SO WHAT ABOUT THE VICTIMS IN BENGHAZI? ...
KIDS SING A SONG OF DEMAGOGUERY
From reader Peter, a tribute to the two former Navy Seals who saved several American Consulate employees from the Libya massacre. Feel free to spread it around ...
The Battling Bastards of Benghazi
We're the Battling Bastards of Benghazi,
no fame, no glory, no paparazzi.
Just a fiery death in a blazing hell,
defending the country we loved so well.
It wasn't our job, but we answered the call,
fought to the consulate, and scaled the wall.
We pulled twenty countrymen from the jaws of fate,
led them to safety, and stood at the gate.
Just the two of us, and foes by the score,
but we stood fast to bar the door.
We called for reinforcement, but it was denied,
so we fought and we fought, and we fought and we died.
We gave our all for our Uncle Sam,
but Barack Obama didn't give a damn.
Just two dead SEALS, who carried the load,
no thanks to us -- we were just "bumps in the road."
Where strip mines are fun and free
Where gays can be fixed
And sick people just die
We don’t have to pay for freeways!
Our schools are good enough
Give us endless wars
On foreign shores
And lots of Chinese stuff
We’re the children of the future
American through and through
But something happened to our country
And we’re kinda blaming you
We haven’t killed all the polar bears
But it’s not for lack of trying
The Earth is cracked
Big Bird is sacked
And the atmosphere is frying
Congress went home early
They did their best we know
You can’t cut spending
With elections pending
Unless it’s welfare dough
We’re the children of the future
American through and through
But something happened to our country
And we’re kinda blaming you
Find a park that is still open
And take a breath of poison air
They foreclosed your place
To build a weapon in space
But you can write off your au pair
It’s a little awkward to tell you
But you left us holding the bag
When we look around
The place is all dumbed down
And the long term’s kind of a drag
We’re the children of the future
American through and through
But something happened to our country
And yeah, we’re blaming you
You did your best
You failed the test
Mom and Dad
We’re blaming you!
The Rev. Joseph Lowery, the black minister who delivered the benediction at Obama's inauguration, has announced that all white people are going to hell. That presumably includes those who voted for Obama.
"Jefferson County, Colorado, Democrats have revoked 66-year-old Estelle Carson's "Democrat of the Year" award after her conviction for stealing from a 71-year-old woman who suffers from both partial blindness and cerebral palsy. Carson was found guilty of felony identity theft and felony theft from an at-risk person for stealing checks from the woman to pay for cable, cellphone and Internet bills."
In China, a man sued his wife for giving birth to an ugly daughter. And won. $120,000.
"Media outlets in the U.S. report that the possibility of a Romney Presidency has prompted an exodus of left-leaning citizens who fear they'll soon be required to 'hold down a job, hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O'Reilly.' Canadian border farmers noted that dozens of sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians have been crossing their fields each night.
"'I went out to milk the cows yesterday, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said Manitoba farmer Red Nesterenko, whose acreage borders North Dakota. The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry. 'He asked me if I could spare a latte, some free-range chicken and a little arugula on the side.'
"'I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them," an Ottawa resident said. "How many lawyers, art-history and English majors does one country need?' she added."
Jay Leno --
"Don't ask, don't tell" is back. Not for gays in the military — it's President Obama's new policy for questions about Libya."
FROM THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI TO DEATH IN BENGHAZI ...
PELOSI'S LOVE AFFAIR WITH JIHADISTS
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta knew almost from the start that an attack was underway, and were warned well in advance that it was highly likely.
They refused the additional security that had been requested ... last-minute and potential life-saving help was denied ... and they deliberately left the U.S. Ambassador, his aide and two brave Navy Seals, men from the very service unit that enabled Obama to boast that he "got" bin Laden, be murdered.
They did it. And their evasions are nothing more than a continuation of their litany of lies.
The FBI "investigation" (that agency being part of Eric Holder's Justice Department) is/was a sick joke.
And the propaganda organs that masquerade as our mass "news" media are accessories to the cover-up in trying to retain in office a president whose only talent is for political conniving, Chicago-style.
The lingering question: Will Mitt Romney finally raise some political hell about this disgraceful presidential behavior, or continue to let it slide as he did (perhaps wisely at the time) in the third debate?
If he loses, he may regret not devoting more attention to Obama's failure to do his duty.
There is bitter irony that Libya was the location for an early signature achievement of the U.S. military, memorialized in the line " ... to the shores of Tripoli (Libya)" in the Marines hymn and the location for the ultimate betrayal of comrades-in-arms, Navy Seals, eastward on the same shore of the same country.
Wes Pruden, editor emeritus of the Washington Times, summarizes the campaign thusly ...
"The mainstream media has been relentless with its message, abetted in ways large and small by the Obama campaign, that only bigots, churls and haters would vote against a black incumbent. This is the ultimate racism, that a failed black incumbent can't be held to account like a failed white incumbent."
How many Republicans still think New Joisey Governor Chris Christie would be been an ideal candidate after his Obama suck-up act?
New Yorkers dumpster-diving for food while Mayor Bloomberg plans for a marathon race to go on in the city. Anybody surprised that this two-faced phony (he ran as a Republican because the Democrat slot on the ticket was already filled, even though he's a wild-eyed leftist) placed his priorities in this order? The nutty New Yorkers who elected him deserve to wallow in garbage. Just don't get caught with any big soft drinks while you're down there in the dumpster!
Utility workers from Alabama drove all night to reach New Jersey to help restore electric power. They were turned away because they're non-union. Christie did intervene and those volunteers are now working.
Forward this item from The Daily Caller to any Nancy Pelosi fans you might know ...
"Democratic leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi headlined a high-dollar fundraiser in May that was attended by U.S.-based Islamist groups and individuals linked by the U.S. government to the Hamas jihad group and to the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Many believe that to be a more rational -- and fair -- way of delivering electoral votes. I'm one of them.
A Republican in California knows his/her presidential vote is of no value; same for a Democrat in, say, Oklahoma.
"Black support of politicians who have done little or nothing for their ordinary constituents is by no means unusual. Blacks are chief executives of major cities, such as Philadelphia, Detroit, Washington, Memphis, Atlanta, Baltimore, New Orleans, Oakland, Newark, Cleveland and Cincinnati.
"In most of these cities, the chief of police, the superintendent of schools and other high executives are black. But in these cities, black people, like no other sector of our population, suffer from the highest rates of homicides, assaults, robberies and shootings. Black high-school dropout rates in these cities are the highest in the nation. Even if a black youngster manages to graduate from high school, his reading, writing and computational proficiency is likely to be equivalent to that of a white seventh- or eighth-grader. That's even with school budgets per student being among the highest in the nation.
"Black people would not accept excuses upon excuses and vote to re-elect decade after decade any white politician, especially a Republican politician, to office who had the failed records of our big-city mayors. What that suggests about black people is not very flattering."
If a Republican doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a Democrat doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
If a Republican is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a Democrat is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.
If a Republican is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a Democrat is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.
If a Republican is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A Democrat wonders who is going to take care of him.
If a Republican doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Democrats demand that those they don't like be shut down.
If a Republican is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A Democrat non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced.
If a Republican decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A Democrat demands that the rest of us pay for his.
If a Republican reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A Democrat will delete it because he's "offended".
Conan O'Brien --
"President Obama now has a 52-point lead with Hispanics. However, Mitt Romney has a 90-point lead with the people who hire Hispanics."
I'm tired of hearing/reading political commentary, including my own. Republicans reach back to the Romney upset of Carter to sustain their hopes; Democrats seek an even more distant past for comfort as they recall Truman's come-from-behind win over Dewey. I'm uncertain that either is relevant today, with an almost totally different electorate in a nation with different social views and priorities.
People seek predictions that comfort them and accord with their own views. I offer none.
Whatever the outcome, the print and electronic media will be filled afterward with analysis along the lines of, "We should have seen it coming because ..."
Among the things we'll learn Tuesday ...
Whether political polls are becoming less reliable because of a growing unwillingness by people either (A) to participate or (B) are so annoyed by being called, instead of flattered, that they deliberately lie to the pollsters.
I got a call just a couple of days ago from a nice lady who began with the standard, "If the election were held today, which candidate would you vote for?" I answered honestly.
Then the survey moved abruptly into the "What if I told you such-and-such ..." narrative; "push-polling," it's called -- a recitation of unpleasant things about an opponent, the purpose of which is to determine which negative campaign points are most effective in advertising. I stopped her right there with, "Lady, I'm an old news-hound and I know push-polling when I hear it. Let's don't waste each other's time."
Over the long haul, Gallup has been a pretty reliable poll. In recent elections, Rasmussen has a good record of poll numbers that accord with the outcome. I suggest we all take note of which polls are closest to actual results this time around. Might be useful for the next election.
Just out of idle curiosity ... are there people who actually stay on the line and listen to those endless robot-phone calls that clutter up the circuits during the closing days of an election campaign? If so, they must be desperately lonely.
Personally, I'd be tempted to pledge my vote to any candidate who promised NEVER to call me.
Columnist Burt Prelutsky offers this view of Obama's refusal to send aid to the embattled -- then murdered -- Americans in Benghazi, Libya ...
"My own belief is that Obama’s court advisor Valerie Jarrett, who apparently twice prevented Obama from giving the order to take out Osama bin Laden, recalled how Jimmy Carter’s bungled attempt to rescue the American hostages from Iran in 1979 helped lead to his defeat the following year. And, frankly, anyone who believes that Barack Obama would risk his re-election over something as trivial as American lives is a nincompoop."
Biden the Boob strikes again ...
Speaking of Obama at a campaign event yesterday, he said, "There's never been a day in the last four years that I've been proud to be his Vice-President."
Please forward to any Democrats you're unfortunate enough to know.
Victor Davis Hanson finds parallels with the enchantment, then disenchantment, with Obama ...
"A common theme of classic American tales such as 'The Rainmaker,' 'Elmer Gantry,' 'The Music Man' and 'The Wizard of Oz' is popular anger unleashed at Pied Piper-like messiahs who once hypnotized the masses with promises of grandeur.
"The bamboozled people rarely fault their own gullibility for swooning over hope-and-change banalities, but rather, once sober, turn with fury on the itinerant messiahs who made them look so foolish.
'In other words, it is not just the economy, foreign policy, poor debating skills or a so-so campaign that now plagues Obama, but the growing public perception that voters were had in 2008, and that it now is OK -- even cool -- to no longer believe in him."
As stated previously in this space. if Romney wins he can expect no cooperation from Harry Reid, leader of the majority Democrats in the Senate. Reid has now publicly so stated.
Therefore, it comes down to this: If the Republicans fail to win control of the Senate, Romney will be hog-tied. Or, at best, limited to Obama-style "executive orders."
And if they DO fail -- by one or two seats -- to win a majority, there is no corner of political oblivion deep enough for those two incredibly stupid Republican nominees in Indian and Missouri if they lose those two seats that were a virtual lock for the party until those idiots opened their mouths about their interpretation of rape.
Burt Prelutsky with a reminder of a fact that Obama overlooks ...
"One of the things Obama likes to say is that one of the worst things that we can expect of President Romney is that he’ll start shipping jobs overseas. Is he unaware that his own unemployment numbers would be even worse than they are if such foreign car companies as Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and VW, didn’t have factories in America that employed hundreds of thousands of workers? And, what’s more, none of them had to be bailed out of bankruptcy with billions of tax dollars and handed over, lock, stock and carburetor, to the UAW."
A former neighbor who lived in an apartment just below Sen. Robert Menendez, Democrat, New Joisey, says he used to have "loud sex" with various women.
Perhaps he shared the fate of the fellow who complained, "I wanted a sweater ... but I got a moaner."
Argus Hamilton --
"New York suffered looting in Coney Island electronics stores and clothing stores and athletic wear stores following the hurricane. It was a scene of urban chaos. The White House blamed the looting on a YouTube video showing Obama had lost the election."
Here's another example of print-media illiteracy. Just noticed: a story saying "the President is a shoe-in for re-election."
Wrong.
In that context, it's "SHOO-IN." Originally from an expression used to chase away flies.
Jay Leno --
"President Obama canceled the annual White House Halloween party. He didn’t want to; he just didn’t want to risk a trick-or-treater asking him a question about Libya."
OBAMA WANTS "REVENGE" ...
FLASH: IRAN "CREATED" SANDY
Summarizing Sandy's aftermath ...
Anarchy reigns in New York; criminals, looters own the streets.
FEMA is what it's always been -- a sick joke.
All of which is equivalent to Al Gore's pathetic attempt to revive his thoroughly discredited "it was caused by global warming" nonsense.
Proving that mentally disturbed people everywhere have much in common.
"He appeared in New Jersey wearing a bomber jacket rather than a suit to demonstrate that when the going gets tough, the tough get out a monogrammed Air Force One bomber jacket.
"'A big storm requires Big Government,' pronounced The New York Times. But Washington is so big-hearted with Big Government it spends $188 million an hour that it doesn't have – 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and Ramadan. And yet, mysteriously, multi-trillion-dollar Big Government Obama-style can't do anything except sluice food stamps to the dependent class, lavish benefits and early retirement packages to the bureaucrats that service them, and so-called government 'investment' to approved Obama cronies.
"I don't know whether Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan can fix things, but I do know that Barack Obama and Joe Biden won't even try – and that therefore a vote for Obama is a vote for the certainty of national collapse. Look at Lower Manhattan in the dark, and try to imagine what America might look like after the rest of the planet decides it no longer needs the dollar as global reserve currency. For four years, we have had a president who can spend everything but build nothing. Nothing but debt, dependency, and decay."
"Racial double standards are not restricted to the political arena and crime reporting; we see it on college campuses and in the workplace. Black people ought to be offended by the idea that we are held accountable to lower standards of conduct and achievement. White people ought to be ashamed for permitting and fostering racial double standards that have effects that are in some ways worse than the cruel racism of yesteryear."
A friend who lives in the Windy City passes this along ...
Perhaps the U.S. should pull out of Chicago for these reasons:
Body count: In the last six months 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago; 221 killed in Iraq ... AND ... Chicago has one of the strictest gun laws in the entire US.
Who has the political power?
President:--Barack Hussein Obama
Senator: Dick Durbin
House Representative: Jesse Jackson Jr.
Governor: Pat Quinn
House leader: Mike Madigan (old-time Chicago pol)
Atty. Gen.: Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike)
Mayor: Rahm Emanuel (formerly Obama's "enforcer")
The leadership in Illinois - all Democrats.
Of course, they're all blaming each other for Chicago being a combat zone; can't blame Republicans -- there aren't any!
Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country.
State pension fund $78 Billion in debt, worst in country.
Cook County (Chicago) sales tax 10.25%, highest in country.
This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois . And... he was going to "fix" Washington?
A life in radio (cont.) ...
I was young, single and on the radio station that, at the time, had the largest audience of any single station in America: WIND, Chicago. Share-of-audience ratings that ranged up to above 30%. Numbers unattainable today.
She was a singer of some local repute. We went out of a couple of times ... nothing serious.
We made a date for an after-work drink and catch-up visit at the Continental Plaza Hotel on Michigan Avenue.
I showed up a few minutes early and took a booth. Shortly she came rushing in, pale and panicked, and said, "You have to leave -- now!" She gave me no reason, but grabbed my arm to hurry me while insistently saying, "Use the side exit!"
Grasping that she was deadly serious and wouldn't explain why, I did as she suggested and walked home to my Marina City apartment, puzzled and a bit anxious.
She called a few hours later with an explanation that included part of her personal history she'd omitted on our earlier dates. Seems she had a former "boyfriend" who wasn't happy with the "former" part. He'd seen her on the street that afternoon and was following her into the hotel.
It wasn't a huge surprise to learn that, since she sang in nightclubs, they'd met because he had a behind-the-scenes role in management of some north-side Chicago establishments.
It wasn't even much of a surprise when she told me that he had links to "duh boys;" the mob.
Then she told me his name, which made it clear why -- for both our sakes -- she didn't want him to see us to having even an innocent chat in public at the Continental Plaza.
His name, well-known in Chicago crime circles, was Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio. An internet search will reveal his interesting history, the short version of which includes the fact that he was #2 to Tony "Big Tuna" Accardo, the biggest Chicago mob boss, having worked his way up from hit-man to that exalted position.
