Happy Halloween....democrat style

Democrats never fail to suck the fun out of every aspect of American life....

DES MOINES, Iowa - The Iowa Department of Revenue is taxing jack-o'-lanterns this Halloween. The new department policy was implemented after officials decided that pumpkins are used primarily for Halloween decorations, not food, and should be taxed, said Renee Mulvey, the department's spokeswoman.

"We made the change because we wanted the sales tax law to match what we thought the predominant use was," Mulvey said. "We thought the predominant use was for decorations or jack-o'-lanterns."

Previously, pumpkins had been considered an edible squash and exempted from the tax. The department ruled this year that pumpkins are taxable — with some exceptions — if they are advertised for use as jack-'o-lanterns or decorations.

Iowans planning to eat pumpkins can still get a tax exemption if they fill out a form.

First, democrats never fail to see an opportunity to levy a tax on something, anything. Where ever Americans are enjoying themselves, nearby you'll find a weasly, hand-wringing democrat trying to figure out a way to tax it. And of course TRR readers, you see where this is heading don't you? At some point Americans will have to fill out ridiculous government forms to justify each and every activity they don't want taxed. You see, that's the democrats attitude toward your earnings. IT BELONGS TO THEM! And you should feel grateful for whatever smidge they let you keep each pay period.

I couldn't come up with a PG title for this post, but if you're under 18, avert your eyes

You can't convince me this wasn't a big joke at the moonwalk factory. Would you not want a cigarette afterwards?

Feel free to write your own jokes in the comments section.

The Breck Girl's plan for disaster

If you have scary nightmares about a Hillary presidency, it's fitting that on Halloween's eve you sit down, have a drink, and try to imagine a Breck Girl presidency. Here's just a small sampling of the idiocy that will be heaped upon the American taxpayer if she ever gets elected....

John Edwards says if he's elected president, he'll institute a New Deal-like suite of programs to fight poverty and stem growing wealth disparity. To do it, he said, he'll ask many Americans to make sacrifices, like paying higher taxes.

Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a government-funded public higher education program called "College for Everyone."

"It is central to what I want to do as president to do something about economic inequality. I do not believe it is okay for the United States of America to have 37 million people living in poverty," he said in a meeting with Monitor reporters and editors this week. "And I think we need, desperately need, a president who will say that to America and call on Americans to show their character."

At every stop, Edwards said, he tells voters he'll ask them to sacrifice. Asked to describe what he means, he described his plan for increases in capital gains taxes, saying taxes on "wealth income" should be in line with those on work income.

"I think if we want to fund the things that I think are important to share in prosperity, then people who have done well in this country, including me, have more of a responsibility to give back," he said. Later, he added: "There are no free meals."

A couple of points if you don't mind:

-Of course he'll demand higher taxes. It's what democrats reflexively do...take as much money as they can away from the productive and give it to the lazy, stupid, and shiftless.

-Government-funded pre-kindergarten? The subversive "Government-is-Your-Friend" indoctrination can never start too early in the lives of impressionable young Americans. Edwards wants to government to get ahold of your child's mind before you do.

-Minimum-wage employees are already being paid at least twice what they're worth to their employer. Of course forcing employers to pay their entry-level, unskilled, immature, workers $9.50/hour or 2-3 times what their labor is worth, is a tried-and-true vote-buying scheme that appeals to the unambitious, uneducated, and lazy. Or as I like to call them...the democrat base.

-When people don't have any personal investment in their own property or housing, they don't take care of it...why should they? Having taxpaying Americans provide fabulous homes for indigents encourages them to not hold a job, improve their skills, or advance their education. In short, it perpetuates the very poverty that it is designed to alleviate....but of course that's exactly what democrats want...as many Americans dependent on them for their existence as possible.

-He wants to do something about economic inequality. Why not tell poor people to get another job? How about telling them to stay in school? stay off drugs? get married? don't have children you can't afford? work hard and earn promotions? You see it's not about equal opportunity as they annoyingly bleat about, with democrats, it's about equal outcome. We already have equal opportunity and some succeed and some don't...nothing more needs to be done about it. But that doesn't get entitlement-minded vagrants to vote democrat. Taking money from productive achievers and doling it out to lazy reprobates...that's what creates democrat votes.

The best costume this year would have been John Edwards with the seal of the president on his breast pocket.....real scary!

Just blow the whole thing up

So the motley collection of third-world thugs and dictators known as the United Nations has decided that their building is run-down, and they want 2billion dollars to fix it. Guess who'll they hit up first? That's right, the same people who've been underwriting their anti-American hatred and international uselessness....the American taxpayer.

Michael Adlerstein, the architect who oversees the Capitol Master Plan, says the building "cannot function much longer in its present state".

He also has another reason for hoisting the infrastructure into the modern world - it is currently vulnerable to explosives.

Despite the grand setting, many of the fittings are worse for wear
"There's a tremendous need to secure the building against terrorist acts," he told the BBC.

Now there's an idea whose time has come. Just blow the whole thing up and move the UN to Brussels or Stockholm or The Hague or somewhere else they're more welcome. But that won't happen because that would make it too difficult to plunder and pillage the American taxpayer for funds with which to criticize us subvert our activities. I fully expect Bush to pony up taxpayers' money for the renovations, especially now that he's been all snuggly with Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton about middle east peace...how embarrassing! And if he doesn't pay for it, Queen Hillary certainly will when she takes office.

Is it still hurricane season? I hadn't noticed

This is bad, bad news for the sycophants in the Church of Modern Environmentalism and it's high priest/cult leader the Goreacle...

Unless a dramatic and perhaps historical flurry of activity occurs in the next 9 weeks, 2007 will rank as a historically inactive TC year for the Northern Hemisphere as a whole. During the past 30 years, only 1977, 1981, and 1983 have had less activity to date (January-TODAY, Accumulated Cyclone Energy). However, the year is not over...

For the period of June 1 - TODAY, only 1977 has experienced LESS tropical cyclone activity than 2007.
There are currently two worldwide tropical cyclones: Tropical Storm Noel and Unnamed Arabian Sea TS...

On average to date (1970-2006), the Eastern Pacific season is 97% completed, Western Pacific 82%, North Atlantic 93% and overall Northern Hemisphere 87%.

To be honest, I had forgotten that it was still hurricane season since we haven't been threatened by one in months. Thankfully we had devastating wild fires out West and extreme drought conditions in the South, or else Al Gore would really be depressed that the US hasn't been battered by cat-5 hurricanes, strengthened by global warming, like he predicted. As it is, he can take smug satisfaction knowing that thousands of his fellow Americans have lost property, income, and even some lives to other natural disasters. Even still, that is not nearly enough punishment for the devestation we humans have caused to Mother Earth by simply existing. For the Goreacle, unless most of America(but not him and Tipper) is walking to work, reading by candle-light, and shivering in the dark, his life's mission will not have been completed.

