“The goal of the ‘liberals’ —as it emerges from the record of the past decades—was to smuggle this country into welfare statism by means of single, concrete, specific measures, enlarging the power of the government a step at a time, never permitting these steps to be summed up into principles, never permitting their direction to be identified or the basic issue to be named. Thus, statism was to come, not by vote or by violence, but by slow rot—by a long process of evasion and epistemological corruption, leading to a fait accompli.”
Jonah gets the Beast’s vote for heir to Bill Buckley, now. Despite the bad makeup job MSNBC did on him this evening on “Tucker” where you could see his scalp through the combover, Jonah was
“Scintillant! The brightest star in the conservative firmament, Mr. Goldberg deserves his spot as number one on the New York Times bestseller list! A million years from now when sentient raccoons unearth the crumbs of our civilization they will come across Goldberg’s writings and conclude that Gods really did walk the earth!”
Steynonline picked up a comment from PG about Mark Steyn yesterday and we have been rewarded as Mark Steyn’s ‘readers of the day.’ You’ll find the entry on the sidebar of his site. Personally, I think we should be ‘readers of the year’ but I’m a bit biased. It’s good to see that Mark is catching on to the wit and wisdom of Conclub.
“With all the attention the atheist agenda is receiving, doesn’t it seem strange that most Americans find heroes among those who reflect a biblical worldview?… Atheism has no explanation for… acts of self-giving and even self-sacrificing charity… Darwinian evolution cannot explain this kind of altruism: How does one who willingly dies for another pass on his or her genetic traits for the improvement of the species? No, defenders of atheism and Darwinism, if true to their convictions, should sneer at this kind of self-sacrifice as weak and pointless. But we know better. Why? Because we… are made in the image of God. His very character is stamped into our beings… This is the same God who tells us ‘to lay down our lives’ for our friends, ‘to let the little children come,’ and ‘to act justly and love mercy.’ Tragically, many people, including many Christians, are practical atheists, living our lives in a way that ignores God’s existence. But in the final analysis, we are all still wired to find heroes in those who live life as though God does exist.” —Mark Earley
I tried to post this last night, but my connection was giving me fits. I saw this performance on Germany’s Rockpalast show (now being shown on Comcast On-demand) from 1984. Night quite Hendrix, but a damn good performance none-the-less. Stevie Ray Vaughn covering Vodoo Chile….
LGF tipped me off to this great look at the way the consummate conservatives of the 1960’s marginalized the most dangerous foes to the modern conservative movement; the John Birch Society.
At a time when it was necessary to want to control the growing power of the Soviets, some kooks took it a bit too far. The JBS under leader Robert Welch went beyond the deep end and way out of the pool. WFB recalls how he and other conservatives felt the need to marginalize these crackpots. Speaking of Welch he wrote:
His influence was near-hypnotic, and his ideas wild. He said Dwight D. Eisenhower was a “dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy,” and that the government of the United States was “under operational control of the Communist party.” It was, he said in the summer of 1961, “50-70 percent” Communist-controlled.
So how did Buckley and Goldwater purge the G.O.P. of these lunatics? The story shows just how masterful and important he was to the conservative cause:
Filed under: Entertainment — Drowning Creek @ 7:16 pm
I mentioned in the last Flashback that I have very vivid memories of my older relatives attending the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1970.
Lucky for all of us who weren’t there, this performance of Red House preformed at the Festival is one of the most laid back, bluesy, smokin’ versions ever filmed.
In 1996 I did my first commissioned artwork for the Hendrix estate. As a devoted Hendrix disciple, it was a dream come true. I only wished I had got to see him preform live. Enjoy!