His rap-sheet touched on such accomplishments as murder, car-bombings, counterfeiting, extortion and narcotics as well as selling "protection" to Rush Street nightclubs in Chicago's entertainment district.
I saw her only once again when she was singing at a hotel where I was staying in Aruba. I carefully resisted the temptation to ask any question beginning with, "What was a nice girl like you ...?"
No names, because she's still working.
And she can sing!
"The election will soon be over. And then we can finally get started on the recount."
A pun for fun, anywun?
I tried to catch some Fog... I mist.
Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.
How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.
I'm reading a book about anti-gravity, I can't put it down.
A dyslexic man walks into a bra ...
How do you make holy water? Boil the hell out of it!
What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.
I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.
Don't blame me! It's all Dan Sorkin's fault!
THE DEVALUED TERM "MILLIONAIRE" ...
KENNEDY, REAGAN AND TAXES
We are about to have what the Dear Leader likes to call "a teaching moment." We are about to learn whether the generation of Americans that has been seduced by the politics of a slowly dying (of decay) Europe ... politics built largely upon a fear of personal responsibility ... has grown to the point where the principles upon which this nation was founded are to be abandoned. Abandoned in favor of a from of cowardice that effectively says, "I am willing to let government tell me what to do in every aspect of my life in exchange for a politician's promise that the government will allow me to escape the responsibility of taking care of myself."
They conclude this to be a worthwhile exchange even in the face of such realities as a European Union unemployment rate even worse than our own -- an admitted rate of nearly 12% which, like our own bogus numbers, is far below the real rate. And the fact that much of cowardly Europe has virtually abandoned its own principles and sovereignty by allowing itself to be bullied into submission by a medieval and alien theology called Islam.
A couple of timeless presidential quotes ...
An important re-election message from the President to his supporters ..........
وار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه. ر رفت سايه سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش پيدا نيست نقش ديوار و چشم خيره ما نقش سايه دگر نمي دان نور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست ننور اگر رفت سايه پيدا نيست نقش -- and thank you, Comrades!
Jon sends along this checklist you might consider before voting ...
THE USA IS UPSIDE - DOWN
You know you live in an Upside-down Land if...
You can get arrested for expired tags on your car but not for being in the country illegally.
Your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more of our money.
The Supreme Court of the United States can rule that lower courts cannot display the 10 Commandments in their courtroom, while sitting in front of a display of the 10 Commandments.
Working Americans must pay for their own health care (and the health care of everyone else) while unmarried women are free to have child after child on the "State's" dime while never being held responsible for their own choices.
Hard work and success are rewarded with higher taxes and government intrusion, while slothful, lazy behavior is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing.
The government's plan for getting people back to work is to provide 99 weeks of unemployment checks (to not work).
Parents believe the State is responsible for providing for their children.
You pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big screen TV while your neighbor defaults on his mortgage (while buying iPhones, TV's and new cars) and the government forgives his debt and reduces his mortgage (with your tax dollars).
Being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you "safe".
You have to have your parents signature to go on a school field trip but not to get an abortion.
An 80 year old woman can be stripped searched by the TSA but a Muslim woman in a burqa is only subject to having her neck and head searched.
Another episode in the continuing lesson of why dogs are better than (some) people ...
Every morning Susan takes our boy Calvin for a three-mile walk. Calvin, ever the politician, will even cross the street to shake hands with people.
Dogs know things. Dogs have senses beyond our own, and not just the ability to smell. For lack of a better word, call it empathy.
Yesterday during his walk, they encountered a man who was a bit unsteady. Calvin tugged at his leash so he could approach the man and simply laid his head against the man's knee, gazing up at him. The man stooped to pet him and Calvin licked his hand and continued to gaze into his eyes.
"How nice," the man said to Susan, "to have someone who loves you unconditionally." Then he began to cry as he explained that he had had three strokes in quick succession and while he was in the hospital, his wife of many years had abandoned him and -- without telling him -- had filed for divorce.
Unable to care for himself, he was selling his house and moving to an assisted living facility. But he hoped to meet Calvin again this morning and every morning before he has to move away.
The Sky Guy forwards this touching tale told by a neglected wife ...
Last week was my birthday and I didn't feel very well waking up on that morning.
I went downstairs for breakfast hoping my husband would be pleasant and say, 'Happy Birthday!', and possibly have a small present for me. He barely said 'good morning,' let alone 'Happy Birthday..'
I thought, 'well, that's marriage for you, but the kids..... they'll remember.
My kids came bouncing down stairs to breakfast and didn't say a word. So when I left for the office I felt pretty low and somewhat despondent.
As I walked into my office, my handsome boss Rick, said, 'Good morning, lady, and by the way Happy Birthday!' It felt a little better that at least someone had remembered.
I worked until one o'clock, when Rick knocked on my door and said, 'You know, It's such a beautiful day outside, and it is your birthday, what do you say we go out to lunch, just you and me.'
We went to lunch. But we didn't go where we normally would go. He chose instead a quiet bistro with a private table. We had two martinis each and I enjoyed the meal tremendously.
On the way back to the office, Rick said, 'You know, It's such a beautiful day...we don't need to go straight back to the office, do we?'
I responded, 'I guess not. What do you have in mind?'
He said, 'Let's drop by my place, it's just around the corner.'
After arriving at his house, Rick turned to me and said, 'If you don't mind, I'm going to step into the bedroom for just a moment. I'll be right back.'
'Ok.' I nervously replied.
He went into the bedroom and, after a couple of minutes, he came out carrying a huge birthday cake, followed by my husband, my kids, and dozens of my friends and co-workers, all singing 'Happy Birthday'.
And I just sat there.... on the couch.
Naked.
November 6 --
IF OBAMA WINS, WELCOME TO THE U.S.S.R. ...
-- THE UNITED STATES SOCIALIST REPUBLIC
It is highly unrealistic to expect that any president is going to magically solve all our problems -- as some naive Obama supporters have learned, to their dismay.
Regular readers of this space know that I have long held reservations about Mitt Romney.
Nevertheless, I support him in this election for a simple reason: With him, we have some chance of recovering national stability. With Obama's sophomoric, Marxist fantasies and Muslim sympathies guiding our destiny, we have no chance.
The media have been predictably filled with predictions during the past twenty-four hours. I can't help but observe that many of these crystal-ball gazers make the fundamental error of confusing wishful thinking with analysis.
To temper the elation of winner and dismay of losers at election time, it's worthwhile to remember at the end of election day that the pendulum always swings. But sometimes -- witness the Soviet Union -- it takes a very long time before it swings, often accompanied by bloodshed.
Thanks to the president who was going to "bring us together," this is no longer one nation; it's at least two. Maybe more. And our national epitaph may someday read, "Death by Diversity."
And Burt adds this observation ...
"When it comes to currency manipulation, I have tried to figure out why it’s so terrible when China does it, but not equally despicable when Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve engage in it in order to help finance Obama’s profligate ways."
Deroy Murdock compares candidate Obama circa 2008 to incumbent Obama...
"In 2008, candidate Obama complained that President George W. Bush, in eight years in office, had taken out 'a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children. we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back -- $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic.' Bush's alleged lack of patriotism notwithstanding, America's national debt as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (the value of all good and services produced in the nation annually--Ed.) has expanded under Obama's watchful eyes, from 74.6 cents on the dollar to 101.8 cents -- up 36.4 percent."
In short, we're spending more than we're taking in, a reminder that..."If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall."
A few randon thoughts from the indispensable Thomas Sowell ...
"Not since the days of slavery have there been so many people who feel entitled to what other people have produced as there are in the modern welfare state, whether in Western Europe or on this side of the Atlantic."
"Like Barack Obama, Joe Biden has all the clever tricks of a politician and none of the wisdom of a statesman."
"Do either Barack Obama or his followers have any idea how many countries during the 20th century set out to "spread the wealth" — and ended up spreading poverty instead? At some point, you have to turn from rhetoric, theories and ideologies to facts."
"The question to be asked of people in the media, and that they should ask themselves, should be: 'Is your first loyalty to your audience or to your ideology?' The same question should be asked of educators, especially those who see
themselves as 'agents of social change,' even though that is not the job description under which they have been hired and paid."
Footnote:
I was quite certain of two things:
So I cast a write-in vote for President. Thomas Sowell.
"America is in incipient decline, and this week's presidential election might be the last chance to reverse it. We are becoming a different sort of country, with a different people and different beliefs. Another four years of Barack Obama well might take us past the point of no return, although no-one, to be sure, knows quite where that lies. There is still time to change course. There might not be time by 2016.
"Nearly a third of Americans now depend on food stamps, welfare, disability payments, or some other form of government support, compared with one out of five when George W. Bush left office. This enormous shift has occurred before the detonation of a demographic time bomb that will explode towards the end of the present decade, and which will push America towards even greater dependency. This time bomb has four facets:
"The baby boomers will retire, and the percentage of Americans over 60 will jump from a sixth to a quarter of the total population in little more than a decade;
"The population that replaces the baby boomers will come to an increasing extent from families with the lowest level of educational attainment;
"A new underclass is in formation due to the jump in the rate of births out of wedlock, which comprised two-fifths of total births in 2011;
"Dependency on government support will rise sharply just as the federal government's capacity to finance the dependent population will fall."
When she arrived she noticed a terrible cave-in.
She stood near the entrance and called out: "Hello? Anybody there?"
A weak voice replied: "Re-elect Obama..re-elect Obama..."
Snow White called out: " Dopey?"
IF YOU GOT A RIDICULOUS MESSAGE FROM ME, APOLOGIES******
ADDENDUM RE HACKING:
My I.T. friend Mark tells me the hacking originated, as so many episodes to, in Nigeria. It apparently had nothing to do with my political commentary; just another criminal scam.
If you've had any similar experience and had any success in restoring lost material, I'd very much appreciate your suggestions.
PREPARE FOR GRIM TIMES ...
OBAMA'S IRAN CONNECTION
The most benign summary of the events of yesterday came from William Shakespeare a few hundred years ago in "Macbeth": "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Despite the billions of words and dollars expended, nothing about the structure of the government changed. Congress is still divided, with Republicans holding a House majority that can, if it holds its nerve, stifle some of Obama's Marxist excesses.
Those with some knowledge of historical references will see in Obama's victory a realization of the words attributed (correctly or not) to an 18th Century Scotsman named Alexander Tytler:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
* From bondage to spiritual faith;
* From spiritual faith to great courage;
* From courage to liberty;
* From liberty to abundance;
* From abundance to selfishness;
* From selfishness to complacency;
* From complacency to apathy;
* From apathy to dependence;
* From dependence back into bondage."
Diamonds among the ashes ...
Republicans won six governorships. There are now 29 Republican governors to 20 Democrats with one so-called "independent" -- i.e., a Democrat in drag.
Both of the idiot Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate in Missouri and Indiana ... the dopes who babbled about rape ... predictably were slaughtered at the ballot boxes yesterday. Nominate morons and the results are a foregone conclusion.
I now give you your Republican nominee in 2016. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.
Who knows? He might get lucky and draw that idiot, Joe Biden, as an opponent!
What to watch closely over the next four years: Any vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court. One more liberal and the Constitution becomes wastepaper.
Bill Clinton, perjurer, contributed the laugh-line of the entire campaign: "Who wants a president who will knowingly, repeatedly, tell you something you know isn't true?"
We now know the answer. More than half of American voters.
After the triumph of the ultra-left in the election, media-manipulated as it was, I can offer only this about the times to come: Gather your own resources, plan your own future in anticipation of a major outburst of inflation ... and before the opportunity is foreclosed -- and it WILL happen -- arm yourself, as many Americans are already doing.
Weapons sales have grown exponentially at gun stores for months as the realization has spread that Obama and his Marxist/racist Attorney General are the most determined gun-grabbers in our political history. A disarmed citizenry is one of their major goals. Our Muslim/Marxist president has effectively given a green-light to his hordes: Americans with accumulated savings and property are fair game.
Just hope that the Pentagon has not been totally occupied by political generals and admirals.
Anybody surprised that New Black Panthers, menacing white voters with clubs, were back at Philadelphia voting places yesterday? After all, this is the street gang that did the same thing in the previous national election and Obama's racist Attorney General, Comrade Eric Holder, refused to prosecute them for it.
Few things are more boring than election-day (not necessarily election-night) television. The "news" coverage consists almost exclusively of (A) spinmeisters lying their little hearts out for their chosen side and (B) interviews with voters that prove nothing and undermine whatever news value that may be found in so-called "anecdotal evidence." It would be more accurately described as "anecdotal bull-bleep."
Regardless of the election outcome, one thing Republicans should remember from the campaign: Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is never to be trusted. He's a double-agent, a stooge.
Small examples of the Democrat mentality at work: Jesse Jackson, Jr., still undergoing treatment for a mental disturbance and under an ethical cloud the size of Montana, won re-election to the House from Chicago. Elizabeth Warren, the lying fake Indian with ethical problems of her own, easily won the Massachusetts Senate seat.
Thomas Sowell reminds us of what's been lost as a result of Obama ...
"You do not have a self-governing people when 'czars' are created by Executive Orders, so that individuals wielding vast powers equal to, or greater than, the powers of Cabinet members do not have to be vetted and confirmed by the people's elected representatives in the Senate, as Cabinet members must be.
"You do not have a self-governing people when decisions to take military action are referred to the United Nations and the Arab League, but not to the Congress of the United States, elected by the American people, whose blood and treasure are squandered.
"You do not have a self-governing people when ... unelected officials of the Federal Reserve System can create its own money out of thin air, instead of being financed by appropriations voted by elected members of Congress who have to justify their priorities and trade-offs to the taxpaying public.
"You do not have a self-governing people when laws passed by the Congress, signed by previous Presidents, and approved by the federal courts, can have the current President waive whatever sections he does not like, and refuse to enforce those sections, despite his oath to see that the laws are faithfully executed." (Immigration laws being an example. -- Ed.)
Reliable reports continue to surface; reports that Iranian-born Valerie Jarrett, Obama's closest advisor, has been engaged in secret talks with Iran that may lead to a post-election deal that will allow Iran to continue pursuit of nuclear weapons with Obama's approval, provided certain "promises" are made.
I leave it to you to decide just how much Iranian promises are worth.
Supreme Court Justice Scalia on the difficulty to restoring constitutional law after four years of Obama ...
“You know, people used to say when they don’t like something that’s going on, they say: 'There ought to be a law,' said Scalia.
Makes you proud to be a taxpayer ...
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joyfully announces that $900,000 of U.S. taxpayer money is being given to help women start businesses ... in Peru and El Salvador.
Reader Sheila offers a quote from history that remains viable ...
"There are two ways to conquer & enslave a nation.
One is by the sword.
The other is by debt." -- John Adams 1826
A lesson Barack Obama and his sheeple obviously never learned.
Reader Dave says he picked this up on TV early this morning ...
"This is your President speaking. There is nothing wrong with your televisions set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. We will control the horizontal, the vertical, your healthcare, light bulbs, your personal vehicle and what your children will eat while at school and in the home.
"We can control political imagery and make it flutter or with an executive order, shift it further left. We will control your social focus to a soft blur or sharpen it into federal clarity. For the next four years, sit quietly and we will control all you see, hear, consume and be allowed to consider.
"I repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television sets. You are about to participate in a great, Marxist adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from a controlling, centralized government to ... 'The No-Federal-Limits Zone."
...but at least he's nice to the help ...
Excuse me, sir, but is your wife faking it? Orgasm, that is? A study at Indiana University, which seems to have an ongoing and abundant interest in these matters, finds that more than a third of women say the last time they did the mattress mambo, they failed to achieve satisfaction.
(It remains unclear why Indiana U. has a department that obsesses about sex. Of course, if you're stuck in Bloomington, Indiana, and your football team is a perpetual loser ...)
As the late Paul Harvey used to say, "Not why, just what ..."
A British airport, plagued with flocks of birds that were a threat to aircraft safety, tried all kinds of sounds to frighten them away before they found the one that worked. Songs by Tina Turner.
The hacker that wrecked my computer also erased my entire contact list. If you have ever contacted me by e-mail, please send another message, however brief, so I can re-enter you in my contact list.
Also ... if declaring war on Nigeria ever comes up for a vote ... SUPPORT IT!
As reported here yesterday, my primary computer was hacked. According to my computer wizard, it originated in Nigeria, where such criminal behavior is rampant.
