Candidates' economic positions

I said that we would go over the various platforms of the candidates in the runup to Super Tuesday. For now we'll concentrate on the Republicans. For most conservatives, small, limited government, low taxes, low spending, and reduced growth of the government bureaucracy are the most important things. They are to me as those policies have the biggest impact on my life other than a Muslim terrorist blowing my house up. I assume I'm protected from that so lets examine the economics. Rather than me going over it, at your leisure, go over to ClubforGrowth and in the right margin is each Republican candidate's positions and history on economic issues. It's easy to read and it'll give you a good idea of what to expect if this person wins the CiC job.

Certainly we can discuss it if you like, so as always us the comments section for questions and comments.

Aspen or bust!

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the version of human euthanasia known as "Duty to Die". It's the barbaric socialist theory which proposes that any elderly, infirm, injured, or otherwise nonproductive citizens have a moral, ethical duty to kill themselves(or at least not prolong their own lives) for the greater good of their family and society. As if that weren't greusome enough, modern liberals have taken it two steps further: maybe we should go ahead and kill them when they don't want to kill themselves and while we're at it, let's pack a picnic and involve the whole family, kids too. Here's an exerpt:

Is There a Duty to Die?
(Biomedical Ethics Reviews) by James M. Humber and Robert F. Almeder (eds.)

Judith Lee Kissell ("Grandma, the GNP, and the Duty to Die") states that the "duty to die" is "...on a par with other well-recognized duties such as preventing harm, or helping one's neighbor in trouble." She asks whether the elderly should be helped to commit suicide or "as some seem to favor, should they simply be directly killed?" Even young children should be used: "...children can be led to realize early the wisdom of terminating lifesaving or life-preserving treatment of disabled siblings. Such self-sacrifice from a young member of their own household would provide an invaluable lifelong example of love, devotion, and true family values. Even very young children can understand that medical costs can quickly absorb money that could otherwise be put aside for college education or a family vacation, for example."

Yes, you read that correctly....we should kill our elderly family members in order to pay for family vacations. Folks, there are huge numbers of people(liberals) in this country who believe exactly that. We aren't talking about Terri Schiavo or Karen Anne Quindlan, or the terminally ill who're in pain and have hours to live anyway. We're talking about the mentally retarded, your retired mother or grandmother, really anybody who is inconvenient.

Seriously if you are a liberal and you believe in human euthanasia, you really need to search your soul, because a little bit of it is probably dead.

"Hey kids, if only grandma wasn't sick this week, we could go skiing in Colorado. What do you say we string her up?"

Here's perhaps the last thing grandma will ever see if liberals had their way.

Hat tip to Moonbattery.

New Year's Resolutions

OK people, I know everybody has resolutions for the new year. Let's hear 'em. I'll go first...

1. Ed resolves to increase the readership of TRR.
2. Ed resolves to spend less and save more money in '08.
3. Ed resolves to lose 20 pounds in '08. (Anon likes to call me a "bloated aging blogger". Perhaps he's right)

We'll revist these in the Spring or Summer and see how we're doing.

It's a belated Ann Coulter Thursday!

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas....even you anon. After a much-needed rest with the family, I'm ready to mock, ridicule, and jeer at dumb celebrities, politicians, and people who taunt wild animals and then get eaten by them. But this being an election year, we need to focus a little on that too. In the coming weeks leading up to Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, I'll be linking to articles that I believe accurately capture the candidates, both D's and R's. Just because I offer one critical article doesn't mean I won't offer a complimentary one next week. With that in mind, here's an article by Ann Coulter on Mike Huckabee. I realize lots of evangelical conservatives are ginned up by his candidacy and all the crosses in his comercials, and all the talk about immigration reform, low taxes, and school improvement, but look at his record as governor and what he's said about those things in the past and see if you believe him now.

The Year In Review - Reid Style

I want to go on record stating that Ed has nothing to do with this list/diatribe/review.

The TRR has had a great '07. As we all look to an interesting '08 I would like to take a few moments to rewind and comment on the happenings of this year as looked at by TRR. Again, these are my comments , and should not reflect poorly on the Ed-itor, however, if you like the comments, then heap all matters of praise and good will to Ed. He does a lot to make this fly and keep this going day in and day out. On with the show........

Last year started with a bang as Racism was discussed at length. We all read about countless stupid celebrities (Britney/Paris/Anna Nicole...) and their doings. We dissected SanFranNan (aka P-Lo) and her almost communistic liberal ideas. We ranted for months on Post Katrina New Orleans and the travesties are going on in that town. At this time, I now refer to any person up to no good as a Nagin (taken after the poster boy for this mantra). We dealt with the super bowl, NBA, NCAA, etc. We have had articles galore on AlGore and Global Warming. It seems they are inseparable, and insufferable as well. The UN. I will not get into a discourse about this hell-hole or its policies, Just please go somewhere else guys, please!

We discussed Fred Thompson and his political agenda. I like his chances, but am not sure he can win the nomination or in November. Hillary, Barak, and the Breck girl. Politicics does make for strange bedfellows. Aptly shown as Clooney campaigned for Obama, Striesand for all the liberal of the liberals, and as Sean Penn clowned around with Hugo Chavez (a vile and despicable humanoid). Ed gingerly opted to point out his sympathy for the Edwards as John's wife was re-diagnosed with cancer, and offered his sincere prayers and thoughts for the family. After a brief respite,TRR moved into an open tirade on the VT shootings and had a hullabaloo over Don Imus and his "Ho's"comments. I still am shocked by his stupidity, but am also outraged at the politics played to have him fired. Now that he is back on the air, I wonder what all are thinking. It boils down to only 1 color- Green. The color of money. Hatred and racism in the media stem from lack of it or the direction to obtain it.