The media has been quick to inform us of how much cash Barack Obama was amassing over the past few weeks. I vividly recall twice hearing about him raising $1 million a day. So I was shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to hear that the Clinton political dynasty can actually raise a little cash themselves. Apparently this month, she has raised $35 million. A nice sum. But the byline on the article gives the Obama camp the appearance of sandbox children by letting them proclaim that “we’ve raised considerably more than that.” This is the political equivalent of “my daddy is tougher than yours.” I wonder if at some point, the Obama people will realize that the good looks and neat speeches will wear off and people are going to want to know what he has done? At this point, I am openly rooting for Hillary not only because I like the match up between her and McCain better, but I just think that she will make a better President than Obama.
Although I did manage to find a considerable list of Obama’s accomplishments (after the fold):
Even in the sucky years, Saturday Night Live has managed to still be at its funniest when it’s making fun of presidential campaigns. Who can forget Jerry Brown whoring for votes at the 17th Annual Star Trek Convention?
Well, despite the fact that NBC has been assiduous in their purging of all content from youtube and others (hence no embedding), the Beast links you now to the most recent (and only) bit of comedy brilliance this season, The Press Is In The Tank For Obama:
All that’s missing is Chris Matthews and his tingling leg.
William F. Buckley’s passing today prompted me to call my father to discuss the man. My dad is the same age as WFB, and as a life long conservative very familiar with Buckley’s writings and thoughts. He asked me to pick who I thought Buckley would pick as the pundit/writer/thinker today who most closely shared his particular conservative views. I picked one, and my father another and this lead to a somewhat heated discussion. My old man claimed I was being argumentative, I of course argued that I was not.
It occurred to me that most every Conclub member or reader is familiar with Buckley and so might have their own pick. So lets hear your choices. This is open to all whether you are conservative or not. If you are not familiar with Buckley then do what most Liberals do when confronted with their own ignorance: Google and become an expert in 10 minutes, 5 if you use Wikipedia.
I predict there will be different answers from all the Conclub conservatives. Andre will pick his buddy Glenn Greenwald probably.
Former President Reagan, a longtime reader of the National Review, paid tribute to Buckley’s contribution to the conservative movement during an event celebrating the magazine’s 30th anniversary in 1985.
“If any of you doubt the impact of National Review’s verve and attractiveness, take a look around you this evening. The man standing before you now was a Democrat when he picked up his first issue in a plain brown wrapper; and even now, as an occupant of public housing, he awaits as anxiously as ever his biweekly edition — without the wrapper.”
After the announcement of Buckley’s death, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, the No. 1 Republican in the House, called Buckley “the architect of the modern conservative movement.”
“America has lost a giant,” Boehner said in a written statement.
He lauded Buckley for taking a stance against socialism in his first issue of the National Review.
“As long as America honors the ideals of our founding fathers — free speech, freedom of religion and limited, constitutional government — his legacy will be cherished,” he said.
The editors of National Review Online have released a tribute to their founder. He was the last of the original three great mentors of Modern Conservatism (Goldwater, Reagan and Buckley) to pass away. He will be missed.
The ‘Second Coming’, Good Grief, You’ve got to be kidding, Boy are they going to be disappointed, Riding in on a Donkey, Obama for Savior - Edition
“I’m in the demographic where everyone I know among my friends is in love with Obama… It’s kind of like being 13 and seeing Shawn Cassidy and we’re all just on board… So we’re not embarrassed when we get together. We just talk about how much we love Obama. … We know we’re being fooled, but we kind of like it. I can’t get off his ride, it’s too good.” —Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein
“He walks into a room and you want to follow him somewhere, anywhere.” –actor George Clooney
“I’ll do whatever he says to do. I’ll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear.” —actress Halle Berry
“Racial justice is the key for the salvation of the nation and that is fair game to discuss; it is a fair message. Blacks reaching out is not new; white receptivity is new. Barack is reaching out.” —Jesse Jackson
”This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better. This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama’s audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed… A black man with a white mother became a savior to us. A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall.” —Louis Farrakhan
“Hope must be grounded in objective truth otherwise it quickly becomes wishful thinking.” —Cal Thomas
“Now I could stand up here and say, ‘Let’s get everybody together. Let’s get unified. The skies will open. The lights will come down. And you know the celestial choirs will be singing. And everyone we know will do the right thing. And the world will be perfect.’ But I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be. You are not going to wave a magic wand and make the special interests disappear.” —Hillary Clinton
Filed under: Uncategorized — Drowning Creek @ 9:26 am
The FDIC is preparing for bank failures. I guess they always have, but in today’s precarious economic world it seems more ominous when the subject of “bank failure” is brought up.