If you are (well, WERE; my contacts were erased) on my mailing list and got an absurd note written by a semi-literate person suggesting I was stranded in Manila, you know the story.
My archives and most working materials were destroyed.
Thus, the daily blog is suspended for the time being. Please check in from time to time; we'll resume ASAP.
Just as I was leaving for a few days of R & R, Yahoo located and replaced most of my missing material. Look for the usual mix of vision and vitriol Saturday or Sunday, including some painful truths about the election results.
I hope several columnists and commentators now understand my earlier warnings about mistaking wishful thinking for analysis.
Here is part of the column I was intending to post on November 8, post-election. Upon reviewing it today, I decided it was just as applicable now as then, with the following addition:
A society begins to crumble as realization spreads that its core institutions are not to be trusted. We are rapidly reaching that point.
Facts:
Barack Obama is a liar. Demonstrably and repeatedly.
David Petraeus, the very definition of a political general, is a liar as demonstrated by his telling a congressional committee that he supported Obama's fairytale that the Benghazi, Libya, murders were the result of a spontaneous reaction to a video. He's also, according to many in a position to know, a posturing phony whose dictum that American troops should put themselves at greater risk by getting closer to Muslims to "appreciate their culture" got many of them killed. Such nonsense doubtless stems from his much-lauded collection of degrees from Ivy League universities.
Hillary Clinton is a liar -- not for the first or only time -- for propagating the same Benghazi myth when she damned well knew better.
Susan Rice is a liar -- and she's Obama's choice to succeed Hillary at the State Department! Now he wants her to be seen as a poor little black girl being victimized by those mean old white men.
Eric Holder, Attorney General and gun-smuggler, has a record of deceit that requires no elaboration.
Space prohibits listing the entire cast of under-liars like that pathetic spokesparrot Jay Carney.
Petraeus' successor as military commander in the world's toilet, the Muslim middle-east, is General John Allen, another political general with a zipper problem who likely babbled national security secrets to one or more bimbos with whom he and Petraeus apparently had some sort of time-share arrangement.
The Big Media, as we've long known, are infested with liars. So are some of the smaller-fry in that world, starting with CNN and MSNBC. And while an attempt to "broaden the base" is understandable, Fox News sacrifices credibility with serious people when it gives exposure to a buffoon like Geraldo Rivera whose talents are better suited to such ventures as his hyped opening of Al Capone's vault several years ago, yielding ... a few old empty bottles.
I hope to resume the daily schedule shortly. First, however, I must deal with a minor but annoying health situation.
Now, to recapitulate the lost column ...
Bill Clinton, perjurer, contributed the laugh-line of the entire campaign: "Who wants a president who will knowingly, repeatedly, tell you something you know isn't true?"
The answer: upward of 51% of American voters.
Anybody surprised that New Black Panthers, menacing white voters with clubs, were back at Philadelphia voting places? After all, this is the street gang that did the same thing in the previous national election and Obama's racist Attorney General, Comrade Eric Holder, refused to prosecute them for it.
News reports indicate that in hundreds of voting districts, ZERO votes were cast for Romney. Was the election crooked? Of course.
Regardless of the election outcome, one thing Republicans should remember from the campaign: Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is never to be trusted. He's a double-agent.
Following Obama around Joisey like an adoring puppy-dog just before the election was demeaning and disgusting.
Thomas Sowell reminds us of what's been lost as a result of Obama ...
"You do not have a self-governing people when "czars" are created by Executive Orders, so that individuals wielding vast powers equal to, or greater than, the powers of Cabinet members do not have to be vetted and confirmed by the people's elected representatives in the Senate, as Cabinet members must be.
"You do not have a self-governing people when decisions to take military action are referred to the United Nations and the Arab League, but not to the Congress of the United States, elected by the American people, whose blood and treasure are squandered.
"You do not have a self-governing people when ... unelected officials of the Federal Reserve System can create its own money out of thin air, instead of being financed by appropriations voted by elected members of Congress who have to justify their priorities and trade-offs to the taxpaying public.
"You do not have a self-governing people when laws passed by the Congress, signed by previous Presidents, and approved by the federal courts, can have the current President waive whatever sections he does not like, and refuse to enforce those sections, despite his oath to see that the laws are faithfully executed." (Immigration laws being an example. -- Ed.)
Reliable reports continue to surface; reports that Iranian-born Valerie Jarrett, Obama's closest advisor, has been engaged in secret talks with Iran that may lead to a post-election deal that will allow Iran to continue pursuit of nuclear weapons with Obama's approval, provided certain "promises" are made.
I leave it to you to decide just how much Iranian promises are worth.
Supreme Court Justice Scalia on the difficulty of restoring constitutional law after four years of Obama ...
“You know, people used to say when they don’t like something that’s going on, they say: 'There ought to be a law,' said Scalia.
Makes you proud to be a taxpayer ...
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joyfully announces that $900,000 of U.S. taxpayer money is being given to help women start businesses ... in Peru and El Salvador.
Reader Sheila offers a quote from history that remains viable ...
"There are two ways to conquer & enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt." -- John Adams 1826
A lesson Barack Obama and his sheeple obviously never learned.
...but at least he's nice to the help ...
Excuse me, sir, but is your wife faking it? Orgasm, that is? A study at Indiana University, which seems to have an ongoing and abundant interest in these matters, finds that more than a third of women say the last time they did the mattress mambo, they failed to achieve satisfaction.
(It remains unclear why Indiana U. has a department that obsesses about sex. Of course, if you're stuck in Bloomington, Indiana, and your football team is a perpetual loser ...)
As the late Paul Harvey used to say, "Not why, just what ..."
A British airport, plagued with flocks of birds that were a threat to aircraft safety, tried all kinds of sounds to frighten them away before they found the one that worked. Songs by Tina Turner.
Reader Dave says he picked this up on TV early this morning ...
"This is your President speaking. There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. We will control the horizontal, the vertical, your healthcare, light bulbs, your personal vehicle and what your children will eat while at school and in the home.
"We can control political imagery and make it flutter or with an executive order, shift it further left. We will control your social focus to a soft blur or sharpen it into federal clarity. For the next four years, sit quietly and we will control all you see, hear, consume and be allowed to consider.
"I repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television. You are about to participate in a great, Marxist adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from a controlling, centralized government to ... The No-Federal-Limits Zone."
November 18 –
ROMNEY'S LOSS BEGAN 50 YEARS
AGO...
PETRAEUS A PATRIOT? ...
HOSTESS WITH THE LEAST-EST
At the risk of offending liberals/progressives/socialists/communists by adopting one of their pet terms, let us address “root causes.”
While conservatives are sorting thru the rubble of the election searching for reasons why more than half of American voters chose to continue an utterly failed presidency in the midst of economic disaster and foreign policy failures while mired in a slough of lies, they might look at the real root cause.
The radicals who cheered for Che Guevara, communist murderer and spat upon American troops returning from Vietnam achieved their long-term goal. They infiltrated the structure of American education. They and their acolytes took advantage of the deeply-held respect for teachers ingrained in generations of parents while spoon-feeding their children the very political doctrine other Americans had died resisting. “America is evil, socialism is good, etc. etc.”
American parents let them get away with it. And now we see the result.
- - - - -
Precisely what grade of moron believes Attorney General Eric Holder didn't tell Obama that the head of the CIA, Petraeus, was being investigated long before the election?
- - - - -
Please. Let us hear no more bullfeathers from or
about General Petraeus and his noble commitment to “Duty, honor,
country.” The man knew he was lying – to Congress, yet – when he
went along with the bogus story that the Benghazi murders were
provoked by some video about Muslims.
He's a self-aggrandizing scumbag who not only
betrayed his wife, he betrayed the whole country. In a rational
world, he'd have his scrawny butt thrown in prison for perjury.
- - - - -
One ongoing episode and its permutations tells
you all you need to know about liberals' understanding of
economics.
Hostess is a company that makes bakery
products. Twinkies, Ho-Ho's, Wonder Bread and cupcakes are its
best-known products. It is in a competitive industry. It got
caught in a cost vs. price bind. It was forced by economic
circumstances to tell its workers it could no longer continue
doing business on a money-losing basis.
Union leaders and activists evidently
thought the company could, should and would continue to pay
workers wages and benefits, regardless of economic realities.
They thought wrong. The company, bankrupt,
has gone out of business, causing 18,000 workers to lose their
jobs.
Unions certainly have a place and an
obligation to obtain for workers the best pay, benefits and
working conditions that economic circumstances permit.
But no matter how fervently union activists wish to believe
otherwise there are immutable laws of economics, the first of
which is: If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be
your downfall.
Now, typical of leftist thinking,
there are actually demands that the government take over Hostess
... and keep cranking out those Twinkies!
- - - - -
Lovers of sweet junk-food are in distress over the shut-down of Hostess, purveyor of such goods. Many complain they can't find a Ho-Ho anywhere. Yet Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. John Allen managed to find at least one apiece.
- - - - -
Jay Leno
:General Petraeus agreed to testify before
Congress. I guess he figured, 'Why not?' Those
questions can't be any tougher than the ones he's getting at
home right now."
Why did Obama want to downplay the FACT that the Benghazi murders came in a terrorist attack? Because it makes obvious that his claim that “Al Qaeda is defeated” was a blatant lie and undermined his sophomoric stance that (as a fellow Muslim?) his overtures to that murderous culture had improved relations with its adherents.
- - - - -
Here's the American – make that “human” –
mentality in a nutshell:
Poll-taker – “At what level of income should
a person pay higher taxes?”
Citizen – “Anyone who makes ten grand a year
more than I get.”
- - - - -
Put up a candidate who throws softballs at his opponent – Dole, McCain and yes, Romney – you lose. Unless you're luck enough to draw a buffoon as an opponent – a Dukakis or Gore – the chance of victory is slim.
While it is a sad fact that most Americans are so ill-informed
the Benghazi murders had little impact (especially given media
collusion in the cover-up), a strong attack by Romney in the
final debate might have made some small difference. Instead, he
didn't even mention the outrageous lies and dereliction of duty
by Obama.
The Tea Party element within the Republican
party has made mistakes – the choice of idiots as Senate
candidates in Indiana and Missouri, plus the Nevada debacle that
allowed Harry Reid to keep his seat two years ago – the fact
remains that they have given some badly-needed backbone to the
GOP.
By the way, I'll be surprised if House
Speaker John Boehner doesn't cave in to Obama on a tax increase,
however it may be disguised. Also look for “comprehensive
immigration reform,” for which Republicans will get no credit;
only more opposing votes. And what will we get? Mark Steyn probably has it right
…
“Republicans think they're importing hardworking
immigrants who want a shot at the American Dream; the Democrats
think they're importing clients for Big Government. The Left is
right: Just under 60 percent of immigrants receive some form of
welfare. I see the recent Republican proposals for some form of
amnesty contain all sorts of supposed safeguards against gaming
the system, including a $525 application fee for each stage of
the legalization process. On my own recent visit to a U.S.
Immigration office, I was interested to be told that, as a
matter of policy, the Obama administration is now
rubber-stamping all 'fee waiver' requests for 'exceptional
hardship' filed by members of approved identity groups. And so
it will go for all those GOP safeguards. While Canada and
Australia compete for high-skilled immigrants, America
fast-tracks an unskilled welfare class of such economic benefit
to their new homeland they can't even afford a couple of hundred
bucks for the necessary paperwork.”
- - - - -
Middle-East Arabs have clearly
decided that they can now attack Israel without fear that the
U.S. will intervene or support the beleaguered little island of
Democracy surrounded by an ocean of Muslim hatred. It is equally
clear that the Israelis now understand that they are on their
own with no expectation of support from Barack Hussein Obama.
If Israel comes to a bottom-line choice of
either use their nuclear weapons or face extinction … well,
which would you do?
And yet American Jews still voted overwhelmingly
for Barack Hussein Obama.
Amazing.
- - - - -
Note to Ashleigh Banfield of CNN: Yes, Jerusalem IS the capital of Israel. Dope.
- - - - -
Here's how one small business has chosen to deal
with the expensive burden imposed by Obamacare.
This particular businessman owns several
fast-food franchised restaurants; a half-dozen or so.
Collectively they employ a couple of hundred people – enough
that he would be required to provide the stipulated Obamacare
health plan. He sold them individually for one dollar each to
his family members and for about $500 in legal fees he converted
his company into five or six smaller companies, none employing
more than 49 people. Presto! No need to comply with Obamacare!
- - - - -
“Among the objections to ObamaCare, one that has not gotten as much attention as it should is the president's power to waive the law for any company, union or other enterprise he chooses.
“The 14th Amendment to the Constitution provides for 'equal protection of the laws' for all Americans. To have a law that can cost an organization millions of dollars a year either apply or not apply, depending on the whim or political interest of the President of the United States, is to make a mockery of the rule of law.
“How secure is any freedom when there is this kind of arbitrary power in the hands of one man?”
- - - - -
A life in radio ... (Cont.) ... the
Chicago mob ...
I
spent a good part of my early radio career in Chicago --
two turns adding up to more than a dozen
years. You can't live in
Chi-town that long, especially in a job with a fairly high
level of media visibility, without getting to know a bit
about the mobsters who've long played a prominent role in
the politics, economic and social structure of the
city.
Here are a few more
examples from personal experience.
I lived most of my time in
Chicago on one of the highest floors of one of the Marina
City round towers that were a Chicago landmark located on
State Street at the Chicago River, just north of the loop.
Bertrand Goldberg, the architect who designed the
then-revolutionary project, was a friend of a friend and
got me a great deal on an apartment there.
My upstairs neighbor,
directly above my apartment, turned out to be Murray "The
Camel" Humphries who was the equivalent of Meyer Lansky as
counsellor and solon of the Big Five of the Chicago Mafia.
He was always pleasant
in the elevator and I didn't know who/what he was for my
first few years in the building. Eventually he died in his
apartment. Natural causes. When the police had to remove
the solid-steel door he'd installed in order to get it,
they found that his master-bedroom closet, directly above
mine, was full of weapons and enough explosives to
decapitate the building.
My
late travel business partner had one of Chicago's Big Five
Mafiosi marry into his family. The bride didn't know what
Joe "Little Caesar" DiVarco really did for a living (you
can look him up on the internet) until their honeymoon,
when he gave her a sketchy summary and informed her that
the only way out -- for her or him -- was "feet first."
Joe
had worked his way up by being a hit-man for Sam Giancana
and was known to have murdered at least 37 men without
ever spending a night in jail for any of his hits.
He ran gambling, vice and the
"juice" racket (short-term loans at extortionate rates) on
Chicago's north side and owned "The Shirt Shop," a modest
menswear store on Rush Street in the nightclub district,
as a front for his business. His bookmaking operation
alone was reported to take in over a million dollars a
week. Nicest, most soft-spoken chap you'd ever want to
meet. I made it a point during our few casual meetings
never to annoy him.
One
of my best friends was a promotion guy for Decca Records.
His family name ended in a vowel, and only after a long
acquaintance did I learn that Sam "Momo" Giancana had
grown up with him. As little boys, they'd even slept in
the same bed when his family took the Giancana lad in from
a life on the street.
They
remained
friends, although their lives took very different paths.
My friend was totally legit; Sam killed people for a
living.
Periodically
they'd
get together for lunch or dinner and Sam would ask if
there was anything his childhood friend needed. The answer
was always, "Thanks, but nothing."
At
the time I was dating a young woman whose ex-husband was
discharged from the Marine Corps on grounds of being
mentally disturbed. He'd returned to Chicago from
California and had begun calling and threatening her.
I
casually mentioned it to my record-promoter friend over
lunch and he replied noncomittally.
A
few days later he asked if my lady friend was still having
problems with her ex- and I told him the calls had
suddenly stopped. Suddenly an alarming possibility
occurred to me. I asked if he'd mentioned my lady friend's
little "problem" to Sam.
Slowly
--
and it was like pulling teeth -- he admitted that, while
he told Sam -- as he always did -- that he needed no
favors himself, he did mention a minor annoyance a friend
(me) was having.
He
hastily added that nothing disabling had happened to the
ex-husband -- whom the police had been unable to find, by
the way. It seems he had been found and visited by a
couple of large men, one of whom was carrying a baseball
bat, and handed a one-way airline ticket to Los Angeles.