Build it and they will come

This is an electric car....pretty much the ridiculous euro-junk that I would expect.

This is also an electric car. If I ever get an electric car, it'll have to look more like this.

Finally somebody figured out that one of the primary reasons people haven't warmed up to the idea of electric cars for short commuting, is the issue of running out of "gas". Where do you recharge if you make an unscheduled trip to the mall for instance? Well the laws of economics might just have solved this problem with marketability. Some really smart guy is getting together capital to fund the placement of charging stations ubiquitously around the country, like gas stations, in parking decks, road-side, etc., and businesses can have charging stations for employees and visitors so that no matter where you go, you can re-charge you battery.

In my opinion, this is precisely the right way to go about it...from a business standpoint. Creating onerous government-mandated quotas for electric car sales won't work because you can't force people to buy something they don't want. Remove all the obstacles to demand first, then stand back and let the entrepreneurs take over. The market-based, capitalist economy always, always finds a way to satisfy demands of consumers. The lure of profit is a powerful motivator.

Look, I don't give a rip about despoiling the environment by driving too much. Everybody knows that, but I do care about my money. I like driving my gas-guzzling SUV, but if there's a cheaper, convenient way to go back and forth to work every day, even I'm willing to entertain the idea of electric cars.

If you want to read the article on this go here.

Clarification time, plus Q and A

All right, it's come to my attention that my criticism of Katrina victims may have been applied too broadly in the opinions of some readers. Let me be perfectly clear: when I criticize the victims of Katrina, I am specifically referring to those in New Orleans proper who for whatever reason CHOSE to not leave, depending instead on somebody else to save them. Then, they turn around and elect the same derelict bums who failed them the last time. My criticism should in no way be applied to anybody else. My heart goes out to everybody, from Alabama, through Mississippi, LA., and Texas who, through no fault of their own lost lives and property. Don't get me wrong, I even hate it for the people of NO, but I tend to have less sympathy because they could have mitigated the impact of the hurricane on their lives by simply recognizing the fact that they live in a flood-prone cereal bowl and leaving.

-Are there some people in NO who would have gotten stranded no matter how efficient the evacuation could have been? Sure, somebody always gets left.
-Are my insensitivity barbs aimed at them? Of course not.
-Were there thousands of able-bodied, car-owners who chose to stay despite a weeks notice of a cat-5 hurricane because they'd made a lifestyle out of depending on others for their survival? Yes.
-Do we as Americans have an obligation to help our fellow Americans in some way, regardless of a dumb decision they may have made to get themselves in thier predicament? Yes.
-Did the culture of lawlessness, dependence, and shiftlessness on the part of residents of NO contribute to their misery in the aftermath? Certainly.
-Should the government have given them places to stay? Sure, temporarily.
-Are the American taxpayers obligated to provide for them indefinitely? No.
-Should federal tax dollars be spent to rebuild no-fault housing below sea-level in the 9th Ward so it can happen again? No.
-Should private developers and citizens be allowed to buy property in the flood zone and rebuild at their own risk if they choose? Absolutely.
-Was it George Bush's fault that FEMA didn't respond fast enough? No. Local resources should have been mobilized already. Nagin and Blanco failed their people. That FEMA was late onto the scene was only the last in a long, miserable list of failures associated with Katrina.
-Was FEMA inept when they finally got on the scene? Yes.
-Are the people of NO so miserably stupid and averse to self-reliance that they would reward Nagins' dereliction and faithlessness with re-election? Sadly, yes.
-Finally, is ANY of my criticism at all, in ANY way, directed toward ANY of the other thousands upon thousands of victims of Katrina across the Gulf Coast who did not choose to remain in the cereal bowl by the sea? Absolutely not!

OK, I think I've been pretty unequivocal here so let there be no more misunderstanding. If you have a question about any aspect of Katrina or you think I'm a complete jerk, feel free to let me know.

Just kill me now!

This is simultaneously the stupidest and funniest thing I've ever read...

100,000 years into the future, sexual selection could mean that the human race will one day split into two separate species, an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures, according to a top scientist.

I'm guessing the dim-witted goblin-like creatures will have descended directly from the offspring of Dennis Kucinich and Rosie O'Donnell.

And Bill Says:

Posted by Reid

This is an exerpt from an article or transcript from a speech in which Bill Cosby lectures African-Americans about education and responsibility...

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk:

Why you ain't?

Where you is ?

Where he stay?

Where he work?

Who you be?....

I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact, you will never get any kind of a job making a decent living. People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've gotthese knuckleheads walking around. The lower economic people aren't holding up their end of this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers; for what?? And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these peole who gry when their child is standing there in an orange jumpsuit.

Where were you when that child was 2?

Where were you at 12? Where were you at 18, and how is it that you didn't know he/she had a pistol? Where is the father? Or, who is the father?

People puting their clothes on backward is a sign that something has gone wrong. People with their hats on backward, pants down around their crack, isn't that an indication of something gone wrong? Or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn't it a sign of something when a girl has her dress all he way up and she has all types of needles (piercings) going throug her body? What part of Africa did all of this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans: they don't know a thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua, and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail- what is up?

Brown (or black) versus the Board of Education is no longer a white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has 8 children with8 different "husbands"- or men, whatever you call them now. We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have millionaire basketball players with graffitti all over their bodies, and they can't write 2 paragraphs. We as black folks have to do a better job! We have to start holding each other to a higher standard. We cannot blame the white people any longer. It is not about color, it's about behavior!!


----Dr. William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. Ed.D.

Way to go Bill! Nice blog on our society and how it is being destroyed from within. This piece is printed so that we all can see a potential epidemic brewing and can try to nip it now. These same issues have taken root in the other ethnic communties as well as in white areas as well. Wake up people, it is time to to grab the bull by the horns and stop our decay. Reid

Turning the page in Cuba

This will be a welcome change in the world as long as Hugo Chavez continues to plunge his own country into the third world and leaves Cuba alone...

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Wednesday blistered Cuba's regime and challenged the international community to help the people of the communist island shed Fidel Castro's rule and become a free society.

"Now is the time to support the democratic movement growing on the island," Bush said in an address at the State Department.

"Now is the time to stand with the Cuban people as they stand up for their liberty. And now is the time for the world to put aside its differences and prepare for Cubans' transition to a future of freedom and progress and promise."