A new report just released by the FDIC does not look encouraging.
Are the American people “whistling by the graveyard”? How close are we to a depression?
I have watched the commodities markets surging to new highs and the housing markets heading to new lows. The signs are there for serious trouble on the horizon. The rumblings coming from the Fed doesn’t sound to reassuring.
(CNN) — Barack Obama’s campaign accused Hillary Clinton’s team Monday of circulating a photo of the Illinois senator donning traditional attire – clothing worn by area Muslims – as a goodwill gesture during an overseas trip.
In a statement, the Clinton campaign called the charge “an obvious and transparent attempt to distract” voters from serious issues – but did not issue a denial.
The picture, which appeared on the Drudge Report this morning, was attributed to sources within the Clinton campaign – although the Web site did not reveal how many, or who, might have received the photo.
I saw this on Sunday night, but I suspected it might have been photoshopped or otherwise not genuine. It turns out to be an authentic and unaltered picture of Obama in Kenya during 2006, and both camps of the Democratic contenders have erupted in a wild circus of accusations and finger pointing because of it. Most of us are actually surprised it took Mrs. Clinton this long to ‘go dirty’ though I suspect that we expected her anticipated ‘dirty’ campaign to be slightly more sophisticated than this. Either way, this is ‘good stuff’ and an interesting view into American politics.
Filed under: Family, Genealogy — Dave - the Infidel Sage @ 11:45 pm
My paternal grandmother died when I was about fifteen or so, and my paternal grandfather had moderate Alzheimer’s at the time. With her death (she was the primary caregiver) a small army of relatives led by their six children and their families descended in a frenzy for the memorial service, to clean out and organize their home and possessions, and to prepare to transport my grandfather back to California to be cared for by my father’s oldest brother (he’s a surgeon).
About a dozen boxes of papers, albums, photographs and books ended up underneath my parents house where they have remained unopened and basically forgotten for the last twenty some years. That is, by everyone but me.
I went over yesterday to dig out several boxes of baby clothes etc. that we have kept for my brother’s new baby, and I decided to finally take a look in a couple and see if there was anything remotely interesting. I was delighted to find my great-grandmother’s photo album containing numerous pictures taken in London (my grandmother was born in London in 1905) as well as numerous scrapbooks and old pictures.
Truth be told, not only Greenwald but almost all liberal bloggers, including Conclub’s own Andre the Defiant, have now been slapped down by American courts.
[NOTE: I apologize for the absence of links; the communications I reference here pre-dated ConClub's transition to WordPress and its search capabilities.]
When it was revealed that the Bush administration was trying to eavesdrop on terrorists, many commentators offered their analysis of the legalities involved. At the time, Glenn Greenwald insisted that the program was clearly illegal, and that anyone who argued otherwise was lying.
Andre bought this line of reasoning, prompting me to do two things: 1) I utterly refuted Glenn Greenwald’s embarrassingly ignorant legal arguments, and 2) I stated that I welcomed a Supreme Court analysis because I promised that the Court would uphold the program.
After a radical Detroit judge initially ruled against the plan in an opinion that was almost universally recognized as ignorant, Greenwald and others bragged, but I all-but-guaranteed that the Supreme Court would jettison the comical Detroit opinion and ultimately uphold the intelligence program.
Now, in a slightly-reported decision, everything I said would happen, did. The program is legal, and the Greenwald assertion that suggested that anyone who thought otherwise was a rogue conspirator, has been proven (as I said at the time) to be the ravings of a lunatic.