It had been explained to him that he could use the ticket
and never return to Chicago ... or he could say goodbye to
his kneecaps.
However
mentally
disturbed he may have otherwise been, the choice was not
difficult.
- - - - -
Jay Leno –
"The economy is
so bad MSNBC had to lay off 300 Obama spokesmen. The
economy is so bad, President Obama sent Susan Rice out to
defend it.”
- - - - -
If the terrorists who attacked the U.S. consulate had committed adultery with the four Americans instead of killing them, in two hours we'd have known all there was to know about the attack and the attackers.
The sex scandal cost General Petraeus any chance of the GOP nomination for president in four years, however it virtually guarantees him the Democratic nomination.
Bill Clinton just asked Paula Broadwell to write his life story.
General John Allen's nomination as NATO commander was held up Tuesday. There is evidence that Allen engaged in phone sex and sex-texting with Petraeus's groupie Jill Kelley. At one point in the transcript, she gets so aroused she offered to be his biographer.
Congress and the White House are approaching the fiscal cliff and President Obama's campaign slogan is 'Forward'.
November 19 –
HOW
DARE THOSE JEWS DEFEND
THEMSELVES! …
IS
SUSAN LOSIN' HILLARY'S JOB? …
REMINDER:
BUSINESS DOES NOT
PAY
TAXES
Here
we go again with the perpetual Arab whine …
“Those
mean, evil Israelis are shooting back at us just because we fire
rockets at them, blow them up with suicide bombers and kidnap
them!
How dare they defend themselves when all we want to do is
exterminate
them?!
- - - - -
If,
as Barack Obama insists, UN Ambassador Susan Rice had nothing to
do
with the Benghazi murders, then responsible Big Media reporters
should be asking, “Then why was she sent out to lie about it?”
But
they don't. We know why, of course. Most are unprincipled whores
for
the Obama leftist agenda. To them, Stalin was just a
misunderstood
agrarian reformer.
Meantime,
the question looms: Will Obama still nominate Susan Rice to
replace
Hillary as Secretary of State? Or will he name the lugubrious
John
Kerry?
- - - - -
Word
that many restaurants are planning to raise prices because of
the
costs imposed by Obamacare should come as no surprise to any
rational
person – a designation, of course, that excludes liberals.
Prof.
Arthur Laffer enunciated the principle in the most basic terms
when
he said, “Business doesn't pay taxes; business collects
taxes for the government.”
Silly
people, of course, are infatuated with the idea that the
government
should force businesses to pay more taxes, blissfully unaware
that in
order to operate, those businesses must necessarily pass that
cost
along to the customer.
-
- - - -
Stunned as you may be by the fact that a majority of U.S. voters chose to reward a bungling Marxist president with a second term in face of the facts that the economy is a shambles, foreign policy a sick joke and every driver faces the more-than-doubled price of gasoline with every visit to a pump, be assured that the fools who chose this path are being and will continue to be punished for their stupidity, even if it does keep those government freebies coming. At least for awhile.
Alas, so will the rest of us pay for the racist voting by black Americans (whatever happened to "the content of our character rather than the color of our skin?") and foolish younger people, many of them women, who are so ill-informed or outright dumb that they believed such nonsense as "Romney will prohibit birth control." And we mustn't forget the freeloaders.
Here is another manifestation of a failed economy. Last week I took a driving trip that, although not long, did put me on three different interstate highways normally heavily used by vacationers. Except for the truckers doing their jobs, I drove for miles with only a few cars to be seen. Gee, you think maybe the price of gasoline might be the reason?
Regarding those truckers ... the manager of our local supermarket -- part of a major chain -- advised us that big price increases are coming next month, dictated by the high cost of fuel to run those trucks that deliver the groceries. So much for city-dwelling socialists who think they're immune to gasoline prices because "I use public transportation."
The prediction attributed to Norman Thomas, who ran for president in a half-dozen times as an overt socialist, has come to pass: "The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."
Only now, of course, the Marxists prefer to be called "progressives" rather than liberals.
"The key point about Barack Obama is not that he's a secret Muslim Kenyan Commie or whatever. Whether he was born in Honolulu or Mombasa or Stockholm or up on Planet Zongo, what matters ... is that in his general worldview he is entirely typical and perfectly representative of tens upon tens of millions of Americans. Tuesday's majority confirmed that. They don't need a 'conspiracy': They agree with him. That's the problem." -- columnist Mark Steyn
- - - - -
Does
it not seem like a perversion of government that highly-placed
officials with life-and-death responsibilites have come to rely
upon
“talking points” not only for public statements but even in
responding to congressional questions where truth is both vital
and
necessary?
The
outstanding example, of course, is Petraeus's lies about the
Benghazi
murders being caused by a video when he knew damned well it was
a
terrorist attack unrelated to such nonsense. A former general
and
head of the CIA had to rely on “talking points?” Bull-bleep!
- - - - -
Columnist
line of the day –
“President
Obama treats the truth the way Bill Clinton treated blue dresses
on
interns.” – Col. Ralph Peters, U.S. Army (ret.), NY Post
- - - - -
We are indebted to Dan Mitchell (Townhall.com) for calling attention to some of the hare-brained ideas of bureaucrats on the public payroll who have far too much time on their hands …
A Rhode Island boy got in trouble for bringing toy soldiers to school.
A student in San Diego got in trouble for making a motion detector for a science project, simply because someone decided it resembled a bomb.
A Florida student was expelled for having a toy gun on school property.
We also have regulations in Maryland governing the application of sunscreen at summer camps.
And proposals in Seattle to require life vests on swimmer who are more than five feet from shore.
- - - - -
Reader
Wes asks a pertinent question …
“With
Twinkies gone, what will be the next idiotic courtroom defense?”
- - - - -
I
am neither the first nor last to lament the homogenization of
radio.
As a longtime – and quite successful – veteran of the endless
radio wars, I'm well acquainted with the economics of the
industry,
which include the increasing reliance upon syndicated programs;
push
a button (or have it done by automation) and there's your
programming, usually cheap and often free for simply carrying
the
included commercials. From a management standpoint, it's a
no-brainer.
From the listener's
standpoint it means sameness from one end of the dial to the
other,
from coast-to-coast.
I am particularly
sympathetic to truckers and others who drive a lot at night.
Sunset
to sunrise once brought in a wonderland of wildly varied radio
made
possible by the nighttime skywave effect of AM signals bouncing
off
the ionosphere and bringing in far-away stations with an endless
array of programs.
The all-night shows
ranged from American Airlines' "Music 'til Dawn" on major
CBS stations, all with different hosts ... to rock music on WABC
or
WLS ... to the sugary tones of Franklin McCormick on WGN ... to
Jazzbo Collins on KSFO ... to Long John Nebel and his cast of
weirdos
on WOR ... to "Moonglow with Martin" on WWL.
The programs were as varied as the call letters: KFI, KOA, KSL,
WHO,
KFAB, WCCO, WNBC, WLS, KMPC, WSM, WSB, WOAI, WJJD, Mexican
border
stations beginning with "X" carrying people like Wolfman
Jack and on and on.
Those voices out of
the night sparked my childhood interest in radio. I regret their
loss, and I'm sorry for the truckers and other folk whose
headlights remind other
drivers that they're not entirely alone in the darkness on the
Interstates. They are deprived of the rich variety that once
filled
the airwaves.
I have nothing against
"Coast-to-Coast AM," but must it be on every unimaginative
owner's station? In fact, in today's corporate radio world, I
wonder
how many top broadcasting executives ever listen to their own
stations. Few, I
suspect.
- - - - -
Cindy Adams' (NY Post) description of the sort of women who lure aging males (generals, politicos, etc.) into career-destroying liaisons …
“Some toxic bitch ignited by money/rank/position often zaps many a worthy. She’s younger, thinner, more nubile than the weary burdened body he’s lain next to for decades, and like a circus aerialist or contortionist, there’s no position she can’t assume. Her animal magnetism renders him powerless.”
Today's message to media folk (print division): The expression is “TOE the line,” not “TOW the line.” Likely origin is the military, when troops were ordered to form orderly ranks in straight lines with toes on a marked line. The larger meaning is to conform.
- - - - -
Argus
Hamilton --
"Staples
Center's bid to build an NFL stadium in Los Angeles got the
green
light Friday. The builders agreed to construct affordable
housing and
hire ex-felons. This is the first indication that the Raiders
are
returning to Los Angeles."
- - - - -
Blame
reader Jack for this one …
“When
your gecko is broken, you have a reptile dysfunction.”
- - - - -
"New research revealed that the closer you live to a bar, the more likely you are to become a heavy drinker. And the closer you live to Dunkin' Donuts, the more likely you are to become the governor of New Jersey."
November 20 –
RE ELECTIONS: NOTHING IS FOREVER …
IMPORTED MEXICAN TWINKIES COMING? …
UNIVERSITY ANTI-COULTER, PRO-BESTIALITY
A post-election reminder for
all parties, in the interest of the mental health of both
winners and losers:
The pendulum always swings.
Always.
Sometimes slowly (witness the former Soviet
Union) … but it does
swing.
Today's winners are tomorrow's
losers … and vice-versa.
- - - - -
A reality
check on the collapse of Hostess bakeries …
“As much as he and his fellow
union bosses try to spin and finger-point the results of the
union’s actions that destroyed the Ding Dongs, bakery union boss
Frank Hurt admits that his union members knew that their strike
could kill Hostess:
'Our members decided they were not going to
take any more abuse from a company they have given so much to
for so many years. They decided that they were not going
to agree to another round of outrageous wage and benefit cuts
and give up their pension only to see yet another management
team fail and Wall Street vulture capitalists and 'restructuring
specialists' walk away with untold millions of dollars.
'Throughout this long and difficult process,
BCTGM members showed tremendous courage, solidarity and devotion
to principle. They were well aware of the potential
consequences of their actions but stood strong for dignity,
justice and respect.'
"And, now, no matter how union bosses try to
spin it, 18,000 Hostess workers-with their dignity, justice and
respct intact-are now destined to stand with their hands out in
the unemployment line." - RedState.com
- - - - -
Business news …
Twinkies, the best-known product of the late,
great Hostess bakeries, may be saved after all.
Grupo Bimbo (really!), a publicly traded
bakery concern that ranks as the world's largest bread maker, is
considering buying the bankrupt company. It's a Mexican
company. Thus any Twinkies in your future will be
imported.
We are unable to confirm rumors that the company is negotiating to use a photo of David Petraeus's mistress as the company logo.
- - - - -
Argus Hamilton –
“General David Petraeus's biography by Paula Broadwell soared on the bestseller lists. Their affair cast suspicions on all biographers and their subjects. Doris Kearns Goodwin went on five talk shows to deny that she's been sleeping with Abe Lincoln.”
Let's take a quick check: Just how many “moderate” Muslims have come out in opposition to the rocket attacks on Israel?
- - - - -
A
few readers criticized me bitterly for my own observation
that Missouri and Indiana Republicans were stupid to choose
two idiots with bizarre views of rape as their Senate
candidates.
Both took the
easily-predictable ass-kicking in the election, costing the
party two Senate seats that should have been easily won.
For some reason, I have yet to hear
apologies from those critics.
- - - - -
The decline of Western
Civilization (cont.) …
Jesuit-run Fordham University has banned
Ann Coulter from speaking there, but welcomes an address by
Peter Singer, who advocates the killing of unwanted children
and the mentally handicapped and favors humans having sex with
animals.
- - - - -
How your government, run by morons, manages to drive
us deeper into debt …
“Ask not what you can do for your country, but what
your new country can do for you.
'Welcome to USA.gov.', a website maintained by the Department of Homeland Security’s
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS), bills itself as the 'primary gateway for new
immigrants to find basic information on how to settle in the
United States' — featuring a prominent section for new
immigrants about how to access government benefits.
"'Depending on your immigration status,
length of time in the United States, and income, you may be
eligible for some federal benefit programs,' the Web page
reads," - The Daily Caller
- - - - -
Jay Leno --
"There are now reports that President Obama will name Massachusetts Senator John Kerry to be the next secretary of defense. Apparently this is part of America's new defense strategy to bore our enemies to death."
A few hours after this is
written I will be undergoing a minor, routine (to medical
professionals, almost all procedures are “routine”) adventure at
the University of Arizona Medical Center.
I am assured that there's a 97% chance it
will be uneventful.
I mention this not to promote a pity-party; I
long ago learned this lesson: “Never tell people about your
troubles. Half aren't interested and much of the other half are
glad you're getting what you deserve.”
Instead, I mention it to lay a serious
guilt-trip on my sainted Dr. Laura by letting her know that if
things go awry, she will compromise a serious fact-finding
mission to the Caribbean three weeks hence.
My words for medical professionals to live
by: “Physician, heal thyself. But first, heal me.”
- - - - -
A Dan Sorkin post-election contribution …A labor union rep walks into a bar next door to the factory and is about to order a drink to celebrate Obama’s victory when he sees a guy close by wearing a Romney for President button and two beers in front of him. He doesn't have to be an Einstein to know that this guy is a Republican. So, he shouts over to the bartender so loudly that everyone can hear, "Drinks for everyone in here, bartender, but not for the Republican."
Soon after the drinks have been handed out, the Republican gives him a big smile, waves at him, then says, "Thank you!" in an equally loud voice. This infuriates the union rep.
The union rep once again loudly orders drinks for everyone except the Republican. As before, this does not seem to bother the Republican. He continues to smile, and again yells, "Thank you!"
The union man once again loudly orders drinks for everyone except the Republican. As before, this does not seem to bother the Republican. He continues to smile, and again yells, "Thank you!"
The union man asks the bartender, "What the hell is the matter with that Republican? I've ordered three rounds of drinks for everyone in the bar but him, and all the silly ass does is smile and thanks me. Is he nuts?"
"Nope," replies the bartender. "He owns the place."
November 21 –
THEY WANT YOU
DEAD, CONVERTED OR ENSLAVED …
GEITHNER WANTS
UNLIMITED DEBT …
A PATRIOT'S
SHOPPING GUIDE
As you
digest
news from the rocket attacks on Israel and the shadowy contacts
between the Hamas terrorist group and the Obama administration,
keep
in mind this quote from the Hamas covenant, their guiding
document
...
"Article Eight: The Slogan of
the Islamic Resistance Movement: Allah is its target, the
Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its
path
and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its
wishes." [Page 5]
- - - - -
Reality reminder: A member of my own (extended) family encountered a young man with a pronounced middle-east accent working at the local supermarket. Out of friendly curiosity, she asked him where he came from.
“I was
born here,” he replied. “I am a Muslim.”
“Oh,”
she responded, “Then you're a Muslim-American.”
Glaring at
her, he retorted, “No! I am a MUSLIM.”
The priorities
are clear: Muslim first, last and always.
- - - - -
How
predictable …
The
NBC/MSNBC mediaplex leading the way in complaining that not
enough
Israelis are being killed compared to Palestinians in the latest
round of war started by Palestinians firing rockets into
Israel.
- - - - -
“A cartoon
image comes to mind. A mother breaks up a fight between two
children,
one of whom offers this defense: “It started when he hit me
back.”
"Remember
that mentality when you hear Palestinians call Israel 'the
aggressor.' Hamas fired hundreds, perhaps 1,000 missiles into
Israel from Gaza. They hit schools, apartment buildings, streets
and
vacant lots.
“So, yes,
naturally, the war started when Israel hit back.
“ No
matter its losses, the Jewish state must never 'escalate'
because
that would be unfair.
"Think about that:
Affirmative action has come to the battlefield, where the
results
must be level for the sake of fairness. Coming soon, the demand
that
Israel turn over half of its weapons to its enemies.
“Meanwhile,
Syrian leaders slaughter tens of thousands of their fellow
Muslims,
but the world turns away. The dead opponents would have been
featured
by CNN if they had died at the hands of Israel.” – Michael
Goodwin, NY Post
- - - - -
Here is
what
passes for thinking from the idiot that Obama put in charge of
the
Treasury Department, the guardian of the nation's wallet:
Timothy
Geithner, the tax-dodging sophomoric airhead who occupies that
office, went on television and said that the nation should have
NO
ceiling on debt. Unlimited borrowing.
Try that on
your household budgeting and see how it works out. Better yet,
watch
any of the news coverage from Greece and you can observe the
results
of such a policy at the national level. If you can see thru the
smoke
from the riots.