Stray-Rod hit the news, and his indiscretions were eventually over shadowed by a steroids report for MLB. A dark year for the world of baseball. He (Stray) is still a scum bucket in my mind. Chavez woke up the US with a vicious attack on all that we hold near and dear and he reminded us that not everybody loves us Americans. Who knew? Immigration was a big topic of the year. Illegals from Mexico are streaming by the pot-full daily. Looking at ways to quell the tide, but all we got was mealy mouth politicos that want to appease instead of represent their constituents. Christianity was defended countless times here. At the same time the bad side of Islamists and Muslims were discussed. Gangs and Michael Vick (now there's a pair says the Bear) were vented about. Vick got what was coming and hopefully we can start to slow the gang issues in the country. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia (I still find this distasteful) and railed on with his anti-American venom. Teach the children, don't allow them to suffer through this idiot and his lunacidal rantings. It is fine to discuss this point of view, but don't give the fox a key to the hen house. Obama was ridiculed and maligned as he disrespected this country and our flag at an engagement. He should be flogged for this offense. He is a servant to this country and should above all else understand the simplest of rules and regulations. The Eagles released a new album. I wanted to get a copy, but since it is only sold at WalMart, I refuse to support either/both. Hopefully these greedy aging rockers will regain their senses and release it elsewhere for us small-business supporting Americans.

It was a good year of discourse, satire, humor, and ranting. I enjoyed the repartee of "billb" ;"freedom2learn"; David; dupree; "anon" as well as Kevin, Joe Camel and Bobby T. Paula where are you? Robert Underwood, capitalist and military man, where have you gone? As I thought back over the year, I realized that I had not even mentioned "Ann Coulter". Ed gives a weekly update on her columns and with her fundamental views. She was spot on many times this year, but also had some postings that I disagreed with. I still respect her ability to ascertain a situation and to report it with her bias and slant. At least she is upfront with that.

I hope all have a safe and prosperous -Happy New Year ( will that offend anyone? if so I don't care) and here's a toast for that to all. See you next year boys and girls.

Merry Christmas!!!

OK people, if you're reading this on Christmas Eve, then turn off the frickin' computer for a minute, stop avoiding the inlaws, and go spend some quality time with your family for a change. I won't be posting for a few days so I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everybody who visited us here at TRR, especially the regulars....Capt. America, freedomtolearn, BobbyT, Kevin, Joe Camel, and even the irritating anons who drive by, take a shot at Reid or me, and then disappear. All of you make this blog fun, challenging, and worthwhile. I appreciate your checking in here regularly and debating the topics of the day. Be sure to recommend this site to your friends in '08 and I'm looking forward to seeing all of you as we approach the fun part of the election year.

For those of you with kids, NORAD tracks Santa Claus every year all over the world through all the time-zones. Show your kids NORAD SantaTracker and they can watch Santa making his way around the world.

Once again, thanks to everybody for stopping by regularly. Have a merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Ed

And the award goes to.....

In the feircely contested competition for Absolute Worst Mom of the Year, it looked as though Dina Lohan would surely take the prize. But from the jaws of defeat, one of the Spears hillbilly clan has snatched glorious victory.

While raising not one but two stupid daughters got Lynne Spears into the competition, it was her blatant capitalization of Jamie Lynn's pregnancy that put her in the pantheon of bad parenting. It seems that with the pregnency announcement still hanging in the air, Lynne Spears struck a deal with a sleaze-bag tabloid to sell the first pictures of her grand-child for a cool million dollars.

I tell you what, nothing brings a tear to my eye like the unconditional maternal love between a mother and daughter.....if by "unconditional maternal love" you mean--the prostitution of your underage daughter to an adult male for self-enrichment purposes, and if by "brings a tear to my eye" you mean--causes stomach bile to enter the back of my throat.

So without further adieu, narrowly beating out Dina Lohan and that prostitute in Schenectady who performed sex acts in front of, and snorted blow while nursing, her kids, and then tried to sell them for more crack, the award for Absolute Worst Mom of the Year goes to (drum roll please)
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Lynne Spears!!!!

With this dramatic come-from-behind win Lynne Spears is eligible for the Absolute Worst Mom in All the Universe crown. She'll be competing with infamous heavy-weights such as Courtney Love, Joan Crawford, and Andrea Yates. So let's wish her luck as she embarks on her 2008 odyssey of self-enrichment and negligence at her daughters' expense.

Even liberals have their moments

In case you live under a rock, in a cardboard box over a heating vent, or you're obsessed with Jamie Lynn Spears and you get your news from E-television, you've probably seen this irritating "Holiday" ad from Hillary Clinton. Regarding that ad, in an uncharacteristic moment of clarity and sense, Chris Matthews, a big liberal and even bigger Clinton lickspittle, railed on Hillary for exactly what's wrong with her and all liberal elitists who want to govern the lives of Americans...

CHRIS MATTHEWS: I always thought the problem with Hillary was, her notion of government was, "I am Evita, I am the one who gives gifts to the little people and then they come and bring me flowers and they worship at me because I am the great Evita."

"And I give things to people. I give them universal health care; I give them an energy program. I give gifts to the little people. The little people come to me and I give them gifts, like universal pre-K. I am the gift-giver to the little people. Oh, I am the grand, grand woman, the grand Evita. And I give gifts to the little people and they're going to come to me in multitudes and worship at me!"

Give me a break! That's not the transaction. It's our country, it's our government. Public officials get to serve us! They serve us, they are our servants. They are not Evitas; they are not goddesses. We don't look up to them that way. We don't get gifts from them. By the way: we pay for every damn program we get. In fact we pay more for it than we're going to get. What are you kidding: you're going to give us stuff? From where? From your treasury? Where are you going to go? The palace? [unintelligble] The palace? We're going to give them to you?

It's the Hillary, it's the Clinton notion of the political transaction: we are the well-educated, sophisticated, smarter-than-you, better-than-you people and we're going to give you little things for your little needs. We've got little things for you; here's a gift for you. Universal pre-K. It's an absurdity. And some ad writer around her, Mandy [Grunwald] or Mark [Penn] should say "Mrs. Clinton, this is the problem you have. You think you're better and bigger than the little people, and you're giving them these things."