When and if Cuba throws open it's doors to Western development and commercialization, it will become THE Caribbean tropical destination of choice. I realize liberals are nostalgic for Fidel and Che the murdering revolutionaries, and they naively view the miserable poverty and squalor in which Cubans toil as "quaint reminders of a simpler time", but they are idiots. Bush is right to encourage capitalism and political freedom in Cuba. That country ceased to progress the day Castro seized power. That's why there are only cars from the 40's on the streets. Liberals like to stupidly brag that Cuba is a socialist utopia where everything is free but somebody has to pay for it. Who? Nobody, that's who. That's why Cuba remains stagnated in the 30's and 40's. The best thing that could happen to that country is Castro's death. The resultant weeping and wailing from liberals would be an amusement.

Too nutty for Hollywood?

Predictably liberals and Hollywood nitwits are blaming the fires this week on everything from global warming and the Iraq war to Halliburton, tax-cuts, and Karl Rove. You'd think their shrill bleating would resonate as it usually does, as one deranged, irritating voice but George Carlin is crazier than even garden-variety, Hollywood pinheads. He blames the victims of the fire for their homes being destroyed. Carlin lectures thusly...

"...because many of these home owners "overbuild" and "put nature to the test," "they get what’s coming to them."

That's as asinine as saying, "because many of these drivers "drive" to work and test the statistics, when they're killed in a wreck, they deserve it." Then he gleefully added that he...

"can’t wait for the sea levels to rise" and "for some of these cities to disappear."

Typical liberal dementia. Neither Carlin nor any other Hollyweirdos will admit that it's the drug-addled radical environmentalists who have prevented proper forest management...that means thinning trees and removing dead, dry underbrush. Absurd local ordinances in some California counties prevent people from even removing some protected species of thick brush from right around their house, effectively making their house a tinder-box.

You see to drug-addled hippies and Gore-worshipping liberals(more or less the same thing), people are a pestilence on the Earth. We offend mother Gaia just by being alive, and whenever nature kills lots of people and/or destroys our offensive domiciles, that's a victory for Gaia. It's satisfying for them to witness Mother Earth striving to return to her natural state...the state before the hoards of humans polluted and raped her. Clearly, George Carlin is one of those nuts.

Stealing relief supplies that Americans won't steal

Another sad example showing how illegal aliens who swarm into this country are just here to grab whatever our derelict government will give them or let them take....

San Diego:

Six undocumented Mexican immigrants were arrested today by U.S. Border Patrol agents at Qualcomm Stadium, after a report that they were stealing food and water meant for evacuees, according to spokesman Damon Foreman.

San Diego police responded to a call about alleged theft from the evacuation center and encountered six people in a van who didn't speak English and didn't have California driver's licenses, Foreman said.

I know what you people are going to say before you say it....

"But Ed, how do you know that they weren't refugees from the fire, and just needed food and water for their displaced families?"
Because when the police stopped their van crammed full of goods, they admitted that they were illegal aliens and had stolen all the stuff. Happy?

"But Ed, you can't just arbitrarily judge people based on their immigration status without knowing their circumstances."
Sure I can. They are criminals who've demonstrated a complete disregard for our laws by sneaking in here. A criminal is a criminal. How is stealing relief supplies from victims of the fires that much different than stealing fabulous cash and prizes from the American taxpayer in the form of free aid, medical services, and education?

"But Ed, just like during Katrina, the assumption is that if you are white then you are just providing for your family and not stealing, but if you are dark-skinned, you are a criminal looter." I resent the accusation of racism. When a dude pushes a grocery cart full of booze, cigarettes, and color TV's through the flood waters, he's not feeding his family, I don't care what color his skin is. And when a gang of six dudes sneak supplies intended for people at the shelter out the back door into a van, I don't care what color their skin is, they're theives. In this case, but for the gutless delinquency of our government's not guarding the border, we wouldn't be reading this story at all.

But Ed, this is a simple theft issue, not an immigration issue. Keep swinging dumb reader...you can foul as many off as you like. It IS an immigration issue, NOT a theft issue, just as an unlicensed driver causing a wreck IS an unlicensed driver issue and NOT a wreckless driving issue....but for the "unlicensed" status of the theives, the relief supplies would never have been stolen.

So if you're planning on getting on here and calling me a racist, save it. Calling me a racist because I criticized the behavior of somebody who happens to be a minority is debate strategy #1 for liberals, but it's also lazy, weak, and intellectually dishonest. Argue the benefits vs. costs of illegal aliens if you want, but don't inject race where it's not an issue.

Eagles double album release

The Eagles are releasing their seventh studio album, first since 1979, Long Road Out of Eden on October 30. All the guys are back, Henly, Frey, Walsh, and Schmit, plus a load of other studio musicians. If anybody's heard more than the few singles that are already out, let us know how it sounds.

Hey baby! That's right...I'm talking to you

You can't make this stuff up folks...

Kenyan officials are not sure how to handle a troop of rude monkeys that's been making lewd gestures at women, London's Daily Telegraph reports.

"Can the [tourism] minister deploy game rangers ... to deal with the monkey menace?" pleaded local representative Paul Muite in Kenya's national parliament last month, to accompanying laughter. "These creatures have clearly shown that they have no respect for women."

Gichuki Kabukuru of the Kenya Wildlife Service told the Telegraph that monkeys and baboons commonly harass women, gesturing at them and touching their own private parts.

"Even in our camps," he explained, "when men are out on patrol and the monkeys see women and children, they will become very naughty and make lewd signs at them."

Are we sure the monkeys aren't building something?

C'mon, construction workers don't have respect for women, do they really expect male animals to? If you're a girl, you can walk past any construction site and get exactly the same treatment from male humans. It's just what construction workers, and apparently monkeys, do. And let's be honest, if you don't get whistled at or hear a cat-call or two at a construction site, you're offended that they didn't notice you. I know you ladies feign outrage and act insulted but secretly you like the attention, even if it's from monkeys. After all, is there really that much difference?

"Ed, you're a loathsome chauvinist!" Relax honey, I've heard it.
"Ed, you're a neanderthal pig!" Relax honey, I've heard it.
"Ed, you're a detestable sexist!" Relax honey, I've heard it.
"Ed, you're a sleazeball misogynist!" Now I resent that. I am not a misogynist.

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

This week Ann lampoons craven democrats for their hypocritical position on Islamo-fascism. In front of voters they denounce it, but in practice, they embrace anybody who's remotely associated with world-wide terror and mayhem in the name of Islam. Here's my favorite line...

Liberals believe in burning the American flag, urinating on crucifixes, and passing out birth control pills to 11-year-olds without telling their parents -- but God forbid an infidel touch a Quran at Guantanamo.

Ann's biting sarcasm is entertaining as always. Go here and read the whole article.

The debate is over

Ok, the science is definitive, the debate is over, and a consensus of reasonable people has been reached.....Al Gore is a shameless snake-oil salesman. That's basically the conclusion drawn by Pat Buchanan. He pretty much hits the nail on the head about global warming. Here's the best passage from his article...