Time to
again recite the mantra. “We live … in a land … run by morons.”
- - - - -
Argus
Hamilton –
“Hostess
shut down bakery plants and went into bankruptcy due to a
bakers'
strike. The judge ordered mediation. Eighteen thousand workers
could
soon be collecting unemployment and disability, which today is
known
as winning the lottery."
- - - - -
Long before
becoming Senator Diane Feinstein of California, DiFi (as she's
known
locally) was mayor of San Francisco. She did a pretty good job
of
walking the line between productive business and working people
and
the lunatics who constitute the city's majority population.
She and I were once even teammates in the debate over
home-porting in San Francisco
the retired battleship "Missouri" upon which the treaty
ending World War Two was signed. In the end, the "City of Love"
couldn't have a symbol of war on the premises! (One of the
reasons I
enjoyed working twenty-five years for ABC in San Francisco: It
was
what the military calls "a target-rich environment.")
Now, in the twilight of life and career, it appears
DiFi
may -- MAY -- have decided to place truth and honor above
party
politics. She is expressing growing skepticism about the lies
Susan
Rice, our UN ambassador, told about the Benghazi murders,
prompted by
Obama and Hillary.
This bears
watching.
- - - - -
If reliance on “talking points” were to be made subject to harsh legal penalties, two-thirds of politicians, most bureaucrats and the entire on-camera staff at MSNBC would be unemployed.
- - - - -
One reason
I love
living in Arizona …
During the
occupancy of the White House by a left-wing socialist who favors
banning guns, sales of firearms have soared.
Cope
Reynolds owns a gun store, the Southwest Shooting Authority,
located
in Pinetop, Arizona, in the northeastern mountains. Cope took
out a post-election
full-page ad in the local newspaper delivering this messaage:
"If
you voted for Barack Obama your business is not welcome." And
placed a sign on his shop's door saying, "If you voted for
Obama, please turn around and leave! You have proven you are not
responsible enough to own a firearm."
- - - - -
Columnist Frank
Fleming (NY Post) concludes that the status quo is just fine
with the
American voter -- more than half of them,
anyway ...
"Our country has faced many problems and gone through many
changes, but finally Americans have come together and said, Yes!
Right
here — this is exactly where we want America.
"At
least, that’s what the recent election tells us — the American
people resoundingly said, 'Don’t change a thing.'
"They
chose Barack Obama as president to propose bold, new ideas to
control
the economy, a Republican House to stop most of that, and a
Democratic Senate to refrain from passing one of those pesky,
restrictive budgets.
"Anyway,
we shouldn’t worry about it, because in this perfect America,
we’re
not really into problem solving right now. We’re in more of our
“backpacking through Europe after college” phase. We just won’t
worry about the big things and will instead take some time off
to
find ourselves. We can start tackling those problems . . .
later.
Whenever the can-kicking thing stops working.So let’s all just
enjoy this utopian America we’ve found, for as long as it
lasts."
- - - - -
Reader
Robert
offers advice on pro-American shopping …
Sometime this year, we taxpayers will
again receive another 'Economic Stimulus' payment. This is a
very exciting program, and I'll explain it by using a Q &A
format:
Q. What is an 'Economic Stimulus' payment ?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to
taxpayers.
Q. Where will the government get this money ?
A. From taxpayers.
Q. So the government is giving me back my own money ?
A. Only a smidgen of it.
Q. What is the purpose of this payment ?
A. The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a
high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.
Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ?
A. Shut up.
Here is some helpful advice on how to best help the U.S. Economy
by spending your stimulus check wisely:
If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, the money will go
to China or Sri Lanka .
If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to the Arabs.
If you purchase a computer, it will go to India , Taiwan or
China .
If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico ,
Honduras and Guatemala ..
If you buy an efficient car, it will go to Japan or Korea .
If you purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan .
If you pay your credit cards off, or buy stock, it will go to
management
bonuses and they will hide it offshore.
Instead, keep the money in America by:
1) Spending it at yard sales, or
2) Going to ball games, or
3) Spending it on prostitutes, or
4) Beer or
5) Tattoos.
(These are the only
American businesses still operating in the U.S. )
Conclusion: Go to a ball game with a tattooed prostitute
that you met at a yard sale and drink beer all day !
No need to
thank me, I'm just glad I could be of help.
"We are at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it has been said if we lost that war, and in doing so lost this way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening. ... If we lost freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth." – Ronald Reagan, quoted in the Patriot Post
He could have been speaking today.
- - - - -
Argus Hamilton
--
" The Postal Service said last
year it lost sixteen billion dollars, making it the most
profitable
department in the U.S. government."
- - - - -
Happened in
Wichita, Kansas. Mugger robs a man of his wallet and cellphone
…
then recognizes his victim as a guy with whom he'd done time
in the
same prison. Gave him the man's stuff back to him, and went on
his way.
- - - - -
Mr. Sorkin with an alarming but eventually rewarding tale ...
An elderly woman went to the doctor's office where she was seen by one of the older doctors. After about four minutes in the examination room, she burst out screaming as she ran down the hall.
A younger doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was.
After listening, he had her sit down and relax in another room.
The young doctor marched down the hallway back to where the old doctor was writing on his clipboard.
"What the Hell is the matter with you?!" the young doctor demanded. "Mrs.Terry is 71 years old, has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?!"
The old doctor continued writing, and without looking up said, "Does she still have the hiccups?"
November 22
–
LET GLUTTONY REIGN! …
OBAMA – TO ASIANS, A SLOB …
THE TURKEY-FLUFFER RETURNS
Happy
bird-day! And if you can't think of anything
else for which to be thankful, at least be grateful you're not a
turkey!
- - - - -
Prediction: Today will see a record number of intra-family fights over politics.
- - - - -
“What do people here call turkeys?” The guide, who'd doubtless heard the question a thousand times, quickly replied, “Americans.”
- - - -
- - - - -
If you want
to get a painful reminder of just how
ignorant and ill-informed most of your fellow citizens are, ask
the
next ten people you meet to explain the term “fiscal cliff” that
is so much in the news these days.
Most likely response: “He's a muscular guy
named Clifford.”
No wonder we get the kind of presidential
choices they make.
(Clue to the ignorant: “fiscal cliff” refers
to our economy emulating the finale of “Thelma and Louise.”)
- - - - -
CNN swallowed whole the staged piece of Hamas propaganda about the dead Palestinian baby and the funeral for the victim of an Israeli raid (who walked away as soon as the cameras left), leaving open the question, “Why would anyone take this 'news' network seriously?"
- - - - -
A point to
contemplate ...
Am
I alone in this observation?
Based on
election results and public commentary, it seems that more
American
Gentiles -- like me -- than American Jews support Israel's
interests
vis a vis their Muslim neighbors.
"Is
... a ... puzzlement!" -- Yul Brynner, "The King and I."
- - - - -
Thomas
Sowell (RealClearPolitics) illuminates just
one aspect of union idiocy that pushed Hostess Bakeries, makers
of
Twinkies, Ho-Ho's, Wonder Bread and other products, into
bankruptcy …
“The work rules
imposed in union contracts
required the company that makes Twinkies, which also makes
Wonder
Bread, to deliver these two products to stores in separate
trucks.
Moreover, truck drivers were not allowed to load either of these
products into their trucks. And the people who did load Twinkies
into
trucks were not allowed to load Wonder Bread, and vice versa.
“All of this was
obviously intended to create
more jobs for the unions' members. But the needless additional
costs
that these make-work rules created ended up driving the company
into
bankruptcy.”
And Trumka, the union thug, gets
richer.
- - - - -
Obama
dispatched Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton to the middle-east to try to broker a cease-fire between
Israel and the Hamas terrorists (the deal had been reached
before her arrival). One might wonder just how
even-handed Hillary could be expected to be, since she once
referred to
Bill's campaign advisor, Dick Morris, as “that dirty Jew.”
This latest trip abroad does achieve one
purpose: It helps her avoid, at least for now, answering
questions
from Congress about her total screw-up of Benghazi.
- - - - -
Burt
Prelutsky assesses Petraeus' pratfall ...
"The bigger message we can take away from the rise and fall of
Mr. Petraeus is that we would all do well to stop making heroes
out
of people we don’t really know. It’s bad enough when teenagers
glom onto entertainers and athletes, but at least one can hope
they’ll eventually grow out of wanting to emulate the likes of
Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Michael Vick and Lance
Armstrong.
"Just keep in mind that
just about everyone you see in the movies, on TV, in the stadium
or
arena or read about in newspapers and magazines, has a publicity
person on salary whose job is to promote their image. Nobody
ever
hired a flack to make them look bad. Therefore, when you read
about
some famous person who finally gets caught misbehaving, it’s
safe
to assume you don’t know the half of it."
...and on the presidency ...
"Just
when was it decided that a position that had been held by the
likes
of Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Madison, James Monroe,
John
Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, Daniel Webster,
William
Jennings Bryan, George Marshall and John Foster Dulles, would
become
nothing more than the final rung on the ladder of affirmative
action?"
- - - - -
BULLETIN!
A vital public-service notice: A reader
tips me off
to major news!
The infamous “turkey fluffer” Thanksgiving
radio episode is now on YouTube under the title “Lee Rogers
(yes,
they omitted the 'd') and Melanie Morgan interview a turkey
tucker.”
It was/is one of the all-time great radio moments.
On the same page … the memorable KSFO anthem,
“Sound of the City.”
- - - - -
Liberal
tolerance. An oxymoron.
I was reminded of this by a note from an old acquaintance (I use
the
word "friend" sparingly, as explained below*) who was upset
by my criticism of Obama. He is a liberal and therefore of the
view
that anyone who disagrees with the Dear Leader should be
silenced.
He apparently has forgotten, or
chooses to forget, that at a time when his career was in the
doldrums
and money was short, I put bread on his table by giving him
radio
work over the opposition of the president of the company, who
didn't like his
performance. Those paychecks sustained him for many months. The
fact
that we had opposing political views did not influence my
decision;
his family needed help ... I helped.
Nevertheless, he is so wedded to his ideology that he now, in
his
dotage, denounces me. Given the circumstances, I feel no sense
of
loss.
* -- Friendship. I long ago formulated my own working
definItion of a real friend, as follows: A friend is someone you
could call
at 3AM from Tijuana jail with a reasonable expectation that the
person would make some effort to gain your release.
This may not fit a biblical profile, but I regard it as a
reasonable
bottom-line test.
- - - - -
Conan
O'Brien --
"According to a
new
study, humans may be gradually losing their intelligence. The
study
was conducted by watching four minutes of 'Here Comes Honey Boo
Boo.'"
- - - - -
Your word for the day: Squanto. (If you've forgotten, look it up!)
- - - - -
November 23 –
HAMAS
STOPS SHOOTING – TO RELOAD …
JESSE
JR., THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE …
ILL-MANNERED
OBAMA
Get
your bets down early on this: Just how long do you expect the
latest
“cease-fire” deal terrorist group Hamas made with Israel will
last?
Long-term,
this can only end one of two ways. Either with the extinction of
Israel, or the Muslim crazies given such a beating it will take
centuries, not decades, for them to recover. And it will
probably
involve mushroom clouds over Tehran, Cairo, Damascus and
possibly a
few other places.
- - - - -
What?!
A politician makes sense?! Yes.
Governor Terry Branstad of
Iowa wants to get rid of that silly straw poll in his state as
the
first step in nominating Republican presidential candidates.
It's about time that piece of silliness was
eliminated. You have to pay to get in and vote, and the
candidate who
buys the most tickets for supporters usually wins,
It
raises money for the state Republican party. Other than that, it
merely distorts the nominating process.
- -
- - -
There is a lesson in this so obvious it need not even be discussed. Race-based voting, pure and simple.
- - - - -
“The
best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation
with
the average voter.” – Winston Churchill
- -
- - -
A
woman who works at the nearby Walmart here in Arizona says the
union that wants to organize Walmart employees flew in outsiders
to stage a "strike."
The local employees mostly don't want to
strike, and detest the union tactics.
Wes Pruden, editor emeritus, Washington Times, with a footnote to the shut-down of Hostess bakeries, producer of Twinkies, Ho-Hos, Wonder Bread, etc. ...
“Forbes magazine observed earlier this year that Hostess 'is saddled with 372 collective bargaining agreements, 80 different health and pension benefit plans and workers’ compensation costs that last year hit $52 million, which works out to over $2,700 for each of its employes.'”
Thus do unions commit suicide.
- - - - -
While
most people here and abroad refer to this nation as a democracy,
it
is in fact a republic. Professor Walter Williams takes note of
the
substantive difference ...
"How many
decisions in our day-to-day lives would we like to be made
through
majority rule or the democratic process? How about the decision
to
watch a football game or 'Law and Order'? What about whether to
purchase a Chevrolet Volt or a Toyota Prius? Would you like the
decision of whether to have turkey or ham for Thanksgiving
dinner to
be made through the democratic process? Were such decisions made
in
the political arena, most of us would deem it tyranny.
"Democracy and majority rule give an aura of
legitimacy and decency to acts that would otherwise be deemed
tyranny. Most people would agree that having our decisions on
what
television shows to watch, what kind of car we'll purchase and
what
we'll eat for Thanksgiving dinner made through the democratic
process
is tyranny. Why isn't it also tyranny for the political process
to
determine decisions such as how much should be put aside out of
our
paycheck for retirement; whether we purchase health insurance or
not;
what type of light bulbs we use; or whether we purchase 32- or
16-ounce soda containers?
"The
founders of our nation held a deep abhorrence for democracy and
majority rule. The word democracy appears in neither of our
founding
documents: our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
"John Adams predicted, 'Remember, democracy
never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.
There
was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.'
"In a word or two, the founders knew that a
democracy would lead to the same kind of tyranny the colonies
suffered under King George III. Our founders intended for us to
have
a republican form of limited government where political
decision-making is kept to the minimum."
-
- - - -
"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. "
Janet
Napolitano,
head of the Department of Homeland (in)Security, has
pronounced that “we have no greater friend than France.”
That,
by any measure, is nonsense. This woman is a fool on every
imaginable
level. Which makes her a perfect fit in the Obama
administration, a
coterie of fools, Marxists and and anti-American
subversives.
- - - - -
Investors
Business Daily takes note of some of Obama's bungling on his
Asia
trip …
“It
was obvious enough from the rubelike gaffes that the
president hasn't
been particularly interested or attentive to the affairs
of Thailand,
Burma or Cambodia as he made his first trip since his
re-election. It
was pretty much all style over substance.
“In
his tour of Burma, billed as an historic first visit since
Burma's
2007 move to democracy, it was clear he was in way over his
head,
even on small things. Obama repeatedly referred to the
country's
Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader Aung San Suu Kyi as Aung
Yan Suu
Kyi, an astonishing error given her global fame.
“He
also bungled the norms of Burmese polite address, calling
Thein Sein,
the nation's leader "President Sein," an error comparable
to addressing Cambodia's Pol Pot as Mr. Pot.
“But
he
also undermined his supposed democracy mission, first by
telling
the Burmese leaders that he too wished he could govern
without
opposition, calling into question whether he himself
believed in the
representative government he was advocating.
“On his trip to
Cambodia,
a country he claimed didn't deserve a visit due to its
strongman
government, first lady Bun Rany greeted Obama with a
traditional
"sampeah" pressed-hands greeting reserved for servants, a
little dig that was probably lost on him but not to
Asians.”
The man is a fool and a national embarrassment – and his acolytes are too dumb to realize it.
- - - - -
I
have, not for the first time, some unkind words about America's
education establishment; words of the sort that once resulted in
the
high honor of my name being placed on the enemies list of a
California teachers' union.
In
recent years, doubtless for honorable reasons, educators have
tried
to eliminate friction and even competition from the school
environment. Carried to extremes, this has resulted in such
nonsense
as sports without scores being kept. Equality, regardless of
effort
or ability, has supplanted excellence as a goal.
Is
this preparation for life in the real world? Show me a youngster
who
is led to believe life proceeds in an environment of benevolence
and
I will show you a kid who is going to get his ass kicked and
who, as
an adult, will populate a nation that is unable to distinguish
friend
from foe under the naive assumption that fairness is the
universal
guide to relationships.
And
that way lies disaster.
