I have been reading like a half crazed madman for the last few months. I can say all these books are excellent if you want a behind the scenes look at SpecOps. I can say our Spec Op Warriors have a special place in my heart not far below the Lord.
The Goat is still living and breathing though I know I have been out on the water for an extended period of time . I needed the break after several years of balls to the wall blogging. I am back now so let's see if I lift this derilict farm back into operation...
PS: A shout out to my readers that know my name, I am on Facebook so tap me when you can.
I guess that can be taken literally as well as figuratively since I have neglected the Barnyard for a while now and am spending evenings floating around catching bass instead. I am not far from the small lake I grew up on and I still know what the fish like, having landed several well over five pounds, nice chunky, healthy big mouths. They have been tearing up the Storm swimbaits I have been using, 4-5 nice fish in a couple hours of casting.
I must say it is far more peaceful and relaxing than sitting in front of my computer reading and ranting about how badly Obama and his congressional minions are screwing up our country. I even got laid off a couple weeks ago, though I quickly found another job it was a first. I learned one thing though, filing for unemployment is a huge royal pain in the ass, thankfully I found work before I needed to follow through with the hoop jumping. I don't do tricks for the government very well.
I am actually glad I got laid off from my last job since the boss is a class-A1 jerk and not nearly as smart as he thinks he is plus he liked to whine for hours about how no one likes him, how bad former employees were and how crazy customers were. This is not a pleasant person to be around, I wonder why his business has gone down hill for the last twenty years, snark. He was bad when I worked for him fifteen years ago and has now become almost unbearable in his unrelenting pity party. I am glad I don't have to listen to his insufferable woe is me rants anymore. Anyway I bring a lot to the table for my new boss and can help her expand her business while given the freedom to do what I do best, my job. Another plus is my commute is much shorter and the hours are better so I might have some more time to spend here or floating around catching some lunker bass.
The wicked witch of the west, Nancy Pelosi, has brought the global warming kill industry bill to the floor for a vote this week. The Waxman/Markey bill will be a massive tax on all Americans who will see the price of everything remotely connected to energy use sky rocket under the guise of protecting/saving the environment from anthropogenic global warming. This thousand page behemoth of a job killing bill has little or nothing to do with the environment it is all about controlling energy and thus the people. It is a backdoor method by the statists to take away ever more of our liberty and freedom while expanding their own power and control over every aspect of our lives.
Have no doubts about it that this was all planned while everyone is talking about health care Iran and North Korea that that sneaky witch, Pelosi, and her crony, Obama, would try to sneak this massive tax hike in under the radar. It is typical of Obama that he is saying one thing while doing another on the sly, like a magician, one hand distracts while the other hand is doing something else. Do Not underestimate Obama and what he is willing to do to force his far left agenda through while trying to seemingly stay above the fray without blame.
Call your Representatives and Senators and tell them to oppose this massively destructive bill. It would raise the price of energy for the average household $1000-$2000 a year and that doesn't count the cost of motor fuel or the additional costs as the price of everything will have to go up, not to mention the inflationary pressure of printing trillions of dollars to pay for the absurd bills already passed by the thieves in charge.
If we don't fight back now it may be to late to save what we have left of the freedoms and liberty we once enjoyed and our founding fathers invisioned. Get of your ass now and make a couple phone calls to your Congressmen and women.
They were together in the House. Just the two of them. It was a cold, dark, stormy night.
The storm had come quickly and each time the thunder boomed he watched her jump. She looked across the room and admired his strong appearance... and wished that he would take her in his arms, comfort her and protect her from the storm. Suddenly, with a pop, the power went out... She screamed... He raced to the sofa where she was cowering. He didn't hesitate to pull her in to his arms. He knew this was a forbidden union and expected her to pull back.He was surprised when she didn't resist but instead clung to him. The storm raged on... They knew it was wrong... Their families would never understand... So consumed were they in fear that they never heard the opening of the door Just a flash and the faint click of a camera...
Now that you have smiled today, won't you please help someone else?
Thanks to my sister for sending this on, I got a nice laugh out of it!
Nothing the Obama/Pelosi/Reid trifecta or the MSM has done has surprised me as I fully expected it and spent a good portion of '07 and '08 in full warning mode about what they would do when given unfettered power. The teleprompter did not mask what Obama's agenda is/was from me or those that actually paid attention to who and what Obama really is, a far left liberal with a penchant for marxism and state control.
I am sick of the man and his voice along with his condescending professorial tone that he uses while lieing through his well polished teeth. This is going to be a very long four years.
It is indeed a Conservative Manifesto laid out in language so clear and simple it is a delight to read. There is no heady or heavy philosophy or grandiose language just the basic truths upon which this great nation was founded as written in our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Those documents are the very core of conservative thought and guiding philosophy on how to govern.
Mark also does a masterful job stating just why the liberals or statists as he calls them are so hostile to those very documents this country was founded on because they get in the way of the statist's constant drive for ever more power and control over every aspect of our lives. He does this by explaining how they distort language, blatantly lie and create crisis where none existed to create an excuse to take away ever more of our liberties in the name of some sort of equality, progress or fairness.
I can say that everything Mark discussed I can whole heartedly agree with and have even echoed many of the same themes and ideas here in the Barnyard over the years, just not as well. I have long considered myself a Constitutional Federalist which as Mark points out so very eloquently as the very basis of conservative thought. The whole book is quotable and I will have to get my own copy so I can highlight and mark the many passages that can expand on my arguments as a proactive voice for conservatism in government as opposed to the statist's "utopia" that enslaves us all to the government. I have no desire to live in some quasi-eurosocialist state that grovels to the world for approval. I want to live in the USA as our founders envisioned it with the freedom and liberty to pursue life, liberty and happiness as I see fit not as some bureaucrat does with the ability to defend myself and ourselves against all threats foreign and domestic.
If you ask me, Obama and his statist allies in Congress fit into the latter category and our Constitution and Declaration of Independence give us every right to oppose them by any and all means necessary.
I got home this evening to find a very pleasant surprise on my desk, Mark Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny". I never expected to get it this quickly from the library when I put my name on the waiting list but I did and I am thrilled. I will have to get a copy for my bookshelf to sit next to Natan Sharansky's " The Case for Democracy".
I have only read one chapter so far but feel like I just ate a multi course meal featuring beef tenderloin, the red meat is so rich with conservative flavor, no wonder it is sitting atop the NYT's best seller list considering the direction Obama and his statist cronies are taking us. No my friends conservatism is not dead or dying, it had just become complacent but the fire has been relit around the country as the "Tea Parties" show. I think Mark speaks for many that feel as I do about what conservatism is, not the watered down shinola of the beltway elite like Brooks, Frum or John McCain and his "valley girl" daughter but true to the Constitutional Federalism of our Founders.
I did not get Mark's radio show in California but now that I am back in Dixie I have the pleasure of listening to him on my evening drive home. I do miss Hugh Hewitt but Mark is a decent trade I can't complain about and I am sure Hugh would agree since I can't seem to find him on my dial.
Anyway, get Mark's book either from the library or shell out and buy it, it is worth every penny.
No, not the federal deficit, our garden, we got it all planted this weekend with maybe a few things to stick in around the edges. We have okra, green beans(Kentucky Wonder pole beans of course), three kinds of squash, broccoli, carrots, radishes, some herbs and most important, tomatoes. We have two heirloom varieties, German Queen and Pink Brandywine and a good standby hybrid Betterboy. I am very interested in how this German Queen produces, from what I have read it puts out huge, tasty, beefsteak slicers which this household loves.
