LEE RODGERSELECTIONS -- AND FOOTBALLS -- CAN TAKE
CRAZY BOUNCES ...
HELP THE U.S., GO TO PRISON IN PAKISTAN ...
MITT TAKES ON THE TEACHERS' UNION
HELP THE U.S., GO TO PRISON IN PAKISTAN ...
MITT TAKES ON THE TEACHERS' UNION
As some analysts observe, Obama could lose the popular vote, possibly even by a substantial margin, and still win the electoral vote and a second term. Losing the popular vote but winning the White House is not unprecedented, of course.
However, in such an eventuality, there would be an increased likelihood that Republicans would win the Senate, hold the house, and hogtie Obama. Such a deadlock would have an obvious downside, but it would also prevent much of the irresponsible craziness perpetrated by Obama and the present Democrat-dominated Senate.
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Given the recently-demonstrated propensity for a large minority of Democrats to choose a convict, a nobody or an "uncommitted" with their vote in Democratic primaries, the Hildabeast must be wondering, "What would've happened if I HAD challenged President Composite?"
Meantime, Joe Biden's favorability ratings keeps dropping ... Hillary's are far higher ... Biden appears more frenetic and unhinged ... Obama's race with Romney tightens in the polls ... Hmmmm...
Might Obama actually fear losing enough to overcome his wariness of the Clintons and replace Joe with Hillary?
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The Pakistani doctor who led us to bin Laden has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for doing so. Let's hope our Dear Leader is doing more behind-the-scenes than he's doing publicly to get the man freed -- but don't count on it.
Pakistan continues to be what it's always been: a parasitical enemy nation. Only the delusional believe otherwise, and that apparently includes our President whose buddies going back to college days were Muslim Pakistanis.
The lurking question: Did somebody in the Obama crowd rat-out the brave doctor to the Pakistan government?
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Some conservatives have accused Mitt Romney of being a Mr. Milquetoast, but his frontal assault on the teachers' union deserves full credit for ballsiness.
Of course, since I've long been on that union's enemies list for proclaiming them the most evil institution in America, you'd expect me to approve.
There are teachers in classrooms today who, a few decades earlier, wouldn't have been able to graduate from grammar school. For years I delighted in responding to their hate-mail with their spelling errors corrected.
By the way ... don't hold your breath waiting for Obama to ever take on the teachers' union ... or any other. They own him. If the gutsy Governor of Wisconsin survives the union-sponsored recall effort, as appears likely, tears will be shed in the White House.
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Romney's also right on another point. Why are taxpayer dollars being given to PBS which in turn, uses them to buy foreign TV programs? I like some of what PBS does, but they're quite capable of acquiring donor money in abundance, as is evident from all the commercials that regularly run on "commercial-free PBS." ("This program is supported by the Widget Company, dedicated to making you more beautiful, improved gas mileage, cleaning up the environment, making your children smarter and enlarging your penis.")
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Union goons clubbing a pinata with a photo of South Carolina (right-to-work state) with a photo of Governor Nikki Haley attached. Classy ... really, really classy ...
Wonder how they'll react if they take the butt-kicking the polls are indicating in their ill-advised mob-action effort to oust the Governor of Wisconsin? That state, by the way, has already saved more than $1 billion for the taxpayers since union excesses were curbed. But, of course, the thugs who run many unions don't have the taxpayers' concerns on their priority list.
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In Florida, where the first major poll taken since Obama's pro-gay marriage statement showed Romney jumping to a six-point lead, more than twice as many say that position makes them LESS likely to vote for Obama than are MORE supportive because of it.
Thus another example of the hazard implicit in the habit of some politicians to only talk with people who are inclined to agree with them. And that is Obama's common practice; it's well known that his gatekeepers, starting with Valerie Jarrett, are charged with responsibility for keeping away those who might challenge him. Just ask Bill Daley, his former chief of staff and part of the Chicago political machine that put him in the White House. He thought taking on the Catholic Church over birth control and abortion was a mistake ... said so ... and suddenly was gone.
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Grover in Idaho sends a clip from Walter Isaacson's book, "Steve Jobs," which is still on my must-read list ...
"A MEETING WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, OCT 2010: The meeting actually lasted forty-five minutes, and Jobs did not hold back. 'You’re headed for a one-term presidency,' Jobs told Obama at the outset. To prevent that, he said, the administration needed to be a lot more business-friendly. He described how easy it was to build a factory in China, and said that it was almost impossible to do so these days in America, largely because of regulations and unnecessary costs.
"Jobs also attacked America’s education system, saying that it was hopelessly antiquated and crippled by union work rules. Until the teachers' unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform.
"Jobs proposed allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on merit, that schools stay open until 6 p.m. and that they be open 11 months a year."
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For more than seventy years Democrats blamed any and all of the nation's economic problems on President Herbert Hoover, even long after he was dead. Therefore, we can safely assume that Obama's economic bungling, and that of any Democrat successors, will be blamed on George W. Bush for decades to come.
President Composite, of course, is to be eternally hailed as a hero because, after all, he did personally charge into Osama bin Laden's bedroom and strangle him with his bare hands while singing The Star Spangled Banner. Didn't he?