In the wake of the steroid controversy surrounding major league baseball and professional sports in general many communities have begun to test their high school athletes for steroids. I’d like to know how the people who label themselves conservatives on this blog feel about steroid testing on these kids. Does this not fall under the catagory of “liberal fascism?” Drug testing intrinsically intrudes upon the privacy of the person being tested does it not?
Moreover while steroids have become the hot button popular issue they are hardly the most widely used drugs. Heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine kill far more people every year than steroids do. Why waste your time testing student athletes for steroids when there are kids in the very same schools on the verge of throwing their lives away by getting addicted to hard drugs? Why test student athletes at all? Any teacher or child psychologist will tell you that these kids are less likely to do drugs than those not involved in extra-curricular activities. I’m not trying to minimize the effects that steroids can have on a high school kid but they are hardly the biggest threat.
Is it a case of tracking? Are we just protecting the kids that we think are woth saving and giving up on the rest? E the Wise I must say I’m particularly interested in your opinion as you are both a teacher and football coach.
Woods captured his 15th World Golf Championship, holding all three world titles for the first time.
And his 63rd career victory moved him past Arnold Palmer and into fourth place alone on the PGA Tour’s career list. His next victory will tie him with Ben Hogan.
We will never see such dominance in any sport. Ever. If you don’t watch golf, at least see one event with Tiger in it so you can tell your grandkids.
Here we go again. You would figure as much as the Dems hated him for the 2000 election where they thought he shaved votes from Gore, that he would sit this one out. I had a feeling he would jump in to get a little attention. He reminds me of Al Sharpton, always looking for some air time.
“Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove’s playbook. Shame on you Barack Obama. It is time you ran a campaign that is consistent with your messages in public. That’s what I expect from you.”
Despite the whining and hand-wringing in this article, it does make some interesting points and speculates on some of the back room power plays of the Israeli political system that we don’t often hear about in the states. Several of the Conclub bloggers are long time fans of Benjamin Netanyahu and I suspect would once again welcome him if he were to regain the reins of power in Israel.
Just two years ago, when former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon left Likud to found the Kadima Party, he took many Likud parliamentarians and much of the party’s cachet with him. Netanyahu had to make do with the remnants, a has-been exiled to the political wilderness. But now his fortunes are rising again, with Gaydamak’s support and the winds of Israeli political insecurity at his back. In the wake of the Israeli military’s failure to defeat Hezbollah last summer, and the takeover of Gaza by Hamas, the hopefulness of the Sharon government is long gone. And many in Israel are now anxiously looking rightward again, back at the Likud, and to Netanyahu himself.
It would appear that the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is gearing up for this election. But the crosshairs have jumped from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama. From the ferocity of the attacks so early in the game you can tell it is going to be a long, hot summer. The fear of seeing ‘old man McCain’ up against the youngish and charasmatic liberal Messiah brought moans to the lips of the conservative ‘base’ and increasingly seems to be shaping up as the race for the next president heats up. The following pieces have been appearing on a large variety of sites and also showed up in my e-mail. These are courtesy of our friends over at Israpundit. The true fear that we all have is that a Democratic president will have a Democratic House and Senate at his disposal. There will be no need for balances or compromise, and sadly, no one to pump the breaks as we begin the lemming like plunge over the edge of the socialist abyss and the accelerated federalization of the all intrusive, all controlling nanny state.
Those of us in Colorado are seeing the results of a one party control of the state govt. and it isn’t pretty. At the moment a bill that would actually prohibit my line of work just passed the state House on Friday and the industry I belong to is in a panic, but they are also descending like a cloud of killer bees on the state legislature so we’ll have to see what happens. You’ve got to love those Democrats, and to the chagrin of many, I could never be one. But then again I also believe in free enterprise, personal liberty and responsibility, and consumer choice. But what do I know?