- - - - -
The nattily-attired (bow to Bob & Ray) George Will notes that after Katrina in 2005, climate-change prophets said major (Category 3 or higher) hurricanes would increase. None has hit the US since that year, the longest period without one since reliable records began being kept in 1851.
- - - - -
Dismaying
news from Argus Hamilton …
“New
Jersey Governor Chris Christie last night dreamed he was eating
a
giant piece of beef jerky, and he woke up the next morning and
his
briefcase was missing.”
- -
- - -
Jim
Eason offers a couple of pet peeves about Radio & TV
folks...
Pronouncing luxury as LUGG-zheree. It's Lucks-uree.
Saying "so and so will be here momentarily" when they mean
"in a moment." Otherwise, so-and-so will show up
and leave pretty soon thereafter.
… and ...
Notice both
Hil-LIAR-y Clintong and Barack the muslim both took credit for,
or
accepted blame for the disaster in North Africa. Why would
they
DARE step up and say "it was me..."???
BECAUSE THEY
KNOW NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. NO PUNISHMENT … NOTHING.
- - - - -
Reader
Gordon leaves us with this touching tale …
A drunken cowboy lay sprawled
across three entire seats in a posh TexasTheater.
When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the
cowboy, "Sorry, sir, but you're only allowed one seat."
The cowboy groaned but didn't budge.
The usher became more impatient. "Sir, if you don't get up
from there I'm going to have to call the manager."
Once again, the cowboy just groaned. The usher marched
briskly back up the aisle, and in a moment he returned with the
manager.
Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move the cowboy,
but with no success.
Finally they summoned the police. The officer surveyed the
situation briefly, then asked, "All right buddy, what's your
name?"
"Fred," the cowboy moaned.
"Where you from Fred?", asked the cop.
With terrible pain in his voice and without moving a muscle,
Fred replied, "The Balcony"
SEC. OF STATE SILLINESS ...
MARK STEYN'S SAGE SUGGESTION
After showing video of the herds of mindless two-legged cattle stampeding into big-box department stores on “black Friday,” two startling examples of the ignorance of media “news” people turned up within thirty seconds of each other on CNN and Fox News.
One bottom-screen banner headline read, “Protests in VEIN” … another spelled the name of Egypt's new dictator “MOHAMED MORSY.”
Just for the record, Muslim outrage aside, Gaza is not occupied by the Israelis.
In fact, the latest round of bloodshed is a direct result of the idiotic “land for peace” deal into which Israel was pressured by the “civilized” western world, specifically including previous U.S. administrations.
Under that pressure, Israel gave the territory known as Gaza to the Arabs, who promptly moved in, destroyed much of the valuable infrastructure the Israelis had built, including greenhouses to produce food, and proceeded to (A) allow the Hamas terrorists to take control (they were never elected to anything) who then (B) used it as a base to launch more attacks killing Israeli citizens.
Dr. L. W. reminds us …
“When they (the Muslims) come to love their children more than they hate the Jews, will there be peace in the Middle East”...Golda Meir
Eliana Johnson in National Review spotlights Democrats' blatant hypocrisy in trying to shield Susan Rice, blatant public liar, from criticism about her prospective appointment to replace Hillary as Secretary of State …
“That didn’t take long. U.N. ambassador Susan Rice has yet to be nominated as secretary of state, but prominent Democrats are already denouncing opposition to her potential nomination as racist on the basis of remarks by Republican senators that she may not be qualified for the job. Would that they had been so sensitive to racial overtones back in 2004, when the African-American nominee for secretary of state, the Republican Ms. Rice, was denounced on the Senate floor and pilloried in racialist cartoons.
“Rice’s nomination, noted the Washington Post, garnered 'the most negative votes cast against a nominee for that post in 180 years.' As the Senate debated her nomination, Senator Barbara Boxer charged that Rice 'frightened the American people' into supporting the Iraq War; Senator Jim Jeffords accused her of being part of an effort to 'distort information' in the service of 'political objectives'; and Senator Pat Leahy, who voted in her favor, endorsed her by saying that her tenure as national-security adviser lacked “strong leadership, openness, and sound judgment.”
“But the remarks of Senate Democrats paled in comparison to the material served up by America’s humorists. Syndicated cartoonist Ted Rall depicted Rice proclaiming herself Bush’s 'house nigga'.”
Demagogue, thy name is Democrat.
Mark Steyn observes the voluptuous Jill Kelly's military connections and suggests she is prepared for the Secretary of State job …
“Jill Kelley is apparently essential to anything that matters in CENTCOM (Central Command, headquartered in Tampa): When Pastor Terry Jones was threatening to burn a Koran, Gen. Allen asked Mrs. Kelley to mediate. When radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge was threatening to 'deep-fat fry' a Koran, Gen. Allen recommended the mayor of Tampa ask Mrs. Kelley to intervene. The U.S. government is responsible for 43 percent of the planet's military spending, and apparently all that gets you is that, when the feces hits the fan, the four-star brass start emailing Jill Kelley of Tampa. If only she'd been hosting a champagne reception at the Sigonella air base in southern Italy, maybe we could have parachuted her into Benghazi to defuse the situation. Jill is the woman Hillary can only dream of being – at the confluence of all the great geostrategic currents of the age. Why didn't we fly Jill Kelley to broker the Gaza deal? Instead of a patsy peddling risible talking-points like Susan Rice, why can't we have Jill Kelley as Secretary of State?”
Burt Prelutsky with a jaundiced view of today's military officers …
“I can’t recall a time when military brass has been quite this tarnished. In addition to Generals David Petraeus and John Allen, we have recently seen 4-star General William (“Kip”) Ward lose two stars for squandering hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars treating himself and his relatives to travel on military jets and luxurious hotel accommodations; and Brig. General Jeffrey Sinclair stands a mighty fine chance of winding up in Leavenworth for raping and sodomizing women in the military and for turning a blind eye to troops under his command in Afghanistan doing the same.”
Argus Hamilton –
“The World's Biggest Liar annual contest was held this week. It's the Super Bowl for storytellers. This year the winner gets an all-expense-paid trip to Washington to explain to Congress who changed the CIA talking points on Benghazi.”
Wonder when those oh-so-blue liberal voters in New York and New Joisey will tell us again what a wonderful job FEMA under Obama has done helping with their storm recovery? Perhaps while they're sitting in the dark, having a Red Cross doughnut.
And Chris Christie is still a fawning, disgusting, sell-out clown for his Obama suck-up.
This could possibly be of value to parents who may be hard-pressed to send their offspring to college. I began life in what was, by any standard, poverty. Over the years I got bits and pieces of college as time and finances allowed.
However, one of the first things I did when I earned a bit more than rent/food/car money was to buy a set of recent but used encyclopedias. I methodically read them in order, cover to cover.
I recognize that for specific research projects the internet has largely replaced the encyclopedia, but the web contains so much unedited and randomly organized material, a good encyclopedia is an excellent source for developing a base of knowledge.
It worked well enough for me that I was invited to guest-lecture at Kansas University and Notre Dame, and lectured weekly at a university extension course in communications for convicts in Leavenworth Federal Prison. The big plus in that experience: nobody ever skipped class.
My star pupil, Morton Prusansky, graduated, was paroled and abandoned his previous career in forged securities fraud and opened a successful advertising agency in New Jersey.
"A philosopher is a person who doesn't care which side his bread is buttered on; he knows he eats both sides anyway."
--- Joyce Brothers, quoted in Jewish World Review
Karma in Oklahoma …
A woman took into her home an abandoned blind, three-legged Dachsund. The dog awakened her when the house caught fire from an electrical short-circuit, saving her and her seven-week-old baby.
"Scientists have created synthetic plastic skin that can heal itself. The synthetic skin is being called revolutionary by doctors and the perfect Christmas gift for Bruce Jenner."
PETRAEUS'S PET & PILLOW TALK …
MEETING LITTLE SATAN'S CARETAKER
Still more proof that liberals are naïve, silly children guided by wishful thinking and never to be trusted with serious
matters …
We all remember the outpouring of liberal enthusiasm for last year's “Arab spring,” highlighted by the constant demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir square that were going to lead to democracy in the world's most populous Arab country, Egypt, following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. The cheering section was led by the old alphabet TV networks – ABC, CBS, NBC plus CNN and MSNBC – and the usual leftist rags like the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, et al.
Now that the Egyptian “Arab spring” movement has culminated in a new and far more reactionary dictatorship under Mr. Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Obama administration assured us was really “moderate” despite its repeatedly-stated intent to establish an Islamic government a la Iran, complete with Sharia law, the oppression of women (talk about a “war on women!”) and all dissent to be suppressed.
Mr. Morsi has now announced that his decrees are final and not to be questioned – the clearest possible identification of a dictatorship. So Egypt has traded one dictator for a far worse dictator, proving again that it is possible to jump from the frying pan into the fire.
The difference from a realistic U.S. perspective is one that liberals will find impossible to accept, or even comprehend. Mubarak was our guy, a politician who, once bought, stayed bought. And kept the peace treaty with Israel while controlling fundamentalist Islamic fanatics.
Now an even worse thug runs Egypt; a man whose aims regarding both Israel and western civilization are crystal clear. Clear, that is, to everyone except liberals and their Pied Piper, Barack Hussein (a pure Arab name) Obama. Even more ominous: the very real possibility that Obama does understand. And at least tacitly approves.
“Iranian leaders did not hide their satisfaction in Mr. Obama’s re-election and the prospect of more negotiations, which, in their view, will buy them more time to develop nuclear weapons” – Reza Kahlili, Iranian and former CIA operative within Iran's Revolutionary Guard, in the Washington Times.
My, my … Let's try to contain our shock that Paula Broadwell's biography of Gen. David Petraeus was actually ghost-written by an editor of ..TA-TA! … the Washington Post! Now it's also revealed that the priapic Petraeus was also giving the lovely Paula Peckerwrecker access to all kinds of government secrets.
Senator Patty Murray, Democrat from the state of Washington, is the new chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
Heaven help us. I once spent an hour doing an in-depth interview with her. Within five minutes, I'd concluded that I wouldn't trust her with parking-meter change. Dumb as the proverbial box of rocks.
What can you expect as Obamacare takes hold? Rick Moran (PJ Media) has a reality check …
“As we get closer to the day when Obamacare moves from threat to reality, it seems probable that the resulting catastrophe for tens of thousands of businesses, as well as the massive increase in premiums for many families, will propel Republicans to majority status in 2014.
“How many businesses will be forced to close shop? How many will cut back on the number of employees to stay in business? How many will refuse to expand, unable to handle the increased costs? How many jobs will Obamacare cost?
“Overall, according to the Congressional Budget Office, ObamaCare could end up costing as many as 800,000 jobs.
You read that correctly: 800,000 jobs. And that’s according to the CBO, a notoriously conservative outfit when it comes to projections. (Its current estimate of Obamacare’s cost from 2014-2023 is $2.6 trillion.)”
Thus do suckers learn hard lessons. Of course, many Obama sycophants aren't worried about job losses because they have no intention of working, anyway.
A pungent observation from reader Todd ...
“We’ve descended from Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death to Give Me My Fair Share or Else (and I’ll tell YOU what’s fair).”
… and Rick adds...
"We Americans got so tired of being thought of as dumbasses by the rest of the world that we went to the polls this November and removed all doubt."
The following echoes a piece first published during the Thanksgiving holiday hustle-and-bustle when readership declines. I believe it worth repeating ...
I am about to be unkind to education. Not for the first time; I long ago had the honor of making the enemies list of a California teachers' union.
With what I assume to be good intentions, educators have long made efforts to eliminate conflict from the classroom and the school playground. Children are taught to be nice to each other. The humiliation of losing a ball-game has been eliminated in many schools by abolishing score-keeping.
I submit that, while these policies and practices may be noble in many respects, they are poor preparation for life in the real world with its ever-present possibility of victimization by the bad folk who either didn't have the benefit of such a civilizing education or chose to ignore it. It also results in an adult population that is unable to distinguish between the nation's allies, adversaries and outright enemies.
Such education is also a lame basis for understanding the bloody conflicts always present on some part of the planet. How, for example, would you tell a young Israeli to make nice with a Palestinian terrorist who is intent upon killing him or her?
Rough-housing on the playground is now discouraged. A good thing? Yes. But such behavior did have the beneficial effect of teaching one where and how to look for allies when the going got tough. Show me a kid who has been taught to avoid conflict or confrontation, and I'll show you a kid who's going to get his ass kicked by less-restrained contemporaries.
Or, more tragically, unable to even decide what's in his own best interests -- much less defend them -- when he faces the big, bad real world as an adult.
A life in radio... (cont.) ...
My luncheon with Satan's God(?)mother -- a true story.
My first venture into the management side of broadcasting came when I was hired by the Pulitzer organization. As I've often said, working for them was no prize. The family had gone thru the standard evolution of generational deterioration from the publishing giant who founded it, but their media holdings were still impressive.
Their St. Louis home-base radio station, KSD, was powerful but dead in the ratings, with programming that was outdated by about thirty years. I was brought in to fix it. And did. Took it to #2 in the ratings in months, hot on the heels of longtime legendary giant KMOX. Beat them in listeners under age 50, the target demographic then and now for most advertisers. I'm not saying such audience targeting by advertising agencies is smart; it just ... is. That's where and how the big bucks are spent on media messages.
Chuck Renwick was corporate head of programming for Storer Broadcasting, which had an impressive lineup of stations: WHN in New York, KGBS in LA, WGBS in Miami, WJBK in Detroit and WJW, Cleveland. He'd heard my on-air work in Chicago and knew of my success in bringing a dead KSD back to life.
He called and asked me to fly to New York to discuss an on-air job at WHN. I'd be meeting a legendary broadcasting executive who managed the station. John Van Buren Sullivan had built WNEW into the New York leader and was now in charge of WHN.
After a pleasant chat, Mr. Sullivan suggested we meet a couple of his friends for lunch. Knowing he was well-connected in New York high society, I was prepared for anything. But not quite.
We took a taxi from the WHN Park Avenue offices to the Plaza Hotel. At the Oak Room, Mr. Sullivan was greeted like visiting royalty.
A side note: A few nights previously I had seen the movie "Rosemary's Baby," starring Mia Farrow as a young woman well into pregnancy when she and her husband moved into a New York apartment. The next door neighbors, an older couple, were very kind and attentive and the woman very helpful to the young bride. At the conclusion, we learn that Mia has somehow become pregnant by ... Satan! And the lady next door was on assignment from the devil to make sure Little Satan arrived safely.
Mr. Sullivan and I are conducted to his table ... his guests had already arrived ... and seated across from me was famed stage actress Ruth Gordon, who played the lady next door in the motion picture. She was accompanied by her husband, renowned playwright Garson Kanin, possibly the most charming male human alive.
I remember not one word of the lively conversation over lunch, fixated as I was on the realization that I'M HAVING LUNCH WITH SATAN'S GODMOTHER!
It was winter in New York and the city was having one of its interminable garbage strikes. Even in the cold, the city was ... aromatic. After three days of apartment-hunting in Manhattan's East 60's and 70's, where Mr. Sullivan insisted a WHN on-air person must live, I was walking back one evening to the Americana Hotel, where I'd been blowing my expense account on room service.
I passed the famous "21" restaurant, and had to walk out in the street to get around a twenty-foot pile of garbage. I was fed up. I called Chuck Renwick and said, "I just don't want to live in New York. For me, the cliche is true. It's a nice place to visit ..."
"Say no more," he replied. “We need a program director to do for WGBS in Miami what you've done for KSD in St. Louis."
I went ... spent five fruitful years ... and best of all, met my wife there. For that, I thank the Sanitation Workers' Union of New York!
Footnote: When I turned down the New York job, a friend took it. He somehow got involved with a WHN executive's secretary, who was also playing mattress polo with her boss. They were into exotic amusements involving whips, chains, etc. They were somehow found out and all three were fired.
I've been unable to prove it, but I believe somehow that Satan, Senior or Junior, may have been involved.
You know about Murphy's laws regarding things that go wrong. Reader Sheila reminds us of a few more ...
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't. (Clearly derived from "Never bring a knife to a gunfight.")
The things that come to those who wait, may be the things left by those who got there first.
God gave you toes as a device for finding furniture in the dark. (The wisdom of Steven Wright)
The readers write ...