Right on, Chris! He hit the nail on the head about liberals and he probably didn't even know it.

Finally, we're replacing ourselves

Well it's about time. Unlike Europe's dying countries whose populations are being transformed before our eyes into disparate collections of squabbling, hostile immigrants, the US has managed to stabilize it's population...

For the first time in 35 years, the U.S. fertility rate has climbed high enough to sustain a stable population, solidifying the nation's unique status among industrialized countries.

The overall fertility rate increased 2 percent between 2005 and 2006, nudging the average number of babies being born to each woman to 2.1, according to the latest federal statistics. That marks the first time since 1971 that the rate has reached a crucial benchmark of population growth: the ability of each generation to replace itself.

"It's been quite a long time since we've had a rate this high," said Stephanie J. Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics. "It's a milestone."

While the rising fertility rate was unwelcome news to some environmentalists, the "replacement rate" is generally considered desirable by demographers and sociologists because it means a country is producing enough young people to replace and support aging workers without population growth being so high it taxes national resources.

Despite what kooky environmentalists think about child-bearing, Americans are reproducing at a very healthy rate. Most European and some Asian countries have such low native birth rates combined with high immigration rates, that they are at risk of losing their national identity, to be replaced by that of their third-world immigrant populations. Thank goodness Americans are breeding properly.

Even our celebrities are doing their part...Jamie Lynn Spears got knocked up at 16 and it probably wont' be her last. We all can agree that she's a little young to be so concerned about increasing the national birth rate but, whatever? Nobody ever said hillbillies from the Louisianna back-country couldn't contribute to the national cause too.

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

This week Ann questions Mike Huckabee's evangelical credentials, specifically why voters seem to be drawn to him. He's cloaks himself in evangelism but his position statements are anything but conservative. Go here and read the article if you are considering supporting Mike Huckabee.

The world is full of sheeple...think for yourselves

This is a must read article by David Deming outlining the pure idiocy of the whole global warming hoax being perpetrated by the self-promoting sheister Al Gore to enrich himself.

Seriously, go here and read it. Here's an exerpt...

Al Gore says global warming is a planetary emergency. It is difficult to see how this can be so when record low temperatures are being set all over the world. In 2007, hundreds of people died, not from global warming, but from cold weather hazards.

South America this year experienced one of its coldest winters in decades. In Buenos Aires, snow fell for the first time since the year 1918. Dozens of homeless people died from exposure. In Peru, 200 people died from the cold and thousands more became infected with respiratory diseases. Crops failed, livestock perished, and the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency.

In spite of all the scientific evidence to the contrary, such as that outlined in this paper, a critical mass of kool-aid drinking sycophants defiantly believes in anthropogenic(man made) climate change. Polling data show that when asked why they believe in global warming, most people say, "because everybody else does". When you ask people to point to something that demonstrates the effects of global warming, they routinely cite some ridiculous, contrived propoganda like the polar bears supposedly stuck on the ice floe, which turned out to be a complete fraud.

People, you need to wake up and think for yourselves for a change and stop allowing the agenda-driven media and self-serving politicians lead you to believe something that is farcical like global-warming disasters on the horizon. They want to keep you scared so you won't complain when they seize control of you lives, claiming that it's "for your own good".

Here are a couple of quotes from H.L. Mencken that illutstrate my point...

The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

Waaaaahh......I want some attention too

Apparently being easy and stupid is genetic...

Another Spears baby is reportedly on the way — and it's not Britney's.

Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16-year-old "Zoey 101" star and sister of Britney, tells OK! magazine that she's pregnant and that the father is her longtime boyfriend, Casey Aldridge.

"It was a shock for both of us, so unexpected," she says. "I was in complete and total shock and so was he."

16 years old...are you kidding me? Does she even understand what gets one pregnant in the first place? Was she jealous of Britney's limelight and figured getting knocked up was the way to get it for herself? And how old is Casey ALdridge? He better be no more than 17 or he's in trouble. I'll bet his parents are proud. Nice example there Jamie.

Islamic Rage Boy sings Jingle Bells

Here's Islamic Rage Boy getting in the spirit of Christmas....enjoy!

Hat tip to TheNoseOnYourFace.

Ticket scalping---OK for "ticket brokers", but I go to jail

As you've probably heard, Hannah Montana tickets whose face value is from $100-$200 are selling for $2-3thousand each in the after market. Scalping tickets is supposed to be illegal but ticket brokers do it all the time. Now as if NFL tickets aren't expensive enough....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Ticketmaster plans to launch a Web site next year where people can resell tickets to pro football games, the latest push by the event ticketing company into the lucrative secondary ticket market.

The company signed a multi-year deal with the National Football League that includes branding and promotion for the site, Ticketmaster said in a statement being released Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed.

West Hollywood-based Ticketmaster already operates separate, so-called ticket exchange sites for 18 NFL teams, which allow ticket holders to resell their game tickets online.

Understandably, if ticket scalping were legal, scalpers would buy up most of the tickets in the first hour of selling and then make a fortune unloading them on people dumb enough to pay $2000 for a concert or game ticket. Regular people would never have access to face-value tickets. My question, if it's illegal for me to scalp a ticket, then why is it OK for Ticketmaster, or StubHub, or other broker to do it? Those guys buy up the best tickets before they're available to the public and sell them for 2-4 times their face value, claiming that the profit is an "operating" or "convenience" expense.

Why can't I buy a ticket and sell it at whatever the prevailing market will bear? That's a rhetorical question. I know why I can't, but why can the brokers?