Like the panics of bygone eras, this one has the aspect of yet another re-enactment of the Big Con. The huckster arrives in town, tells all the rubes that disaster impends for them and their families, but says there may be one last chance they can be saved – but it will take a lot of money. And the folks should go about collecting it, right now.

This, it seems to me, is what the global-warming scare and scam are all about – frightening Americans into transferring sovereignty, power and wealth to a global political elite that claims it alone understands the crisis and it alone can save us from impending disaster.

While modest warming has taken place, there is no conclusive evidence human beings are responsible, no conclusive evidence Earth's temperature is rising dangerously or will reach intolerable levels and no conclusive evidence that warming will do more harm than good.

The mammoth government we have today is a result of politicians rushing to solve "crises" by creating and empowering new federal agencies.

Cal Coolidge said that when you see 10 troubles coming up the road toward you, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing, because nine of them will fall into the ditch before they get to you. And so it will be with global warming, if we don't sell out America to the hucksters who would save us.

Would you buy a used car from this man? No? Then why would you buy the whole man-made global warming scam from Al Gore?

If you want to read the whole article, head on over to WorldNetDaily and check it out.

Harry Reid is awful!

Democrats never miss a chance to take a jab at President Bush. No matter the seriousness of events, they will always inject politics, especially when it involves invoking the imaginary menace of man-made global warming...

“One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday, stressing the need to pass the Democrats’ comprehensive energy package.

Moments later, when asked by a reporter if he really believed global warming caused the fires, he appeared to back away from his comments, saying there are many factors that contributed to the disaster.

Harry Reid is depraved in ways I had only imagined. To democrats, every human tragedy, every natural disaster, every weather event, in fact every waking moment, presents an opportunity to advance their awful global-warming agenda. It's really just a poorly disguised attempt to seize more and more control over the American economy, the American people, and render us entirely dependent on them as the wise enligtened class. With a little luck, "Dingy" Harry will go the way of his predecessor Tom Daschle, that is the voters will kick him into the dark rathole of history.

Spending-wise, Bush is a big-government liberal

If I had to speculate on a single reason the democrats won Congress back, and why the republican base is at best unenthusiastic of late it would be because Bush spends tax-payer money like a drunken sailor on shore leave in Bankok...

WASHINGTON — George W. Bush, despite all his recent bravado about being an apostle of small government and budget-slashing, is the biggest spending president since Lyndon B. Johnson. In fact, he's arguably an even bigger spender than LBJ.

“He’s a big government guy,” said Stephen Slivinski, the director of budget studies at Cato Institute, a libertarian research group.

The numbers are clear, credible and conclusive, added David Keating, the executive director of the Club for Growth, a budget-watchdog group.

“He’s a big spender,” Keating said. “No question about it.”

Take almost any yardstick and Bush generally exceeds the spending of his predecessors.

When adjusted for inflation, discretionary spending — or budget items that Congress and the president can control, including defense and domestic programs, but not entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare — shot up at an average annual rate of 5.3 percent during Bush’s first six years, Slivinski calculates.

Fiscal conservatism is the cornerstone of the conservative/liberterian movement. When you have a president spending massive amounts of tax-payer money cloaked in the feel-good phrase "compassionate conservatism", it's a little hard to swallow that he's a conservative. It's as if they have succomed to the notion that voters have a price on their vote and the more you spend on voters, the more likely they are to vote for you. That's true if your base is composed of degenerate, shiftless, democrats. But those people will never vote republican, so you might as well stick to traditional conservatism and make your own voting base happy.

I realize the Bush tax cuts did wonders for the economy and that was great, but spending more because the government took in more taxes as a result makes as much sense as Al Gore's phony-baloney carbon credits giving him the right to live in several 10,000square foot houses and jet around the world on a whim. No wonder Hillary might be the next CiC...the republican base is so disillusioned with Bush the big-government conservative and all the congressmen who've signed on to that paradox. You cannot be conservative and dramatically expand the scope of the federal government. The two are mutually exclusive.

New Jersey....basically an asylum

Folks, sometimes the jokes just write themselves...

TRENTON, N.J. - In about two weeks, New Jersey voters will decide whether to eliminate insensitive phrasing in the state Constitution that characterizes people with disabilities as "idiots" and "insane."

The offensive language, adopted in the Constitution in 1844, is aimed at barring people with limited mental capacity from voting: "No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage."

Ironically, with the N.J. state tax rates the highest in the nation, suffocating levels of pollution, and being the butt of thousands of jokes, you'd have to be either an idiot or insane to still be living there.

Do-it-yourself dentistry....Hillary style

As if the thought of a Hillary Clinton presidency wasn't horrifying enough, here's another ghastly story from the U.K. that gives us a glimpse of our health care system under her command...

A man described how he pulled out seven of his own teeth because he was told to wait for an appointment to see an NHS dentist.

Taxi driver Arthur Haupt used pliers and a technique he had learned in the army to carry out the DIY dentistry.

He said he was forced in agony into taking the drastic action because he was given a three-week wait by staff at his local NHS dental surgery.

Socialized medicine is no joke folks. Everywhere it's been tried, it has failed miserably to provide even basic care for the people who're subjected to it. Of course Hillary won't be pulling her own teeth, she'll have a private medical staff ready to service her needs at the drop of a hat. But if Hillary gets elected queen, the rest of us little people had better stock up on pliers, gauze, and rubbing alcohol.

A vote for Hillary is a vote for pulling your own teeth.

TRR classroom

Since the fires in San Diego are the lead news story today, I thought it'd be appropriate to learn what exactly are the Santa Ana winds. My only knowledge of them was from the Steely Dan song, Babylon Sisters, "Here come those Santa Ana winds again". Here's all you need to know...

Santa Anas occur as the result of air pressure buildup in the high-altitude Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. This high energy wind spills out of the Great Basin and is pulled by gravity into the surrounding lowlands. The air circulates clockwise around the high pressure area bringing winds from the east and northeast to Southern California. Santa Ana winds get their name from the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County, the Santa Ana River or Santa Ana Canyon, along which the winds are particularly strong. ---Wikipedia

The reason the winds fuel wild fires is because they are so dry and hot. As the air is forced up in altitude along the mountains, it cools adiabatically, releasing much of it's moisture. Then as it rushes downward toward the coast, it gets compressed thus heating and releasing still more moisture. The relative humidity of Santa Ana air is typically in the single digits which removes moisture from soil and plant matter transpirationally, making it ideal fuel for fire.

There are many pop-cultural references to the Santa Ana winds too. This is one of my favs...

Those hot dry winds that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen.”

—Raymond Chandler, "Red Wind"

Tribes

This is crazy! Hot Santa Ana winds are blowing at 50-70mph forcing the fires to race around the Malibu hills. Thirty-something homes are gone and thousands have been evacuated....