I also got all my birdfeeders and birdbath set up and already have birds coming to visit them. I actually have more species here to visit than I did in California, out there I only had three or four species and here it will be around a dozen or more including the same ones I had out there except for hummingbirds.
Well I got the garden plot all tilled yesterday so now its time to relax and watch the grill smoke a nice pork roast, yummmmmm. I haven't smoked a roast in quite a while so this is my treat for getting all my major chores done, that sonny-do list was long.
Update: The rain held off long enough for me to finish my roast and then came in with a bang, tornado warnings and all. There were touchdowns and numerous funnels spotted in my area but nothing bad here though the sky got really black and roiled looking for a little bit this evening. Anyway, the roast was so tender you couldn't cut it with a knife, it just fell apart with a nice crunchy crust and moist ultra-tender inside, perfect pulled pork quality. Ah, life in the South -East BBQ and tornados, what a combination?!
Its nice to be back in Alabama for sure and to start back to work so quickly but dang my mom and sister had a sonny/bro do list all made up for me so between unpacking and doing chores I have had little to no time to blog. Its all cool though since I have a cheap place to stay till I get back on my feet and at least there is food in the refridgerator. I am pretty much done unpacking and the movers finally got here yesterday with my big items, dang I was missing my bed.
I've got the yardwork done which included the initial battle against a stand of bamboo, I hate that stuff and its near impossible to get rid of. It spreads like wildfire and will take over your yard in no time once it gets established. If you want my qualified advice after battling two different stands of it, never, never plant it in the first place, you will regret it if you do. The last stand took over a year to defeat in near daily battles with an ax.
I finally got caught up with my email today and have just semi-caught up with what's happening around the interwebs. I see our "Dear Leader" is still clueless about the economy or ruthlessly socialist, its hard to tell. He is definately dimwitted when it comes to national security but we all knew that didn't we. Hopefully I will be around more once I get settled in and get my schedule worked out.
I finally got internet access for my machine today so things should be back to fairly normal around the Barnyard once again after a turbulent last couple months. I probably will not be able to post with the same frequency I have the last couple years because I will be away from my computer working for someone else instead of myself. It stinks but at least I have a job, something that was nonexistant in California. My old boss is taking me back and seems very glad to have me back. Heck I worked for him for 12 years before I moved so he knows my work ethic and abilities.
Anyway, my sister has a beautiful home she has opened up to me till I get back on my feet. It has a nive deck and gazebo where I have to retire to smoke my cigars but there is a nice patch of woods in the back that is full of songbirds so my smoke breaks are filled with a chorus. The three dogs are a hoot, the older one knows me and is my buddy but the pups don't trust me yet, they'll come around though.
I got here about midnight last night after 18 hours straight on the road, what a long drive. I am on my sister's laptop tight now and will get my machine set up tonight and get a longer post up about the trip soon. I just wanted to let everyone know I was safely here.
I love Mark Steyn and his column this week is an absolute must read. He skewers Obama and Geithner on turning what was a recession into an all out government power grab of the economy and everything that goes with it.
Writing in the Chicago Tribune last week, President Obama fell back on one of his favorite rhetorical tics: “But I also know,” he wrote, “that we need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy. That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people.”
Really? For the moment, it’s a “false choice” mainly in the sense that he’s not offering it: “a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism” is not on the menu, which leaves “an oppressive government-run economy” as pretty much the only game in town. How oppressive is yet to be determined: To be sure, the official position remains that only “the richest five percent” will have taxes increased. But you’ll be surprised at the percentage of Americans who wind up in the richest five percent. This year federal government spending will rise to 28.5 per cent of GDP, the highest level ever, with the exception of the peak of the Second World War. The 44th president is proposing to add more to the national debt than the first 43 presidents combined, doubling it in the next six years, and tripling it within the decade. But to talk about it in percentages of this and trillions of that misses the point. It’s not about bookkeeping, it’s about government annexation of the economy, and thus of life: government supervision, government regulation, government control. No matter how small your small business is — plumbing, hairdressing, maple sugaring — the state will be burdening you with more permits, more paperwork, more bureaucracy.
Of course some regulation is needed to keep capitalism running as smoothly as possible like not letting people that shouldn't be buying a house get a mortgage. There is a big difference between good regulation and bad like killing our economy with draconian cap and trade rules on energy production and environmental laws that prevent anything from being built.
Obama and his fellow Demcrats are about one thing and that is the power to control you and every aspect of your lives while redistributing whatever wealth is left to the government.
I am 99% packed and raring to go back to Dixie where the water is warm and the girls are pretty. The movers are coming Monday and I will roll the next morning for a three day journey across this great nation. Don't worry I will take plenty of pictures and post a write up as soon as I can.
Dang, I really hate leaving my little house with all the work I put into it and the gardens but I am left with no other choice as it stands. The good news is my old boss is really anxious to talk to me so I guess I have a job waiting for me. I am extremely good at my trade, much of that thanks to my old boss, and anybody in my trade would be lucky to have me on their team.
Anyway, I am going to drink some beer and watch American Idol and Hell's Kitchen and just vege for a bit after all I have gone through recently.
It is a bit long and you can come back here when you have some time to watch it or the google page is here.
The audio is better on You Tube but it is chopped up into a dozen parts that can be found here.
They discuss Mark's new book "Liberty and Tyranny" and from what I am gathering this is an absolute must read for conservatives and moderates wondering what conservatism is all about. Via Hot Air where the other three segments can be found, I heard it live this morning and it is a must listen.
I might as well add this video as well of a Brit Parlimentarian ripping into PM Gordon Brown about government overspending. I have always liked that CSPAN program where they cover the Parliment questioning the Prime Minister, they let it rip in a way we seem to have forgotten. I also heard this on Rush's show this morning.
This is just plain creepy and certainly fits in the "cult of personality" that has been brought up many times in the last year or so.
Why would any sane person pledge loyalty to a politician that is clearly incapable of doing the job he was elected do let alone his economic plans and budget that will bankrupt America. I support this country and its Constitution not individual politicians and I want it and everyone in it to thrive not become slaves to the state. Obama's budget is 3.5 TRILLION dollars with deficits pushing 2 TRILLION for as far as the eye can see and that's if the economy turns around. We can't just crank up the Reserve printing presses and print money Zimbabwe style to get us out of this mess. To put this in personal terms Obama's budget for this year alone is $11,666 per person in America and that does count the Generational Theft Act or the porkulus budget bill that just passed let alone what the Fed and Treasury are doing behind the scenes. Where is all this money going to come from? Not to mention skyrocketing inflation because business just passes their tax hikes on to the consumer. This madness has to stop NOW. This won't hurt just conservatives it will hurt every single person living in the US today including you brain dead liberals that voted for this nut case President Obama.
I've only heard his radio show a couple times and seen his FOX show once other than web snips like this but the more I see the more I like. It is well worth the 15 minutes of your time.
What is happening to the American psyche in these somewhat troubling times? The economy is sputtering, our enemies are emboldened and we have an inexperienced naively liberal President that increasingly appears to not have a clue as to how to actually govern. Victor Davis Hanson takes a look into the many factors that are playing to our state of mind far more elonquently than I can.
Why are so many Americans so depressed about things these days? It is perhaps not just the economy.
I think the answer is clear: all the accustomed referents, the sources of security, of knowledge and reassurance appear to be vanishing. Materially, we still enjoy a sumptuous lifestyle in comparison with past generations—and the world outside our borders. America remains the most sane and successful society on the planet.