The Hillary Cackle

In case you missed it, Hillary Clinton appeared on Fox&Friends yesterday morning for the first time in the 11 year history of the news network. I'm certain it's because her poll numbers are dwindling and she needs to reach out to the single women on whose votes she'll be counting on to get elected, even if they tend to be conservative and watch Fox News. Steve Doocy had asked her about the "Hill-ocopter" that she was using to fly around Iowa in the weeks leading up to the caucuses. It wasn't even a funny question but Hillary cut loose with the most unnervingly chilling cackle we've heard from her. Apparently one of her handlers has told her to appear more likable by laughing at everything. Let me tell you, if you have to be told to be more likable, you aren't.

Al Gore, really just a court jester at this point

Here are just a few of the headlines over on Drudge this morning...

Storm Pummels Northeast...Crippling for Canada

10 Inches of Snow Slams Chicago

Winds Near 50 MPH in NYC

Live Chill Temps

And in the midst of it all, our national clown Al Gore, bleats about global warming and how American is evil and should suffer punitive UN taxes for our contribution to the misery and suffering around the world. I wonder how many Chicagoans are New Yorkers are interested in hearing about how hot Earth is right now?

Al Gore, not terrorists, might be America's biggest enemy

The multinational crime syndicate known as the United Nations began plotting in Bali last week, to seize vast sums of wealth from US taxpayers. Of course Al Gore the glitterpig gladly damned the US for being the biggest contributor to the figment of his imagination we call global warming. Here's part of the article detailing the UN's plans to steal from US citizens...

Global Carbon Tax Urged at UN Climate Conference

BALI, Indonesia – A global tax on carbon dioxide emissions was urged to help save the Earth from catastrophic man-made global warming at the United Nations climate conference. A panel of UN participants on Thursday urged the adoption of a tax that would represent “a global burden sharing system, fair, with solidarity, and legally binding to all nations.”

“Finally someone will pay for these [climate related] costs,” Othmar Schwank, a global tax advocate, told Inhofe EPW Press Blog following the panel discussion titled “A Global CO2 Tax.” Schwank is a consultant with the Switzerland based Mauch Consulting firm

Schwank said at least “$10-$40 billion dollars per year” could be generated by the tax, and wealthy nations like the U.S. would bear the biggest burden based on the “polluters pay principle.”

The U.S. and other wealthy nations need to “contribute significantly more to this global fund,” Schwank explained. He also added, “It is very essential to tax coal.”

The UN was presented with a new report from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment titled “Global Solidarity in Financing Adaptation.” The report stated there was an “urgent need” for a global tax in order for “damages [from climate change] to be kept from growing to truly catastrophic levels, especially in vulnerable countries of the developing world.”

The tens of billions of dollars per year generated by a global tax would “flow into a global Multilateral Adaptation Fund” to help nations cope with global warming, according to the report.


Show me in the Constitution where an international body comprised of thugs, dictators, and criminals can demand and receive access to US taxpayer money. Unless I'm mistaken, it would require a treaty, which would require approval of both houses of Congress...although a democrat in the White House would ferret out a way around the Constitution...it's what they try to do every day anyway.

Pay attention to this story folks. The UN and it's subversive liberal supporters among us like Al Gore, would love nothing more than to seize wealth from us taxpayers and distribute it to their despotic friends around the world.

Funny isn't is how Al Gore criticizes the US for being the biggest producer of CO2 in the world, but shrugs his shoulders when it's pointed out that we are also the biggest contributor to the world by far, of wealth, industrialization, medicine, transportation, agriculture, information, technology, economic/religious/political freedom, and charity, etc. The list goes on and on of the things we lead the world in. Of course we're rich. We deserve to be, and nobody has the right to steal it from us based on an idiotic, utopian, socialist fantasy of world equality disguised innocuously as a carbon tax.

It's Friday!

Sorry about the light posting today folks. Darned employment requirements compell me to actually accomplish something while at work....what're you gonna do?

Check in over the weekend, I'll be putting a few things up. Until then, consider this an open thread and discuss anything you want. I'll give you a topic: In light of the Mitchell report on the rampant use of illegal steroids in baseball, should Clemens, Petitt, etc have asterisks by their names in the record books, and should they be allowed in the HoF? Should players who used steriods before they were officially illegal be banned? Was it wrong to use anabolic steroids even if there was no prohibition of it in baseball...like before 1998?

And for astute reader Kevin, do steroids necessarily make you a better baseball player, given that muscles can't help you to hit a speeding round object with a round stick, arguably the hardest thing in sports?

Discuss...

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

This week Ann is still defending Joe McCarthy. If you, like me, are tired of hearing liberals point to "McCarthyism" as the template for conservative dogma, then investigate Joe McCarthy and you'll see that it's all garbage. Joe McCarthy was the one guy in Washington who recognized that communism had infiltrated government and Hollywood. Of course, it's Hollywood's boundless love of communism/socialism that make Joe Mac their reliable, go-to, conservative boogie man. It's not exactly the cutting edge news of the day but if you're interested in knowing the truth about perhaps the most undeservingly denigrated figure in American politics then read Ann's column, then do a little research yourself.

p.s. The picture is of the Ann Coulter action figure. Regular reader David will be disappointed to know that they did not include her "adam's apple". But she is probably packing heat if I had to guess.

The legend continues...

I keep telling you people about the Chupacabra, the "mythical" goat sucker from Mexico, which might have migrated north, and is preying on pets and other small animals. There have been numerous sightings and here's some more evidence...

BOLIVIA, N.C. (AP) - An unknown predator mauled a pit bull and killed two puppies in Brunswick County, and residents fear it's the same animal that killed three dogs in September. No one has reported ever seeing the animal.
The county's animal control agency investigated the animal's tracks, droppings and other clues but couldn't determine what attacked the dogs. Locals call the unknown animal the Beast of Bolivia.

Some residents and experts said the predator may be a bear, a wayward panther or cougar, or even a wolf because 3-inch paw tracks were found at the scene.

Many suggest the predator came from the nearby Faircloth Zoo, which had a lion and a tiger before it closed more than a year ago. Animal control officials said the animals were sent elsewhere.


See, you people think I'm crazy, but what else can kill a pitbull? It's not a lion, tiger or bear.