"The San Francisco board of stupidvisors voted 6-5 to limit public nudity in most places, public parks etc, except for Gay Parade & street fairs. The advantage to public nudity is the absence of concealed weapons. -- Paul in the Holy City of Burlingame, Ca.
WHAT NIXON UNDERSTOOD & ROMNEY DIDN'T …
THE FUTILITY OF REPUBLICAN PANDERING
Eternal truth department …
The Democratic Party can always depend upon the support of those whose creed is, “I want something and I want the government to make somebody else pay for it.”
Some real history: Richard M. Nixon and political reality …
This is not a nomination for sainthood for the late President Nixon. Perhaps his most outrageous piece of deception was his repeated campaign claim that “I have a plan to end the (Vietnam) war,” usually accompanied by a pat on his suit jacket to indicate a meaningful document in the inside pocket.
We found out years later that he did, indeed, have a plan: Quit and give up.
Richard Nixon did, however, have an understanding of politics as played by Democrats, especially those of the Chicago school of political savagery with which I am acquainted. It was and is amazing that the late Mayor Daley and his political descendants managed to keep an iron grip on the huge black vote in Chicago while administering one of the most-segregated big cities in America with the worst public schools that did – and do – turn out some of the most poorly-educated young people in the country. Yet he convinced black voters he was their friend and benefactor.
The basic tactic of Chicago-style politics was not simply to defeat an opponent, but destroy him. Chicago's Democrat pols had “enemies lists” long before Nixon ever heard of them. The Daley machine did and does survive not only by rewarding friends but by punishing adversaries – and their supporters. Current Mayor Rahm Emanuel, ex-Obama henchman, is a product of the Daley School of Deception.
I am reminded of all this by the perennial Republican intra-party debate, especially after an election defeat. Learning nothing from the victories of Ronald Reagan, the party establishment advocates “moderation” that translates into telling voters, “We're just like the Democrats, only a little less so.” A guaranteed loser.
A current example of this sort of dead-end thinking is enthusiasm among some Republicans to support “comprehensive immigration reform”; code-words for legalizing people who have violated the law by entering the U.S. illegally.
Here's a reality check: Republicans will get no support or gratitude from those Latinos and other ethnic groups who will benefit – or think they'll benefit – from this action. It will result only in more Democrat voters. Politically, it is a fool's errand, serving only to annoy people who believe our laws should be enforced, not subverted.
The Nixonian response would likely be, “Screw 'em. What've they ever done for us?” And roadblock any such effort. Reward friends, punish enemies. The word that applies is “realpolitik.” Nixon would have understood.
Footnotes: I live in a part of Arizona heavily populated by Mexican-born or descended citizens, some from families that have lived here since long before Arizona gained statehood 100 years ago – the last of the 48 mainland states. Those folk are largely – and often vehemently – opposed to granting illegals the benefits of citizenship which they, themselves, gained legally. The local Border Patrol is also heavily populated by Mexican-descended agents. They want our laws enforced.
I got closer to the workings of Chicago politics than most folk when, as one of the early wave of talk-radio hosts, my producer was the daughter of then-Mayor Jane Byrne, a successor to the original Mayor Daley. She was a fine – and very bright -- young lady. Her mom had the interesting habit of getting deeply into adult beverages late at night and calling our overnight host, the late Chicago Eddie Schwartz, and talking about the intrigues within Chicago politics.
Our excellent news reporters and legendary talk-host Dave Baum were also well-wired into sources within the Daley machine. They knew what was going on.
Burt Prelutsky's view of our largest -- and growing -- minority ...
"The majority of Hispanics do not, like former waves of immigrants, come to America with the idea of assimilating. Also, unlike the immigrants who came here from Europe and Asia, they do not place a high premium on getting an education.
"As for the much-vaunted religiosity of Hispanics, old women may still attend church regularly. Young Hispanics, however, prefer spending their time in other ways, which has resulted in a 50% illegitimacy rate in their community."
... and regarding the trio of Governors Christie, Jindal and columnist George Will who undercut Romney ...
"Of the three Republican thugs who fell on Romney, the worst, as you might expect, is the gargantuan Chris Christie, who was last seen strolling hand-in-hand with Barack Obama the week prior to the election. One could have gotten the idea that the two found each other as a result of filling out eHarmony questionnaires. After all, it seems they both like cheeseburgers and ice cream cones and moonlight walks through hurricane-ravaged communities."
Worth repeating ..
"Our Constitutional Republic died a peaceful death on November 6, 2012. Having reached the point of no return in a comatose state after years of progressive and illegal immigration assaults, the fabric of conservative society is now completely unraveled and Uncle Sam’s America is no more.The United States of America is now relegated to the dust bin of history as a has-been empire.
"The Supreme Court will be forever altered after its last conservative members will be replaced by the liberal academics who call themselves “progressives.” The rule of law will be implemented by Executive Orders, making Congress irrelevant.
"The communist motto 'Forward' that resonated with so many ignorant Americans will plunge us into many years of darkness from which we will never be able to recover. We have proven our Founding Fathers right, they did give us a Constitutional Republic and we were unable to maintain it.
"The welfare dependent Americans, unions, and illegal aliens have chosen for the rest of us the dark path of serfdom to big government and to socialist utopia.
"Americans chose high unemployment, reduction of our military, communist indoctrination of their children, and loss of personal freedoms unlike we have never seen before in this country.
"Mediocrity, sloth, godlessness, dependence, cowardice, using the law selectively or ignoring it, and hopeless corruption will define the new country." -- Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh
Especially for media folk …
Let us resolve the confusion over “imply” and “infer.” They are not synonymous. The writer/speaker IMPLIES. The reader, listener INFERS. Thus the proper response to a hinted controversial subject is, “Are you IMPLYING …?” rather than “Are you INFERRING …?”
Then there's the ever-popular confusion involving “farther” and “further.” Again, they are not synonyms. FARTHER refers to a distance measurable in inches, feet or miles – or time. FURTHER is generally used when the subject is abstract, as in extending a debate point by saying, “Further ...”
Submitted with a low bow to my friend the Wordman, Richard Lederer.
Do USC fans seriously believe Lane Kiffin is a competent football coach? With a chance to upset #1 Notre Dame, this dunce, inches from the goal line, ran out the clock on himself with an exercise in futility. He ran five times into the well-known core of Irish strength, the defensive line and linebackers. And failed … and lost.
Now it looks as if Notre Dame will likely play Alabama for the national championship. Two great defenses. Could it end in a scoreless tie?
Meantime, Ohio State fans will say their undefeated but ineligible team is the best in the nation.
Reader John forwards this piece of common sense ...
The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever.
Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us to "Please Do Not Feed the Animals." Their stated reason for the policy is because the animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves.
Let’s have the Park Service administer Food Stamps. (And Section 8 Housing, etc.)
Len the haiku master offers this tribute to the late, great bakery …
The Hostess is dead.
No more union made cup cakes.
Wonder Bread is toast.
Good advice from reader Jack …
“Follow your dreams. Except that one where you suddenly find you're naked in church.”
SOME “CUTS” ILLUSORY …
PEARL HARBOR REVISITED
Don't expect Obama to be overly-upset over Morsi's power-grab and move toward Sharia law in Egypt. After all, Obama himself said on his recent Asia trip that there were times when he wished he could rule without interference from Congress.
What to watch for during debate – and reporting – over the budget and especially “spending cuts”: Are proposed cuts real … or simply cuts in anticipated increases? It's an old, old political game.
Say supporters of a program – social or military – have planned on a ten-billion dollar increase in next year's budget, but have to settle for only a five-billion dollar increase. Shrieking like pigs at a slaughterhouse, they call it a cut. And the “cutters” proclaim their virtue as budgeteers, even while spending more of your money.
Argus Hamilton …
“The Taliban spokesman pushed the wrong laptop button and accidentally published the e-mail list of their fighters last week. What a find. We learned that many of their suicide bombers volunteered after their wives found e-mail to them from Paula Broadwell.”
The Democrats' obsession with symbolism over substance reminds me of an incident at an airport in Morocco.
Agadir is a resort town on the Atlantic Coast of Morocco. I was visiting there several years ago. When it came time to fly north to Casablanca for my connecting flight to the U.S., I noticed that all departing passengers had to walk thru a gate that looked much like the metal detectors common at most of the world's airports.
On closer inspection, it became obvious that the gate was nothing more than vertical two-by-fours placed about three feet apart and seven feet high, connected by another and shorter piece across the top and covered with cloth. No detecting device at all; it just looked like one.
The resemblance to liberal politics: Government programs built on glittering rhetoric about solving a problem but failing because they suffered the fundamental flaw of appearing real but accomplishing nothing despite the expense. Simply start with LBJ's "war on poverty" and work forward thru relaxed standards in education, mortgage eligibility and finally Obamacare, which promised to save on health care costs but will actually cost more.
Michael reminds us that December has five Saturdays and five Sundays … something that happens once very 823 years.
Kent Lattig gives a tongue-in-cheek twist to history based on the Obama/Hillary/Susan Rice fairytale about the Benghazi murders being caused by an anti-Muslim video …
Cambridge, Mass. -- Celebrated historian Bertram Oxley has uncovered a memorandum from former Japanese Emperor Hirohito to Admiral Yamamoto dated December 6, 1941, showing that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was motivated by an offensive film made by Charlie Chaplin ridiculing Japanese cuisine.
“Contrary to historical accounts over the last seventy years,” Professor Oxley said in an interview today with the BBC, “What appeared to be a meticulously planned surprise attack was actually a spontaneous demonstration by moderate sushi connoisseurs in the Imperial Navy in response to a hateful and offensive movie. Thereafter, extremist elements within the Japanese military co-opted the spontaneous attack, transforming it into the overseas contingency operation sometimes referred to as ‘World War II.’”
The discovery has created a sensation in scholarly circles. “This is a remarkable find,” declared Reginald Smythe, chairman of the Progressive Historians Association and former Obama State Department official. “Had President Roosevelt condemned this movie — instead of uttering that infernal ‘Day of Infamy’ provocation — the war could have been avoided and millions of lives would have been saved.”
Reached at his home in Houston, former President George H. W. Bush, an aviator in the Pacific during the war, expressed skepticism. “It’s simply inconceivable that the Japanese First Air Fleet, with six aircraft carriers, could have staged a spur of the moment attack on an island thousands of nautical miles from the Japanese homeland with such stealth and precision.” Most experts dismissed Mr. Bush’s remarks, however, since it’s widely understood that World War II was primarily his son’s fault.
White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked this afternoon about the memo’s discovery stated, “Of course, hindsight’s 20-20. But one can only wonder how much pain and suffering could have been averted had FDR simply apologized to Hirohito at the outset.”
“Fortunately,” Carney continued, waving off questions from White House reporters anxious to return to questions about Mitt Romney’s grooming habits, “We’ve evolved to a more sophisticated strategy of leading from behind, so we’re unlikely to repeat the disastrous mistakes of the past.”
Distressing news from reader Jack …
“My short-term memory is not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my short-term memory isn't as sharp as it used to be.”
A BUDGET DEAL IS SUCKER-BAIT …
COLLEGE COST CHICANERY
Reality check: Susan Rice, prospective nominee to replace Hillary (she of no accomplishments) as Secretary of State, has placed herself in one of only two categories with her repeated falsehoods about the murders in Benghazi being a spontaneous outburst spawned by a (non-existent) demonstration.
The woman is either a blatant liar or a stupid dupe parroting lies that originated in the White House. There are no other options. But Barack Obama, having conned a gullible public in so many ways, is clearly convinced he can sell her nomination by playing the “poor little black girl being abused by evil white men” fable.
Actually, she'd be a perfect fit in his subversive, fraudulent administration … right alongside such appointees as racist/liar/gun-runner Eric Holder at the Justice Department, his tax-dodging Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, his power-mad EPA boss, etc.
Regular readers of this daily source of enlightenment will recall my oft-stated positions that (A) conservative commentators often mistake wishful thinking for analysis and (B) that the larger segment of the body politic knows little and cares less about overseas events, even including the murder of a U.S. ambassador in Libya. Thus it was foolish naivete to believe even such a heinous crime would sway a presidential election.
Those who presume to have influence on behalf of the Republican Party need to reacquaint themselves with the timeless wisdom of H. L. Mencken, who observed that “nobody ever went broke (by) underestimating the American public.
Automotive news ...
Government Motors announces it's bringing out an electric mini-car. Uh, guys ... bulletin: We already have them. They're called "golf carts."
Again we're hearing talk about a deal to avoid the “fiscal cliff” … a deal involving Republicans allowing some form of tax increase, perhaps by way of removing some deductions, while Democrats would offer budget cuts.
As reader Katherine, among others, recalls … the Democrats made the same promise at least as far back as the Reagan presidency. Never have the promised cuts in government spending actually materialized, so don't count on it this time.
Besides, as pointed out here previously, the “cuts” are almost invariably a sham deal in which a government department or agency asks for a 20% increase in their budget, settles for 10%, then boasts of their thrift or laments the pain caused by the phony reductions.
One of government's larger ongoing frauds is perpetrated in the holy name of “affordable education.” Generous government subsidies and cut-rate student loans are simply a siphoning hose running from the education establishment – i.e., college administrators and tenured faculty – into the pocket of the taxpayer.
The correlation is obvious. The cost of college increases much faster than the cost of other products and services because the “educators” know very well that, instead of being asked to control their costs, every price increase results in a corresponding increase in government funds made available to meet those higher prices.
It's a circuitous sucker-game in which the taxpayers are the suckers.
Photos of yet another cadre of naked protestors, this time displaying themselves at Cong. John Boehner's office, remind us again that the worst thing about such exhibitions is that so many participants look a helluva lot better with clothes on – and the more garments, the better.
The critical difference about our immigration policy as compared to those of most other nations in this world is this: While we focus upon the needs of the immigrant, even illegals, who are statistically likely to become dependent on government (i.e., taxpayer-supported) services, other countries place their own national needs and priorities in the forefront.
You might find it useful to check (via the internet) on the immigration policies of such oft-mentioned destinations as Australia, New Zealand, Spain, et al. You will quickly learn that (A) if they don't need your skills or investment money, you're unlikely to be permitted to immigrate and get a job ... and (B) you certainly won't be allowed to freeload on government programs. If planning retirement, you must bring assets to prove self-support.
“Thinking about buying a house? Or a municipal bond? Be careful where you put your capital. Don’t put it in a state at high risk of a fiscal tailspin.
“Eleven states make our list of danger spots for investors. They can look forward to a rising tax burden, deteriorating state finances and an exodus of employers. The list includes California, New York, Illinois and Ohio, along with some smaller states like New Mexico and Hawaii.
“If you have money in municipal bonds, clean up the portfolio. Sell holdings from the sick states and reinvest where you’re less likely to get clipped. Nebraska and Virginia are unlikely to give their bondholders a Greek haircut. California and New York are comparatively risky.
“Two factors determine whether a state makes this elite list of fiscal hellholes. The first is whether it has more takers than makers. A taker is someone who draws money from the government, as an employee, pensioner or welfare recipient. A maker is someone gainfully employed in the private sector. Let’s say you are a software entrepreneur with 100 on your payroll. If you stay in San Francisco, your crew will support 139 takers. In Texas, they would support only 82. Austin looks very attractive.
“It’s easy to see how California got on our list. It has pampered a large army of civil servants while using every imaginable trick to chase private-sector jobs away.” – William Baldwin, Forbes Magazine
Angus Jones who plays “Jake,” the youngest of the three male stars of “Two-and-a-Half Men” says he'd like to be fired from the show because of its trashy content. Presumably, quitting would violate his contract and subject him to possible legal action.
Upon reflection, he's decided to “walk back” (in the political vernacular) his statement.
Nevertheless, his abhorrence of what he describes as the “filth” on the show reminds me of the country song, “I'm ashamed of what we're doing, but not ashamed enough to stop.”
“Kiss of death” department: When the liberal Washington Post's political column “The Fix” named New Jersey's Governor/Obama buttkisser Chris Christie “The most popular Republican in America,” his hopes for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 just died. The editor of the NY Times would be an equivalent candidate.
Jay Nordlinger (National Review) offers this observation about race and politics …
“Republicans nominate black men and women to run for office, and those men and women are beaten by white liberal Democrats, fair and square. Then the Democrats taunt the Republican party, saying, 'Ha-ha: You have no black officeholders. Racists.'