For the Record: Obama’s Racist and Afrocentric Church
Trinity United Church of Christ YouTube Video Promotes Obama’s Political Web Site
by Bill Levinsoninformavoracious at Free Republic wrote in response to our recent posting, ““Obama’s “church” website is already on whitewash. Their tenet of “allegiance” first to Africa now has been changed to a “commitment” to Africa.”” A comparison of today’s “About” page at http://www.tucc.org/about.htm with an archived version (December 31 2006) shows that Trinity United Church of Christ may indeed have removed material that Obama would not want his supporters to see. (Read more…)
Widespread Consensus: Obama Promotes Anti-Semitism, Racism, Hatred of Israel
by Bill LevinsonA growing number of bloggers such as Richard Cohen, Brigitte Gabriel, Sharon Hughes, Charles Krauthammer, Kenneth Blackwell, Naomi Ragen, Debbie Schlussel, Ed Lasky, and William Levinson are pointing out Barack Obama’s numerous connections to unsavory individuals and organizations that espouse and promote hatred of Jews, Catholics, white people, Israel, and/or the United States. By “connections” we do not mean casual social contacts, but Obama’s deliberate efforts to seek out these entities and gain their support. On February 8, Ira Forman of the National Jewish Democratic Council allowed himself to make the following noises about this rapidly widening campaign to expose Obama as a promoter and enabler of Jew-haters, racists, Israel-bashers, anti-Catholic bigots, and America-haters.
It is time all of us— organizations and individuals— take the responsibility for outing and yes, even shaming, the purveyors of sinat chinam in our community — to protect our values and to protect our community’s genuine political interests. —Ira N. Forman is executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council.
That is what Ira Forman said, but the following picture is what he means.(Read more…)
Kathleen Parker scrutinizes the hysterical emotionalism of the Obama campaign
Those are some kind of campaign promises. The kind no mortal could possibly keep, but never mind. Obi-Wan Obama is about hope—and hope, he’ll tell you, knows no limits.
It is thus no surprise that the young are enamored of Obama. He’s a rock star. A telegenic, ultra-bright redeemer fluent in the planetary language of a cosmic generation. The force is with him.
But underpinning that popularity is something that transcends mere policy or politics. It is hunger, and that hunger is clearly spiritual. Human beings seem to have a yearning for the transcendent—hence thousands of years of religion—but we have lately shied away from traditional approaches and old gods.
Thus, in post-Judeo-Christian America, the sports club is the new church. Global warming is the new religion. Vegetarianism is the new sacrament. Hooking up, the new prayer. Talk therapy, the new witnessing. Tattooing and piercing, the new sacred symbols and rituals.
And apparently, Barack Obama is the new messiah.
Here’s how a 20-year-old woman in Seattle described that Obama feeling: “When he was talking about hope, it actually almost made me cry. Like it really made sense, like, for the first, like, whoa…”
This New Age glossolalia may be more sonorous than the guttural emanations from the revival tent, but the emotion is the same. It’s all religion by any other name.
This entire article is worth the read, and I didn’t even excerpt the best part (that’s the fourth paragraph). This entire thing is starting to remind me of the Deaniacs, except this year we didn’t get ‘a scream’. We did get a ‘nose blow’ to applause, but that wasn’t quite as much the same.
In addition, our school aims to instill in our boys the proper respect for women and girls. Teaching our boys to treat ladies with deference, we cannot place them in an aggressive athletic competition where they are forced to play inhibited by their concern about running into a female referee.
Rev. Fr. Vicente A. Griego
Headmaster, St. Mary’s Academy
UPDATE: The Sage caught something I did not, this school is not Catholic…
It is important to note that this is not a “sect” of the Catholic Chuech as Dave put it in his comments!
Some may be misinformed in your views of the Catholic Church. Come close and I will illuminate you! These so called sects, which are few, are not in communion with the Catholic Church. They are no more related to it, or affiliated with it, than the church of scientology. Now it is true that Catholicism is somewhat like a river with many eddies and swirls. There are some major currents in the river too. There are no sects within it though, and all authority comes through Rome. There is one, and only one, Holy Mother Church! The followers of Luther, as Dave put it, have some groups more closely in line with Catholic teachings than these whack-a-doodle “sects”. Conservative Lutherans like LCMS have beliefs very much like Catholicism, fundamentalists not so much. Luther was right in part, don’t ya know?