San Diego County on Monday ordered massive evacuations using Qualcomm Stadium to house evacuees as the wildfires that already killed one are "zero percent contained" and raging out of control.

Hmmm? Let's see, thousands of citizens forced to flee their homes by a natural disaster take refuge in the city's sports arena. Where have we seen this before? I wonder when the refugees will start murdering and raping each other? Looting each other's houses? Defecating all over the place and resorting to cannabilism? When will the mayor, governor, and California's democrat representatives in Congress tearfully blame the whole thing on George Bush for not rushing federal relief to the victims fast enough? When will Michael Moore make a stupid movie asking where was George Bush during the Malibu fires of '07? And how long before Al Gore blames the disaster on the imaginary menace of man-made global warming?

Oh wait, what's that you say? People in San Diego are self-reliant, employed tax-payers rather than dependent tax-consumers? Well then, I was mistaken. We probably won't see any of that misbehavior.

Think I'm being cynical and unfair? Meh(shrugs)....probably am.

For those of you who want to read the absolute best essay ever written in my opinion, on human behavior during a crisis, go to ejectejecteject and read Tribes. It is some of the best writing I've seen in a long time and Bill nails the differences between people who behave differently when confronted with hardship.

Unpatriotic, or just dumb?

In Iowa, Barak Obama showed a startling lack of awareness when during the natinal anthem, he failed to put his hand over his heart. According to the United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10 "Flag Code", §171.

Conduct during playing (national anthem)

During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and retain this position until the last note. When the flag is not displayed, those present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed there.

Obama seems blissfully ignorant of proper conduct and Bill Richardson is not facing the flag, choosing to pan for the camera instead. What 3rd grader doesn't know how to act during the national anthem? Looks like only Hillary and Tom Harkin's wife are doing it correctly. (see, I gave Hillary credit when it was due)

It's Friday!

It's Friday people and you know what that means. Everybody have a safe, fun weekend and come back regenerated and ready to debate the issues. I might put some stuff up over the weekend so check back in if you need a break from playing with the kids or raking the yard. Otherwise consider this an open thread and discuss anything you like.

I'll get it started: Topic: What's the best way to leave Iraq without abandoning the people to certain carnage and secular violence? Should we keep pushing for a strong central government..so far that hasn't materialized? Or should we regionalize the country into Sunni, Shia, and Kurd based on present population centers of each? What role if any should Iran, Syria, Turkey play in the new State(s)?

Additionally, if you have a question you'd like to ask me, shoot me an e-mail at phillips338@bellsouth.net and I'll respond with a post(I'll keep your ID secret).

OK, weigh in as usual in the comments section and I'll see you on Monday.

It's fixin' to hit the fan in N. Iraq

Turkey, a member of NATO and a strong U.S. ally, is about to send it's military into northern Iraq, against our wishes...

Turkey's Parliament has resoundingly approved a motion allowing troops to cross into northern Iraq to hunt down Kurdish rebels there.

More than 500 members of Turkey's Parliament approved the motion that authorises Turkish troops to target the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters there.

The vote was taken in defiance of pressure from the US and Iraq, which have called on Turkey for restraint.
Turkey's Western allies and Baghdad have urged Turkey to refrain from military action.

As the Turkish Parliament voted in Ankara, the US President, George W. Bush, said it would not be in Turkey's interests to send troops into Iraq.

Washington fears a Turkish incursion could destabilise the most peaceful part of Iraq and possibly the wider region by encouraging others such as Iran, to intervene.

The PKK, blamed for a deadly suicide bombing in Ankara last month, has been fighting for a homeland since 1984.

"But Ed" you ask, "why wouldn't Turkey be more attentive to our wishes? Why wouldn't they listen to us when we ask them not to send their military into Iraq to kill some nomadic Kurds"? Answer: Most likely because Nancy Pelosi's idiotic proposal this week to have the U.S. Congress condemn Turkey for killing a bunch of Armenians......wait for it......100 years ago! That's right, SanFranNan has solved all the problems in America I guess, if she's got time for this kind of nonsense. The truth is that there is large Armenian representation in San Francisco, Nan's home town and congressional district, putting pressure on her to do the condemnation thing. So to the highest ranking democrat in the U.S., appeasing some home-town voters/contributors is more important than keeping a strong influence with an ally who's about to seriously complicate matters for us in a war zone. The Turks are mad that our Congress would even consider such a motion and are far less likely to listen to our request to stay out of Iraq because of it.

I guess since we're giving out homelands around here, the Kurds deserve to have one too, and as they learned from the Palestinians, suicide bombing civilian targets is certainly a way to get one.

Bush's quixotic adventure

OK, click on both of these maps of Israel(they'll get big)...



This one has more details....obviously...

If you are unfamiliar with the geography of this region, take the opportunity to see where all the names you've heard in the news are because you will need to know them as these negotiations toward the establishment of a Palestinian state unfold. For instance, you will need to know the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, Golan Heights, disputed territories, etc. if you want to have a clue, as you watch the news and read this blog every day. Moving on now....

LONDON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she was encouraged by a round of furious Mideast diplomacy to prepare a U.S.-hosted peace conference in the fall despite divisions between Israel and the Palestinians that could derail it.

With tensions running high and time running out to plan the meeting, a senior U.S. official said Rice would return to the region at the end of October or early November after National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley goes there next week to press the two sides to launch formal peace talks.

Hadley's trip, so close on the heels of Rice's visit this week, is intended to move the two sides closer and underscore U.S. commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state, the official said.

OK, the creation of a Palestinian state would be a good thing...everybody should have a home. That being said, where exactly would the state be? Exactly where it is now? I don't see how that solves anything. How will things be different between the Israelis and Palestinians?

Feel free to weigh in on this, anybody. The bottom line in my mind is that there will always, always be hotly disputed land that causes violence between the two. Where should a Palestinian homeland be? Both have biblically historical claims to common land. How to resolve that? Can it be resolved without somebody going away? Are Bush and Condi tilting at windmills here?

If the bridle fits...

The democracts' choice of a braying jackass as their mascot makes sense now.

I borrowed this from VanHelsing over at Moonbattery. It's probably photo-shopped a tiny bit but who cares?

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

This week Ann ridicules liberals who constantly see racism around every corner, especially if there's a white guy standing on it waiting for the bus. More times than not, all these racist displays that liberal harpies get hysterical about turn out to have been hoaxes perpetrated by a member of the minority against whom the act was directed. Here's Ann's best line from the article...

These liberal racism-hunters are like dirty old men who spend their days poring through pornography in order to better denounce it -- but enough about the Warren court.

Witty and sarcastic as always. If you think there is a racism problem in America too, then read this, and be corrected.

CORRECTION: Alert reader Kevin noticed the missing link. Go here and read it for yourself.