Rules for thee, but not for me

I know you people get tired of my harping on brain-dead environmentalists all the time, but as long as their hypocricy continues unaddressed by the media, somebody has to keep pointing it out...

The UN secretary-general today called on world leaders for immediate action on climate change - before flying thousands of miles to the US for a music concert and then leaving in the interval to jet to Europe.

Ban Ki-moon has been slammed for planning a round-the-world trip that will generate thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions just days after he leaves the UN meeting in Bali.

The South Korean has organised a post-conference trip, starting on Sunday, that will see him fly to attend the concert in New York, adding more than 4,300 miles to his itinerary. When he leaves the island after the summit Mr Ban will fly to East Timor, and then to Japan where he will briefly stop before catching another flight to the US.

The flight from Tokyo to New York takes him the wrong way around the world. The UN is expected to announce plans to offset the emissions generated by all agencies involved in the Bali conference by contributing to various environmentally friendly projects.

This is liberalism in a nutshell. The stupid life-altering carbon rules are for us little people who're too stupid to live our own lives as we choose. The elitists don't have to follow the rules because they are the enlightened class.

I realize it's early, but I'm going to announce my New Year's resolution right now....so I can get a jump start on fulfilling it.

In 2008 I will create the largest carbon footprint that I humanly can...
-I will turn the AC on and have fires in the fireplace on warm days
-I will mow my lawn even when it doesn't need it
-I will take unnecessary trips in my SUV to the Piggly Wiggly
-I will sometimes not recycle aluminum and plastic containers
-I will eat more meat since cows leave the biggest carbon footprint of all domesticated animals
-I will run when I can walk, drive when I can bike, and fly when I can drive
-I will eat more beans since methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas(apologies to my wife)

Those are just a few of the things that I pledge to do to contribute to the imaginary menace of global warming. I encourage you to do the same.

Snoopy Dance

If you would like a small diversion to take your mind off the drudgery and meaninglessness of your job, check out
Snoopy Dance. It is not humanly possible to feel blue after watching this for a few minutes. Oh, and turn your speakers way up.

Liberalism is about controlling peoples' lives

Finally, man-made global-warming is being shown to be the hoax that we've known it was. Here's an exerpt from an article in News Max in which a scientist is interviewed about his findings...

"Our research demonstrates that the ongoing rise of atmospheric CO2 has only a minor influence on climate change. We must conclude, therefore, that attempts to control CO2 emissions are ineffective and pointless — but very costly."

See, it's not about saving the polar bears, or about sea level rise, or ice cap destruction, or even controlling pollution. It's about flim-flam artists like Al Gore scaring people into surrendering their freedom, and scaring countries into surrendering their sovereignty. But it's mostly about controlling peoples lives.

I read the other day about a poll that asked people why they believed in global-warming and the overwhelming answer was, "because everybody else believes it". People don't want to be in the minority. They're afraid they'll look stupid. Maniacal liberals like Al Gore count on this herd mentality in order to scare us into letting them control us. If people like you don't risk ridicule by speaking out, then it's too late, the liberals already control you.

Gun-free zones make it easier to kill people

I know you PC'ers love the touchy-feely sound of "gun-free zone". It makes you feel safe, not to mention self-rightous and smug, to not believe in hand-gun ownership. Well lucky for you there are men who do believe, and are willing to kill to protect you. Unless you were all teary-eyed and weepy watching Al Gore receive the Nobel Peace Prize this morning, you probably heard about the church shootings in Colorado over the weekend. Sadly, a few people, including the gunman, were killed. What the media try to gloss over is that a security guard, armed with a handgun, quickly killed the shooter before he could kill any more people. Which begs the question, what might have been the outcome at Virginia Tech or the Oklahoma mall if instead of a stupid gun-free zone, somebody there with a gun could have stopped the crazed shooter? Anti gun people like to argue that it'll be the wild west of everybody walks around with a gun, but not everybody will choose to have a gun. In fact in places where conceal&carry laws are very liberal, not that many people choose to. It works because the bad guys never know who has a gun and who doesn't. Just the existence of the law makes everybody safer.
Don't be a victim. Get a license to carry one of these, learn to shoot it and don't end up on the news as anything but the person who saved lives by shooting a bad guy.

I've challenged this before: if you are so stridently anti-gun, then I dare you to put a sign in your front yard declaring your home to be a gun-free zone. You'd better have 911 on your speed dial because gun-free zones make dummies like you the easiest of victims.

See, the polar bears are gonna be OK

How delightfully appropriate that on the very day that Earth's environmental prophet, The Goreacle, receives the meaningless Nobel Peace Prize, data come out proving what a farcical sham "global warming" is...


Southern Hemisphere’s ice cover now is at the same level as last June, i.e., a level seen during the last winter in the Southern Hemisphere. Besides, there are two more millions square kilometers of ice now compared to December 2006. And the large positive anomaly has persisted since September.



Icecap note: In the Northern Hemisphere, the ice and snow cover have recovered to within 1% (one snowstorm) of normal with the official start of winter still more than 12 days away.

Needless to say, the worshipping of the Goreacle over in Stockholm will continue unabated, regardless of the data which prove him to be the biggest sheister in modern times. As I watched the live coverage this morning, I saw Gore's smug face as he basked in the standing ovation from the Eurotrash who comprise the Nobel committee, and I threw up a little bit of my Raisin Bran.

It's Friday!

OK people, it's Friday and you know what that means. If you have a question you'd like to see addressed here then fire away and I'll get to it as soon as I can. Otherwise consider this an open thread and discuss anything you like. Here's a topic: Did Iran really suspend their nuclear weapons program? Can we still attack that country under the Bush doctrine of pre-emption given the national intelligence estimate which claims that Iran is not an immediate nuclear threat? Will the Spice Girls' come-back tour be successful? Jump in as always in the comments thread. See you on Monday if not sooner.