We clear on this now! Good! Because I did not do all my research up front like I should have. I know that is hard to believe; but yes your messenger is human.
I though this priest was just a putz that needed correction. Thanks to David I know he is just a regular run-of-the-mill heretic. BTW padre, the Church did not teach crap like this pre Vatican II either.
In response to Steve’s mortgage post, I thought I would throw this in. I read an article in The Atlantic about what are now becoming the new slums in America.
I took particular interest because I have 2 developments next to my property. One development of MacMansions has been finished for 3 years and out of the 30 homes, 6 are occupied.
The other larger development of smaller homes is already showing signs of decline as lower income people are renting the houses at a much reduced rate. There was originally “no renting” in the neighborhood, that has since been dropped. The problems that are plaguing the inner city are moving to the rural subdivisions.
In case you missed it, the ancient heartland of Serbia (Kosovo) declared it’s independence this week. The US supported this move to found the first Moslem state in Europe. The Pat Buchanan types are in a tizzy over this and the Serbs attacked and burned part of the US embassy in Belgrade as a result while a crowd of 150,000 chanted various derogatory insults in our general direction for giving away their version of Plymouth Rock and the Alamo all wrapped into one. An interesting state of affairs. I really don’t have a great deal of sympathy for either side. The Serb attempt a few years back to ‘keep’ Kosovo was little more than thuggery at its worst as they burned out and killed the Albanian descendants that now make up the vast majority of people living in Kosovo. That exercise in inhumanity pretty much lost them any sympathy I may have had for their ‘plight’ and in the end hastened the loss of this sacred national land that is immersed in myth and legend.
I have posted below the fold a couple Serbian Sagas that deal with the sacred field of Kosovo and the deadly fight against the Turks that is still such a large part of Serbian folklore and national identity.
The Battle of Kosovo cycle of heroic ballads is generally considered the finest work of Serbian folk poetry. Commemorating the Serbian Empire’s defeat at the hands of the Turks in the late fourteenth century, these poems and fragments of poems have been known for centuries in Eastern Europe.
Call John Cougar! It’s time for the 2008 Mortgage-Aid Concert. Maybe with Jeff’s help we can get some muscle behind this production and make it happen. Mortgage-Aid 2008 brought to you by the Constitution Club.
All joking aside (although the more I think about it the better the idea sounds), the worst is still yet to come in the current housing crisis, which is frightening considering we are already at Depression era comparisons in debt to value on mortgages. 10.3 percent of homeowners in the U.S. (8.8 million) are underwater right now, and millions more are facing that reality with each passing day. With nearly 2 million ARMs set to adjust during 2008, this loss of property value virtually assures that those folks who want to refinance will be unable to do so and others who need to sell their homes for different reasons may have to bring money to the table to complete the transaction or find themselves stuck with a home they cannot sell.
Back in September, I discussed the issues facing those with subprime mortgages and looked at a potential plan to help mortgage holders facing possible foreclosure. The problem has grown so large today that even those with prime mortgages may need alternate solutions in order to avoid foreclosure or be faced with the decision to just walk away from their homes. The Office of Thrift Supervision is working on a plan that sounds similar to the plan I analyzed in September.
Under the regulatory agency’s proposal, still in its early stages, these borrowers would refinance into government-insured loans that cover the current value of their homes. The refinancing would pay part of what’s owed to the original lender. For the remainder, the lender would get what the plan’s backers call a “negative equity certificate.” The lender could redeem the certificate if the home is eventually sold at a higher price.
Banks would get to keep foreclosed property off their books while holding federally guaranteed mortgages and owners could stay in their homes rather than walking away from their obligations. Though not perfect, an option like this along with various other programs may help to keep the economy from sliding into the depths of a recession unseen since the Great Depression.