Suha Arafat's inheritance

In keeping with the volatile subject matter of the Palestinian state, there's a story today about Yasir Arafat's widow...

Libya's leader takes responsibility for Arafat's widow and daughter expelled from Tunisia two months ago; the two set to move into 1 million euro luxury home purchased by Gaddafi in Maltese capital

Maybe kofi anonymous and anon. would like to explain how, if the Palestinian people are so desperate and in need, did Suha Arafat inherit over a billion dollars by some estimates from her late husband Yasir? The world showered the Palestinian Authority (that would be the same as Yasir himself by any measure) with fabulous cash and prizes worth over $5.5billion since 1994. Where did all that money go? Certainly some of it went to replace all the Katyusha rockets that land in Israel every week. But the rest pretty much went to enrich Yasir and his family. At the time of his death a couple of years ago, some say from AIDS, his personal worth was conservatively estimated to be in the very nice neighborhood of $1.3billion...conveniently squirreled away in French and Swiss bank accounts. Yasir Arafat, like all dictators, used the Palestinian people to enrich himself. He perpetuated the strife between the Palestinians and Israelis for this purpose alone...in my belief. The funny thing is that Suha Arafat is probably worth more money that Gaddafi and he's buying her a fancy hideaway.

More land for peace idiocy

Everybody knows that the Palestinians' ability to peacefully co-exist with Israel, while Israel continues to unsult them and Allah by merely existing, is roughly equal to a Kennedy's ability to pass up an intern, a drink, or a tax increase. That being the case, the Bush administration is pushing forward with this disaster of an idea...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The time has come for establishing a Palestinian state and it is in the interest of the U.S. to do so, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday in one of her most forceful statements yet on the issue.

The comments from Rice, after a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, suggested that the Bush administration is determined to try to bridge the wide gaps between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference.

"Frankly, it's time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Rice said in Ramallah, standing next to Abbas.

Has Bush learned nothing from history? Every single time the Palestinians have been given concessions by the Israelis, they take them and then promptly launch a Katusha rocket at a settlement or suicide bomb a bus full of Israeli civilians. They have been living as nomadic savages for so long, their barbarism is practically genetic. They are easily two generations away from being able to live and operate in the world as civilized human beings. And if all they want is a homeland, then why don't any of the Arab states who arm and fund their terrorist operations against Israel give them some of their own desert land to live on? Answer: because a Palestinian homeland isn't what this is about. It's never been about that. It's about the other Arab states using the Palestinians/Hamas as dumb puppets to fight the eeeevil Joooos. That Bush and Rice would entertain the absurd fantasy that the Palestinians will ever be happy with anything other than the eeeevil Jooooos pushed into the sea, is ridiculous and they should stop pretending they can solve this issue with silly land-for-peace deals.

There was never peace between two waring peoples until one of them won. If we let Israel handle their business, they will certainly win and then there will be peace, but not before.

Media bias?

LIVERPOOL, England — The mother of missing British 4-year-old Madeleine McCann believes she's being persecuted because of her looks, and thinks that if she "had a bigger bosom and looked more maternal, people would be more sympathetic," a London newspaper reported Tuesday.

I hate to admit it, but she might be right. There's a template when it comes to news coverage of missing persons---the prettier, the more educated, and the whiter the victim, the more horrible and news-worthy the disappearance. And that inanity extends to any family members that may or may not be involved in the disappearance. There's a presumption in the media that if you are startlingly pretty, you can't possibly have committed a crime.

Social Security or Ponzi scheme.....what's the diff?

The beginning of the end of the single largest contributor to public expectation of lifetime government care and entitlements started this week...

WASHINGTON — Kathleen Casey-Kirschling filed for early retirement Monday, becoming the first baby boomer to start collecting Social Security.

Born one second after midnight in January 1946, the retired teacher leads the way for as many as 80 million individuals who will qualify for the retirement payout.

For you half-witted liberals out there who think it's your fellow taxpayers' moral responsibility to fund your lavish retirement, think again. If you are still in your forties, it probably won't be there when you want it. It is consistent with liberal dogma to look to the government to solve every single one of life's problems, and the dreadful government indoctrination centers we refer to as public schools have done a masterful job of ingraining this concept into the heads of our children over the years. We now have 80million self-involved baby-boomers retiring who, over the next 20 years, will expect the nation's work force to happily dole out billions in cash and prizes to pay for their extravagant retirement years. They have been told by liberals for so long that it's their birth-right, their deserved payback from society....payback for what? You think that just because you worked for 25 years that society owes you? I've never heard of anything so dumb!

SS was never meant to fully fund retiremet. It was meant as a supplement, but the "worst generation" decided to spend it's savings on recreational drugs, hemp, and petchouli oil, and let tomorrow's workers pay for their retirement. Originally, there were 33 workers paying for every retiree, who incidentally, only lived 5 years beyond retirement. Now, folks are living 30 years past retirement and only 3 workers are available to pay for their upkeep.

The other misconception is that there is an account with your name on it. There isn't. Every single dollar that is seized from workers' paychecks each month is used to pay for current retirees. The rest is spent on vote-buying schemes by Congress. There is nothing in the "vault" but IOU's. As boomers retire, the scales will tip and in a few years, more money will be paid out than is being taken in and the whole thing will crash. Or else Queen Hillary will just raise taxes on the evil rich to pay for the boomers' exorbitant retirement in order to reward them for slavishly and stupidly voting for her.

Unless you are an idiotic Pollyanna, you will fund your own retirement and forget about the taxpayers of tomorrow supporting you when you are old.

A special Monday edition of Ann Coulter Thursday!

OK, so some readers are perplexed that I am a fan of Ann Coulter. That's understandable.....that is if you're a sensitive, delicate, hot-house flower liberal who goes into spastic conniptions whenever somebody says something contrary to your warped sense of the human condition. That being the case, an irate reader whose handle I forget, sarcastically remarked last week about Ann's latest statement that went way over the line. I had not heard, but I dug it up and thought I'd comment on it. First, here's the pertinent part of the transcript with her conversation with Johnny Deutch in which Ann responded to a question that she thought the world would be better off if there were more Christians...

DEUTSCH: Christian — so we should be Christian? It would be better if we were all Christian?
COULTER: Yes.

DEUTSCH: We should all be Christian?
COULTER: Yes. Would you like to come to church with me, Donny?

DEUTSCH: So you don’t think that was offensive?
COULTER: No. I’m sorry. It is not intended to be. I don’t think you should take it that way, but that is what Christians consider themselves: perfected Jews. We believe the Old Testament. As you know from the Old Testament, God was constantly getting fed up with humans for not being able to, you know, live up to all the laws. What Christians believe — this is just a statement of what the New Testament is — is that that’s why Christ came and died for our sins. Christians believe the Old Testament. You don’t believe our testament.