Every time you fart, you endanger a polar bear

Here's how far off the deep end environmental moonbattery has gone folks: Scientists in Australia are considering transferring bacteria from kangaroo gut into the guts of cows, pigs, and goats in an effort to reduce the production of methane, supposedly a harmful green-house gas.

Water vapor makes up 95% of all GHG's and there's nothing man can do to alter that in any way. It's how God designed Earth, despite what the Goreacle tells you. Of the remaining 5%, methane makes up only 0.47%. For those of you "educated" in government schools who have lots of self esteem, but scant few math skills, that's 2.35% of the total. Methane is 20 times more potent as a GHG than CO2. In Australia, methane from animal farts makes up 14% of the total, but kangaroo farts, it turns out, do not contain methane. Scientists are actually spending valuable tax-payer money on idiotic trans-species experimentation in order to limit what is an imaginary problem.

Seriously, have animals not been farting for millions of years on Earth? If there was any environmental impact at all, wouldn't it have been evident before now? Look, you aren't going to save the speckled snail darter, the polar bears, or Al Gore's environmental gravy train by infecting the world's cows with kangaroo bacteria. But now that the liberals have hoodwinked Australians into electing them, you can be sure they won't stop trying.

Mortgage bailout resentment

This week Bush announced his plan to, among other things, freeze the mortgage rates for some lenders for five years so that home-owners who would otherwise lose their homes can afford to stay in them. This helps both the lender and lendee. The lender doesn't have a defaulted loan with which to deal and the lendee can enjoy lower house payments than he would ordinarily have to. And it hurts the rest of us who're smart enough to stay in fixed-rate housing we can afford, because now money is way more expensive for us to borrow than it would have been but for the crash. But is protecting a greedy, wreckless industry from itself a legitimate function of government, to protect investors, borrowers, and lenders from poor loan/mortgage judgements?

What about those of us who lost money when the tech. market crashed back in March of 2000? We lost our butts. Do we get a bail out? Will the government magically restore our 401(k)'s to their original value? Banks are at fault for making billions on these stupid loans, knowing that these people would lose their homes in a few years. The unscrupulous lenders are at fault for reaping huge profits in the short term knowing the loans would be sold before they defaulted. The people getting these loans are at fault for stupidly believing they could afford a house that was way too expensive for them and not reading what they were signing. And finally, the most culpable player in the housing crisis is the government for looking the other way while these moronic loans were sold to dumb people. Why would the government agency who's supposed to be overseeing and preventing this very thing allow it to take place? Because mortgage lenders were donating huge sums of money to political campaigns and essentially buying off the feds long enough to make billions. I blame the Bush administration for the current crisis more than the others.

Here's what should happen: The banks who profited the most from all this, not the American taxpayer, should have to underwrite/guarantee the high-risk mortgages so they won't default. The investors in the mortgage companies should take a hit like any other investor-in-risk who gambles and loses. Where was Bush when my 401(k) lost 30% when the dot.com's tanked?

Anybody having anything remotely to do with government oversight of the mortgage industry should be thrown out of their houses. As far as I'm concerned, they are the biggest criminals of this mess, then come the mortgagers, then the banks, and finally the borrowers who were just ignorant.

The hate-crime double standard

As hords of unassimilated, hostile Hispanics take over entire parts of American cities, we're going to start seeing this sort of thing more and more...

BOSTON — A Boston firefighter is mending from what could have been deadly stab wounds he suffered early yesterday morning when he was allegedly jumped in East Boston while off duty by a group of Hispanic males who told him they "don't want any gringo here."

Though police are not classifying the incident as racially fueled, the Boston Police Department's Community Disorders Unit is investigating. The 32-year-old jake, whose name officials were not releasing, is white.

Not racially fueled? Are you kidding me? The Hispanic thugs used the term "gringo" for heaven's sake!

Let's forget for a moment that the whole concept of "hate crimes" is absurd on it's face. It criminalizes thought, and that's a dangerous road to be heading down in America. That being said, if this doesn't qualify as a hate crime, what does? I guess the template for "hate crime" is when a white person commits a crime against a minority. When a minority commits a race-based crime against a white person, that's just a regular crime, because minorities cannot commit hate crimes.

This month's Man-dies-stupidly story

The loss of human life is usually regretable....but sometimes it's just plain funny. As you know, when a person manages to kill himself in a startlingly stupid way, it's a source of never-ending amusement to us here at TRR. Well, as so often is the case, this month's edition concerns yet another person getting hit by a speeding train...

(12-05) 17:02 PST SAN LEANDRO - A pedestrian apparently absorbed in a cell phone call was struck and killed by an Amtrak train in San Leandro today after he walked around a lowered crossing gate and onto the tracks.

This is how self-absorbed the smelly hippies in San Francisco are. Did the combined stenches of petchuli, hemp, and liberalism go to his head? I will admit, this is not nearly as funny as the woman standing on a passenger platform who bent over to vomit and got her head knocked off by a speeding train....but it's pretty good.

Religious pandering wins some votes, but alienates others

Mike Huckabee has shot to the top of most polls lately and many pundits are having a hard time explaining it. Most likely, it's a combination of things 1-Guiliani is too liberal, 2-McCain is too old and nobody really trusts that he's a conservative, 3-Thompson doesn't seem to have real desire to be CiC and he's not saying anything new, 4-Romney is a Mormon, fundies don't trust anybody who's not a born-again Christian, and 5-Huckabee is saying the right things on immigration and he's got the FairTax vote, but most significantly, he's an ordained preacher. That this carries weight with republican fundies(religious fundamentalists) makes about as much sense as taking seriously the foreign policy opinions of George Clooney.

Here's how Huckabee explains his meteoric rise in the poles...A power that is “not human” is fueling my rise.

As a Christian myself, I can say without apology that I don't care what religion if any, the president is. The religion of the president is irrelevant to me. The president's job is to protect and defend the Constitution, not advance a religion-based political agenda. By giving God credit for his poll numbers, Huckabee is blatantly pandering to the religious zealots in the republican party whose votes are solely based on their personal religious dogma rather than logic and constitutionality. The people who think God cares who wins the presidency are the same people who think God cares who wins the SuperBowl.