This activist-business-government marketing juggernaut has succeeded. Wal-Mart alone sold100 million CFLs last year.
But the partnership is about to implode. As predictable as Lucy pulling away the football from a determinedly charging Charlie Brown, the environmentalists are preparing to turn the tables on the CFL businesses and consumers.
The signal came in a Feb. 17 New York Times editorial entitled “That Newfangled Light Bulb.”
The editorial read, in part, “Across the world, consumers are being urged to … switch to [CFLs]. … Now the question is how to dispose of [CFLs] once they break or quit working … each [CFL] has a tiny bit of a dangerous toxin … almost 300 million CFLs were sold in the U.S. last year. That is already a lot of mercury to throw in the trash and the amounts will grow ever larger in coming years … the dangers are real and growing.”
The Times piece continued, “Businesses and government recyclers need to start working on more efficient ways to deal with that added mercury. Ellen Silbergeld, a professor of environmental health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is raising the cry about the moment when millions of these light bulbs start landing in landfills or incinerators all at once. The pig in the waste pipeline, she calls it.”
The are wanting you to pay, pay, pay for these ‘newfangled’ light bulbs that pretty much suck to read by, and then they will want you to pay, pay, pay to have them disposed of properly. All while (theoretically) potentially contaminating your house, and your children, with a dangerous neurotoxin in the name of global warming and saving the planet.
“There is something empowering about a gavel in the hands of a
U.S. Congressman. No matter how big a weenie he may have been in high school
and no matter how much fun the other kids used to make of him, he now has
the authority to make corporate heads, executive department bigwigs or sports
stars squirm and perspire.” —Pat Sajak
OK folks, I decided to dig into the archives and find a thread I started quite some time ago for my first entry. While it’s a bit of a departure from the political content I’m sure you all will appreciate it.
This will be the first of lord knows how many (perhaps 1) posts on the subject of how to conduct ones’ self in the company of others in a “civilized” society. Some of you may think “Thom, you of all people should be the last person to lecture the rest of us on how to behave as you are, after all, a bit of a douchebag”. While I can’t diasgree with your assessment of my douchebaggery I submit that this very characteristic lends me the ability to recognize behaviors converse to the maxims of decent society in my fellow citizens. That being said let’s get started shall we.
1. Let someone in. Regardless of whether you arrive at a doorway, intersection or merge at the same time as one of your fellow citizens, let them go first. I assure that unless you are bleeding profusely and on your way to the hospital, transporting a ticking time bomb to a safe uninhabited location or your name is Jack Bauer the extra 7 seconds it will take you to do so will not drastically effect your life or the course of history..
2. When a rare kindhearted individual has the common decency to extend to you the courtesy stated in item 1 at least acknowledge said person’s existence. A simple wave of the hand in traffic or a thank you in the door opening scenario will suffice. You need not invite them to your daughter’s wedding or paint their house. A mere thank you will be just fine. In fact for those of you who don’t speak English everyone knows what gracias means. This act unlike item 1 doesn’t even require you to break stride. thus negating the excuse that you are far to hurried to extend such a courtesy. In fact the extra 2 calories you burn with a simple hand wave may be the difference between a long healthy life and an early heart attack.
I’m an Obama girl and my man throttled Hillary Clinton, again, Tuesday night.
Suddenly, the impossible is real.
Suddenly, I’m nervous. Very nervous, actually.
I’m nervous because an otherwise normal grownup told me yesterday she’s watched the will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) “Yes We Can” Obama video about 100 times and gets “weepy” every time.
I’m nervous because a longtime political type, normally quite cynical, now waxes rhapsodic about Obama’s “cool.”
“He’s elegant, controlled, the best-dressed candidate ever,” he says. Never a red tie, yellow or bright blue. No, Obama does a subdued lean charcoal gray suit with a gray or silvery tie. Everything muted, measured, fluid. “He floats onto the stage, a bit of the Fred Astaire thing going.” (more…)
Alan at Fresh Bilge has a very interesting and provocative take on an incident in Florida recently.