But there is a strange foreboding, a deer-in-the-headlights look to us that we may be clueless Greeks in the age of Demosthenes, played-out Romans around AD 450, or give-up French in late 1939—with a sense it cannot go on. Why? Let us count the ways.
Heck even the New York Times and the AP are starting to wonder if the Teleprompter President is in way over his head. None of this really surprises me since I was warning about this Obama well over a year ago as being nothing but an empty suit with pleasing oratory. Many of us knew a long time ago that Obama would prove to be Carter II if he was elected and the sad part about it for our country is that he may prove to be even more disasterous than we ever feared.
She is accepting the dollars that will go to infrastructure and create jobs but rejecting funds that will grow the cost to Alaska in the future because of Federal strings attached to them. As I said in several posts about the "stimulus" about a fifth went to actually worthy projects and the rest was just a liberal hog trough of slop. This is via Hot Air and Conservatives4Palin where you can also find a transcript.
I think this is the path the other states should follow as well accept some but not all the money and use it wisely to actually create jobs and not expand social services with increased reliance on DC to keep them funded. Meanwhile my current Gov. Schwartzenegger just stuck his nose deep in Obama's crack, took a deep breath and declared it beautiful before moving around to the front side on his knees. Can I gag now?
I really like Sarah Palin and if she and Mitt Romney both run in 2012 I will have a very tough choice to make. That is still a long ways off especially politically since so much can happen in just a few weeks let alone years untill then conservatives need to focus squarely on 2010 in the hopes of getting Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid removed from their leadership positions in the House and Senate respectively.
There are currently about 40-45 Democrat House members representing districts that went for McCain in '08 and around 10-12 Democrat Senators representing red or purple states up for re-election next year including Harry Reid in Nevada. That is where our focus should be concentrated.
Some crazy folks got video of that underwater volcano that erupted near Tonga, shouldn't they be worried about some serious wave action or something, via Ace of Spades.
There is all kinds of outrage out there over AIG employees getting bonuses after the taxpayers bailed them out but who is resposible for this, namely Chris Dodd(D) who put a provision in the stimulus bill allowing for them. The thing is these were retention bonuses written into contracts signed well before the bailout was needed. A retention bonus works like this, I agree to work for a company till a certain date and then I will get paid an X amount of dollars, its not a performance bonus, its a delayed hiring bonus common in the financial sector. AIG is contractually obligated to pay those bonuses, performance bonuses are another thing and from what I have seen none of those have gone out. The government despite all the grandstanding and screaming cannot interfere in contract law. Besides they are whining about 175 million when they spent almost 2 trillion in the last couple weeks and are talking trillions more, oh cry me a river.
Here is Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin and Jonah Goldberg talking about who really is to blame here, Democrats in Congress, via Hot Air.
Here is Shepherd Smith also giving the lowdown on who is to blame and with a bit more background on what caused the melt down in the first place which I explained in depth here many times leading up to the election of our Dufus in Chief, the community reinvestment act.
Ugh, I really don't know what to blog about since there is so much going on and I have so little time to sit and type besides getting ready to move 2500 miles. All I know is that the Obama administration is turning out exactly as I warned about for months prior to his election, a massively corrupt and disjointed affair of fecklessness along with a complete disregard for our Constitution. So heres a couple links to stories I found interesting.
Bob Owens at Confederate Yankee on Obama's DoD decision to stop selling spent rifle and pistol brass to reloaders and instead sell the melted down bulk to China, smart eh. I don't use military calibers so I have no idea how it will effect my ammo prices.
Michelle Malkin has been all over the bailout frenzy and the outrage over the AIG bonuses and she notes that the bonuses were retention bonuses written into contracts to be paid at the end of the contract, legally obligated. Its all smoke and mirrors from Obama and the Dems to distract us from their other shenanigans.
Now I have more packing to do, dang I accumulated a lot of stuff in a few short years.
This just the latest outrage by the Obama administration, they want active and veteran miltary's private insurance to pay for duty related medical costs that have normally gone through the VA as it should. In other words if you want to serve your country you will have to have private insurance to cover any injuries you may receive while protecting America since Obama doesn't think you're worth be taken care of by the government but illegal aliens and octomoms are. This is outrageously stupid so much so that I really don't have words to express my disgust. Via Hot Air where Ed has more details.
The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization says he is “deeply disappointed and concerned” after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases. “It became apparent during our discussion today that the President intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan,” said Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion. “He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it.” The Commander, clearly angered as he emerged from the session said, “This reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ‘ to care for him who shall have borne the battle’ given that the United States government sent members of the armed forces into harm’s way, and not private insurance companies. I say again that The American Legion does not and will not support any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of America’s veterans!” Commander Rehbein was among a group of senior officials from veterans service organizations joining the President, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Steven Kosiak, the overseer of defense spending at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The group’s early afternoon conversation at The White House was precipitated by a letter of protest presented to the President earlier this month. The letter, co-signed by Commander Rehbein and the heads of ten colleague organizations, read, in part, ” There is simply no logical explanation for billing a veteran’s personal insurance for care that the VA has a responsibility to provide. While we understand the fiscal difficulties this country faces right now, placing the burden of those fiscal problems on the men and women who have already sacrificed a great deal for this country is unconscionable.”
The only relief I can take for this is that I doubt it has chance in hell of getting through Congress as there are plenty of Vets on the Dem side of the aisle as well that wouldn't go for this. This a way beyond stupid move by Obama and goes way past the line of being an un-American proposal. We owe our vets the very best care we have to offer and if there is any tab the government is obligated beyond a shadow of doubt to pick up its that one.
I can't wait to see Mike Yon weigh in on this since he is a vet and now a private war correspondent that has to pay for insurance before he can embed in war zones and if I remember correctly it is very expensive perhaps even his highest outlay. It is more than the average serviceman makes a month.
I had two of my biggest worries removed last week and I feel much better now. The first was an outstanding contract that had been in holding pattern for the last two years because the client kept changing the drawing for a piece of art glass, the architect and contractor released me from my contract and will finish the job working directly with my artist.
The second was getting rid of my inventory but a good friend came around and took it all off my hands for a decent price. I am worn out from spending the last couple days loading up a couple tons of glass, machinery and other supplies. We stuffed his truck to the hilt a couple times but were able to get it all in just a couple loads so that is a big relief and cash for the road.
Now I can concentrate on the final details of closing down my company which just consists of a few letters to the proper state agencies and packing up. The mover is booked for the first week of April and I will be back in the heart of Dixie a week after they load up, in time for my niece's first soccer games. Mom tells me she asks everyday when her uncle goat is going to get there. I know I am ready to get out of this state ASAP.
I have long thought so for several reasons mainly in the fact he was such a media hog up until we invaded Afghanistan and he has been silent since. All his missives since 2001 are not conclusively from him and no reputable sources even Al Jazeera have seen him alive. There is a great article in the American Spectator that looks into this in great detail and comes to many of the same conclusions I have. It even examines if his Al Qaeda network is even really relevant anymore and if the main terrorist organizations are really state sponsored or just tolerated. It is a must read on how our own CIA is seriously out of whack. I have read Lawerence Wright's "The Looming Tower" so this sounds very credible to me.
All the evidence suggests Elvis Presley is more alive today than Osama bin Laden. But tell that to the CIA and all the other misconceptualizers of the War on Terror.
Seven years after Osama bin Laden's last verifiable appearance among the living, there is more evidence for Elvis's presence among us than for his. Hence there is reason to ask whether the paradigm of Osama bin Laden as terrorism's deus ex machina and of al Qaeda as the prototype of terrorism may be an artifact of our Best and Brightest's imagination, and whether investment in this paradigm has kept our national security establishment from thinking seriously about our troubles' sources. So let us take a fresh look at the fundamentals.