Explain if you can, God's possible interest in either.

Here's the bottom line: if as president, Huckabee faithfully interprets and executes the Constitution, then religion in America will have been properly defended. He should not pander to the fundies who believe a president should advance whatever agenda God dictates to him each day. God also gave Huckabee a brain, he should use it.

Dude!

Then Beach Boy, Brian Wilson recorded a song called Smart Girls back in 1989, but it was never released. It's the most embarrassing attempt to cross musical genres I've ever heard.

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

This week Ann get's after a book reviewer and liberal apologist for not recognizing Joe McCarthy's contribution to keeping the communists from infiltrating our government.(They did infiltrate the administrations of Truman and Roosevelt). Liberals will never say anything bad about communists because communism is the manifestation of their dreams of total societal control. Liberals long for a utopian society in which all people are equal, only some are more equal than others....them. Once again, Ann slams liberals for the hypocritical, gutless cowards they are....and that's why we love her. Go here and read it.

UN hypocrites

Of all the places to host a conference on climate change, the UN stupidly chose the place as far from UN headquarters as they could get....the tropical island paradise of Bali. 10,000 people will attend the "conference"(I used quotes because the "conference" is really a tax-payer funded vacation for family and friends of UN reps). Unless you are completely devoid of humor, liberals-I'm talking to you, you can't have missed the irony of jetting half way around the world to gripe about CO2-induced global warming having just gushed millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere by flying there.

I was curious about the "carbon footprint" this UN jaunt would leave so I Googled it. What I found was this site run by Scott Kirwin called The Razor, in which he details the carbon footprint of the UN conference on global warming. It's pretty interesting, but the bottom line is that they presume to lecture us little people about driving SUV's and grilling burgers, but their flight to Bali left a footprint thousands of times bigger.

Liberals kick US economy in the shins

The US Senate yesterday took the first step toward plunging our country into depression and unemployment by caving into the wholly imaginary menace of man-made global warming.

A U.S. Senate committee has passed landmark legislation aimed at combating global warming by limiting carbon dioxide emissions. The vote was timed to coincide with the U.N. conference on climate change taking place in Bali, Indonesia. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

The bill would set caps on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from electric utility, transportation and manufacturing industries beginning in 2012 with the goal of cutting emissions 60 percent by 2050. It would create an incentive system that would give credits to industries that cut pollution. Industries that failed to reduce emissions would be forced to buy credits from others.

The Democratic-led Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 11 to eight, largely along party lines, to send the measure to the full Senate for what supporters hope will be action early next year.

Bleated Babs Boxer, California Democrat and chairwoman of the committee...

..."We are facing a crisis that will hit our children and our grandchildren the hardest if we do not act now. Not to act would be wrong, cowardly, and irresponsible."

Senator Boxer, who is expected to travel to Bali as part of a U.S. congressional delegation next week, said committee approval of the bill sends a signal to the rest of the world that the United States is serious about reducing global warming.

The government meddles in the affairs of private business enough already. Levying fines on successful businesses will make their products more expensive and will cause the economy to creep closer to depression. But that's exactly what liberals want, an America in need of their help...help that comes in exchange for votes. Hopefully the full Senate will soundly reject this lunacy when it comes time to vote, but I fear that they'll get swept up in the idiotic global-warming frenzy that the Goreacle has orchestrated.

It's about control people! The politicians want to control as much of your lives as they can. Every day, the creeping, putrid rot of liberalism seizes a little more control of businesses, schools, entertainment, travel, food, etc. Today it's private business. Tomorrow it's healthcare, 1/7th of the US economy. The next day, they'll ban smoking, spanking, and fat consumption in the private homes of law-abiding citizens. The desire of politicians to control your private lives never ends.

Reality TV becomes even more idiotic

I'll admit that I watch a few select reality-TV shows from time to time, but this won't be one of them...

There's a new reality TV show,produced by Morusa Media, called "Who wants to marry a U.S. citizen?" that aims at creating marriages between U.S. citizens and immigrants who havetemporary visas. The show is already generating mix reaction from some who saythe show hurts the immigration process. However, others praise the match-making concept.

"We're out to prove love knows no borders," says Adrian Martinez, creator of the show. "Besides, that's what America is all about -- a multi-cultural nation."


That's exactly the problem with America right now, we're a multicultural nation. We're devolving into a squabbling collection of tribes devoid of commonalities. And the new arrivals care nothing about becoming American. They just want to take advantage of the generous welfare benefits US tax-payers shower upon every degenerate who applies for them.

Back to the show....rather than the Dating Game format in which an American girl asks three anonymous illegals some banal questions and then decides which one she'll marry, I think it should be more of an earned right to become an American. There should be challenges like on other reality TV shows. Here are a few we came up with that we'd like to see:

1. The Rio Grande Swim challenge - contestants swim the swirling muddy waters of the Rio Grande cheered on by family on the Mexican side while border guards with pellet guns shoot at them from the other. The last one across is deported.

2. The Border Dash challenge - female contestants wear a 40 pound term-pregnancy suit with a built in gestation timer. She must reach a Brownsville Wal-Mart parking lot or local emergency room before the birth-timer goes off in order to avoid deportation.

3. The MS-13 Snitch challenge - contestants must rat out known members/hideouts in the U.S. of the murdering Hispanic gang MS-13. The contestant with the fewest successful ID's is deported, and all remaining contestants are placed in witness protection in Scottsdale.

4. The Border Garbage Collection challenge - contestants try to collect as much as they can, of the 90tons of garbage with which Hispanic illegals litter the southwestern desert each year as they sneak across the border. Recyclable material should be placed in proper bins to demonstrate good citizenship....just like any good American. The contestant with the least amount of garbage is deported....with his bag of garbage.