A young black man, apparently a Muslim convert, was stopped attempting to board a plane at Tampa. He had a book in his backpack, and there was a box-cutter in the book. Benjamin Baines was also carrying some other, undefaced books that made it clear he had enlisted as a soldier in the global jihad.
We need a legal process for dealing with such cases. Laws against treason have moldered, as they are thought to violate the right of dissent. We are beyond the realm of “dissent,” when an Islamist boards a plane with a hidden weapon. This is no ordinary crime, either. If American citizens enlist in a foreign army that wars on our nation, they must be subject to serious penalties.
I have to say that I agree with my friend Alan. Mr. Baines is a member of a foreign army who attempted an act of sabotage. He did this while not wearing a uniform behind enemy lines. This allows us to execute him as a spy. Is he a spy or a traitor? Take your pick, I say both.
I know that Jeff and others here think Barack is the figurehead for a larger political movement but this is just stupid. This is the type of stuff one expects at a Hannah Montana concert. And yet these are grown ups that vote and want their guy to rule the world:
It’s probably safe to say that you have arrived as a politician when your audience applauds when you blow your nose.
Yes, just a day before a debate in Texas, Sen. Barack Obama has a head cold.
And about a half-hour into a speech here, the Illinois Democrat announced that he had to take a quick break. “Gotta blow my nose here for a second,” Obama said.
Out came a Kleenex (or perhaps it was a hankie), and he wiped his nose.
The near-capacity audience at the Reunion Arena, which his campaign said totaled 17,000, broke out in a slightly awkward applause.
Being a Southern Georgia boy, I thought I’d share one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite clients, Midnight Rider from the Allman Brothers. This acoustic version from the early 90’s is one of the best live versions of the song. Enjoy.
Barack Obama now faces a new challenge - one that is sure to be much more scandalous than anything he’s seen so far. If the allegations are to be believed, it’s also a scandal that his campaign has tried to cover up. A Minnesota man has come forth, claiming that he took cocaine in 1999 with Obama, the then-Illinois legislator, and participated in homosexual acts with him.
Larry Sinclair, the man making the claims, said his story was ignored by the news media. Still not willing to let this one slip quietly under the rug, Sinclair made a YouTube video in which he made his case. It’s had over half a million views already, but the story has still been largely ignored by the news media.
Sinclair’s next step was to file a suit in Minnesota District Court, in which he alleges threats and intimidation by the Democratic presidential candidate’s staff.
Still out to prove that he is telling the truth, Sinclair said he is willing to submit to a polygraph test. A website (WhiteHouse.com) has come forth offering him $10,000 for the right to record the polygraph test, and another $100,000 if he passes it.
Leave it to the NYT to unite the Republican Party. Sean Hannity was visibly relieved tonight to have an excuse to pull in behind McCain. Rush will also use this as a way to return to the reservation. Laura has already started to make her peace. This gift along with Mrs. Obama misreading just what her Barry’s love-fest represents is doing for the Republicans what the Republicans can’t do for themselves.
The Democrats lose elections, Republicans do not win them. Who can stop Barry? Golly that’s easy to answer, isn’t it? Barry, his wife and his friends.
UPDATE: Great minds think alike. The Wise One is younger so he thinks faster. I did not see E’s post before I uploaded.
UPDATE II 2/21/08 5:25PM: I am good, what can I say! As I predicted…..
Rush Limbaugh, who has been critical of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), embraced him Thursday now that they have a common enemy: The New York Times.
Limbaugh and other conservative commentators rushed to defend McCain on Thursday against a potentially damaging article in The New York Times, embracing a maverick they have often attacked.
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The ecstasy of Barack
Barack Obama now faces a new challenge - one that is sure to be much more scandalous than anything he’s seen so far. If the allegations are to be believed, it’s also a scandal that his campaign has tried to cover up. A Minnesota man has come forth, claiming that he took cocaine in 1999 with Obama, the then-Illinois legislator, and participated in homosexual acts with him.