President John Tyler was born in 1790 and two of his grandsons are alive today, some pretty amazing genes in that family. I would guess the parents were born in the mid 1800s and they were born in the early 1900s. It is amazing anyway you look at it.
When Democrats got their panties all wadded up over Rush Limbaugh saying he wanted Obama to fail they held a slogan contest for a billboard meant to slap at Rush. They are a creative bunch after all from having years of practice from all their anti-Bush rallies and this is the best they could come up with, LOL. That of course can easily be interpreted two ways, one critical of Rush but more easily as critical of Obama for his disasterous policies. I am sure Rush will have a good chuckle over it. Ed Morrisey put his photoshop skills to work on a companion billboard to go just down the road from this one. This comes right on the heels of two more Obama cabinet nominees having to pull out with ethical or other problems, adding to a growing list. The smoothest transition ever, yeah right.
Peter Wehner does a masterful job of showing how vast the gulf is between Obama's words on the campaign trail and what he has done or not done with his actions not that he is in office. I couldn't say it any better so just hurry over there and read the whole thing.
Consider a partial list, starting with earmarks. During the campaign, Obama said, "the truth is, our earmark system -- what's called pork-barrel spending in Washington -- is fraught with abuse. It badly needs reform -- which is why I didn't request a single earmark last year, why I've released all my previous requests for the public to see, why I've pledged to slash earmarks by more than half when I am President of the United States." And as ABC's Jake Tapper pointed out, after John McCain picked Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, Obama criticized her for having been of two minds on earmarks. "When you have been taking all these earmarks when it is convenient and then suddenly you are the champion anti-earmark person," Obama said, "that is not change, come on. I mean, words mean something."
Yet yesterday, Obama signed rather than vetoed a massive, $410 billion omnibus spending bill -- which contained more than 8,500 earmarks. Adding chutzpah to his hypocrisy, Obama told reporters, "The future demands that we operate in a different way than we have in the past. So let there be no doubt: this piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability that the American people have every right to expect and demand." This is the fiscal version of St. Augustine's prayer, "Lord, make me chaste -- but not yet."
I have not read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" so I can't really classify myself as a Randian but from what I have learned lately I would surely qualify as such. As I understand it John Galt was Rand's hero that withdrew his productivity from society in protest of an ever intrusive over taxing government. I just watched this very interesting video from PJTV on going Galt as a large and growing segment of people are doing in protest of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid trifecta seeking to spend and tax us into oblivion.
I have always had a very strong libertarian streak that despises government though I recognize it as a necessary evil good for only a limited number of things. I am going Galt in a way by closing my business in California and moving back to Alabama since Ca. has chosen to raise my taxes by a minimum of $500 bucks a year and that's a conservative estimate. Once I get back to Al. we will get a big garden planted and put that good old canning process to work. Mom grew up farming during the Depression so we know what we are doing.
As we all should know our American Revolution basically started with the Boston Tea Party over taxation by England. Recently there have been quite a few Tea Party protests across America with a big one scheduled for 4/15, tax day. Michelle Malkin has done a yeoman's work covering and supporting these protests that our Obamedia refuses to cover also check the Instapundit for updates on protests that will be happening in you area. We aren't quite as organized as the International ANSWER crowd and conservatives are generally to busy working to show up for protests but one here in sunny SoCal turned out 15,000 to protest higher taxes.
Obama and his administration so far has proven to be the train wreck in slow motion that I and many others said it would be and his supporters are even left unable to defend him except through ad hominen attacks on his critics. I had one Obamabot criticize me for a misspelling of incompetent but with no effort to defend the charges, typical of the moonbats I have known.
All I can say is I hope the GOP can get its act together over the next year and a half so we can possibly unseat that witch from the House Majority chair, Nancy "I want an Air Force Jet Now" Pelosi. Hey Newt pulled it off in '94 against a not nearly as radical administration.
Between my computer breaking down on me and preparing to move across the country I just haven't had much time to blog with any real thoughtful insight on matters at hand. I moved out to California 12 years ago with all my possessions packed into a Nissan Maxima but I have accumulated a lot more stuff since then and now need to hire a mover to move back. The cost was thankfully a lot less than I was expecting and makes more sense than dragging a big trailer behind me. I will already be filling my truck and a small trailer with my tools alone so getting my few pieces of furniture and boxes handled by a mover makes sense.
To add to just the headaches of moving is closing down my company and getting rid of my inventory in a rapidly dying state. My dream is dead for now but I will pull myself up by the bootstraps and move on and hopefully resurrect it in the future.
I hate to let my house go into foreclosure but I can gain some solice in the fact that uber-liberal George Soros is a major stake holder in the bank my mortgage is with. Yeah my credit rating will take a hit but not too bad since it was perfect to start with and it is a result of circumstances beyond my control.
At least I will be back where I have family, plenty of old friends to look up, golf courses that won't break the bank for a couple weekend rounds and water actually warm enough to go swimming in. I will miss the Sierra mountains, the temperate climate and wine country but I can find plenty of almost as good tradeoffs like Panama City, the Smokey mountains and turning my niece into the next Mia Ham. I also know an awesome fishing hole loaded with big bass on private property that I will have access to.
I have never asked for prayers except for others but now I am asking for them as I need your's and His support in this tough time for me.
This has been all over the blogosphere, talk radio and the Obamedia for the last week and frankly it puzzles me. Rush is not the leader of the GOP and doesn't want to be and though I listen to him at least twice a week I am not a "dittohead". I do agree with him most of the time including his desire for for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid trifecta to fail with their quasi-socialist agenda because like Rush I believe those policies will ultimately be very bad for America and the global economy on a whole.
I also believe this is also a cooked up controversy by Rahm Emmanuel, Paul Begala, James Carville and George Stephanopolus to distract attention from the cratering economy as a result of the Democrats policy measures and agenda. Their whole agenda is to divide and conquer thus giving them the power to implement their social welfare nanny state by panicking the people into believing the government is the solution and not the problem.
As I and many others pointed out during the campaign it was Democrat policies that caused the banking and housing crisis to begin with and if you're looking for villians Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank are a good place to start. They are major players that forced lending institutions to make all those risky loans to begin with and then blocked reform efforts by George Bush and the GOP to put more regulations in place. They are now pushing taxpayers to bail out those that took and made those risky loans as a result of their policies not those of Bush or the GOP.
The sooner the government gets its kleptocratic sticky fingers out of the economy the faster it will recover. Increasing taxes and regulations through idiotic cap and trade policies on the wealth producers will only hobble the economy in a devastating way and that is just basic economics. The stock markets recognize this and that's why they continue to sink having lost over 50% of their worth since the Democrats took over Congress in 2006.
Rush is right to point all this out and that's why the Democrats fear and hate him and seek to demonize him. He exposes them and their sycophantic media to over 20 million people a day and they can't have that if they want to establish and solidify their hold on power which is all they really care about not you or me.
British Prime Minister paid the first formal meeting to Obama's Whitehouse and basically gets the cold shoulder and the Brits aren't very happy about the snub. Not only did Obama cancel a photo-op press joint conference he gave the Gordon Brown some very cheesy gifts after receiving some very thoughtful, very nice and very classy gifts from Brown. I would say this is not a helpful way to begin relations with a key American ally. This is from the Telegraph via Hot Air, you won't see it in our Obamedia.
Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been "overwhelmed" by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.
British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.
But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama's inner circle explained the slight by saying that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special relationship.
Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president's surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.
A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama's inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to "even fake an interest in foreign policy".
A British official conceded that the furore surrounding the apparent snub to Mr Brown had come as a shock to the White House. "I think it's right to say that their focus is elsewhere, on domestic affairs. A number of our US interlocutors said they couldn't quite understand the British concerns and didn't get what that was all about."
The American source said: "Obama is overwhelmed. There is a zero sum tension between his ability to attend to the economic issues and his ability to be a proactive sculptor of the national security agenda.
"That was the gamble these guys made at the front end of this presidency and I think they're finding it a hard thing to do everything."
So Obama is too tired to properly fete one of our closest allies but he is not to tired to host weekly cocktail parties in the Whitehouse for his friends and serve them $100 lb. wagyu steaks while being entertained by Stevie Wonder. Maybe he should stop partying so hard and start concentrating on being President instead.
Now back to those gifts that were exchanged. PM Brown gave Obama a pen holder carved from timbers of the anti-slave warship the HMS Gannet along with the framed commission of her sister ship the HMS Resolute whose timbers form the desk Obama now sits behind and a first print seven volumn edition of a Churchill biography as well as showering the Obama's girls with gifts. What did the Obama's give in return, a cheesy boxed set of 25 American movie classic CDs and a couple toy Marine One helicopters from the Whitehouse gift shop.
To paraphrase Michelle Obama, for the first time in my adult life I am embarrassed for my country.
One of the very few industries not hurt by the deepening recession are the ones related to firearms. This is not really surprising given the growing unrest around the country over the Obama administration's draconian views on gun control and absolute disregard for fiscal responsibility and the Constitution. Bob Owens has an interesting post on the shortage of ammunition available, it turns out its being bought as fast as the manufacturers can make it.
As soon as I get back to Alabama I am getting my CC license and will start building my arsenal as fast as I can. I don't need or want "scary looking" military style guns that are no more effective than a typical deer rifle, I tend to find well made traditional styles more attractive to the eye and comfortable to shoot. I like knock down power over looks and most assault style weapons like the AR-15 shoot basically what I call a varmint load good for killing prairie dogs but not a determined enemy. I'll take a .300 magnum on the shoulder and a .44 mag or .45 acp on the hip over the 5.6 NATO or 9 mill anyday. The 5.6 is the same caliber as a .22 with a bit more range.
I certainly hope armed revolution does not come to pass but Obama may end up being more Lincolnesque than he could ever have imagined though I doubt his leadership style could preserve what our Founders shed their blood for if it does. As Jefferson said the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants.
It turns out my memory boards crashed so I upgraded them from 512 megs to 2 gigs, easy for $43, and was able to restart my PC from new instead of having to reload everything that came with it. All the tech support people I have worked with from Dell and Comcast have been great and I have learned a lot about my machine in the process, almost enough to be a techie geek, lol.
The Barnyard should be back in action very shortly with the same biting analysis of Obama's economy killing policies and with some photojournalism from the the south-east instead of California. This state is stuck in a permanent FUBAR condition thanks to the Democrats and their union rats that run the state.
Please America! Do Not follow in California's path!!!! It is the wrong path to follow!!!!
I still haven't received my recovery discs from Dell so my computer is still in its broken mode at least a buddy is nice enough to let me use his machine so I can stay semi in touch with the cyber world. The problem is that he has dial up service only and its slow as Christmas to a four year old and he uses AOL which I absolutely despise, oh well thats life.
He does at least get FOX news and a gazillion other channels I don't so I have something to look at while pages load. I also don't have access to my favorites list so surfing is limited to the few sites I can remember the URLs for.
I should be back to regular posting early next week unless my computer is in worse condition than just a couple corrupted files in Windows XP but I will lose all my files at least most of my pictures have been backed up. I use Blogger's Picassa service to save all the pictures I have posted here so that's a big chunk of them right there and most of the rest are on disc. I guess I should have gotten Carbonite's back up services long ago but stupid me kept putting it off and now I am paying the price for my inaction so be smart and spend $5 a month for their service. I wish I had.
I am alive and well but my computer is unfortunately not so well, it crashed Friday and I won't have it back up and running till later this week. I had to come over to a buddy's house to use his machine.
Anyway, I am also busy closing down my business and preparing to move back to Alabama after the California legislature was so kind as to raise our taxes even more. I have loved living here but they are absolutely killing the business environment here with taxes and regulation and the bottom has completely fallen out of the construction industry with no end in sight.
Today is the first yarzheit of the 8 bochurim who were murdered in the attack on Merkaz HaRav last year. On Rosh Chodesh Adar of last year, an East Jerusalem Arab gunman entered the library of the yeshiva and gunned down 8 students in cold-blood. These holy boys were killed while studying Torah, their sole crime to have been born Jews. Aged 15-21, they were committed and completely involved in Torah. As their families were plunged into the depths of mourning and sorrow, dancing and jubilation broke out in East Jerusalem, in Arab-controlled Judea and Samaria, and in Gaza. There was dancing in the streets and sweets were distributed, in celebration of the vile deed. As the Jewish nation felt the pain of this cruel attack, our enemies rejoiced in the massacre of teenagers.
The attack took place on Rosh Chodesh Adar, the first day of the month of Adar, associated with the festival of Purim. Purim commemorates the downfall of the Haman, the Persian vizier, and the foiling of his Final Solution against the Jewish people. Haman was a descendant of Amalek, the implacable enemy of the Jews. One week before Purim, on Shabbat Zachor, the Sabbath of Remembrance, we read the Torah's command to remember the evil of Amalek. The Torah commands us: "Remember what Amalek did to you on the road, on your way out of Egypt. That he encountered you on the way and cut off those lagging to your rear, when you were tired and exhausted; he did not fear G-d. And it shall come to pass, when the L-rd your G-d has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which the L-rd your G-d is giving you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget." (Deut. 25:17-19). It is an obligation to recall daily Amalek's cowardly attack on Israel.
Throughout history, thousands of nations have oppressed and persecuted Israel yet only Amalek is singled out for eternal remembrance and ultimate destruction. Why is Amalek alone to be remembered forever? Amalek was a nomadic tribe that lived in the desert. Its land was not a part of the Land of Israel and they were not threatened by Israel's advancement to Canaan. Despite this, they attacked Israel simply out of hatred and malice. They did not confront Israel head on but ambushed the rearguard, attacking the weakest and most vulnerable in the camp of Israel. This same spirit of Amalek has manifested itself time and time again in various nations throughout history, in their implacable desire to destroy Israel. The murderer, may his name be accursed, was from the seed of Amalek. His attack was so barbaric, so cruel and evil as to defy belief. To walk into a library in a house of study, a place of worship, on a holy day, and to systematically murder teenagers is an act motivated by the purest of hatred. It was not just an attack on a yeshiva, but on every synagogue and house of study, on every Jew and on the values of life and holiness which the books in that library represent.
It is a positive commandment to completely obliterate Amalek. Such a commandment seems jarring to the modern mind. Wipe out an entire people? We fail to understand that Amalek is not a physical entity but rather a concept, a national spirit. Amalek represents evil, denial of G-d and hatred of the Jewish people. Its warlike culture makes it antithetical to the message of the Torah and necessitates its destruction. The spirit of Amalek manifests itself so clearly in the gunman, the suicide bombers, the worship and glorification of death in Islamic society. To dance, give out candies and celebrate when teenagers are shot can only happen in a society completely steeped in hatred and violence. Such a savage society cannot co-exist with the Jewish people, the nation that loves and desires life and seeks peace.