Ann has a caustic, direct way of stating the facts, but essentially that's what she did. It wasn't a slam on Jews, but indignant liberals, pretending to be horrified, will howl like rabid dogs at the moon about it as if it was. Theologically, Ann is spot on. As Christians we believe that Christ came to save us from our miserable selves. We were too incompetent to follow the laws so we needed a way to redemption. A way to become perfect as we enter the kingdom of heaven. It's a simplistic version I know, but it works for this discussion.

You see rather than debate the merits of what she actually said, liberals like Deutch and others see an opportunity to make political hay and attack Ann as anti-semitic, knowing full well that she didn't mean anything bad toward the Jews. It's typical of liberals to twist anything to use for political gain. For like the 50th time, liberals said, "Well she's done it this time. She's ended her career. She's gone way over the line this time and she'll pay." It's funny, every time liberals say her career is over for some imaginary line she's crossed, her book sales skyrocket, her speaking engagements and fees go up, her TV appearances go up, and her popularity among rank-and-file conservatives continues to grow. If Ann "ends her career" too many more times, she'll be able to afford a second Manhattan condo to go with the first one she paid cash for.

This is how the party of diversity, tolerance, and inclusion reacts when a conservative dares to challenge their hysterical, narrow ideology. Now, which is the party of hate?

Irony...locomotive style

Folks, you know that I don't bear ill will toward my fellow Americans, except maybe for pimps, carnies, and insurance salesmen, but this story was irresistable...

Man Killed by Train After Putting Penny on the Tracks

GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) -- Police say a man who was trying to entertain his family by putting a penny on the tracks has died after being struck by a train in Greenwich.

Police say the man had jumped onto the tracks at the Riverside train station Sunday afternoon to place a penny on a track and show his wife and three daughters how it would be flattened by a train.

Sgt. John Rizzitelli of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says family members were trying to help him up get back on the platform.

The Metro-North Railroad train, an express from Stamford to New York City, was traveling at about 75 mph when it struck the man. He died immediately.

You can't write comedy like this! I mean I hate it that this family lost their dad/husband, but what a way to go? You get flattened by a train while showing your family how a train can flatten a penny......priceless!

Reader mail

Comtemplative reader freedom2learn asks, "does anyone care to give their thoughts on the electoral college - reform - eliminate - leave it as is???".

Since the 2000 election, disgruntled democrats have been attempting to circumvent the Constitution(since they can't get elected with it) by eliminating the electoral college, so presidents would be elected by simple majority. Here're my thoughts on that: The electoral college exists as a way of forcing the candidates to pay at least marginal attention to smaller, less consequential states. Otherwise, the candidates would only campaign in California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and maybe Ohio and Michigan because those are the most densely populated states. Notice anything coincidental about those states that might explain democrat's desire to be rid of the troublesome electoral college? Those very populated states are where the labor unions and fruity liberal base primarily reside. In additon, without the electoral college, democrat candidates could concentrate their efforts on the population centers, places where there tend to be large blocks of hand-out, dependency-driven voters. Look at the 2004 presidential election results map and see where the blue counties lie, unless you live there, good luck seeing a democrat campaigning in your area. The electoral college forces candidates to appeal to as many voters as possible....that makes it a good system. Perhaps it could be tweeked in some way but to abandon it altogether would be disastrous for the country.

Political gamesmanship

Unless you've been in rehab with Lindsay Lohan, you've probably heard about the chairman for the democrat committee for homeland security preparedness advise his staffers to get immunized for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus and influenza, before attending the NASCAR event in Talladega last weekend. Predictably, republicans are making huge political hay off the story by accusing democrats of thinking NASCAR fans are dirty, dsease-ridden, rednecks. That may be arguable, but what's it really about?

It turns out the committee is investigating whether local medical facilities can handle treatment of large numbers of victims if a terrorist should attack a large gathering like Talladega, SuperBowl, or World Series. With the single exception of Jimmy Carter, everybody agrees that large gatherings of Americans are prime targets of Islamic terrorists, or as alert reader Kevin likes to call them, Islamists. These staffers didn't even go to the event, they went to the local hospital to guage their rediness for a terrorist disaster. Now you could reasonably argue whether they needed shots just to visit a hospital...it's not like they went to perform surgery on TB patients.

As a republican, I'm always disappointed when our guys run with a story they know to be phony in order to get political mileage. That's what the other side does. We're supposed to be better than that. I guess that's why I'm disenchanted with American politics altogether...there's not a nickle's worth of difference between the two parties.

It's Friday!

OK, people. It's Friday and you know what that means. We've had a stimulating back-and-forth on various topics this week and I hope there are no hard feelings, everybody learned something he/she didn't know on Monday, and our perspectives were widened.

It's enriching to have one's horizons broadened by lively debate....because everybody needs a broad in their horizons. Heh, heh.

There may be a weekend post or two so feel free to check in. Otherwise consider this an open thread and discuss anything you like. I'll start things off with a topic:

Is it considered moral for me to force my neighbor Joe to give me money so I can send my kids to school, or paint a picture, or subsidize my tobacco crop? If not, how can it be right for me to do it using the federal government as my agent?

Is it moral just because enough of us vote to take Joe's money for something we want to do? Is the definition of "morality" therefore, in modern democratic society, "whatever the majority wants". Is this "mob rule" okay for any purpose, or only if it is a "good" purpose? If so, who decides what a "good" purpose is?

See you on Monday,

Ed

The Breck Girl gets indignant....but why?

Today, hapless democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, derisively known as the Breck Girl to us conservatives, fended off tabloid allegations that he had an exrtamarital affair with a campaign staffer.

My question is, why? If you are the butt of jokes about your feminine obsession with your hair, your nick-name is Breck Girl or Silky Pony, a 4 minute video of you preening like a 15 year old cheerleader on prom night is a huge YouTube hit, and Ann Coulter outright called you gay, wouldn't you welcome a rumor that you were a misogynistic, skirt-chasing player? I mean from strictly a PR standpoint? Democrats, especially the critical soccer-mom voters, love a President who sleeps around on his wife and sexually mistreats women. This might be the key to the White House for him, or at least the Veep slot.

It wouldn't surprise me one bit to find out in a year that the rumor came from his campaign.

Everybody...equal in misery

You'd think Hillary would have figured out in '93 that Americans don't want socialized medicine. Not to be deterred by what the people want, Hillary is sneaking government-run health care in on us with SCHIP(State Children's Health Insurance Program). In another example of what an abject failure socialize medicine is, there's this story from the UK, or as I like to call it, what the US will be under a Hillary presidency...

Britain's Baby Units 'On Brink Of Collapse'

Special care baby units in Britain are "near breaking point", with some babies being turned away because they cannot ensure adequate care, a charity has warned.