5. The Economic Re-investment challenge - contestants earn money at various jobs and the one who spends the most of it in the local economy rather than sending it back home to Mexico wins immunity. The contestant who demonstrates the poorest citizenship is deported.

These are just a few of the challenges that would make this show very compelling television.

Disclaimer: Clearly this is tongue-in-cheek and nobody should take offense. I'm merely pointing out the "challenges" of coming to America through humor and satire. I'm certain, however, that somebody will have gotten their feelings hurt or their sense of smug political correctness offended by the time they finish reading this post, so why don't you go ahead and tell me what a horrible xenophobic, racist I am in the comments thread. I can't wait.

The attacks on Christmas continue

The Spokane public school system sent out this reminder of the important days that each household should recognize during the month of December...

Hanukkah
Human Rights Day
Winter break
Eid al-Adha (a Muslim holy day)
First day of winter
Kwanzaa

Well, let's see...of the six days listed, ony Hanukkah is worth recognizing since Christian beliefs descend directly from Judeo biblical history.

Human Rights Day? Are you kidding me?

Winter Break? What is that, yet another holiday?

Eid al-Adha? I can't even pronounce that. The political correctness with which we numb our childrens' minds makes me want to vomit.

FIrst day of Winter? OK...whatever.

Kwanzaa? C'mon. That's a completely made up day by a black racist in San Francisco about 40 years ago. He didn't want to be part of Christmas because he viewed it as a "white" holiday. But I'll bet most kids in government schools believe as they've undoubtedly been taught, that Kwanzaa is as old as the Earth itself and should hold equal status as Christmas.

Which reminds me...where is Christmas in this list? That's right, they intentionally left Christmas out. Look people, every tradition we hold dear as Americans is being assaulted on a daily basis by the Left in this country. They won't be happy until America is a festering, cauldron of babbling nomads and derelicts.

Movie Review

I took my kid to see Beowulf in IMAX-3D yesterday. I have to say, despite having to wear the glasses, it was a pretty cool viewing experience. They make a point of having spears, flying arrows, and dripping blood come directly at your face and you have to actively prevent physical recoil when that happens...pretty cool.

As for the story itself, if you're unfamiliar with the story of Beowulf, then you need to repeat high-school English lit. It's a classic and even dreadful government schools should have students reading it. Though it's author is unknown, it's basically a drama in the Shakespearian style about a Danish hero who makes a Faustian deal with an evil spirit in order to have riches and fame, only to fall at the end because of his greed. It sticks pretty closely to the most common interpretations of the original poem. It's got some gore, as in torn off limbs, bloody battles, and in one shot, Grendel(pictured above) eats off the head of a victim, but it's sort of cartoonish like "300". Also, if you know the actors going in, it's pretty easy to pic them out. Some of them look more like themselves than others, however. The price was a little steep at $9 per ticket but you get to keep your funky 3D glasses as a parting gift.

If you go see it, my only suggestion would be to read the Cliff's Notes of Beowulf and get familiar with the story, it'll make the experience more enjoyable if you aren't struggling to keep up with all the Danish names.

All in all I give it a thumbs-up. Don't take young kids though, the violence and gore might be a bit much.

SEC vs WAC

So I just finished watching the BCS selection show in which teams were chosen for the various BCS bowls as well as the championship bowl. Sadly I have to report that LSU, not Georgia, will be playing Ohio State for the championship. But the most intriguing match-up turned out to be Georgia vs Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. For years, sports enthusiasts have been speculating about what would happen if the best conference in America, the SEC, played the prolific scoring teams of the Western Athletic Conference. Hawaii is the only undefeated team left and their quarterback, Colt Brennan, set many national QB scoring and touchdown records this year. It'll be quite interesting to see what everybody thinks of as a powerhouse scoring machine, go up against the hottest team in the South Eastern Conference. Those sissy WAC teams have never faced an SEC defense, an SEC running game, or hostile SEC fans.

Sure I'm disappointed about not playing in the championship game, but the match-up we drew will make for a very interesting New Years.

From 7 to 2?

I know this isn't a sports blog but the college football season got turned on it's ear last night as the number 1 and 2 teams in the country lost, leaving the championship picture wide open. Ohio State at #3 was the big winner as having only one loss, they move into the #1 slot. But then valid arguments could be made for any of the next 8 teams as to who should be #2 and play the Buckeyes for the championship. Georgia is currently #4 so traditionally they should move up to the #2 spot. That's how the polls have always behaved in the past but not now. All the sports media are clamoring for LSU #7 to bounce over everybody, all the way to #2.

"But Ed" you wonder, "how can the media justify LSU breaking the polling tradition and leapfrogging all the other teams into the championship game, when there are arguments for all the other teams to be there too, except maybe for #5 Virginia Tech?"

Well, here's why: Les Miles is the LSU coach and the current darling of the sports media. He's an alum and native of Michigan, he played there, coached under Shembechler, and met his wife on campus. He's also the odds on favorite to take the Michigan head-coaching job, vacated by Lloyd Carr because he couldn't beat Ohio State, Michigan's biggest rival. How perfect a story if Les Miles, in effect, auditioned for the Michigan job by playing Ohio State for the national championship?If he were to prove that he could beat Ohio State on the national championship stage, Michigan would offer him twice the previous offer.

The frothing sports-media jackals have practically an erotic obsession with this story and so they're arguing LSU's angle so they can write about it for the next month and a half. Put it this way, if Les Miles were at Georgia, they'd be arguing the Georgia angle so they could still write the Home-Boy-Returns-to-Michigan-to-Beat-Ohio-State story.

I know, I know, Les Miles said that he'll be back at LSU next year, but if he manages to beat Ohio State and win, Michigan will renew it's offer to get him to come home.

Look, I'll admit that any team in the top 8 or 9 have a legitimate argument for being in the big game, but don't pretend that this is about the rightful team getting there, it's about writing the story that's bigger than the big game itself.