Amalek shares the same numerical value as safek, meaning doubt. Amalek seeks to cause us to doubt G-d's Omnipotence, to doubt ourselves. our rights and claims to our land. When the emergency response teams entered the library, they found blood covering the pages of the Talmud. This demonstrates Amalek's utter contempt for G-d, for His commandment of life and its sanctity. The only way to overcome Amalek is by strengthening our connection to G-d and to His Torah. We must combat the doubt that Amalek seeks to sow by adding light. In the words of the Rav Kook, the founder of the yeshiva:
"The purely righteous do not complain about evil, rather they add justice. They do not complain about heresy, rather they add faith. They do not complain about ignorance, rather they add wisdom. "
The gunman stifled the voices of 8 young men. He tried to silence their Torah study and their good deeds. They have left behind a void of mitzvot that we need to fill, in order to defeat the darkness spread by Amalek. Let us all commit to performing an extra mitzvah such as laying tefillin, studying more Torah or giving tzedakah le'ilui nishmatam.
Remember what Amalek did to us! Evil cannot be compromised with or tolerated. It can only be wiped out. Let us remember:
Doron Mehereta, 26, of Ashdod Ro'i Rote, 18, of Elkanah in Samaria (Shomron) Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, of Kokhav HaShachar (Shomron) Yochai Lipshitz, 18, of the Old City of Jerusalem Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16, of Shilo (Shomron) Neriah Cohen, 15, of Jerusalem Segev Pniel Avichayil, 15, of N'vei Daniel in Gush Etzion Avraham David Moses, 16, of Efrat, Gush Etzion
May their memories be a blessing and may HaShem avenge their holy blood speedily in our days. Yehi Zichram Baruch.
I know you have seen the commercials with Montel Williams peddling coins with Obama's face on them for twenty bucks. Well it turns out suckers are buying a couple dollars worth of coins with cheap stickers stuck on them.
It seems the perfect metaphor for people that bought into the fake messiah hype to have bought into this scam.
As usual Newt Gingrich has come out with a list of policies that if inacted would work very quickly to jumpstart our economy now and into the future and I can't argue with anything on this list of twelve solid proposals.
1. Payroll Tax Stimulus. With a temporary new tax credit to offset 50% of the payroll tax, every small business would have more money, and all Americans would take home more of what they earn. 2. Real Middle-Income Tax Relief. Reduce the marginal tax rate of 25% down to 15%, in effect establishing a flat-rate tax of 15% for close to 9 out of 10 American workers. 3. Reduce the Business Tax Rate. Match Ireland’s rate of 12.5% to keep more jobs in America. 4. Homeowner’s Assistance. Provide tax credit incentives to responsible home buyers so they can keep their homes. 5. Control Spending So We Can Move to a Balanced Budget. This begins with eliminating congressional earmarks and wasteful pork-barrel spending. 6. No State Aid Without Protection From Fraud. Require state governments to adopt anti-fraud and anti-theft policies before giving them more money. 7. More American Energy Now. Explore for more American oil and gas and invest in affordable energy for the future, including clean coal, ethanol, nuclear power and renewable fuels. 8. Abolish Taxes on Capital Gains. Match China, Singapore and many other competitors. More investment in America means more jobs in America. 9. Protect the Rights of American Workers. We must protect a worker’s right to decide by secret ballot whether to join a union, and the worker’s right to freely negotiate. Forced unionism will kill jobs in America at a time when we can’t afford to lose them. 10. Replace Sarbanes-Oxley. This failed law is crippling entrepreneurial startups. Replace it with affordable rules that help create jobs, not destroy them. 11. Abolish the Death Tax. Americans should work for their families, not for Washington. 12. Invest in Energy and Transportation Infrastructure. This includes a new, expanded electric power grid and a 21st Century air traffic control system that will reduce delays in air travel and save passengers, employees and airlines billions of dollars per year.
Jim at Gateway Pudit has more with this from the clip.
Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania explains what former Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke told congress during the September 2008 closed door session. During the first third of the video an enraged caller is ranting to Rep. Kanjorski about how wasteful the first $700 billion bailout was. The best part is 2 minutes and 15 seconds into the tape where Rep. Kanjorski reveals what Paulson and Bernanke told congress that shocked them into supporting the first $700 billion bailout.
On Thursday Sept 15, 2008 at roughly 11 AM The Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw down of money market accounts in the USA to the tune of $550 Billion dollars in a matter of an hour or two. Money was being removed electronically.
The Treasury tried to help, opened their window and pumped in $150 Billion but quickly realized they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. So they decided to closed down the accounts.
Had they not closed down the accounts they estimated that by 2 PM that afternoon. Within 3 hours. $5.5 Trillion would have been withdrawn and the entire economy of the United States would have collapsed, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed.
If true this goes a long ways to explaining why the TARP bailout was needed but not the porkulus the Dems just shoved down out throats. If so who was behind these electronic transfers from US banks and why? Was it the unions here or foreign investors that believe Obama to be a total squish? Very few entities have the ability to cause a run on the banks of that magnitude and I damn sure hope the Obama team investigates it even if it helped get him elected.
A whole lot of stink has been raised after GOP Senators Spectre, Snowe and Collins bucked our caucus and voted for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid omnibus porkulus and rightly so. They deserve all the scorn they are receiving and not one penny of future support from the RNC or the NRSC. However I don't support kicking them out of the caucus at this point since they at at least keep in range of a filibuster, well sort of.
Instead we need to concentrate our fire at Democrat Senators that represent the red states or even purple states and are up for reelection next year. Those states are Arkansas, South and North Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, West Virginia, Indiana, Montana and a few more I'm sure. I don't know who is up for reelection next year other then Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Harry Reid of Nevada. Boy would I love to see Senate Majority leader and chief idiot Reid get booted.
Our new RNC leader has his work cut out for him and he should make sure he has solid challengers for these seats that get plenty of backing from the national committees. He needs to concentrate his focus there and not worry about blue state rinos, let them live or die on their own merits but don't waste needed funds on them. The same goes for generally conservative congressional districts that had been in GOP control that the Democrats made gains in the last two cycles, we can take those seats back.
The Democrats have given us two silver bullets already in the porkubus spending package and blocking domestic oil and natural gas production, see the two posts below this one for more. I am sure they will give us plenty more ammunition as time goes by and they continue to push the failed New Deal/Great Society policies of the past.
The GOP can survive this setback and come back stronger as a result, just remember, Yes We Can and that our ideas and policies actually work to stimulate economic growth.
Yesterday Sec. of the Interior Ken Salazar decided to delay opening up areas off the East and West coasts and in the Gulf that President Bush had opened up. With Obama and the Democrats trying to push their non-stimulus job creation bill this effectively removes a potential 160,000 new high paying jobs from the equation along with enough potential government revenue stream to pay for their bloated porkulus, 1.7 trillion in leases and royalty payments. The American Petroleum Institute sent out this press statement yesterday.
WASHINGTON – American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard today issued the following statement on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement that he would extend the Outer Continental Shelf Five-Year Plan comment period by 180 days:
“Congress made the American people wait nearly 30 years to address our immediate energy challenges. Secretary Salazar today told the American people they must continue to wait – even though more than two-thirds of them want to tap our vast domestic resources for the benefit of all Americans.
“The accelerated Outer Continental Shelf five-year plan process, which the secretary placed on hold today, was designed to address the critical energy concerns facing Americans. The draft plan already received a record 120,000 comments from states, environmental groups, industry, labor groups and members of the public – with 87,000 of those comments supporting expanded and expeditious development.