A spokesman said: "All the evidence points to a neonatal service that is on the brink of collapse."

The report found many neonatal units were forced to refuse new admissions for considerable periods of time because of staff shortages.

Mothers and babies may be forced to travel long distances in search of a unit with the appropriate facilities to care for them, the charity said.

Hillary is determined to have the government(run by her of course) be in control of every aspect of American life. With the hand-wringing, self-serving democrats behind her and the spineless, republican cowards running for cover, she might just get what she wants. But the enlightened class like Hillary don't have to worry about adequate, much less superior, health care because they're rich and will have their own private doctors at their beck and call, leaving the rest of us to stand in long lines, wait months for basic diagnostics, travel to God-knows-where to have babies safely, and suffer the effects of sub-standard pharmaceuticals because Hillary-care will remove the profit motive for private development of new life-saving drugs.

To liberal socialists like Hillary and her ilk, it matters not that everybody, including babies and children, will suffer, as long as we are all suffering equally, in her eyes.

If you want to read a spot-on article exposing what socialized health-care under Hillary would really be like, and the truth about the insidious SCHIP program, go here.

I need to visit the Czech Republic

Now this is a dude after my own heart. Not only has he turned the Czech Republic into a business haven by instituting a version of the flat tax, there's also this story which warms my heart...

Prague (dpa) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus, a rare vocal global- warming sceptic among heads of state, is "somewhat surprised" that former US vice president Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize, the president's spokesman Petr Hajek said in a statement.

"The relationship between his activities and world peace is unclear and indistinct," the statement said. "It rather seems that Gore's doubting of basic cornerstones of the current civilization does not contribute to peace."

Klaus said in a recent speech that environmentalists' efforts to halt global warming "fatally endanger our freedom and prosperity."

He also said that rising temperatures may not matter enough for governments to throw funds at halting the process.

In a newspaper interview earlier this year, Klaus said that only Al Gore, and not a sane person, would say that mankind is ruining the planet.

I don't know who I like more John Howard of Australia or Vaclav Klaus. He's the only world leader willing to state publically what everybody knows, Gore is an grand-standing idiot, hell-bent on destroying the US economy, not to mention amassing a considerable personal fortune, to save the world from a farcical, imaginary menace...man-made global warming.

Irony, thy name is bureaucrat

Many of you have probably seen this outrage of a story but for the uninformed...

New York’s iconic Empire State Building is to be lit up green from Friday in honor of the Muslim holiday of Eid, the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar marking the end of Ramadan, officials said.
“This is the first time that the Empire State Building will be illuminated for Eid, and the lighting will become an annual event in the same tradition of the yearly lightings for Christmas and Hannukah,” according to a statement.

To naive, ignorant multiculturalists, if we are nice to the Muslims, they'll be nice to us. If we appease them, they'll stop trying to kill us. If we show them how much we respect their culture and religion, then they will respect ours. And if you volunteer your lunch money to the bully, he'll stop beating you up. This is the thought process that our leaders use to determine public policy.

"Well", they reason, "the Muslims knocked down the tallest buildings in New York, we'll just have to illuminate the next tallest building in honor of Islam to show them how much we respect and love them".

Do you people see how sick this is? That red-blooded Americans would, in an embarrassing show of dhimmitude,
submissively bow, voluntarily, to the twisted ideology that cost 3000 Americans their lives 6 years ago, is unthinkable to me!

Where is the outrage?

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

This week Ann questions the republican base support of either Mike Huckabee or Fred Thompson, and lays out the reasons why. If you're interested in GOP politics and the upcoming election, as obviously you are or you wouldn't be here, this is a must read. Check it out here,.

America....Hillary's Cuba to the north

OK, let me get this out of the way right now. If you are one of those people who is going to get tired of my pointing out Hillary's many, and I mean many, shortcomings during the next year and possibly the subsequent 8, then perhaps you should find another blogger to annoy with your whining and sniveling. However, if you can take the ridicule and scorn you will receive for defending her socialist policies, then bring it on. Hillary's intent is to railroad this country toward socialism faster than Rosie O'Donnel toward a triple bacon-cheeseburger with extra mayo, and I intend to point it out every chance I get. So get used to it.

Irksome reader capt. america was indignant and claimed that I took Hillary's comments out of context yesterday. Well, tell me how this is out of context...

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) - Every citizen could get a 401(k) retirement account and up to $1,000 in annual matching funds from the government under a plan offered Tuesday by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

At a cost of $20 billion-$25 billion a year, the plan is Clinton's largest domestic proposal other than her plan for universal health insurance. The New York senator said it would be paid for by taxing estates worth more than $7 million per couple and would help narrow the gap between the rich and those who don't have enough savings for retirement.

Having tabled her disastrous vote-buying scheme of $5000 per child gift of other peoples' money, she's onto another scheme to insure the hand-out voters pledge their easily-bought loyalty to her. Of course she'll victimize the evil rich who'll foot the bill, like they do for all liberal income redistribution schemes. Hillary does what any dyed-in-the-wool socialist would do in her shoes....plunder the productive achievers in society to reward the degenerate, loafers.

She uses phrases cunningly designed to evoke sympathy for victimhood like......those who don't have enough savings.... She wants to convey the idea that it's not these peoples' fault they don't have enough savings. She ignores the truth which is, these people made bad choices after bad choices in their lives. This is why they don't have savings. Why should money earned by people who made good choices be used to reward the deadbeats who chose to flunk out of school, who chose to become heroin addicts, who chose to have 6 babies by 6 different men, who chose to rob liquor stores for a "living", who chose to buy lottery tickets, cigarettes, and booze instead of putting money in the bank, who chose irresponsibility and fecklessness over prudence and ambition, who chose dependence over self-reliance, and who chose to live by demanding the fruits of the labor of others rather than living by hard work and dedication?

Except for a slim few(the infirm and the retarded), there is nobody to blame for not having a little money in the bank but themselves. Yet these are the people on whose vote Hillary is counting to get elected queen. She uses class warfare to justify stealing from the rich productive class to give to the shiftless, dependent class.

"I'll go rip!!!"

Liberal attack dog Chris Matthews has always been a loyal, kool-aid drinking democrat. His partisanship is obvious. Just last week he gleefully pointed out that the Bush administration's criminality had been exposed. Well, he's moderating the GOP debate tonight and his recent opinions have brought his qualifications rightly into question...

On today's "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough asked Chris Matthews if Republican candidates would try to get a "cheap applause line" tonight by pointing to his recent controversial comments.

Whined Chris:

For twenty years I've paid the price of indepdendence. I've taken it from everybody ... every night of my life for the past twenty years. ...

If they accuse of me of being partisan, I'll go rip! ...

Now, I'm not sure what "going rip" means, but I sure want to see it happen. So I hope some candidates rib him about it tonght.