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If you shorted Facebook stock, congratulations -- and lunch is on you.
The whole Facebook scam appears to have been based on W. C. Fields' classic, "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break."
Some people who become easily infatuated with the latest techie fad seem to have already forgotten the dot.com stock bubble that busted millions of investors just a dozen years ago, and were ripe for the plucking they've suffered on Facebook.
Far be it from me to gloat; I still own some dry oil wells in various locations where success was, uh, "guaranteed." Anybody want to buy a few mile-deep holes in the ground, perfect for storing utility poles?
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Anti-austerity is a growing Greek political movement, built on the childish premise that an entire nation can indefinitely live beyond its means and expect neighbors to subsidize such behavior. The suspicion lurks that a motivating factor is the underground distribution of a book, "Quotations of Chairman Barack."
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When I was in the travel industry, I was often in Greece because we did a lot of business there. If there was no charity box readily available at the airport on departure, I brought home the loose drachmas and tossed them into a jar. I wonder if I can spend them again if -- as appears likely -- Greece exits the Euro currency zone.
By the way, one of my all-time-favorite for-real tourist jokes involves the American woman who approached my business partner and me atop the Acropolis and said, "I just love this place, don't you?"
My late travel agency co-owner replied, "Yes, it's very beautiful."
To which the lady responded, "Yes ... from here you get such a beautiful view of the Hilton Hotel."
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Victor Davis Hanson takes a clear-eyed look at our gains and losses in support of middle-east "democracy" movements ...
"Since we went into Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States has borrowed more than $9 trillion and is currently running serial $1 trillion deficits. We no longer pay for our wars, but instead borrow the money from the Chinese and others who calculate how to profit better than we from the ensuing chaos.
"After lots of interventions, we have learned one thing about loud Arab reformers, especially those who were educated at Western universities: They damn us for supporting their dictators; they damn us for removing them; they damn us for interfering in their affairs when we help promote democracy; and they damn us as callous when we just let them be." -- (Townhall.com) --
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Periodically we get yet another outburst of anti-death-penalty propaganda from the goo-goos who assert that it has no deterrent value and that most people would rather be executed than face life in prison, anyway. But compare the number of convicted criminals who will utilize every legal angle to get a death sentence commuted to life imprisonment versus the rare few who insist on going thru with their own execution.
Clearly, a huge majority of criminals DON'T agree that "life in prison is worse than death."
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The freedom that allows one to succeed is also the freedom to make bad choices and fail.
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Since I spent twenty-five years on the air for ABC (KGO & KSFO) in San Francisco, I have occasionally been asked for opinions on the broadcast industry by Rich Lieberman, whose column is largely devoted to the electronic media.
He recently printed my views (RICHLIEBERMAN415 on the web) on the dismaying future of radio. Having been a rare conservative voice in the liberal Bay Area (although it consistently runs a 30-35% Republican vote, an audience for which I had little or no competition) and thus withstood endless vituperation from the indigenous majority, I was pleased with the tone of many respondents. Specifically, those who said that, although they disagreed with my political views, they listened because they enjoyed other aspects of my presentation.
A broadcaster could hardly ask for a nicer compliment.
While I am largely opposed to the proliferation of government controls on business, when allocation of a limited resource -- in this case, broadcasting frequencies -- is involved, some such oversight is necessary. Thus I agree with those who say radio and TV began to deteriorate when the limitation of 7 AM, 7 FM, 7 TV stations by any one company was abandoned by the FCC.
When the seven-station limit prevailed, the owners tended to pay close attention to each station and program it wisely and well. I worked for such groups as Metromedia, RKO, Group W/Westinghouse, Storer, Bonneville and eventually ABC. All produced good on-air product and profited. The output of most of the hundreds of stations owned by conglomerates such as Clear Channel and Cumulus aren't in the same league, and some of those bloated giants are flirting with fiscal disaster. Their collapse may be the last hope for radio. I've never worked for either of the two companies mentioned, by the way, so have no personal animus toward them.
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From Dan Sorkin, a useful new word ...
"INEPTOCRACY" -- A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society lest likely to sustain themselves or succeed are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminshing number of producers.
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Use of the euphemism "issues" for "problems" extends even to the deep rural interior of Norway where Jay Nordlinger spotted a local dude wearing a tee-shirt emblazoned with, "I have issues."
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Add to the list of often-misused words ...
Affect and Effect. The first is a cause, the latter a result.
ColOmbia and ColUmbia. One is a South American nation, the other the District of ... or "The Gem of the Ocean."
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The TMZ website has the photo: Bill Clinton in a charming pose with two porn actresses in Monaco. The lubricious lasses are Tasha Reign and Brooklyn Lee. Brooklyn just won the award for "Best Sex Scene" in "Mission ASSpossible." Tasha's film credits include "Baby Got Boobs 8" and "Farm Girls Gone Bad."
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Jay Leno --
President Obama gave the commencement speech at Barnard College the other day. He told graduates their future is bright -- unless they want jobs.
...and...
Congratulations to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The city of San Francisco has named a street after her. It's called Botox Avenue.
"...and now, if you'll excuse me..."