Secretary Salazar’s announcement means that development of our offshore resources could be stalled indefinitely. That would delay Americans’ access to nearly 160,000 new, well-paying jobs, $1.7 trillion in revenues to federal, state and local governments and greater energy security.
We share Secretary Salazar’s view that America needs a comprehensive energy policy that includes alternatives. In these tough economic times, Salazar’s delay does a disservice to all Americans. We should be moving as quickly as possible to develop more of our own oil and natural gas to benefit all Americans.”
Granted Salazar just extended the comment period for the five year plan so if you favor tapping our domestic resources of oil and natural gas make sure you make your voice heard. You can comment at the Mineral Management Service website so take a few minutes and make your feelings known.
This comes on the heels of the Democrats shutting down lease sales on over 100,000 acres of land in Utah along with efforts to permanently lock up ANWR and even more land in the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act,s22. Americans for Tax Relief sent me this last night.
While many of you have probably been focusing on the passage of the Pelosi-Obama-Reid Spending Package, Congress is also actively trying to restrict your property rights by passing the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.
This bill is being pushed by left-wing environmentalists to purposely block public lands to prevent fossil fuel extraction and exploration. This bill will undercut current progress toward affordable domestic energy by essentially "stealing" 300 million barrels of proven oil and 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from any future use. Tell your member of Congress to Vote against the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009!
So much for all those promises they made to get off foreign oil this will only exacerbate the problem while we continue to remove hundreds of billions of dollars from our economy to send over seas, not to mention the losses in potential jobs and government revenue. We are nowhere near having any viable alternatives to oil and natural gas for at least a couple decades so we desperately need access to those vast resources untill then.
I guess a bankrupt energy less America is the change we can believe in.
Buried deep in the Obama-Pelosi-Reid non-Stimulus act is a provision that would effectively ration the type and quality of health care you receive from your doctor. Rep. Michelle Bachmann points out how this is a major move towards the government taking over health care decisions.
Believe it or not, Congressional Democrats proposed a radical revision of health care policy as part of their economic "stimulus" bill. “Comparative effectiveness," as it is called, not only lays the groundwork for a full-fledged government take-over of Americans’ health care system, but seriously limits the choices for patients and doctors in pursuing treatment.
What it does is put in place a National Coordinator of Health Information Technology that will “monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective.” Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by the government to decide whether you're "too sick" to receive health care treatment. They will decide for you what scope of treatments should be made available to deal with your current ailment.
This will create a few government bureaucrat jobs but what does it have to do with stimulating the economy or job creation? It may very well hurt research and development in the medical field. Would this mean that terminally ill patients may not be able to get life extending treatment or that little old lady won't be able to get her hip replacement when a wheel chair costs less?
There are also provisions in it that basically end the welfare reform of the 90's by linking money given to the states to the numbers of folks on their welfare rolls, the more people that are on them the more money they get. Plus other massive expansions of entitlement spending on medicare, foodstamps and unemployment payments.
Barack Obama took over the airwaves the other night to claim there is no "pork" or earmarks in this porkubus generational theft act and in at least one respect he is correct. Pork is meat and there is no meat in this bill that would actually stimulate the economy. It is full of pure lard, pure artery clogging fat that is more likely to give the economy a heart attack while passing the bill on to our children's children and beyond.
Khaled Abu Toameh gave a talk recently to various Western journalists about Gaza and what the truth really is and his is a very interesting perspective since he hears both sides. Michael Totten was there and has posted it in full, I encourage you to go read it to learn what you never will from our press.
He speaks about the elections that brought Hamas to power in Gaza and why. He blames the West and even Israel for propping up and even legitimizing the openly corrupt PLO and Fatah which drove palestinians into the open arms of Hamas. I can see a lot of truth in what he is saying but you need to go read it for yourselves. He doesn't give cover for Hamas and doesn't blame Israel for wanting to protect their citizens he just tells the truth as he sees it from both sides of the fence.
Liberals and their allies in the green movement love to rail against oil companies and their seemingly enormous profits while threatening to impose additional taxes on them. The truth is oil companies pay about $3 in taxes for every after tax dollar they earn in profit and that is passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices which are also taxed at the pump. My friend Jane at the American Petroleum Institute sent along this study they commissioned about the other affects higher taxes on them would bring on the American public. Not only would it cause the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs it would burden the American people with higher energy bills but it would send an additional hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign suppliers of that oil and natural gas. Why not keep those jobs and that money here?
This comes along with news that the Obama team is stopping the exploration for oil and NG in Utah that Bush opened up, bad move, at the cost of jobs and government revenue from one of the few sources that is not from taxes. Why not open our vast reserves of oil and natural gas, by some estimates more than Saudi Arabia, to exploitation since it will create jobs and actually grow the economy.
I am not against green technology and future energy sources but until we get there we are going to need oil and natural gas till those technologies are developed and perfected to a cost sensible point without government subsidies to keep them going. There is one thing that all the greenies seem to miss is that even their alternatives have a cost to the environment equal to or greater than the use of fossil fuels.
Batteries for hybrid/electric cars, wind and solar power require metals that must be mined and refined often with far greater environmental impact and energy use than fossil fuels. Biofuels even of the the non-food based variety also require vast land resources that could be put to better uses than providing fuel, like parks and such or growing food. Wind power is unreliable, unattractive and very expensive to maintain and set up. Solar power is slowly getting very close to the cost/benefit line for certain parts of the country but still would be better for individual households and businesses than to run a grid on any large scale. Nuclear power remains the cleanest and most efficient producer of power there is and we need to expand its development.
The point is we need to expand our energy options not shrink them while at the same time expanding our economy not hamstringing it with excessive regulation and taxation that will only do more harm than good. That is just good old Barnyard common horse er goat sense.
Chaim Weizman once famously said that no state is given to a people on a silver salver. He was of course referring to the toil and effort of the early Zionist pioneers and to the thousands of Jewish soldiers who gave their lives in defense of their country. Many people erroneously believe that Israel was magnanimously handed to the Jewish people by the UN. They fail to recognize the hundred years prior in which Jews came from all over the world to establish themselves in Israel. Jews worked to raise money to purchase land through the Jewish National Fund. The Zionist leaders established schools and hospitals, and built the political infrastructure that would later become the Israeli Knesset.
The zeitgeist of the time, and the newest method of destroying Israel, is "the two-state solution". The UN has declared negotiations "irrevocable", and the US and the Mid-East Quartet have committed themselves fully to advancing this policy. It is an accepted dogma that the solution to the current problem is a sovereign state for "the Palestinian people". Billions of dollars have been poured into this project, as well as countless summits, meetings, UN resolutions and diplomatic tours. Anyone who is a "moderate" accepts the necessity of such a solution.
Especially due to the fact that the "Palestinian" narrative is largely a product of historical revisionism, there is little reason why the "Palestinians" are deserving of a state. In the 60 years since the so-called "Nakba", the Arabs of Gaza, Judea and Samaria have produced or contributed little to the world at large, besides terror and hatred. The Arabs have languished in camps, hotbeds of fundamentalism and extremism, and have never sought to improve their situations. Rather, they use their own desperation, actual and imagined, as a weapon against Israel. They justify their repeated murderous attacks on Jewish civilians and refusal to come to a peace agreement as a result of Israeli aggression, occupation or supposed war-crimes. Somehow, the world has come to accept that "Palestinians" are entitled to depraved behaviour as a result of what they believe to be historical crimes against them. Incredibly, the Jews who founded Israel never resorted to this. Israel arose out of the ashes of Auschwitz. The evil the Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis far outweighs any indignities the Arabs have ever suffered. The survivors of the Nazi death camps did not turn to suicide bombings and murder, but rather re-built their lives in Israel. Having lost their entire families, with barely any possessions, they became doctors, professors, artists, writers and contributed to society. Similarly, the close to a million Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Arab countries were not permitted to languish in camps. They are now an integral part of Israeli society.