“I remember the year 2006: Lynn Swann was the GOP gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania; Michael Steele was the GOP Senate nominee in Maryland; Ken Blackwell was the GOP gubernatorial nominee in Ohio. They were all beaten by garden-variety white liberals. Fine. But then the Democrats got to say, “Ha-ha:' You have no black officeholders. Racists.'
“This year, Republicans adored Mia Love, who ran for Congress in Utah. She lost. And they adore Allen West, who lost after one term.”
And again the Democrats shout, “Racists! You have no black officeholders!"
For those seriously concerned about yesterday's insignificant and incorrect filler item contributed by a reader ... the one regarding how often five Saturdays and Sundays occur in the month of December ... be assured that I will track down the perpetrator, beat him savagely and leave his battered carcass to the coyotes and wolves in the desert.
Now ... is everybody happy? If such trivia is a major concern in your life, I DO envy you!
For Californians, Eric of Santa Rosa offers a haiku about the latest political insanity in the former Golden State …
Cap and trade is here.
Businesses wither and die...
Happy now, Al Gore?
The Sky-guy offers this vignette about three ladies discussing the distressing aspects of growing older...
One said, "Sometimes I catch myself with a jar of mayonnaise in my hand, while standing in front of the refrigerator, and I can't remember whether I need to put it away, or had started to make a sandwich."
The second lady chimed in with, "Yes, sometimes I find myself on the landing of the stairs and can't remember whether I was on my way up or on my way down."
The third responded, "I'm glad I don't have that problem, knock on wood," as she rapped her knuckles on the table. Then said, "that must be the door, I'll get it!"
EDUCATION BOUGHT WITH THE BITTER COIN OF EXPERIENCE …
LOOK SOUTHWARD TO SEE YOUR FUTURE
Many people who think of themselves as part of the great American middle-class and have allowed themselves to be deluded into believing that "taxing the rich" will solve the nation's enormous debt problem are due for a rude awakening.
It has been suggested that they might benefit from a moment's reflection on a quote attributed to the late and famous bank robber, Willie Sutton. When asked, "Why do you rob banks?" his response was, "Because that's where the money is."
If "raising revenues," the Democrat euphemism for higher taxes, is the answer to the economic catastrophe we're facing, here's a bulletin for that great middle-class: You are where the money is, and if Washington really intends to increase revenue, you are the bank they're going to rob. If Obama's bandits robbed every millionaire in the country of every penny they have, it would only run our bloated government for a few weeks, and do nothing toward reducing our debt.
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Sometimes – and I regret to say this may be one of those times – the only way an electorate can learn that it's made a major blunder is to let the fools they elect have their way, allowing the chips to fall where they may.
Even though the intelligent may well be punished along with those who've supported this national foolishness, it is often the only way to teach the ignorant painful lessons that need to be learned.
I strongly suspect that painful lessons will, indeed, be learned in the next four years.
“Fasten your seat belts … it's gonna be a bumpy night.” -- Bette Davis in “All About Eve.”
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Reader Rodger writes …
“As the end of the Mayan calendar approaches (Dec 21), and the world waits to see how the predicted apocalypse will manifest itself, I submit that the Mayans missed the actual data by a couple months. The actual apocalypse occurred on Nov 6.”
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In this space we have often pointed to Argentina, as well as Greece, as the model for our own future under an irresponsible government. Argentina has now edged closer to the precipice of collapse with a lowered bond rating, indicating that it is a higher-risk borrowing nation and may default on its debts.
What would default – i.e., failure to pay money it's borrowed from people and nations that bought its bonds – mean to the average person in Argentina, Greece – or the U.S.?
This: Any further borrowed money would carry a much higher interest rate in order to justify the risk, thus further wrecking the economy and lessening government income from domestic taxes. Or … the government would be unable to borrow more at all.
The result would be the same either way: All those cherished government social programs would collapse, simply because there'd be no money to pay for them.
America, look at Greece and Argentina and you are looking at your own future if idiotic ideologues are allowed to continue to build their socialist playpen in Washington.
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Winston Churchill not only inspired the British people to fight a lonely war in the early days of World War Two, he seems to have foreseen the future threat to Western civilization. From the Daily Caller ...
“In his new book called “Churchill, the Prophetic Statesman,” former presidential speechwriter James C. Humes says Churchill did something close to that in a 1921 speech to the House of Commons.
“'He witnessed a radical militant Islamic sect that he asserted was more violent than any religious sect in history, willing to die in jihad to ensure heaven — the Wahabis.'”
That sect was -- and is – the driving force behind the fundamentalist fanaticism that spawned such terrorist groups as Al Qaeda.
This might cause a thoughtful person to ask, “Where is today's Churchill?” One thing certain – he is NOT in the White House.
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“California's biggest export is people with a great idea for a new business.” – Argus Hamilton
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Gennifer Flowers was a guest on my talk program several times during the scandal years that followed revelations that she'd been doing the horizontal cha-cha with Bill Clinton in the 1990's. Once when I asked her, “If you had it to do over again …?” she quickly responded (jokingly -- I think!), “I'd have dated Lee Rodgers instead.”
My producer played the recording of that line over and over again for years on the show.
Apparently Gennifer, who's also a pretty good singer, had talents ol' Billy Jeff couldn't forget. She tells a talk-host on WGNO, New Orleans, that he called her up as late as 2005, presumably seeking to … ahem … renew acquaintance.
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On immigration ..
“Enforcement is still the primary issue in the immigration reform debate, as it should be.
“In the debates over the 2006 and 2007 amnesty proposals, there was one question amnesty proponents in Congress had a hard time answering: Why should we trust the administration to enforce a border-security agreement if no one has bothered to enforce the terms of the 1986 amnesty agreement? Does anyone think this should be less of an issue under the even more brazen anti-enforcement policies of the Obama administration?” – Cong. Tom Tancredo, Washington Times
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Stephen Moore, whose thinking on economics I've long known and admired, has a new book out called “Who's the Fairest of Them All?” In his review, Thomas Sowell calls attention to a fundamental fact of which most Americans, ill-educated in economics as they are, fail to comprehend …
"Under both Republican President Calvin Coolidge and Democratic President John F. Kennedy, high-income people paid more tax revenues into the federal treasury after tax rates went down than they did before.
“There is nothing mysterious about this. At high tax rates, vast sums of money disappear into tax shelters at home or is shipped overseas. At lower tax rates, that money comes out of hiding and goes into the American economy, creating jobs, rising output and rising incomes. Under these conditions, higher tax revenues can be collected by the government, even though tax rates are lower. Indeed, high income people not only end up paying more taxes, but a higher share of all taxes, under these conditions.”
But dumb, gullible voters, motivated largely by envy, respond enthusiastically to every call to “tax the rich!” Self-destructive stupidity is an evil difficult to overcome.
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It's seldom wise to get wealthy, older relatives PO'd at you. A woman in Australia annoyed a prosperous aunt by trying to force her into a nursing home. Auntie eventually went to her reward, leaving an estate worth upward of $12 million.
She'd disinherited the hasty niece and left her entire estate to a kindly neighbor lady who'd helped her with small but essential errands like bringing her bread and milk from the local grocery store.
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So Lindsay Lohan got into a fight at a nightclub. She's described by the media – always – as “troubled.” If there were any sane people in her life, they'd do well to advise her, “If you're going to be a doper or a drunk, do it at home out of sight of witnesses.”
Of course, there's always the possibility that, nut-job that she is (apparently descended from nut-jobs), she likes the image of an out-of-control wacko.
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The Page Six NY Post gossip column tells us that 50-year-old actress Demi Moore has a new boy-toy half her age.
Way to go, Demi! Get 'em young and raise 'em like you want 'em! But don't buy him that twenty-grand Rolex until your twentieth anniversary.
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Seen the cartoon of two young women chatting?
#1 - “I love Obama because now I can get health care even though I'm unemployed.”
#2 - “Why are you unemployed?”
#1 - “I got laid off because my employer can't afford to pay for Obamacare.”
NEARLY HALF OF DEMOCRATS WANT SOCIALISM …
WORST-RUN STATE? GUESS
MERRY CHRISTMAS, SUCKERS!
While you're wondering what kind of tax hit you're going to take, Barack, Michelle and the kids will be enjoying a three-week Hawaii vacation that will cost $4 million of your tax dollars.
The way this bunch lives off the public treasury, they make Louis XIV look like a dumpster-diving bridge troll.
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Reader Phil foresees with foreboding ...
"Do you realize that if Michelle Obama has her way, the Republicans will soon be accused of "taking low fat, sugar free candy" away from babies?"
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A brief statement of personal policy …
I will not patronize any business establishment that in either its advertising or in-store greeting utilizes “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” My two-word response to such politically-correct nonsense consists of a verb and a pronoun, and admittedly does not reflect the spirit of the season.
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One of the biggest tax breaks widely available is the mortgage interest deduction. Now, in the haggling over how to extract more money from taxpayers, there is serious talk in Washington about lowering the allowable interest deduction.
Like all “one-size-fits-all” legislation that grows like crabgrass in the capitol, it fails to take into account variances in real estate prices. A two-million-dollar house (with mortgage attached) would get you a mansion in much of America. But in higher-priced markets, it might only get you a modest 3/2 house or even a one-or-two bedroom condo. In my longtime hometown of San Francisco, a two-million dollar house would impress no one.
Of course, most people can make choices about where they live. In my little Arizona village that kind of money will buy or build a veritable palace.
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Have you heard Obama even hint at any cuts in government spending he might propose to avoid the “fiscal cliff?” Of course not.
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Michael Goodwin (NY Post) with a preview of what you can expect from the Big Zero in terms of budget proposals ...
"How long can the business model of the Democratic Party last?The short answer is, not very. Dems are doomed by their success at creating ever bigger government with ever more handouts and entitlements. All the giving can’t go on and the Obama binge has created a crisis.
"And there is no end to the spending spree. Obama’s last budget, although chock full of rosy scenarios, still projected the debt would grow by $6.7 trillion over 10 years. Thus, if all goes as planned, he will leave office with a national debt of $20 trillion, and a debt-to-GDP ratio far above 100 percent.That’s Greece.
"What spending cuts is he prepared to demand from his party as part of a deficit-reduction deal?So far, the answer is zero, a number that corresponds to the chances that Dems will govern responsibly."
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Survey (Rasmussen) says …
Only 24% of Americans voters favor socialism compared to 68% who favor capitalism.
Bullfeathers!
That's what they say, but the presidential election results prove they're lying, either to themselves or the pollsters. Or both.
More from Rasmussen: 45% of Democrats admit they favor socialism. Is anybody really surprised?
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Wonder how some Democrats who drool over Obama are feeling about his scheme to raid their 401-K savings for more tax revenue?
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Let me state the following without fear of rational contradiction: John Boehner is a dope. And orange. Thank you.
I hope he proves me wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.
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“24/7 Wall Street” studied each state’s debt, revenue, expenditure and deficit to determine how well it is managed fiscally. Conclusion: North Dakota is the best-run state … California the worst.
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Make of this what you will, but two things occur to me.
First, no U.S. population group has historically been more active in assisting black Americans in obtaining civil rights than Jews. Yet …
… Jew-hating Muslims have had more recruiting success with black Americans than any other segment of the population.
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Only peripherally related, we have this from the redoubtable Burt Prelutsky …
“I don’t happen to be a Christian, but at least I understand why people want to be Christians. For the life of me, I can’t imagine why anyone would not only want to be an atheist activist, but join others in an organization.
“Recently, as you may have read, a group of these pinheads got the city of Santa Monica to end its 60-year tradition of erecting crèches in a park overlooking the Pacific.
“I blame the federal government. If they would only pass a law that no case can be filed on the basis that “separation of church and state” exists in the Constitution, Christians could get back to celebrating the birth of their savior any which way they like.
“As for atheists, they can believe or not believe whatever they wish. But once they join a group of fellow non-believers and adopt “Bah, Humbug” as their official motto, they might as well carry a sign that says, 'I’m a pathetic loser. And, to prove it, I belong to a cult that believes Bill Maher is God'.”
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The readers write. From Joseph ...
"When I see John McCain take the lead in front of the cameras I get the gut-wrenching feeling that the outcome will not be satisfactory."
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A disgruntled reader (most are gruntled, fortunately) berates me and “your fellow prognosticators” for being wildly wrong on election predictions.
For the record: I NEVER predicted the outcome of the November 6th disaster.
Instead, as regular readers should know, I repeatedly cautioned that (A) many conservative commentators were mistaking wishful thinking for analysis, and that (B) the great H.L. Mencken's words-to-live-by still apply; “Nobody ever went broke by underestimating the American public.”
How this misguided person ever interpreted that as a prediction that Romney would win is beyond ridiculous. Actually, anyone who knows my public record also knows that I subscribe to the cynical view long ago expressed by Winston Churchill. His view that Americans could always be counted on to do the right thing … after they've tried everything else.
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From Newsbusters …
“In what would appear to be a sure sign that the Obama administration's leftist allies, perhaps with the President's go-ahead, are preparing to throw current U.N. ambassador Susan Rice under the bus, Alex Guillen at the Politico reported on information that has from all appearances been public for at least three months, but which the National Resources Defense Council's blog noted about an hour earlier.
“Rice's offenses? She 'holds significant investments in more than a dozen Canadian oil companies and banks that would stand to benefit from expansion of the North American tar sands industry and construction of the proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline.' That's indeed troubling, but it was just as troubling when leftists up to and including the editorialists at the Washington Post were accusing anyone objecting to Rice's potential nomination of being presumptively racist.”
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The fiery Ann Coulter reminds us of a reality most dumb voters don't even know about …
“The media have … managed to brand Republicans as the party of the rich, even as eight of the 10 richest counties voted for Obama. And that doesn’t include pockets of vast wealth in cities — Nob Hill in San Francisco, the North Shore of Chicago, the Upper East Side of Manhattan and the Back Bay of Boston — whose residents invariably vote like welfare recipients. Seven of the 10 richest senators are Democrats. The very richest is the useless gigolo.”
Gee, you don't think that last remark refers to John Kerry, do you?
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My friend Mike observes that the reason Romney lost should be obvious. He said, “If elected, I'll put Americans back to work!”
Fifty-one percent decided they didn't care for the idea.
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Detroit Lions' defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh has been adjudged by NFL athletes as the dirtiest player in pro football. Most fans would likely agree. He's just been fined – again – for kicking Houston quarterback Matt Schaub in the man-parts.
A thought. Pro hockey teams always have an “enforcer,” a player of no great skill at anything other than dealing out retribution; brute physical punishment of an opposing player adjudged to be operating outside the rules.
Perhaps NFL teams need one (or more) such “enforcers,” operating under a policy of, “Get in there and pay no attention to where the next play goes. Your job is to sucker-punch Bob-the-Beast … kick him in the nuts, stomp his arm (as Suh did to another player) … whatever. Hurt him. You'll get thrown out of the game, of course, but maybe he'll learn a lesson.”
But that's just me.
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The dying Time Magazine has plumbed new depths of absurdity by nominating Sandra Fluke as a possible "Person of the Year."
IN case you've forgotten, Ms. Fluke campaigned for Obama as a centerpiece of their absurd "War on Women" charges against Mitt Romney. Ms. Fluke, an eternal student (she's now well into her thirties and still claims such status), is the advocate of a position which in essence says, "Women should have the right to play hide-the-weenie with taxpayers and other fellow citizens paying for their birth control. And if, heaven forfend, they should become pregnant, those 'others' should also be forced to pay for their abortion.
The woman is a more likely candidate to become an honorary Kardashian. Can a porno video be far in her future?
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Ever watch "Flipping Out" on TV? The friction isn't fiction. Jeff Lewis, the eccentric designer at the center of the show, is suing assistant Jenni over a book she's written about difficult bosses, charging she's in violation of a confidentiality agreement.
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Reader Sue says it all makes sense now.
News headline: "Gay marriage and marijuana legalized in Colorado the same day."
Leviticus 20:13 ? "If a man lays with another man he should be stoned."
We've just been interpreting it wrong all these years.
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Argus Hamilton --
"The Supreme Court ordered lower courts to review Obama Care's rule that religious schools provide employees free birth control and condoms. Catholics oppose it. If they can overturn this rule it'll be the second time in a week that Notre Dame defeated the Trojans."
"...and now, if you'll excuse me..."