Various UN organizations, as well as the US and EU, have spent billions of dollars on the "Palestinians". None of this has been used to build schools or hospitals. Children in Gaza barely know how to read and write, yet their are all experts at explosives and handling weapons. They may not be familiar with literature, math or history, but they will all proudly proclaim their deepest desire to grow up to be a shaheed, to kill Jews, the highest honour. When Israel left Gaza in 2005, it transfered to the Arabs billions to built their society. Instead, they used this money to buy rockets and missiles. The Jews of Gush Katif left behind greenhouses for the Arabs to use. Rather than creating a flourishing economy, they destroyed the greenhouses in a fanatical frenzy. This is a civilization that does not create, but destroys. It is a perverse culture which dances in the streets and gives out candy as Jews are murdered, as they did on 9/11.
It has been said that the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Despite the efforts of the international community, the "Palestinians" have never shown themselves deserving of a state. There is little central government in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. When given the choice to vote for a government to represent them, they voted overwhelmingly for a terrorist organization committed to the destruction of Israel and the genocide of the Jews. This says a lot about the type of society in which they live. Would it be the wisest move to give such a people a country? Has there ever been a moment in "Palestinian" history when they have rejected terrorism and violence? Given the Islamic regime in Hamastan, it would be hard to argue that the world needs another Taliban-style Islamic country. If one looks at Gaza, Judea and Samaria, they will see the self-inflicted squalor of the Arabs. They will see a pseudo-state whose streets are overflowing with sewage because the pipes have been used for rockets.
The Zionist pioneers found a deserted wasteland, uninhabited for thousands of years. They proclaimed it a land without people for a people without a land. These self-sacrificing chaluztim made the deserts bloom, built cities in desolate land, and created life where there was none. The Arabs, on the other hand, have done nothing. They are not the sons of the desert, but rather its fathers. The corrupt leaders of the "Palestinians" pocketed international aid at the expense of their people. They raised generations of children on a steady diet of death and anti-semitism, instead of giving them basic skills necessary to running a country. They prefer to whine about what they endured 60 years ago instead of planning for their future. Looking at the tragic failure of the "Palestinians" in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, there is not reason to believe that they can sustain a state. Such a state will undoubtably be used as a launching pad for terror attacks against Israel and a bastion of repression and fundamentalism. They are a culture that worships death and is addicted to martyrdom. Generations of Arabs have been taught how to die for their faith, but they have not been taught how to live for it.
No state is given to a people of a silver salver. The "Palestinians" have certainly not earned the right to a state. They blame Israel for their current situation instead of taking responsibility for the poor choices they have made as a society: multiple wars against Israel, endless terror attacks, creating a culture of fanaticism and hatred. In the recent conflict in Gaza, they could not accept that the Israeli onslaught was because of 8 years of rocket bombardment from Gaza. This juvenile mindset cannot maintain a country. It would be one of the greatest human tragedies to uproot 100 000 Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria, only to hand their land over to terrorists and their sympathizers. The Arabs simply do not deserve another state, especially one handed to them on the silver salver of UN humanitarian aid. "Palestine" has no industry, no infrastructure and is an assured failure. Israel will be forced to clean up the mess that the international community created in its backyard. Israel's leaders must have the courage to say no to what will assuredly be a Final Solution.
No this isn't another post about the congressional porkfest but rather one that involves real pork that sounds really really very tasty. I simply must try it someday.
The recipe is here and read through the comments at Hot Air to find some great ideas for variations. I would just add some caramelized onions to the original and baste it with honey while its smoking like I do my ribs. They use regular BBQ sauce though I bet a honey-mustard BBQ sauce would be awesome as well.
Listening to local news I just heard a state worker lament that she hadn't had a Starbucks coffee in weeks, poor baby. Who in their right mind would spend $4+ on a freaking cup of burnt coffee? I hate Starbucks coffee even when I brew it myself, it simply sucks, no wonder they are shutting hundreds of stores. I'll stick with my Folgers regular roast at less than $.10 a cup, thank you, if I want mocha I'll add a pack of Carnation hot chocolate mix to my cup.
Remember all the foaming at the mouth rhetoric that flew at President Bush after Katrina well in the same vein I blame Obama for all the deaths in the recent ice storm that has crippled the midwest. There are 1.5 million people without power still, roads are blocked by trees and many can't get to shelters in the freezing temperatures and last I saw 33 had died and millions are suffering for lack of food and water.
WHERE'S FEMA? Where is all the breathless MSM reporting on the thousands suffering from Obama's neglect? How come Obama hasn't come and lifted them from their misery on the back of his magic unicorn? Oh yeah, he is to busy wining and dining on $100 a pound wagyu steaks to care about all those helpless poor folks freezing to death. Obama doesn't care about poor white folks he's to busy trying to shove his trillion dollar theft act through Congress and kicking back to watch the Super Bowl in his nice tropically warm Whitehouse. It must be nice to be an elitist asshat with a press corps adhered to his nether regions.
Oh and hey Obama, the miracle worker that you are, California actually voted for you and we could use some rain so if you could just order some up for us that would be nice.
I all my years of following politics this has to be one of the dumbest proposals I have ever seen and it figures that it would come from a Democrat Sen. and a Rep. from California. Somehow I doubt they will get many takers since the vast majority of us that drive trucks and SUVs do so for a good reason. I saw this over at Gateway Pundit from SEMA.
Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) S. 247 and H.R. 520 SEMA ( Specialty Equipment Market Association) is opposing an effort by some Washington lawmakers to include a national car crushing program in the upcoming economic stimulus package. Vehicles targeted for the scrap pile will likely include Chevy Blazers, Silverados, S-10s and Tahoes; Dodge Dakotas and Rams; Ford Explorers and F-Series; Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers; and any other SUV or truck that obtains less than 18 mpg.
The so-called “Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles Act” is "Cash for Clunkers" with a twist. Instead of focusing exclusively on old cars as is typical with scrappage programs, this bill will target any vehicle with lower fuel-economy ratings. Participants will receive a cash voucher to purchase a more fuel-efficient new car or used car (model year 2004 or later) or receive credit for the purchase of public transportation tickets.
Under the legislation, “fuel efficient” means at least 25% better mileage than the CAFE standard. It will be illegal to resell the scrapped vehicles. Bill sponsors want to destroy 4 million pickups and SUVs over the next four years.
Go read the rest of it over at Jim's to see just how absurd this proposal is. These idiot dems think giving somebody a $1500-$4500 voucher in exchange for a $30,000 vehicle so they can purchase a beer can on wheels is smart, nuts. I drive a 2000 Dakota 4x4 with a v-8 and after I put an after-market exhaust, air filter and programmable computer chip in it I get better than 18 mpg, not to mention about 30 more in horse power, so they can suck on my tailpipe.
California is leading alright, leading in job losses, taxes and people and businesses fleeing the state, better watch it or they will lead the rest right down the bankruptcy blackhole as well.
Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What should be the reward of such sacrifices?' Bid us and our posterity to bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war, to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!"- Samuel Adams
